The Queen of the South Will Judge

Jesus was speaking in Matthew 12 about the Old Testament prophet Jonah, how Jonah had preached to the people of Nineveh and they had repented of their wrongdoing.  Jesus was saying that the people of Nineveh would rise up in the time of judgment to judge this generation.  Nineveh had repented but this generation would not.  Then He said, "The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here."

This quote about the Queen of the South has reference to the queen of Sheba as discussed in 1Kings 10 and 2 Chronicles 9.  The lesson there is that the queen had heard about the greatness of Solomon, the king of Israel, and had traveled many hundreds of miles by caravan to observe in person this amazing king.  Here is a little of the description of the what the queen saw:

"And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her."  Then she said, "..I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me."

We might stop here to note that we know little of the queen of Sheba.  We aren't even sure just where Sheba was.  All Scholars seem to agree that it was in Southern Arabia.  We do know that this queen was exceptionally wealthy....and she had a great desire to witness the great king of Israel.

The point that Jesus was making was that if someone wanted so badly to witness the great king Solomon, to travel so far under hard circumstances, everyone should be willing to witness...and obey...a king far greater than Solomon; i.e. Jesus Himself.  This is a lesson from which we can profit.  Jesus wants us to be amazed at Him; to witness, to follow, obey, love, teach Him.  He is the great king....and Him only.  Let us be amazed at His greatness!

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week.