Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Kings 10:1

"And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Jehovah, she came to prove him with hard questions." — 1 Kings 10:1 (ASV)

A question has arisen as to whether the "Queen of Sheba" was an Ethiopian or an Arabian princess. Both countries claim traditions connecting the Queen of Sheba to their history, and interestingly, government by queens was common in both places. However, the claims of Arabia are decidedly stronger. The Arabian Sheba was the great spice country of the ancient world, whereas Ethiopia produced no spices. Additionally, the Arabian Sheba was an important kingdom, while Sheba in Ethiopia was merely a town subject to Meroe.

Furthermore, it is doubtful whether the Cushite Sheba mentioned in Scripture (Genesis 10:7) should not instead be located on the shores of the Persian Gulf (see the note on Genesis 10:7), a place from which no one supposes the Queen of Sheba came. If Ophir is located in Arabia, this provides an additional reason to place Sheba in the same region, because Solomon’s trade with Ophir would then explain how his fame reached the Sabaean princess.

The phrase "the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD" has been explained in various ways and is admittedly very obscure. Could it not mean what we would call his "religious fame," as distinct from his artistic, literary, military, or political fame? In other words, could it refer to "his fame with respect to God and the things of God," or simply "his moral and religious wisdom"? (Compare to 1 Kings 10:6).

Hard questions—Or "riddles" (Judges 14:12), though not exactly riddles in our modern sense. People of the ancient Near East have always been fond of wordplay and of testing each other’s wit and intelligence with various kinds of verbal puzzles. This practice seems to have been particularly common in Solomon’s time, as Josephus records other such contests of wit with Hiram of Tyre and another Tyrian named Abdemonus.