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2 Crônicas 9

BLIVRE · Chapter 9/36

1E ouvindo a rainha de Sabá a fama de Salomão, veio a Jerusalém com uma comitiva muito grande, com camelos carregados de aroma, e ouro em abundância, e pedras preciosas, para tentar a Salomão com perguntas difíceis. E logo que veio a Salomão, falou com ele tudo o que havia em seu coração.

2Porém Salomão lhe declarou todas suas palavras: nenhuma coisa restou que Salomão não lhe declarasse.

3E vendo a rainha de Sabá a sabedoria de Salomão, e a casa que havia edificado,

4E as iguarias de sua mesa, e o assento de seus servos, e o estado de seus criados, e os vestidos deles, seus mestres-salas e seus vestidos, e sua subida por de onde subia à casa do SENHOR, não restou mais espírito nela.

5E disse ao rei: Verdade é o que havia ouvido em minha terra de tuas coisas e de tua sabedoria;

6Mas eu não cria as palavras deles, até que ei vindo, e meus olhos viram: e eis que que nem ainda a metade da grandeza de tua sabedoria me havia sido dita; porque tu excedes a fama que eu havia ouvido.

7Bem-aventurados teus homens, e ditosos estes teus servos, que estão sempre diante de ti, e ouvem tua sabedoria.

8o SENHOR teu Deus seja bendito, o qual se agradou em ti para te pôr sobre seu trono por rei do SENHOR teu Deus: porquanto teu Deus amou a Israel para firmá-lo perpetuamente, por isso te pôs por rei sobre eles, para que faças juízo e justiça.

9E deu ao rei cento e vinte talentos de ouro, e grande quantidade de aromas, e pedras preciosas: nunca havia tais aromas como os que deu a rainha de Sabá ao rei Salomão.

10Também os servos de Hirão e os servos de Salomão, que haviam trazido o ouro de Ofir, trouxeram madeira de cipreste, e pedras preciosas.

11E fez o rei da madeira de cipreste degraus na casa do SENHOR, e nas casas reais, e harpas e saltérios para os cantores: nunca em terra de Judá se havia visto madeira semelhante.

12E o rei Salomão deu à rainha de Sabá tudo o que ela quis e lhe pediu, mais de o que havia trazido ao rei. Depois se voltou e foi-se a sua terra com seus servos.

13E o peso de ouro que vinha a Salomão cada um ano, era seiscentos sessenta e seis talentos de ouro,

14Sem o que traziam os mercadores e negociantes; e também todos os reis da Arábia e os príncipes da terra traziam ouro e prata a Salomão.

15Fez também o rei Salomão duzentos paveses de ouro de martelo, cada um dos quais tinha seiscentos siclos de ouro lavrado:

16Assim trezentos escudos de ouro batido, tendo cada escudo trezentos siclos de ouro: e os pôs o rei na casa do bosque do Líbano.

17Fez ademais o rei um grande trono de marfim, e cobriu-o de ouro puro.

18E havia seis degraus ao trono, com um estrado de ouro ao mesmo, e braços da uma parte e da outra ao lugar do assento, e dois leões que estavam junto aos braços.

19Havia também ali doze leões sobre os seis degraus da uma parte e da outra. Jamais foi feito outro semelhante em reino algum.

20Todos os utensílios do rei Salomão eram de ouro, e todos os utensílios da casa do bosque do Líbano, de ouro puro. Nos dias de Salomão a prata não era de valiosa.

21Porque a frota do rei ia a Társis com os servos de Hirão, e cada três anos faziam vir os navios de Társis, e traziam ouro, prata, marfim, macacos, e pavões.

22E excedeu o rei Salomão a todos os reis da terra em riqueza e em sabedoria.

23E todos os reis da terra procuravam ver o rosto de Salomão, por ouvir sua sabedoria, que Deus havia posto em seu coração:

24E destes, cada um trazia o seu presente, vasos de prata, vasos de ouro, vestidos, armas, aromas, cavalos e mulas, todos os anos.

25Teve também Salomão quatro mil estábulos para os cavalos e carros, e doze mil cavaleiros, os quais pôs nas cidades dos carros, e com o rei em Jerusalém.

26E teve senhorio sobre todos os reis desde o rio até a terra dos filisteus, e até o termo do Egito.

27E pôs o rei prata em Jerusalém como pedras, e cedros como os sicômoros que nascem pelas campinas em abundância.

28Traziam também cavalos para Salomão, do Egito e de todas as províncias.

29Os demais feitos de Salomão, primeiros e últimos, não está tudo escrito nos livros de Natã profeta, e na profecia de Aías silonita, e nas profecias do vidente Ido contra Jeroboão filho de Nebate?

30E reinou Salomão em Jerusalém sobre todo Israel quarenta anos.

31E descansou Salomão com seus pais, e sepultaram-no na cidade de Davi seu pai: e reinou em seu lugar Roboão seu filho.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The queen of Sheba travels from distant lands to test Solomon's wisdom with difficult questions, and is impressed beyond her expectations. The chapter also summarizes Solomon's extraordinary wealth, military power, and international fame before his death.

Explanation

The visit of the queen of Sheba, probably from the region of present-day Yemen or Ethiopia, is a powerful testimony to the international reach of Solomon's reputation, drawing visitors from distant lands driven by curiosity about his exceptional wisdom. Her reaction — acknowledging that the reality surpassed even the reports she had already heard, and praising the God of Israel for placing Solomon on the throne — shows how Israel's wisdom and prosperity served as a testimony for other nations to recognize the God of Israel himself. The final summary of Solomon's excessive wealth, with silver becoming as common as stones in Jerusalem, marks the absolute peak of the united kingdom's material prosperity, just before the decline that would begin in the very next chapter.

Fun facts

  • Jesus, in Matthew 12:42, makes direct reference to the 'queen of the south' who came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon's wisdom, using this historical episode as an example to challenge his contemporaries who rejected an even greater wisdom present before them.
  • Ethiopian tradition holds that the queen of Sheba had a son with Solomon, named Menelik, who supposedly became the ancestor of Ethiopia's royal dynasty — an influential legend in Ethiopian culture, though not confirmed by the biblical text itself.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Crônicas 9:1The queen of Sheba travels with an enormous retinue just to test Solomon with hard questions, the kind of test that served both to gauge his reputation for wisdom and to negotiate trade relations between the two kingdoms.
  2. 2 Crônicas 9:2Solomon answers every one of the queen of Sheba’s hard questions without leaving a single one unanswered — the test of wisdom she had come looking for is confirmed point by point.
  3. 2 Crônicas 9:3Beyond the correct answers, the queen also sees with her own eyes the palace Solomon built, just as impressed by the structure as by his words.
  4. 2 Crônicas 9:4The food at the royal table, the organization of the officials and servants, their uniforms, and even the ascent leading up to the temple leave the queen breathless — the luxury shows through in every detail of daily life.
  5. 2 Crônicas 9:5The queen admits to Solomon that she had already heard of his fame in her own land, but wanted to confirm in person whether it was really true.
  6. 2 Crônicas 9:6After seeing everything up close, the queen confesses that the reports didn’t even come close to the reality — what she had heard was not even half of what she actually saw.
  7. 2 Crônicas 9:7The queen even praises Solomon’s own officials, calling happy those who get to stay close by, always hearing his wisdom.
  8. 2 Crônicas 9:8The queen acknowledges that Solomon’s success comes from God’s love for Israel — he was set on the throne precisely to do justice and govern with righteousness.
  9. 2 Crônicas 9:9Before leaving, the queen gives Solomon an enormous quantity of gold, along with spices so rare that none like them ever appeared again in the kingdom.
  10. 2 Crônicas 9:10At the same time, the sailors of Huram and of Solomon bring algum wood and precious stones from Ophir — another valuable cargo arriving by sea.
  11. 2 Crônicas 9:11With this rare wood, Solomon has terraces made for the temple and the palace, along with musical instruments the like of which no one in Judah had ever seen before.
  12. 2 Crônicas 9:12Solomon returns the favor by giving the queen of Sheba everything she asked for, beyond what she had already brought — after that she returns to her own land with her retinue.
  13. 2 Crônicas 9:13Six hundred sixty-six talents of gold coming to Solomon in a single year, not counting what came from trade — this kind of extravagant number appears several times in the book to mark the kingdom’s wealth at its height, though, as always with these lists, scholars debate the best way to read such high quantities in ancient texts.
  14. 2 Crônicas 9:14Besides the gold already coming in through trade, Arabian kings and regional governors also sent gold and silver to Solomon regularly — one more source of wealth added to the others.
  15. 2 Crônicas 9:15Solomon has two hundred large shields made of hammered gold, each using a generous amount of the metal — pure display of royal wealth.
  16. 2 Crônicas 9:16Besides the large shields, three hundred smaller shields of hammered gold round out the collection, kept in a building called the “house of the forest of Lebanon,” built of cedar wood.
  17. 2 Crônicas 9:17Solomon has an enormous throne of ivory built, all overlaid with pure gold — a direct symbol of the king’s power and wealth.
  18. 2 Crônicas 9:18The throne had six steps, a gold footstool attached to it, armrests on each side of the seat, and two carved lions resting on those armrests.
  19. 2 Crônicas 9:19Twelve carved lions, two on each of the six steps, completed the throne — the text assures us no other kingdom had built anything like it.
  20. 2 Crônicas 9:20All of Solomon’s cups and vessels were gold, both in the palace and in the house of the forest of Lebanon — silver had become so common it practically lost its value.
  21. 2 Crônicas 9:21Solomon’s fleet, with sailors lent by Huram, sailed to Tarshish and returned every three years bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks — exotic goods from distant lands.
  22. 2 Crônicas 9:22The summary is direct: Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in both riches and wisdom.
  23. 2 Crônicas 9:23Kings from everywhere sought Solomon out in person just to hear the wisdom God had put in him.
  24. 2 Crônicas 9:24Each visitor brought his own gift — gold objects, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules — a steady flow of tribute repeated every year.
  25. 2 Crônicas 9:25Four thousand stalls and twelve thousand horsemen show the scale of Solomon’s army; it’s worth noting that the parallel account in Kings records a quite different number of stalls, one of several points where the two books don’t line up exactly on numeric details.
  26. 2 Crônicas 9:26Solomon’s dominion stretched from the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt — a territory far larger than Israel alone.
  27. 2 Crônicas 9:27Silver became as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar as common as wild fig trees — the same image of extreme abundance already used in chapter 1 to describe the kingdom’s wealth.
  28. 2 Crônicas 9:28Horses kept arriving for Solomon from Egypt and other regions, feeding the chariot trade he himself resold to other kings.
  29. 2 Crônicas 9:29The final summary of Solomon’s reign points to records by three prophets of the time — Nathan, Ahijah, and Iddo — sources the Chronicler himself cites as the basis for the account.
  30. 2 Crônicas 9:30Solomon reigns forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel — still the united kingdom, before the division that comes in the next chapter.
  31. 2 Crônicas 9:31Solomon dies and is buried in the city of David, his father, and his son Rehoboam takes the throne — the transition that will trigger the crisis of the next chapter.

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