1 Kings 10 The Queen of Sheba. Whether the Queen of Sheba was Ethiopian depends on the historical or traditional account you reference, as her kingdom spanned both sides of the Red Sea. Mainstream archaeological and historical sources place the ancient kingdom of Sheba (Sabaʾ) primarily in southwestern Arabia, in modern-day Yemen (see the map).

Her conclusion after meeting with Solomon? The half was not told me. According to Ethiopian tradition, she bore Solomon a son named Menelik I, who later founded the Solomonic line of Ethiopian emperors. Ethiopian belief holds that when he grew up and visited Jerusalem that Menelik brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Aksum, where many still believe it resides. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church officially claims to possess the original Ark of the Covenant. The church states that the Ark is housed in a special treasury near the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in the town of Aksum (Axum), Ethiopia. It is guarded by a monk and no one is allowed to view it. That is all Ethiopian tradition. No one knows what happened to the ark. Many think the Israelites buried it under the temple so the Babylonians could not take it. AI: “When the Romans sacked and burned the Second Temple in 70 AD, the Holy of Holies contained no Ark. According to the ancient historian Flavius Josephus, who witnessed the siege, the inner sanctuary was completely empty. While the Roman soldiers did loot sacred items like the golden menorah and the table of showbread—which are famously depicted on the Arch of Titus in Rome—the Ark of the Covenant was notably absent from the list of captured treasures.”

Solomon’s wealth. The 666 talents of gold he received each year was about $3 billion today.

1 Kings 11 Solomon’s idolatry. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines mainly from countries that he subjugated. He began to worship Ashtoreth, Chemosh, Milcom, and Molech and other gods. God told him that his kingdom would be taken away from his son Rehoboam after Solomon died. He would leave Solomon one tribe, Judah, for the sake of the promises God had made to David, his father, that David’s house would be established. The rightful kings came from the tribe of Judah and the southern kingdom of Judah. Jesus would eventually come from the tribe of Judah and take his seat on the throne of David in heaven (a spiritual throne over a spiritual kingdom, the church). BTW the tribe of Benjamin, which was very small and close to Judah on the map, stayed loyal to Judah, so the southern kingdom of Judah actually had 2 tribes (Judah and Benjamin). It’s hard to believe that rhe wisest man of earth could turn to idolatry like Solomon did. The prophet Ahijah anointed Jereboam as the king of the 10 tribes that rebelled against Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. Solomon tried to kill Jereboam but he fled to Egypt. Solomon ruled 40 years and died.

1 Kings 12 The kingdom divided. Rehoboam had a chance to keep the 12 tribes together if he would lessen the heavy yoke that Solomon had put on them, but he listened to his young advisors who told him to make the yoke even heavier. The 10 tribes anointed Jereboam to be their king and would come to be known as the northern kingdom of Israel (a little confusing since us to now all 12 tribes of the united kingdom was called Israel). Rehoboam assembled 180,000 men to fight the 10 tribes and force them to be loyal to him, but God told him not to fight them. Jereboam then set up 2 golden calves to worship at Dan and Bethel. He also instituted feast days and his own priesthood (not Levitical) so that the Israelites in the 10 tribes would not go back to Jerusalem for the main feasts and to worship in the temple in Jerusalem. All of the kings of the northern kingdom would be idolatrous.

1 Kings 13 The prophet sent to curse Jereboam’s altar. God sent a prophet to curse the idolatrous altar that Jereboam was burning incense on at Bethel. God told the prophet to return from Bethel to Jerusalem non-stop. An older prophet caught up to the prophet and lied to him. He told him that an angel had told him (the older prophet) to bring the prophet to his house to eat. When he did, God told the prophet that he would did b/c he disobeyed God. A lion killed him on his journey back to Jerusalem. The older prophet recovered and buried the prophet’s body.

Lesson: We might be thinking, “but the prophet was lied to”. That’s correct. But he had his instructions and he should have consulted the Lord before accepting what the older prophet told him. There is a lesson there. Many false prophets have told people that they have had angels or visions or God speaking to them. Be careful before you accept what they say as the word of God. “Test the spirits to see whether they are from God or not.” (1 John 4:1) Jesus said, “the blind lead the blind and they both fall into the ditch”. It is our responsibility to make sure someone is really telling us the word of God. Be like the Bereans in Acts 17:¹¹ Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

1 Kings 14 Jereboam’s son was sick so his wife disguised herself and went to Ahijah the prophet in Judah to find out if the boy would get well. The prophet was told by God that she was Jereboam’s wife and told her the child would die as soon as she set foot back in her house, and he did. Jereboam reigned 22 years over the northern kingdom of Israel.

Solomon’s son Rehoboam would reign over the southern kingdom of Judah for 17 years. During that time Shishak the king of Egypt came and took the gold treasure that Solomon had accumulated. Rehoboam was the son of an Ammonite mother and the people of Judah committed idolatry and sinned.