THIS “elect lady” stands in that line of loved and honored women who now and again appear, from the beginning to the end, in the varied, interesting, and wonderful actions recorded in the book of God.
We shall find in what is said of her, both moral and typical or prophetic instruction, so that both our souls may be stirred and our minds instructed by this same page of history. But that is commonly, to be sure, the case in the records which God has given us.
She dwelt in the south, in the uttermost parts of the earth. She never had heard, we may presume, the voice of a prophet, nor ever saw the oracles of God. She had no advantages from education, but, in the fullest sense, we may suppose, was a stranger to the God of Israel. All, if I may so speak, which her soul had to deal with, or her heart to trade upon, was a slender stock indeed. She had heard of the fame of Solomon; in her own land she had heard of his acts and his wisdom. This was all she had. But with this slender provision, she took a long and untried journey.
There is something admirable in this. The faculty within, the sense of the soul, is always proved by a test of this kind. For she really loved wisdom, and, therefore, a slight report about it moves her. According to a common saying, “A word to the wise is sufficient”―or, as the proverb has it, “A reproof entereth more into a wise man, than a hundred stripes into a fool.” (Prow. 17:10.) And this is the admirable feature in her character which the Lord notices in Luke—a passage of great value to us, and which I desire to dwell on for a little while. (Luke 11:29-3629And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. 30For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 31The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. 32The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. 33No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. 34The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. 35Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 36If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. (Luke 11:29‑36).) The Pharisees had asked a sign. This was sad indeed, and the sure witness of a very bad state of mind. The Lord “sighed deeply in His spirit” when He listened to this. (Mark 8:1212And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation. (Mark 8:12).) But He not only did that, but with this mind in the Pharisees He immediately contrasts the mind that was in the Queen of Sheba. For she was such a wise one as found sufficient in a word, while they were starving in a land of plenty, and asking for light in the presence of the very Father of lights, for signs in the midst of the wonders of the hand of Jesus.
Here was the contrast. In this the excellence of this “elect lady” eminently appears. She was using what she had, though it was but little. They were reproaching the Lord, as though He had not given them anything, while they were in the midst of great things, which they saw and heard continually in Him and from Him. Here was the mighty moral distance between the two. The candle which had been shining on her table was but a taper, but the eye of her body was so single that it gave light enough to guide her; while their table was illuminated with the most brilliant lamps, but the eye of their body being evil, the light there was darkness, and they groped though in the noon-day.
And all depends on this. There is no lack in the testimony. The candle has been set in a candlestick. It needs nothing either in size, or height, or brilliancy. Moses and the Prophets are enough, and one raised from the dead could not add value or strength to them. The signs of the times of Jesus, the witnesses of His mission, are as sure and certain as the ordinances of the skies. But the question is, In what state is the faculty of the man? In what condition is the eye of the body? If that be single, “the whole shall be full of light,” the whole region through which we move, every word of God, every doing of God, every commend He utters, every promise He makes, the whole of the region in which faith places us, will be light-some, if but the eye be single. All in Jesus, and around Jesus, will be splendid then. (Luke 11:3636If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. (Luke 11:36).) The mischief lies in ourselves, if it lie any where. The candle shines, but have we the opened and perfect eye?
The Queen of Sheba had it blessedly. And this was shown, as it always is, by her dealing with a little. Her heart was really and deeply in love with the good thing, and then she traded upon a slender stock, as I said. And this is the feature in her character which draws the admiration of the Lord, and by which she condemns the Pharisees.
In this we receive a very important lesson; for we may well desire for ourselves to have that same high and ready value for everything of God. This is the best. To have what is good is better than to know much about it. Better to desire wisdom than to have gathered a large store of knowledge or information.
This moral of the history was drawn full by the mind of Christ. And there is fitness in that. For the moral is always the deepest thing, though there may be, as in this case, the three things, ―the event or history itself, the type, and the moral. The moral lies the deepest, and it was the glory of the mind of Christ to present that feature to us, beautifully as He has.
The tale itself is in 1 Kings 10, and 2 Chron. 9 There, at the outset, she appears as one that traded in wisdom. She bartered for it gold, and incense, and precious stones: a true disciple, in the spirit of her mind, of Prov. 3:1414For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. (Proverbs 3:14).
And the Lord will not be her debtor. He gives her far more than she had bargained for. And in all this, she had the like spirit of faith with this very king Solomon himself, and the Lord by Solomon dealt with her as He had dealt with that king himself. (2 Chron. 1:10-1210Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great? 11And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king: 12Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like. (2 Chronicles 1:10‑12).) Solomon gives her more instruction than mere answers to the questions she brought with her, and also such a sight of his royal and priestly glories, such an inspection of all the magnificence of his palace, and his sanctuary, that her spirit is filled. She is satiated. “There was no more spirit in her.” And blessed was she that thirsted and hungered, for she was filled-blessed, when, as in this case, the hunger and the thirst are such, that God can own and answer. The hunger and the thirst that can seek His presence shall surely never remain unfed.
Such was this Gentile in the days of king Solomon. As in the days of the true Solomon, the nations again shall go up to the same city with the same thirst, saying one to another, “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, for He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.”