1. 1 Kings 10:13 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Does the queen of Sheba repent and turn to God?

1 Kings 10:13 (ESV)

13 And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked besides what was given her by the bounty of King Solomon. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.

The appearance of this queen is suddenly over, and we do not meet her again in the Old Testament. She admires everything, but then goes home to her own country without joining herself to the God of Israel. Apparently she recognizes the Lord as Israel’s national God but does not have the intention of walking away from her own gods. She does not say what Ruth says: Your God is my God (Ruth 1:16).

However, it is not the idea of this historic documentation to jot down the life and religious convictions of a foreign queen. She is just stepping into the limelight to the greater honour and glory of Solomon, and particularly the God of Solomon. But as beautiful and glowing as Solomon is being portrayed, so bad is the later downfall of this king (1 Kings 11:1–43).