2 Chronicles 9:9 And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones… Solomon had a great reputation for the conundrums and riddles that he made and guessed. The Solomonic navy visited all the world, and the sailors, of course, talked about the wealth of their king, and about the riddles and enigmas that he made and solved; and the news spread until Queen Balkis, away off south, heard of it, and sent messengers with a few riddles that she would like to have Solomon solve, and a few puzzles that she would like to have him find out: Queen Balkis was so pleased with the acuteness of Solomon, that she said: "I'll just go and see him for myself." Yonder it comes — the cavalcade — horses and dromedaries, chariots and charioteers, jingling harness and clattering hoofs, and blazing shields, and flying ensigns, and clapping cymbals. The place is saturated with the perfume. She brings cinnamon, and saffron, and calamus, and frankincense, and all manner of sweet spices. I shall take the responsibility of saying that all the spikenard and cassia and frankincense which the Queen of Sheba brought to Solomon is mightily suggestive of the sweet spices of our holy religion. I. MEN REQUIRE MORE OF THE SPICERY OF RELIGION TO BRIGHTEN THEIR LIFE AND SWEETEN THEIR DISPOSITION AMID THE CAPES AND DUTIES OF LIFE. II. WE NEED TO PUT MORE SPICE AND ENLIVEMENT IN OUR RELIGIOUS TEACHING. III. WE WANT MORE LIFE AND SLICE IN OUR CHRISTIAN WORK. IV. WE NEED MORE SPICE AND ENLIVENMENT IN OUR CHURCH MUSIC. V. THE RELIGION OF CHRIST IS A PRESENT AND EVERLASTING REDOLENCE THAT COUNTERACTS ALL TROUBLE. It lifted Samuel Rutherford into a revelry of spiritual delight while he was in physical agonies. It helped Richard Baxter until, in the midst of such a complication of diseases as perhaps no other man ever suffered, he wrote "The Saint' Everlasting Rest." And it poured light on John Bunyans dungeon — the light of the shining gate of the shining city. Oh, you sin-parched and you trouble-pounded, here is comfort, here is satisfaction. I cannot tell you what the Lord offers you hereafter so well as I can tell you now. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." May God grant that through your own practical experience you may find that religion's ways are ways of pleasantness, and that all her paths are paths of peace — that it is perfume now and perfume for ever. (T. De Witt Talmage.) Parallel Verses KJV: And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon. |
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