1 Kings 10:1-3. On hearing of Solomon's wisdom, the Queen of Sheba comes to visit him with hard questions, a great retinue, camels, and very much gold and precious stones. "[A]nd when she came to Solomon, she she told him all that was on her mind. And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king which he could not explain to her."

I've blogged about this passage before in Impressing the Queen of Sheba, but this time my reading is much shorter and i am questioning my earlier charecterization of the Queen as coming to Solomon with a "fighting spirit." What is making me think differently is how the Queen approached Solomon with hard questions and told him all that was on her mind. So it seems she was honestly questioning things, and was open with Solomon. In other words, it seems she did not come to play "gotcha," trying to trap Solomon and prove that he wasn't nearly as wise as she was told, which is what I was thinking before. No, she genuinely had things that she didn't understand and was looking for answers. She may have been wary, not fully trusting that Solomon could not answer these things, but she at least approached him with an open mind and with respect. And Solomon answered her - there was nothing hidden from him that he could not explain to her.

This was the Holy Spirit speaking through Solomon to the Queen. The Holy Spirit is Wisdom. Solomon was wise, yes, but it was not his doing. He asked for that gift from God and God gave it to him. Thus, the Holy Spirit was within him, giving him wisdom and understanding and the right words to say in the right situation. If the Queen of Sheba had been false with Solomon, trying to trick him, then I imagine the Spirit would not have given Solomon the same words to say, the true answers to all of the Queen's questions. Instead, Solomon probably would have told the queen what she needed to hear - that she was there under false pretenses and not deserving of his wisdom.

The Queen of Sheba's honesty and open-mindedness thus won her an audience with the Spirit of Wisdom, and gained her true answers to her questions.