Solomon and Sheba

The film dramatizes the encounter between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. According to the overview, near death King David envisions his poet son Solomon as his successor rather than the hot-headed Adonijah. Adonijah, enraged, leaves court and swears to become king. Other rulers fear Solomon's benevolent rule and interest in monotheism will threaten their own tyrannical, polytheistic kingdoms, and the Queen of Sheba allies with the Egyptian pharaoh to corrupt Solomon. The biblical account in 1 Kings 10 records that the Queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with hard questions, heard his wisdom, saw his kingdom, and exchanged royal gifts.

The story is set in the united monarchy of Israel and centers on Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba. It draws on 1 Kings 10, which describes the visit of the Queen of Sheba, and on the broader narratives of Solomon's reign in 1 Kings 1–11, including the succession from David (in which Adonijah also features) and Solomon's building of the temple and palace in Jerusalem. The film's Solomon stands at the intersection of Israel's royal court, foreign diplomacy, and the international reputation of Israel's God.

The film takes the brief encounter in 1 Kings 10 and expands it with a long political subplot. The overview introduces Adonijah's rivalry for the throne and a foreign conspiracy with the Egyptian pharaoh to corrupt Solomon — elements not present in the 1 Kings 10 account, which focuses on the queen's visit, her hard questions, and her gifts. Viewers may want to notice how the film uses the rivalry between Solomon and Adonijah to frame the visit as a moment of vulnerability for Solomon's reign, and to compare how much of the queen's motivation in the film comes from political alliance rather than the desire to 'prove him with hard questions' described in the passage.

Several specific details in 1 Kings 10:1–12 are worth watching for in any adaptation. The passage says Solomon 'told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from the king which he told her not,' and that after seeing his wisdom, his house, his table, his servants, and the ascent to the house of Jehovah, 'there was no more spirit in her.' The queen also blesses Jehovah and gives Solomon a hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices, and precious stones. The text says nothing about an Egyptian alliance or a war; viewers can compare how the film portrays the queen's response to Solomon against the response recorded in scripture.