Curiosity for the journey

I was reading the Dummies book, "Women in the Bible for Dummies," and came across this: "There is much speculation about the actual identity of the Queen of Sheba, because she is never mentioned by her proper name. In fact, she's probably the most famous unnamed woman in the Bible. Some scholars speculate that she may have actually been Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt, Queen Makeda of Ethiopia, or Queen Balkis of Abyssinia. . .

"We meet the Queen of Sheba as a brave woman who travels 1,200 miles by camel caravan to see the famous King Solomon the Wise. Although the rulers send ambassadors and emissaries to visit the king of Israel, the Queen of Sheba insists on visiting him herself. This is no mere state visit, though. She comes seeking wisdom and Solomon has by this time been identified as the world's wisest man. The Queen of Sheba is indeed a true philosopher (from the Greek, philo sophia, meaning lover of wisdom)."

Jesus says in Matthew 12:42.[42] The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

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II Chronicles 9:9 says, [9] And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon.

"The spices and gums used in the Jewish worship were found in the desert of Arabia and in the mountains of Palestine," writes Cora MacIlravey in her 1916 Bible commentary. "With much labor were they gathered in far regions; and through many dangers did the merchantman bring them home. It was a long, arduous, dangerous undertaking, but there was great wealth in even one cargo of those spices and powders . . .

"Not only is she traveling home in this wonderful Chariot, but He has given her a commission to fulfill upon the journey. As He is, so is she in the world. As He brought home to His Father mountains of spices and fragrance, so has He appointed her to bring home a precious cargo of spices and incense, of perfumes, which, as a merchantman in a far country, she must gather in the wilderness of this world . . .

"The most precious and inspiring feature of this wilderness journey, is that it is only in the desert the costly spices and gums are found.

"The pure gums do not come forth from the tree until it is pierced; so it is with the saints of God, only as they are pierced and bruised, are the precious attributes of Jesus Christ manifested to the glory of God, and to the edification of those about them.

"As the spices are not found in the fertile plains, neither are the graces and fruit of the Spirit perfected in the smooth places, but in the rough places.We are to count it all joy that, while here in the wilderness, we can suffer for Christ's sake."

(new article tomorrow)