Expert: Dean Gade - 11/11/2011

Question
Pastor Gade:

I saw a film on TBN, although a fairly good movie, it was the story of the days of King Solomon.  The movie portrayed King Solomon marrying a Queen of Egypt and turning over the kingdom of Israel to her; and allowing worships of all gods and some other terrible things.  In the end of the story God destoyed the kingdom, and the Egyptian Queen went back to her kingdom and left Solomon.  Can you tell me if this story is true, when in history this happened, and in what book in the Old Testament tells about this?  I know King David ruled around 1000 B.C., and that although he betrayed God was still the apple of His eye, and that Solomon was David's son.  Does this have anything to do with the time of Isaiah's preaching and the other prophets about their disobediance?  Although always said to be a "stiff-necked people" was Israel basically obeying God before 1000 B.C.?  My knowledge is very limited on this.

thank you.

Answer
Leah,

The movie that you saw was only, as they often say, "based on" the biblical account of the queen of Sheba(Saba)and not a close rendering of the account in the Bible.

The queen had heard of the wisdom of Solomon and came to see how true what she had heard was.  She brought great riches of spices and jewels to Solomon.  She saw it was all true about Solomon and even seemed to accept Jehovah as God, but did not seem to leave her religion which accepted many gods.  

Solomon did not marry her nor is there any account of him accepting polytheism.  He did, however, give her treasures to take home which exceeded all that she had brought to him.

The accounts in the Bible are :   I Kings 10:1 and following     II Chron. 9:1 and following.  and Matt. 12:42.

It was during Solomon's reign that the kingdom was split into the 10 tribes called Israel and the kingdom called Judah.  There shortly followed what is called the "Babylonian Captivity" wherein both Israel and Judah were taken and held in captivity for eighty years.  The prophets, especially Isaiah and Jeremiah warned the people ahead of time  to turn back to God, but they did not and so suffered the consequence of not trusting God.

Dean