Matthew 12:42

“ The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.”

The same applies to the queen of the south. She too will rise up (egeiro) in the judgment, either along with this generation, or possibly in opposition to it, and she will condemn it. For while they have Jesus on their very doorstep, she took a long journey so as to hear the wisdom of Solomon (as the Canaanite woman will to some extent later - Matthew 15:22). And yet now a greater than Solomon is here, something that they can judge for themselves by comparing His teaching with Solomon's. Solomon provided pithy wisdom, Jesus brings life-giving truth. Note that resurrection is inherent in the passage although nowhere emphasised. It is the fact that the Son of Man must die that is stressed. But the implication of His resurrection is undoubted, both in what happened to Jonah, and in what will occur at the resurrection of the Ninevites and the queen of the south.

For ‘from the ends of the earth' compare 1 Kings 10:24. Both were Jewish idioms thinking in terms of the world of their day. See also Psalms 59:13.

It cannot be accidental that Jesus selects two Gentile responses as His examples. In Matthew 11:20 He had condemned the towns of Israel, in Matthew 12:17 He had made clear the Servant's interest in ‘the nations'. Now He commends the Gentiles who had in the past responded to God. In contrast with unbelieving Israel, they will be confessed before His Father (Matthew 10:32). He is preparing His way for His Gentile ministry (as He had from the beginning - Luke 4:24).

It will be noted that in Luke 11:29, in an apparently later context, Luke reports sayings similar to this, but they are so differently presented that they must clearly be seen as Jesus' summary of what He said here repeated to the crowds. His repetition to the crowds (who no doubt would also have loved signs) indicates how unreasonable He saw the attitude of the Scribes and Pharisees to be. See also Matthew 16:1.