1 Kings 10
I just realised it has been nearly a week since I posted last, sorry about that. Hopefully normal posting will be resumed
This chapter is the inspiration for one of the most famous pieces of classical music, countless wives have walked down the aisle to Handel's masterpiece Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.
Personally I'm holding out for either the imperial march from Star Wars or the theme from Thunderbirds for the future Mrs Newnham to come down the aisle to - little wonder I am single!
Sheba appears to be in modern day Ethiopia, and stories of the wisdom of Solomon seem to have travelled down the trade routes until the queen of Sheba decided to see for herself, arriving with a splendid caravan with lots of expensive stuff to test out if the stories of Solomon were exaggerated.
Solomon answered all the questions the queen could think of and she was very impressed with Solomon's wisdom, his palace and his lifestyle.
The queen was apparently envious of Solomon and how his people lived, the wonder of his servants who would hear constantly the king's wisdom and the people living with such a ruler.
The queen gave Solomon a gift of about 4.5 tonnes of gold, spices, precious stones.
Solomon in return gave gifts to the queen of Sheba and she left in peace.
Solomon received in tribute every year about 23 tonnes of gold, in addition to taxation of merchants.
Solomon made 200 solid gold shields each weighing about 7 kg, and 300 small shields each weighing 3.5 kg which he put in his palace in the forest of Lebanon.
He also made a throne covered in gold and ivory (elephants were apparently not endangered then!) there were 6 steps up to the throne and at the end of each step was the statue of a lion and there was a lion under each armrest of the throne. Apparently it must have looked extremely impressive and was unique.
All the metal used in Solomon's palace were made of gold, silver was far too cheap.
At sea Solomon's trading ships put into port every 3 years with exotic animals, spices, gold, silver and ivory.
Solomon became incredibly wealthy and his fame bought him visitors from all over the known world, each bringing gifts.
Solomon acquired vast numbers of horses and chariots which he put in garrison towns built to house them.
In Jerusalem silver was as common as stone and cedar as plentiful as sycamore figs.
All the time Solomon carried out arms trading importing horses and chariots from Egypt and selling them on to the Hittites and Arameans.
The period of Solomon's reign must have been really quiet compared to what had passed before!
Thinking about wedding music - if I did not loathe football as much as I do (which is quite a lot - any soft spot I hold for the game of football is quicksand!) perhaps the match of the day theme??
I just realised it has been nearly a week since I posted last, sorry about that. Hopefully normal posting will be resumed
This chapter is the inspiration for one of the most famous pieces of classical music, countless wives have walked down the aisle to Handel's masterpiece Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.
Personally I'm holding out for either the imperial march from Star Wars or the theme from Thunderbirds for the future Mrs Newnham to come down the aisle to - little wonder I am single!
Sheba appears to be in modern day Ethiopia, and stories of the wisdom of Solomon seem to have travelled down the trade routes until the queen of Sheba decided to see for herself, arriving with a splendid caravan with lots of expensive stuff to test out if the stories of Solomon were exaggerated.
Solomon answered all the questions the queen could think of and she was very impressed with Solomon's wisdom, his palace and his lifestyle.
The queen was apparently envious of Solomon and how his people lived, the wonder of his servants who would hear constantly the king's wisdom and the people living with such a ruler.
The queen gave Solomon a gift of about 4.5 tonnes of gold, spices, precious stones.
Solomon in return gave gifts to the queen of Sheba and she left in peace.
Solomon received in tribute every year about 23 tonnes of gold, in addition to taxation of merchants.
Solomon made 200 solid gold shields each weighing about 7 kg, and 300 small shields each weighing 3.5 kg which he put in his palace in the forest of Lebanon.
He also made a throne covered in gold and ivory (elephants were apparently not endangered then!) there were 6 steps up to the throne and at the end of each step was the statue of a lion and there was a lion under each armrest of the throne. Apparently it must have looked extremely impressive and was unique.
All the metal used in Solomon's palace were made of gold, silver was far too cheap.
At sea Solomon's trading ships put into port every 3 years with exotic animals, spices, gold, silver and ivory.
Solomon became incredibly wealthy and his fame bought him visitors from all over the known world, each bringing gifts.
Solomon acquired vast numbers of horses and chariots which he put in garrison towns built to house them.
In Jerusalem silver was as common as stone and cedar as plentiful as sycamore figs.
All the time Solomon carried out arms trading importing horses and chariots from Egypt and selling them on to the Hittites and Arameans.
The period of Solomon's reign must have been really quiet compared to what had passed before!
Thinking about wedding music - if I did not loathe football as much as I do (which is quite a lot - any soft spot I hold for the game of football is quicksand!) perhaps the match of the day theme??
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