The Queen of Sheba Came to Test Solomon and Left Speechless

1 Kings 10 opens with an image that has captured imaginations for three thousand years: the Queen of Sheba, hearing reports of Solomon's wisdom and his relationship with God, decided to come and test him herself. She arrived with a very great retinue, with camels carrying spices, great quantities of gold, and precious stones. "She came to Solomon and spoke with him about all that was in her heart." Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. She was left breathless. What the biblical text describes in two verses, the midrash expands into an entire competition of wits that spans centuries of commentary.

Who Was the Queen of Sheba?

Legends of the Jews (1909–1938), drawing on Midrash HaGadol and Midrash Tanchuma (c. 800–900 CE), identifies the Queen of Sheba as Bilqis, ruler of a kingdom in the southern Arabian Peninsula or East Africa — traditions vary on the exact location, with some placing her realm in what is today Yemen and others in Ethiopia. The rabbinic traditions in the Midrash Aggadah collection are particularly interested in how she heard about Solomon. One tradition says she was told by a hoopoe bird, whose king had visited Solomon's court and reported on his wisdom. Another says she heard from merchants on the spice routes. The midrash is consistent on one point: she was an experienced ruler who had tested many wise men, and she arrived in Jerusalem prepared for disappointment. She left astonished.

What Were the Riddles She Asked?

The biblical text does not preserve the riddles. The Midrash does. The Babylonian Talmud (compiled c. 500 CE), tractate Bava Batra 15b, and several midrashic collections preserve a series of her questions. She brought before Solomon sixty boys and sixty girls, dressed identically, and asked him to distinguish them by sex. He ordered flowers brought — the boys took them clumsily; the girls held them with refinement. She asked him: what is a wooden well that draws iron buckets? A kohl stick used to apply eye makeup — it is wood, it draws metal instruments. She asked him: it comes from the earth as dust, its food is earth, it is poured like water, it lights the whole house. The answer: kerosene, drawn from the earth. Midrash Rabbah (c. 400–500 CE) records that she also presented him with flowers, half real and half artificial, asking him to identify the natural ones. He opened a window and let in bees, which flew immediately to the real blooms.

What Did She Think of the Temple?

The Legends of the Jews tradition describes the Queen of Sheba's first approach to Solomon's palace: the floor was laid with clear glass, and she thought it was water. She lifted her skirts to wade through it and exposed her ankles. Solomon pointed out gently that it was not water but glass — and this moment of embarrassment is treated in the midrash as a crucial plot point. It was the moment she realized the gap between what she thought she knew about Solomon and what was actually true. She had traveled thousands of miles expecting to find a clever king. She found instead something she had no framework for. The glass floor was an architectural riddle with no solution except humility.

What Did She Say About His Wisdom After All the Tests?

1 Kings 10:6–9 preserves the Queen's formal declaration: "It was a true report that I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceeds the fame which I heard." The Babylonian Talmud reads this as the highest form of tribute — not flattery but honest testimony from a skilled and skeptical person who had come specifically to disprove the claims. Midrash Aggadah traditions add that she converted, or at least acknowledged, the God of Israel as the source of Solomon's wisdom. Whether she converted and returned to Sheba with a new faith, or remained and bore Solomon a son (as Ethiopian tradition holds), or returned entirely unchanged — the midrash does not settle. What it preserves is the encounter itself: the most powerful woman in the known world, asking her best questions, left speechless.

What Is Her Story Really About?

The Queen of Sheba's journey to Jerusalem is, in the rabbinic reading, a story about the limits of secondhand knowledge. She had heard about Solomon. The hearing was not enough. She came. The coming changed everything. The Midrash Rabbah uses her journey as a parable for the pursuit of wisdom itself: real understanding cannot be transmitted through reports, however accurate. It requires presence, encounter, the direct experience of something that exceeds your existing categories. She came to test Solomon and ended up testing herself — discovering the edge of her own wisdom in the presence of someone who had none. The midrash concludes that her visit to Jerusalem was not a diplomatic mission. It was a pilgrimage. And every pilgrimage, the rabbis note, changes the traveler more than it changes the destination. Explore the rich tradition of Solomon's wisdom and its challengers at jewishmythology.com.