1 Kings 4 commentary

In the choice of the great officers of Solomon's court, no doubt, his wisdom appeared. Several are the same that were in his father's time. A plan was settled by which no part of the country was exhausted to supply his court, though each sent its portion.

Never did the crown of Israel shine so bright, as when Solomon wore it. He had peace on all sides. Herein, his kingdom was a type of the Messiah's; for to Him it is promised that he shall have the heathen for his inheritance, and that princes shall worship him. The spiritual peace, and joy, and holy security, of all the faithful subjects of the Lord Jesus, were typified by that of Israel. The kingdom of God is not, as Solomon's was, meat and drink, but, what is infinitely better, righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The vast number of his attendants, and the great resort to him, are shown by the provision daily made. Herein Christ far outdoes Solomon, that he feeds all his subjects, not with the bread that perishes, but with that which endures to eternal life.

Solomon's wisdom was more his glory than his wealth. He had what is here called largeness of heart, for the heart is often put for the powers of the mind. He had the gift of utterance, as well as wisdom. It is very desirable, that those who have large gifts of any kind, should have large hearts to use them for the good of others. What treasures of wisdom and knowledge are lost! But every sort of knowledge that is needful for salvation is to be found in the holy Scriptures. There came persons from all parts, who were more eager after knowledge than their neighbours, to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Solomon was herein a type of Christ, in whom are hid all treasures of wisdom and knowledge; and hid for us, for he is made of God to us, wisdom. Christ's fame shall spread through all the earth, and men of all nations shall come to him, learn of him, and take upon them his easy yoke, and find rest for their souls.

CHAPTER 4

1Ki 4:1-6. Solomon's Princes.

1. So King Solomon was king over all Israel--This chapter contains a general description of the state and glory of the Hebrew kingdom during the more flourishing or later years of his reign.

2. these were the princes--or chief officers, as is evident from two of them marrying Solomon's daughters.

Azariah the son of Zadok the priest--rather, "the prince," as the Hebrew word frequently signifies (Ge 41:45; Ex 2:16; 2Sa 8:18); so that from the precedency given to his person in the list, he seems to have been prime minister, the highest in office next the king.

3. scribes--that is, secretaries of state. Under David, there had been only one [2Sa 8:17; 20:25]. The employment of three functionaries in this department indicates either improved regulations by the division of labor, or a great increase of business, occasioned by the growing prosperity of the kingdom, or a more extensive correspondence with foreign countries.

recorder--that is, historiographer, or annalist--an office of great importance in Oriental courts, and the duties of which consisted in chronicling the occurrences of every day.

4. Benaiah ... was over the host--formerly captain of the guard. He had succeeded Joab as commander of the forces.

Zadok and Abiathar were the priests--Only the first discharged the sacred functions; the latter had been banished to his country seat and retained nothing more than the name of high priest.

5. over the officers--that is, the provincial governors enumerated in 1Ki 4:17-19.

principal officer, and the king's friend--perhaps president of the privy council, and Solomon's confidential friend or favorite. This high functionary had probably been reared along with Solomon. That he should heap those honors on the sons of Nathan was most natural, considering the close intimacy of the father with the late king, and the deep obligations under which Solomon personally lay to the prophet.

6. Ahishar was over the household--steward or chamberlain of the palace.

Adoniram--or Adoram (2Sa 20:24; 1Ki 12:18), or Hadoram (2Ch 10:18),

was over the tribute--not the collection of money or goods, but the levy of compulsory laborers (compare 1Ki 5:13, 14).

1Ki 4:7-21. His Twelve Officers.

7. Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel--The royal revenues were raised according to the ancient, and still, in many parts, existing usage of the East, not in money payments, but in the produce of the soil. There would be always a considerable difficulty in the collection and transmission of these tithes (1Sa 8:15). Therefore, to facilitate the work, Solomon appointed twelve officers, who had each the charge of a tribe or particular district of country, from which, in monthly rotation, the supplies for the maintenance of the king's household were drawn, having first been deposited in "the store cities" which were erected for their reception (1Ki 9:19; 2Ch 8:4, 6).

8. The son of Hur--or, as the Margin has it, Benhur, Bendekar. In the rural parts of Syria, and among the Arabs, it is still common to designate persons not by their own names, but as the sons of their fathers.

21. Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river--All the petty kingdoms between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean were tributary to him. Similar is the statement in 1Ki 4:24.

22-23. Solomon's provision for one day--not for the king's table only, but for all connected with the court, including, besides the royal establishment, those of his royal consorts, his principal officers, his bodyguards, his foreign visitors, &c. The quantity of fine floor used is estimated at two hundred forty bushels; that of meal or common flour at four hundred eighty. The number of cattle required for consumption, besides poultry and several kinds of game (which were abundant on the mountains) did not exceed in proportion what is needed in other courts of the East.

24. from Tiphsah--that is, Thapsacus, a large and flourishing town on the west bank of the Euphrates, the name of which was derived from a celebrated ford near it, the lowest on that river.

even to Azzah--that is, Gaza, on the southwestern extremity, not far from the Mediterranean.

25. every man under his vine and ... fig tree--This is a common and beautiful metaphor for peace and security (Mi 4:4; Zec 3:10), founded on the practice, still common in modern Syria, of training these fruit trees up the walls and stairs of houses, so as to make a shady arbor, beneath which the people sit and relax.

26. forty thousand stalls--for the royal mews (see on 2Ch 9:25).

28. Barley ... and straw--Straw is not used for litter, but barley mixed with chopped straw is the usual fodder of horses.

dromedaries--one-humped camels, distinguished for their great fleetness.

1Ki 4:29-34. His Wisdom.

29. God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart--that is, high powers of mind, great capacity for receieving, as well as aptitude for communicating knowledge.

30. Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country--that is, the Arabians, Chaldeans, and Persians (Ge 25:6).

all the wisdom of Egypt--Egypt was renowned as the seat of learning and sciences, and the existing monuments, which so clearly describe the ancient state of society and the arts, show the high culture of the Egyptian people.

31. wiser than all men--that is, all his contemporaries, either at home or abroad.

than Ethan--or Jeduthun, of the family of Merari (1Ch 6:44).

Heman--(1Ch 15:17-19)--the chief of the temple musicians and the king's seers (1Ch 25:5); the other two are not known.

the sons of Mahol--either another name for Zerah (1Ch 2:6); or taking it as a common noun, signifying a dance, a chorus, "the sons of Mahol" signify persons eminently skilled in poetry and music.

32. he spake three thousand proverbs--embodying his moral sentiments and sage observations on human life and character.

songs ... a thousand and five--Psalm 72, 127, 132, and the Song of Songs are his.

33. he spake of trees, from the cedar ... to the hyssop--all plants, from the greatest to the least. The Spirit of God has seen fit to preserve comparatively few memorials of the fruits of his gigantic mind. The greater part of those here ascribed to him have long since fallen a prey to the ravages of time, or perished in the Babylonish captivity, probably because they were not inspired.

These were the princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok the priest - These were his great, chief, or principal men. None of them were princes in the common acceptation of the word.

Elihoreph and Ahiah - scribes - Secretaries to the king.

Jehoshaphat - recorder - Historiographer to the king, who chronicled the affairs of the kingdom. He was in this office under David see 2Sam 20:24.

Azariah - was over the officers - He had the superintendence of the twelve officers mentioned below; see 1Kgs 4:7.

Zabud - was principal officer - Perhaps what we call premier, or prime minister.

The king's friend - His chief favourite - his confidant.

Ahishar was over the household - The king's chamberlain.

Adoniram - was over the tribute - What we call chancellor of the exchequer. He received and brought into the treasury all the proceeds of taxes and tributes. He was in this office under David; see 2Sam 20:24.

Twelve officers - The business of these twelve officers was to provide daily, each for a month, those provisions which were consumed in the king's household; see 1Kgs 4:22, 1Kgs 4:23. And the task for such a daily provision was not an easy one.

Threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars - These were fortified cities: their gates and bars covered with plates of brass. Such were the gates in Priam's palace: -

Ipse inter primos correpta dura bipenni

Limina perrumpit, Postes que a cardine vellit

Aeratos. Virg. Aen., lib. ii. ver. 479.

Fierce Pyrrhus in the front, with forceful sway,

Plied the huge axe, and hew'd the beams away;

The solid timbers from the portal tore,

And rent from every hinge the Brazen door.

Pitt.

Eating and drinking, and making merry - They were very comfortable, very rich, very merry, and very corrupt. And this full feeding and dissipation led to a total corruption of manners.

Solomon reigned over all kingdoms - The meaning of this verse appears to be, that Solomon reigned over all the provinces from the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, even to the frontiers of Egypt. The Euphrates was on the east of Solomon's dominions; the Philistines were westward on the Mediterranean sea; and Egypt was on the south. Solomon had, therefore, as tributaries, the kingdoms of Syria, Damascus, Moab, and Ammon, which lay between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean. See Calmet. Thus he appears to have possessed all the land that God covenanted with Abraham to give to his posterity.

Solomon's provision for one day: -

Of fine flour 30 measures, or cors. Of meal 60 ditto. Stall-fed oxen 10 Ditto from the pasture 20 Sheep 100; with harts, roebucks, fallow deer, and fat fowls. The כר cor was the same as the homer, and contained nearly seventy-six gallons, wine measure, according to Bishop Cumberland.

Sheep - צאן tson, comprehending both sheep and goats.

Harts - מאיל meaiyal, the deer.

Roebucks - צבי tsebi, the gazal, antelope, or wild goat.

Fallow deer - יחמור yachmur, the buffalo. See the notes on Deu 12:15; Deu 14:5.

Fatted fowl - ברברים אבוסים barburim abusim, I suppose, means all the wild fowls in season during each month. Michaelis derives ברברים barburim from ברא bara, which in Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, signifies a field, a desert; all that is without the cities and habitations of men: hence חיות ברא cheyvath bara, wild beasts, Dan 2:38, תור בר tor bar, wild bull; and therefore barburim may signify creatures living in the fields, woods, and deserts, which are taken by hunting, and opposed to those which are domesticated; and, consequently, may include beasts as well as fowls. Many have translated the word capons; but, query, was any such thing known among the ancient Jews? Solomon's table, therefore, was spread with all the necessaries and delicacies which the house or the field could afford.

But how immense must the number of men have been who were fed daily at the palace of the Israelitish king! Vilalpandus computes the number to be not less than forty-eight thousand, six hundred; and Calvisius makes, by estimation from the consumption of food, fifty-four thousand! These must have included all his guards, each of whom received a ration from the king's store.

Every man under his vine - They were no longer obliged to dwell in fortified cities for fear of their enemies; they spread themselves over all the country, which they everywhere cultivated; and had always the privilege of eating the fruits of their own labors. This is the meaning of the phrase.

Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses - and twelve thousand horsemen - In 2Chr 9:25, instead of forty thousand stalls, we read four thousand; and even this number might be quite sufficient to hold horses for twelve thousand horsemen; for stalls and stables may be here synonymous. In 1Kgs 10:26 it is said he had one thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; and this is the reading in 2Chr 1:14. In 2Chr 9:25, already quoted, instead of forty thousand stalls for horses, the Septuagint has τεσσαρες χιλιαδες θηλειαι ἱπποι, four thousand mares; and in this place the whole verse is omitted both by the Syriac and Arabic. In the Targum of Rabbi Joseph on this book we have ארבע מאה arba meah, four hundred, instead of the four thousand in Chronicles, and the forty thousand in the text. From this collation of parallel places we may rest satisfied that there is a corruption in the numbers somewhere; and as a sort of medium, we may take for the whole four thousand stalls, one thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

And dromedaries - The word רכש rechesh, which we translate thus, is rendered beasts, or beasts of burden, by the Vulgate; mares by the Syriac and Arabic; chariots by the Septuagint; and race-horses by the Chaldee. The original word seems to signify a very swift kind of horse, and race-horse or post-horse is probably its true meaning. To communicate with so many distant provinces, Solomon had need of many animals of this kind.

God gave Solomon wisdom, etc. - He gave him a capacious mind, and furnished him with extraordinary assistance to cultivate it.

Even as the sand that is on the sea-shore - Lord Bacon observes on this: "As the sand on the sea-shore encloses a great body of waters, so Solomon's mind contained an ocean of knowledge." This is a happy and correct illustration.

The children of the east country - That is the Chaldeans, Persians, and Arabians, who, with the Egyptians, were famed for wisdom and knowledge through all the world.

He was wiser than all men - He was wiser than any of those who were most celebrated in his time, among whom were the four after mentioned, viz., Ethan, Heman, Chalcol, and Darda. Ethan was probably the same as is mentioned in some of the Psalms, particularly Psa 89:1, title; and among the singers in 1Chr 6:42. There is a Heman mentioned in the title to Psa 88:1. In 1Chr 2:6 we have all the four names, but they are probably not the same persons, for they are there said to be the sons of Zerah, and he flourished long before Solomon's time.

Some suppose that בני מחול beney machol should be rendered masters of dancing or music, as מחול machol signifies not only a dance or choir, but also an instrument of music of the pipe kind. Perhaps a reference is here made to Solomon's skill in music and poetry, as he is compared to persons who appear to have been eminent poets and musicians.

He spake three thousand proverbs - The book of Proverbs, attributed to Solomon, contain only about nine hundred or nine hundred and twenty-three distinct proverbs; and if we grant with some that the first nine chapters are not the work of Solomon, then all that can be attributed to him is only about six hundred and fifty.

Of all his one thousand and five songs or poems we have only one, the book of Song of Solomon, remaining, unless we include Psa 127:1-5, Except the Lord build the house, etc., which in the title is said to be by or for him, though it appears more properly to be a psalm of direction, left him by his father David, relative to the building of the temple.

He spake of trees - beasts - fowl - creeping things, and of fishes - This is a complete system of natural history, as far as relates to the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and the first intimation we have of any thing of the kind: Solomon was probably the first natural historian in the world.

O, how must the heart of Tournefort, Ray, Linne, Buffon, Cuvier, Swammerdam, Blosch, and other naturalists, be wrung, to know that these works of Solomon are all and for ever lost! What light should we have thrown on the animal and vegetable kingdoms, had these works been preserved! But the providence of God has not thought fit to preserve them, and succeeding naturalists are left to invent the system which he probably left perfect. If there be any remains of his wisdom, they must be sought among the orientals, among whom his character is well known, and rates as high as it does with either Jews or Christians. I shall give some extracts from their works relative to Solomon when I come to consider his character at the end of 1Kgs 11:43.

There came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon - We learn from 1 Kings 10, that the queen of Sheba was one of those visitants, and perhaps the most remarkable, as we have the particulars of her visit, but not of the others.

It is astonishing that of a person so renowned for wisdom, so little should be left to prove the truth of a fact of which all the civilized nations of the world have heard, and of which scarcely any man has ever doubted. The people that came from all kings of the earth were probably ambassadors, who came to form and maintain friendship between their sovereigns and the Israelitish king. We cannot understand the place as speaking of people who, either through an idle or laudable curiosity, came to see and converse with Solomon; to give free access to such people would ill comport with the maintenance of his dignity.

SO king Solomon was king over all Israel .

This is spoken with respect to his Successors, who were Kings onely over a part, and that the smallest part of it. Or, in reference to the times of Division and Rebellion under David; when part went after David, and part after Ishbosheth; or part after Absalom, or Zeba, or Adonijah: but now all Israel were united under Solomon, and adhered to him, not onely a part of them; especially since the death of Adonijah and Ioab (who may be suspected to have watched an opportunity of revolting), and the confinement of Abiathar, and of Shimei (if not his death also) who could now have little or no interest or opportunity of setting up a party against Solomon (their principals being taken away, to whom they were but accessaries); nor in probability, any design to attempt it.

2 And these were the princes which he had , Azariah the son of Zadok , the priest ,

i. e. The chief Rulers or Officers belonging to him.

Or, the Grand-son, by comparing this with 1 Chron. 6. 8, 9.

Either Zadok the Priest, 1 Chron. 6. 8, 9. or some other of that name.

So he was the second Priest, or the Priest that attended upon Solomon's person in Holy Offices and Administrations. But when this Sacred Writer professeth to give an account of Solomon's Princes, Why should he put the second Priest, or Solomon's Domestick Priest, in the first place? Or, why should he be mentioned distinctly from his Father, who was generally present with Solomon, and could easily, either by himself, or some other fit person or persons appointed by him, manage all the Kings Sacred concerns? Or, why is he named before his Father? Others therefore render this Hebrew word, Prince, as it is used, Gen. 41. 45. and 47. 22, 26. Exod. 2. 16. 2 Sam. 8. 18. So he was either the chief in Dignity, the first Prince, and the highest Officer in the State next to the King: or the chief Minister of State, by whom the great Affairs of State were managed and prepared for the Kings consideration, &c.

Marginal references: Or, the chief officer.

3 Elihoreph, and Ahiah the sons of Shisha, scribes : Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud the recorder .

i. e. Secretaries of State. He chose two, whereas David had but one: either, because he observed some inconveniencies in trusting all those matters in one hand: or, because he had now much more employment than David had, this being a time of great Peace and Prosperity, and his Empire enlarged, and his correspondencies with Foreign Princes more frequent.

Of which see on 2 Sam. 8. 16.

Marginal references: Or, secretaries.; Or, remembrancer.

4 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, was over the host: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests .

i. e. The High-Priests, to wit, successively, first Abiathar, and then Zadok. Quest. Why is Abiathar named when he was deposed? Ans. First, Because it is ordinary for persons to retain the Names and Titles of those places which in reallity they have lost. Secondly, Because though he was deposed from the High-Priesthood, yet he was a Priest and the Chief of one of the Priestly Families: and as Zadok was joyntly named with Abiathar when Abiathar alone was the High-Priest, as 2 Sam. 8. 17. and 20. 25▪ so now Zadok and Abiathar are joyned, although the High-Priesthood was rested in Zadok alone. Thirdly, Possibly Abiathar, though he was deposed from the Supreme Priesthood, yet upon his serious repentance, and by the intercession of his Friends, was restored to the execution of the Priestly Office, and put into that place which Zadok enjoyed when Abiathar was High-Priest. Fourthly, Some say that here is mention made of all Solomon's Chief Officers, both such as now were, and such as had been, and such as were afterwards, as they gather from v. 11. and 15. where two persons are named who Married two of Solomon's Daughters, which could not be till many Years after this time.

5 And Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers : and Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer , and the kings friend .

Or, Overseers, or Surveyors, to wit, over those twelve Officers named ver. 7, &c. where this Hebrew word is used, who were all subject, and to give up their accounts to him. Though the word signifies any Governors or Commanders of the higher sort, as 1 King. 5. 16. 2 Chron. 8. 10.

The Prophet, who had been so highly instrumental in Solomon's Establishment in the Throne.

Possibly, President of the Kings Council. The Hebrew word is Cohen, which ver. 2. is rendred Priest, whence some read this place thus: Zabud the son of Nathan the Priest, or the Minister (as the word properly signifies, and that Title well enough agrees to a Prophet, or the Prince: for the Prophet Nathan was a man considerable both for his quality, and for his honour and esteem with the King), was the kings friend.

Either his special favourite, both for his Fathers sake and for his own, having, it seems, been brought up with him: or, his confident, with whom he used to communicate his most secret counsels

6 And Abishar was over the houshold : and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the tribute .

Steward of the Kings Houshold.

To wit, the personal Tribute, or the Levy of men, as appears by comparing this with chap. 5. 13, 14. it being very sit that there should be some one person to whom the chief conduct or inspection of that great business was committed.

Marginal references: Chap. 5. 14.; Or, levy.

8 And these are their names: the son of Hur in mount Ephraim.

This and others of them are denominated from their Fathers, because they were known and famous in their generation.

Marginal references: Or, Ben-h[illegible: 1+ letters].

9 The son of Dekar in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Bethshemesh, and Elon-Beth-hanan .

Or, Elon, the house or dwelling place of Hanan; and Hanan may be a mans name, and this place may be so differenced from other Elons. Or, the plain (for so the Hebrew word signifies) of Beth-hanan.

Marginal references: Or, Bendeka[illegible: 1+ letters].

10 The son of Hesed in Aruboth, to him pertained Sochoh , and all the land of Hepher .

There were two Sochohs, but both near together. See Ios. 15. 35, 48.

In Iudah. See 1 Chron. 4. 6.

Marginal references: Or, Ben-hesed.

11 The son of Abinadab in all the region of Dor , which had Taphath the daughter of Solo-mon to wife.

In Manasseh within Iordan, where also were Tamach, Megiddo, and Bethshean, v. 12.

Marginal references: Or, Ben-a[illegible: 1+ letters] nadab.

12 Baana the son of Ahilud, to him pertained Taanach, and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel , from Beth-shean to Abel-Meholah, even unto the place that is beyond Jockneam.

Which was in Issachar. And this seems added to distinguish it from that Zartanah, Ios. 3. 16.

13 The son of Geber in Ramoth Gilead , to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead: to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars .

Ramoth in the Land of Gilead, Deut. 4. 43. Ios. 20. 8. 1 King. 22. 3. so called to difference it from Ramoth in Issachar, 1 Chr. 6. 73.

In Manasseh beyond Iordan. See Numb. 32. 41. Deut. 3. 14.

This is added by way of distinction from those Towns of Iair. For being without Iordan, they were liable to the attempts of their Enemies.

Marginal references: Or, Ben-[illegible: 1 word].

14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo had Mahanaim .

The City and Territory of Mahanaim: of which see Gen. 32. 2. Ios. 13. 26. But this seems too narrow a compass for one of these great Officers, and unequal to the rest: although these portions seem not to be distributed into equal portions of Land, but into larger or lesser parts, according to their fertility or barrenness. And this seems to have been a very fruitful place. See 2 Sam. 17. 27. Or, to Mahanaim. So he may understand all the space from the parts last mentioned to Mahanaim, which was in the Tribe of Gad.

Marginal references: Or, to [illegible: 1+ letters] naim.

18 Shimei the son of Elah , in Benjamin.

Which he adds to distinguish him from that cursed and cursing Shimei, 2 Sam. 16. 5.

19 Geber the son of Uri was in the countrey of Gilead , in the countrey of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan: and he was the onely officer which was in the land .

i. e. In the remaining part of that Land of Gilead, which was mentioned above, v. 19.

Or rather, in that land, for the Hebrew points intimate that the emphatical Article is there understood, to wit, in all Gilead, excepting the parcels mentioned before, in all the Territories of Sihon and Og; which because they were of large extent, and yet all committed to this one man, it is here noted concerning him as his priviledge above the rest, whose Jurisdictions were of a narrower extent.

21 And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms, from the river unto the land of the Philistines , and unto the border of Egypt : they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.

Euphrates: for so far David, having conquered the Syrians, extended his Empire, which Solomon also maintained in that extent. And so Gods promise concerning the giving of the whole Land, as far as Euphrates, to the Israelites, was fulfilled. And, if the Israelites had multiplied so much that the Land of Canaan would not suffice them, having Gods grant of all the Land as far as Euphrates, they might have seized upon it whensoever occasion required.

Which is to be understood inclusively; for it is unreasonable to think that the Philistines were not within Solomon's dominion.

Unto the River Sihor, which was the border between Egypt and Canaan, Ios. 13. 3. Compare Gen. 15. 18.

By Tribute, or other ways, as he needed and required.

22 ¶ And Solomons provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and three score measures of meal ,

Heb. Cors: each of which contained ten Ephah's, Exod. 16. 36. So this Provision was sufficient for near three thousand persons.

Of a courser sort for common use, and for the inferior sort.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters]eb. bread.; Heb. Cor[illegible: 1+ letters].

23 Ten fat oxen , and twenty oxen out of the pastures , and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and ro-bucks, and fallow▪ deer, and fatted fowl.

Fatted in stalls.

Well fleshed, tender and good, though not so fa[illegible: 1+ letters] as the former.

24 For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river : and he had peace on all sides round about him.

Either that Tiphsah, 2 King. 15. 16. which was in the Kingdom of Israel within Iordan. Or, rather, another place of that name upon the river now mentioned, to wit, Eu [illegible: 1+ letters]ates, even that eminent City which is mentioned by Ptolemy, and Strabo, and Pliny, called Thapsarum. And this best agrees with the following Azzah, which was the border of Canaan in the South and West, Gen. 10. 19. Deut. 2. 23. as Tiphsab was in the North and East. And so his Dominion is described by both its borders.

Who owned subjection, and payed Tribute to him.

25 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree , from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

Enjoying the fruit of his own labours with safety and comfort. Under these two Trees, which were most used and cultivated by the Israelites, he understands all other Fruitbearing Trees, and all other comforts, by a Synecdoche. And they are brought in as sitting or dwelling under these Trees, partly for recreation or delight in the shade; and partly, for the comfort or advantage of the Fruit; and withal, to note their great security, not onely in their strong Cities, but even in the Country, where the Vines and Figtrees grew, which were most open to the incursions of their Enemies.

Marginal references: Heb. confidently.; [illegible: 1 word]. 4. 4.

26 ¶ And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his charets , and twelve thousand horsemen .

In 2 Chron. 9. 25. it is but four thousand. Ans. First, Some acknowledge an error of the Transcriber, writing arbal[illegible: 1+ letters]m, forty, for arbah, four, which was an easie mistake. And such mistakes in some Copies, in these lesser matters, God might permit, for the trial and exercise of our Faith, without any prejudice to the Authority of the Sacred Scriptures in the great Doctrines of Faith and good life. Secondly, It is not exactly the same Hebrew word which is here and there, though we Translate both stalls; and therefore there may well be allowed some difference in the signification, the one signifying properly stables, of which there were 4000, the other stalls or partitions for each Horse, which were 40000. Which great number seems directly forbidden, Deut. 17. 16. except Solomon had some particular dispensation from God, which might be, though it be not Recorded.

Both for his Military Charets, which seem to be those 1400, 1 King. 10. 26. and for divers other uses, as about his great and various Buildings, and Merchandises, and other occasions, which might require some thousands of other Charets.

Appointed partly for the defence and preservation of his People in peace; and partly, for attendance upon his Person, and for the Splendor of his Government. Compare chap. 10. 26. But the words may be otherwise rendred, and 12000 horses, for Parash manifestly signifies both an horse and horsemen. And these might be a better [illegible: 1+ letters]ort of Horses than most of those which were designed for the Charets. Or thus, and for (which Particle is easily understood and bortowed from the foregoing clause) 12000 horsemen: and so he means that the 40000 Horses were in part appointed for his Charets, and in part for his 12000 Horsemen.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters] Chr. 9. 25.

27 And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomons table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing .

Named above, v. 7, &c.

Or rather, they suffered nothing to be lacking to any man that came thither, but plentifully provided all things necessary.

28 Barley also and straw for the horses, and dromedaries , brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.

Or, Mules, by comparing this with 2 Chron. 9. 24. or, Post-Horses: which are particularly mentioned and distinguished from the other Horses, because they took a more exact and particular care about them. Howsoever, it is agreed that these were swift Beasts, which is evident from Esth. 8. 10, 14. Mich. 1. 13.

Marginal references: Or, m[illegible: 1+ letters]es, or, swift beasts.

29 ¶ And God gave Solomon wisdome, and understanding, exceeding much, and largeness of heart , even as the sand that is on the sea shore .

i. e. Either, First, Magnanimity, or generosity and greatness of spirit, whereby he was disposed and emboldened to undertake great things. But this seems not so well to suit with the following resemblance. Or rather, Secondly, Vastness of understanding, a most comprehensive knowledge of all things both Divine and humane: for this Wisdom is the thing for which he is here commended, both in the foregoing and following words.

Which cannot be numbred nor measured; and which, though it be so vast and comprehensive, yet consists of the smallest parts, and so it may note that Solomon's Wisdom was both vast, reaching to all things; and most accurate, searching and discerning every small thing.

30 And Solomons wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east countrey , and all the wisdom of Egypt .

The Caldaeans, Persians, and Arabians, who all lay Eastward from Canaan, and who were famous in ancient times for their Wisdom and Learning, as appears both from Sacred and Prophane Writers.

i. e. The Egyptians, whose Fame was then great for their Sk[illegible: 1+ letters]ll in the Arts and Sciences, which made them despise the Grecians as Children in knowledge. See Act. 7. 22.

31 For he was wiser than all men : than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman , and Chalcol, and Darda the sons of Mahol : and his fame was in all nations round about.

Either of his Nation: or, of his time: or, of all times and Nations, whether of the East or any other Countrey, excepting onely the first and second Adam.

Israelites of eminent Wisdom, probably the same mentioned, 1 Chron. 2. 6. and 15. 19. and 25. 4. Psal. 88. title and 89. title.

Of whom see 1 Chron. 2. 6.

Obj. All these four were the Sons of Zerah, 1. Chron. 2. 6. or of Ezrah, as others call him. Ans. Either, the same Man had two names, Zerah and Mahol, which was common amongst the Iews; and he might be called Mahol from his office or employment; for that signifies a Dance, or a Pipe; and he was expert in Musical Instruments, and so were his Sons, 1 Chron. 15. 17, 18, 19. who possibly may here be called by a vulgar Ebraism[illegible: 1+ letters], Sons of the Musical Instrument, from their dexterity in handling it, as upon another account we read of the daughters of musick, Eccles. 12. 4.

32 And he spake three thousand proverbs : and his songs were a thousand and five .

i. e. Short, and deep, and useful Sentences, whereof a great and the best part are contained in the Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

Whereof the chief and most Divine are in the Canticles.

33 And he spake of trees , from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall : he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.

i. e. Of all Plants, of their nature and qualities: all which Discourses are lost, without any impeachment of the perfection of the Holy Scriptures; which were not Inspired and Written to teach men Philosophy or Physick, but onely to make men Wise to Salvation. See Ioh. 20. 31. 2 Tim. 3. 16, 17.

i. e. From the greatest to the least.

34 And there came of all people to hear the wisdome of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.

To wit, from all the Neighbouring Kings; universal Particles being frequently understood in a restrained sense; and such restriction is grounded upon the following words, where this is limited to such as heard of Solomon's Wisdom.

Solomon’s Ministers of State. His Regal Splendour and Wisdom

1 Kings 4 contains a list of the chief ministers of state (1Ki 4:2-6), and of the twelve officers placed over the land (1Ki 4:7-20), which is inserted here to give an idea of the might and glory of the kingdom of Israel under Solomon’s reign. So far as the contents are concerned, this list belongs to the middle portion of the reign of Solomon, as we may see from the fact that two of the officers named had daughters of Solomon for their wives (1Ki 4:11, 1Ki 4:15), whom they could not possibly have married till the later years of Solomon’s life.

The Chief Ministers of State. - The list is introduced in 1Ki 4:1 by the general remark, that “king Solomon was king over all Israel.”

1Ki 4:2

The first of the שׂרים, princes, i.e., chief ministers of state or dignitaries, mentioned here is not the commander-in-chief, as under the warlike reign of David (2Sa 8:16; 2Sa 20:23), but, in accordance with the peaceful rule of Solomon, the administrator of the kingdom (or prime minister): “Azariah the son of Zadok was הכּהן,” i.e., not the priest, but the administrator of the kingdom, the representative of the king before the people; like כּהן in v. 5, where this word is interpreted by המּלך רעה, with this difference, however, arising from the article before כּהן, that Azariah was the Kohen par excellence, that is to say, held the first place among the confidential counsellors of the king, so that his dignity was such as befitted the office of an administrator of the kingdom. Compare the explanation of כּהן at 2Sa 8:18. The view of the Vulgate, Luther, and others, which has been revived by Thenius, namely, that כּהן is to be connected as a genitive with בּן־צדוק in opposition to the accents, “Azariah the son of Zadok the priest,” is incorrect, and does not even yield any sense, since the connection of these words with the following Elichoreph, etc., is precluded by the absence of the copula Vav, which would be indispensable if Azariah had held the same office as the two brothers Elichoreph and Achijah.The objection by which Thenius tries to set aside this argument, which has been already advanced by Houbigant, viz., that “if the first (Azariah) was not also a state scribe, the copula would be inserted, as it is everywhere else from v. 4 onwards when a new office is mentioned,” proves nothing at all, because the copula is also omitted in v. 3, where the new office of מזכּיר is introduced.

Moreover, Azariah the son of Zadok cannot be a grandson of Zadok the high priest, i.e., a son of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, as many infer from 1 Chr. 5:34-35 (1Ch 6:8-9); for, apart from the fact that Zadok’s grandson can hardly have been old enough at the time for Solomon to invest him with the chief dignity in the kingdom, which would surely be conferred upon none but men of mature years, we can see no reason why the Azariah mentioned here should not be called the son of Ahimaaz. If the Zadok referred to here was the high priest of that name, Azariah can only have been a brother of Ahimaaz. And there is no real difficulty in the way, since the name Azariah occurs three times in the line of high priests (1 Chr. 5:36, 39), and therefore was by no means rare.

1Ki 4:3 Elichoreph and Achijah, sons of Shisha, who had held the same office under David, were secretaries of state (ספרים: see at 2Sa 8:17 and 2Sa 20:25, where the different names שׁשׁא = שׁיא and שׂריה are also discussed). - Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the chancellor, as he had already been in the time of David (2Sa 8:17 and 2Sa 20:24). The rendering of Thenius, “whilst Jehoshaphat was chancellor,” is grammatically impossible.

1Ki 4:4

On Benaiah, compare 1Ki 2:35 and the Commentary on 2Sa 23:20. On Zadok and Abiathar, see at 2Sa 8:17. It appears strange that Abiathar should be named as priest, i.e., as high priest, along with Zadok, since Solomon had deposed him from the priestly office (1Ki 2:27, 1Ki 2:35), and we cannot imagine any subsequent pardon. The only possible explanation is that proposed by Theodoret, namely, that Solomon had only deprived him of the ἀρχή, i.e., of the priest’s office, but not of the ἱερωσύνη or priestly dignity, because this was hereditary.Τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀφείλατο, ου ̓ τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἐγύμνωσεν· τὴν γὰρ τῆς ἱερωσύνης αξίαν οὐκ ἐκ χειροτονίας ἀλλ ̓ ἐκ γονικῆς εἶχον διαδοχῆς. - Theodoret.

1Ki 4:5 Azariah the son of Nathan was over the נצּבים, i.e., the twelve officers named in vv. 7ff. Zabud the son of Nathan was כּהן (not the son of “Nathan the priest,” as Luther and many others render it). כּהן is explained by the epithet appended, המּלך רעה: privy councillor, i.e., confidential adviser of the king. Nathan is not the prophet of that name, as Thenius supposes, but the son of David mentioned in 2Sa 5:14. Azariah and Zabud were therefore nephews of Solomon.

1Ki 4:6 Ahishar was הבּית על, over the palace, i.e., governor of the palace, or minister of the king’s household (compare 1Ki 16:9; 2Ki 18:18, and Isa 22:15), an office met with for the first time under Solomon. Adoniram, probably the same person as Adoram in 2Sa 20:24, was chief overseer of the tributary service. He was so in the time of David also.

1Ki 4:7

Solomon’s Official Persons and Their Districts. - 1Ki 4:7. Solomon had (appointed) twelve נצּבים over all Israel, who provided (כּלכּלוּ) for the king and his house, i.e., supplied provisions for the necessities of the court. These prefects are not to be regarded as “chamberlains,” or administrators of the royal domains (Michaelis and Ewald), for these are mentioned in 1Ch 27:25. under a different title. They are “general receivers of taxes,” or “chief tax-collectors,” as Rosenmüller expresses it, who levied the king’s duties or taxes, which consisted in the East, as they still do to the present time, for the most part of natural productions, or the produce of the land, and not of money payments as in the West, and delivered them at the royal kitchen (Rosenmüller, A. und N. Morgenland, iii. p. 166). It cannot be inferred from the explanation given by Josephus, ἡγεμόνες καὶ στρατηγοί, that they exercised a kind of government, as Thenius supposes, since this explanation is nothing but a subjective conjecture. “One month in the year was it every one’s duty (אחד על יהיה) to provide.” The districts assigned to the twelve prefects coincide only partially with the territories of the tribes, because the land was probably divided among them according to its greater or smaller productiveness. Moreover, the order in which the districts are enumerated is not a geographical one, but probably follows the order in which the different prefects had to send the natural productions month by month for the maintenance of the king’s court. The description begins with Ephraim in 1Ch 27:8, then passes over in 1Ch 27:9 to the territory of Dan to the west of it, in 1Ch 27:10 to the territory of Judah and Simeon on the south, in 1Ch 27:11 and 1Ch 27:12 to the territory of Manasseh on this side from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, then in vv. 13 and 14 to the territory of Manasseh on the other side of the Jordan, thence back again in vv. 15 and 16 to the northern parts of the land on this side, viz., the territories of Naphtali and Asher, and thence farther south to Issachar in v. 17, and Benjamin in v. 18, closing at last in v. 19 with Gilead.

1Ki 4:8

In the names of the prefects we are struck with the fact, that in the case of five of them the names given are not their own but their fathers’ names. It is very improbable that the proper names should have dropped out five times (as Clericus, Michaelis, and others suppose); and consequently there is simply the assumption left, that the persons in question bore their fathers’ names with Ben prefixed as their own proper names: Benhur, Bendeker, etc., after the analogy of Benchanan in 1Ch 4:20 and others, although such a proper name as Ben-Abinadab (1Ch 4:11) appears very strange. Benhur was stationed on the mountains of Ephraim. These mountains, here only the mountainous district of the tribe of Ephraim, were among the most fruitful portions of Palestine (see at Jos 17:14-15).

1Ki 4:9 Bendeker was in Makaz, a city only mentioned here, the situation of which is unknown, but which is at any rate to be sought for in the tribe of Dan, to which the other cities of this district belong. Shaalbim has probably been preserved in the present Selbit, to the north-west of Yâlo (see at Jos 19:42). Bethshemesh, the present Ain-Shems (see at Jos 15:10). Elon (אילון), which is distinguished from Ajalon (Jos 19:42 and Jos 19:43) by the epithet Bethchanan, and belonged to the tribe of Dan, has not yet been discovered (see at Jos 19:43). The lxx have arbitrarily interpolated ἕως before Bethchanan, and Thenius naturally takes this under his protection, and consequently traces Bethchanan in the village of Beit Hunûn (Rob. Pal. ii. p. 371), but without considering that ἕως yields no reasonable sense unless preceded by מן, ἐκ (from; cf. 1Ki 4:12).

1Ki 4:10 Benhesed was in Arubboth, which does not occur again, so that its situation, even if it should be identical with Arab in Jos 15:52, as Böttcher conjectures, can only be approximatively inferred from the localities which follow. To him (לו), i.e., to his district, belonged Sochoh and all the land of Hepher. From Sochoh we may see that Benhesed’s district was in the tribe of Judah. Of the two Sochohs in Judah, that still exist under the name of Shuweikeh, it is impossible to determine with certainty which is intended here, whether the one upon the mountains (Jos 15:48) or the one in the plain (Jos 15:35). The fact that it is associated with the land of Hepher rather favours the latter. The land of Hepher, which must not be confounded with the city of Gath-hepher in the tribe of Zebulun (Jos 19:13; 2Ki 14:25), but was the territory of one of the Canaanitish kings who were defeated by Joshua, was probably situated in the plain (see at Jos 12:17).

1Ki 4:11 Ben-Abinadab had the whole of the high range of Dor (דּאר נפת, Jos 12:23), i.e., the strip of coast on the Mediterranean Sea below the promontory of Carmel, where the city of Dor, which has been preserved in the village of Tantura or Tortura, nine miles to the north of Caesarea, was situated (see at Jos 11:2). Whether this district embraced the fruitful plain of Sharon is not so clearly made out as Thenius supposes. בּן־אבינדב stands at the head absolutely, without any grammatical connection with כּל־נפת: “Abinadab: the whole of the high range of Dor,” etc. The person named was probably a son of David’s eldest brother but one (1Sa 16:8; 1Sa 17:13), and therefore Solomon’s cousin; and he had married Solomon’s daughter.

1Ki 4:12 Baana the son of Ahilud was most likely a brother of Jehoshaphat the chancellor (1Ki 4:3). This district embraced the cities on the southern edge of the plain of Jezreel, and extended to the Jordan. Taanach and Megiddo, which have been preserved in the villages of Taanuk and Lejun, were situated on the south-western border of this plain, and belonged to the Manassites (see at Jos 12:21; Jos 17:11). “And all Bethshean,” in other words, the whole of the district of Bethshean, i.e., Beisan, at the eastern end of the valley of Jezreel, where it opens into the Jordan valley (Rob. Pal. ii. p. 740ff.), “which (district was situated) by the side of Zarthan below Jezreel, from (the town of) Bethshean (see at Jos 17:11) to Abel-Mecholah, on the other side of Jokmeam.” Zarthan, also called Zereda (compare 1Ki 7:46 with 2Ch 4:17), has probably been preserved, so far as the name is concerned, in Kurn Sartabeh, in the neighbourhood of which the old city probably stood, about five miles to the south of Beisan, at a point where the Jordan valley contracts (see at Jos 3:16). The expression “below Jezreel” refers to “all Bethshean,” and may be explained from the elevated situation of Jezreel, the present Zerîn (see at Jos 19:18). According to Rob. iii. p. 163, this is “comparatively high, and commands a wide and noble view, extending down the broad low valley on the east of Beisan and to the mountains of Ajlun beyond the Jordan.” The following words, “from Bethshean to Abel-Mecholah,” give a more precise definition of the boundary. The lxx have erroneously inserted καὶ before מבּית־שׁאן, and Thenius and Böttcher defend it on the strength of their erroneous interpretations of the preceding statements. Abel-Mecholah was in the Jordan valley, according to the Onomast., ten Roman miles to the south of Beisan (see at Jdg 7:22). The last clause is not quite intelligible to us, as the situation of the Levitical city Jokmeam (1Ch 6:53, or Kibzaim, a different place from the Jokneam on Carmel, Jos 12:22; Jos 21:34) has not yet been discovered (see at Jos 21:22). According to this, Baanah’s district in the Jordan valley did not extend so far as Kurn Sartabeh, but simply to the neighbourhood of Zarthan, and embraced the whole of the tribe-territory of Manasseh on this side of the Jordan.

1Ki 4:13

Bengeber was in Ramoth of Gilead in the tribe of Gad (Jos 20:8), probably on the site of the modern Szalt (see at Deu 4:43). “To him belonged the Havvoth Jair (Jair’s-lives) in Gilead, to him the region of Argob in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and brazen bolts.” If we look at this passage alone, the region of Argob in Bashan appears to be distinct from the Havvoth Jair in Gilead. But if we compare it with Num 32:40-41; Deu 3:4-5, and Deu 3:13, Deu 3:14, and Jos 13:30, it is evident from these passages that the Jair’s-lives are identical with the sixty large and fortified cities of the region of Argob. For, according to Deu 3:4, these sixty fortified cities, with high walls, gates, and bars, were all fortified cities of the kingdom of Og of Bashan, which the Israelites conquered under Moses, and to which, according to Num 32:41, Jair the Manassite, who had conquered them, gave the name of Havvoth Jair. Hence it is stated in Jos 13:30, that the sixty Jair-towns were situated in Bashan. Consequently the אר חבל לו in our verse is to be taken as a more precise definition of וגו יאיר חוּת לו, or a clearer description of the district superintended by Bengeber, so that Gilead is used, as is frequently the case, in the broader sense of Peraea. Compare with this the Commentary on Deu 3:4, Deu 3:13, Deu 3:14, where the names ארגּב and חוּת are explained, and the imaginary discrepancy between the sixty Jair’s-towns in the passages cited, and the twenty-three and thirty cities of Jair in 1Ch 2:22 and Jdg 10:4, is discussed and solved. And when Thenius objects to this explanation on the ground that the villages of Jair cannot be identical with the sixty fortified cities, because villages of nomads and strongly fortified cities could not be one and the same, this objection falls to the ground with the untenable interpretation of חוּת as applying to nomad villages.

1Ki 4:14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo received as his district Mahanaim, a fortified and probably also a very important city to the north of the Jabbok, on the border of the tribe of Gad, which may perhaps have been preserved in the ruin of Mahneh (see at Jos 13:26 and Gen 32:3). מחנימה, to Mahanaim (cf. Ewald, §216, a., note), with ה local, probably referring to the fact that Ahinadab was sent away to Mahanaim.

1Ki 4:15 Ahimaaz, possibly Zadok’s son (2Sa 15:27; 2Sa 17:17.), in Naphtali. This does not denote generally “the most northern portion of the land, say from the northern end of the lake of Gennesaret into Coele-Syria,” as Thenius supposes; for the tribe-territory of Asher, which had a prefect of its own, was not situated to the south-west of Naphtali, but ran along the west of Naphtali to the northern boundary of Canaan (see at Jos 19:24-31). He also (like Ben-Abinadab, 1Ki 4:11) had a daughter of Solomon, Basmath, as his wife.

1Ki 4:16 Baanah the son of Hushai, probably the faithful friend and wise counsellor of David (2Sa 15:32., 1Ki 17:5.), was in Asher and בּעלות, a name quite unknown. If בּ forms part of the word (Baaloth, according to the lxx, Vulg., Syr., and Arab.), we must take it as a district, since the preposition בּ would necessarily have been repeated if a district (Asher) had been connected with a town (Baaloth). In any case, it is not the city of Baaloth in the Negeb of Judah (Jos 15:24) that is intended.

1Ki 4:17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruach, in Issachar; i.e., over the whole of the territory of that tribe in the plain of Jezreel, with the exception of the cities of Taanach, Megiddo, and Bethshean, which were in the southern portion of it, and were allotted to the Manassites, and, according to 1Ki 4:12, were put under the care of Baanah; and not merely in the northern part of Issachar, “with the exception of the plain of Jezreel,” as Thenius erroneously maintains. Zebulun may possibly have also formed part of his district, if not entirely, yet in its southern portion, provided that the northern portion was assigned to Ahimaaz in Naphtali, since Zebulun had no prefect of its own.

1Ki 4:18 Shimei the son of Elah, possibly the one mentioned in 1Ki 1:8, in Benjamin.

1Ki 4:19 Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, i.e., as the apposition “the land of Sihon ... and of Og...” clearly shows, the whole of the Israelitish land on the east of the Jordan, as in Deu 34:1; Jdg 20:1, etc., with the simple exception of the districts placed under Bengeber and Ahinadab (1Ki 4:13 and 1Ki 4:14). אחד נציב, “one president was it who (was) in the land (of Gilead).” נציב cannot signify a military post or a garrison here, as in 1Sa 10:5; 1Sa 13:3, etc., but is equivalent to נצּב, the president (1Ki 4:7). The meaning is, that notwithstanding the great extent of this district, it had only one prefect.

1Ki 4:20

In 1Ki 4:20 the account of Solomon’s officers is closed by a general remark as to the prosperous condition of the whole nation; though we miss the copula Vav at the commencement. The words, “Judah and Israel were numerous as the sand by the sea,” indicate that the promise given to the patriarchs (Gen 22:17, cf. Gen 32:13) had been fulfilled. To this there is appended in 1Ki 5:1 the remark concerning the extent of Solomon’s sway, which prepares the way for what follows, and shows how the other portion of the promise, “thy seed will possess the gates of its enemies,” had been fulfilled. - The first fourteen verses of 1 Kings 5 are therefore connected by the lxx, Vulg., Luther, and others with 1 Kings 4. It is not till 1Ki 5:15 that a new section begins.

1Ki 4:21

Solomon’s Regal Splendour. - 1Ki 4:21. “Solomon was ruler over all the kingdoms from the river (Euphrates) onwards, over the land of the Philistines to the border of Egypt, who brought presents and were subject to Solomon his whole life long.” Most of the commentators supply ועד before פלשׁתּים ארץ (even to the land of the Philistines) after the parallel passage 2Ch 9:26, so that the following גּבוּל ועד would give a more precise definition of the terminus ad quem. But it is by no means probable that ועד, which appears to be indispensable, should have dropped out through the oversight of a copyist, and it is not absolutely necessary to supply it, inasmuch as בּ may be repeated in thought before ארץ פ from the preceding clause. The participle מגּשׁים is construed ad sensum with ממלכות. Bringing presents is equivalent to paying tribute, as in 2Sa 8:2, etc.

Vv. 22-28. The splendour of the court, the consumption in the royal kitchen  (1Ki 4:22-25), and the well-filled stables (1Ki 4:26-28), were such as befitted the ruler of so large a kingdom.

1Ki 4:22-23

The daily consumption of לחם (food or provisions) amounted to thirty cors of fine meal (סלת = חטּים סלת, fine sifted meal, Exo 29:2; for סלת see also Lev 2:2), and sixty cors of קמח, ordinary meal, ten fattened oxen, twenty pasture oxen, which were brought directly from the pasture and slaughtered, and a hundred sheep, beside different kinds of game. כּר, κορός, the later name for חמר, the largest dry and also liquid (1Ki 5:11), measure of capacity, contained ten ephahs or baths, i.e., according to the calculation made by Thenius, 15,300 cubic inches (Dresden) = about 1 7/8 scheffel;The scheffel is about an English sack (vid., Flügel’s Dict.). - Tr. so that ninety cors would amount to 171 scheffel, from which 28,000 lbs. of bread could be baked (Theol. Stud. und Krit. 1846, pp. 132,133). And “if we reckon 2 lbs. of bread to each person, there would be 14,000 persons in Solomon’s court,” The consumption of flesh would be quite in proportion to that of bread; for ten fattened oxen, twenty oxen from the pasture, and a hundred sheep, yield more than 21,000 lbs. of meat, that is to say, a pound and a half for each person, “assuming, according to the statements of those who are acquainted with the matter, that the edible meat of a fat ox amounts to 600 lbs., that of an ox from the pasture to 400 lbs., and that of a sheep to 70 lbs.” (Thenius ut sup.). This daily consumption of Solomon’s court will not appear too great, if, on the one hand, we compare it with the quantity consumed at other oriental courts both of ancient and modern times,According to Athen. Deipnos. iv. 10, the kings of Persia required a thousand oxen a day; and according to Tavernier, in Rosenmüller’s A. u. N. Morgenland, iii. pp. 166,167, five hundred sheep and lambs were slaughtered daily for the Sultan’s court. and if, on the other hand, we bear in mind that not only the numerous attendants upon the king and his harem, but also the royal adjutants and the large number of officers employed about the court, were supplied from the king’s table, and that their families had also to be fed, inasmuch as the wages in oriental courts are all paid in kind. In addition to this, game was also supplied to the king’s table: viz., איּל stags, צבי gazelles, יחמוּר fallow-deer, and אבוּסים בּרבּרים “fattened fowl.” The meaning of אבוּסים is doubtful. The earlier translators render it birds or fowl. Kimchi adopts the rendering “capons;” Tanch. Hieroz. “geese,” so called from their pure (בּרר) white feathers; and both Gesenius and Dietrich (Lex.) decide in favour of the latter. The word must denote some special kind of fowl, since edible birds in general were called צפּרים (Neh 5:18).

1Ki 4:24-25

Solomon was able to appropriate all this to his court, because (כּי) he had dominion, etc.;...and (1Ki 4:25) Israel and Judah enjoyed the blessings of peace during the whole of his reign. הנּהר בּכל־עבר, “over all the other side of the river (Euphrates),” i.e., not the land on the east, but that on the west of the river. This usage of speech is to be explained from the fact that the author of our books, who was living in exile on the other side of the Euphrates, describes the extent of Solomon’s kingdom taking that as his starting-point. Solomon’s power only extended to the Euphrates, from Tiphsach in the north-east to Gaza in the south-west. תּפסח (crossing, from פּסח) is Thapsacus, a large and wealthy city on the western bank of the Euphrates, at which the armies of the younger Cyrus and Alexander crossed the river (Xen. Anab. i. 4; Arrian, Exped. Alex. iii. 7). Gaza, the southernmost city of the Philistines, the present Guzzeh; see at Jos 13:3. The הנּהר עבר מלכי are the kings of Syria who were subjugated by David (2Sa 8:6 and 2Sa 10:19), and of the Philistines (2Sa 8:1). “And he had peace on all sides round about.” This statement does not “most decidedly contradict 1Ki 11:23.,” as Thenius maintains; for it cannot be proved that according to this passage the revolt of Damascus had taken place before Solomon’s reign (Ewald and others; see at 1Ki 11:23.).

1Ki 4:26

This verse is not to be regarded “as a parenthesis according to the intention of the editor,” but gives a further proof of the peace and prosperity which the kingdom and people enjoyed under Solomon. Solomon had a strong force of war chariots and cavalry, that he might be able to suppress every attempt on the part of the tributary kings of Syria and Philistia to revolt and disturb the peace. “Solomon had 4000 racks of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 riding horses,” which were kept partly in Jerusalem and partly in cities specially built for the purpose (1Ki 9:19; 1Ki 10:26; 2Ch 1:14; 2Ch 9:25). ארבּעים (40) is an old copyist’s error for ארבּעה   (4), which we find in the parallel passage 2Ch 9:25, and as we may also infer from 1Ki 10:26 and 2Ch 1:14, since according to these passages Solomon had 1400 רכב or war chariots. For 4000 horses are a very suitable number for 1400 chariots, though not 40,000, since two draught horses were required for every war chariot, and one horse may have been kept as a reserve. ארוה does not mean a team (Ges.), but a rack or box in a stable, from ארה, carpere. According to Vegetius, i. 56, in Bochart (Hieroz. i. p. 112, ed. Ros.), even in ancient times every horse had it own crib in the stable just as it has now. Böttcher (n. ex. Krit. Aehrenl. ii. p. 27) is wrong in supposing that there were several horses, say at least ten, to one rack. מרכּב is used collectively for “chariots.”

1Ki 4:27-28 “And” = a still further proof of the blessings of peace - ”those prefects (1Ki 4:7.) provided for king Solomon, and all who came to the king’s table, i.e., who were fed from the royal table, every one his month (see at 1Ki 4:7), so that nothing was wanting (1Ki 4:28), and conveyed the barley (the ordinary food of cattle in Palestine and the southern lands, where oats are not cultivated) and the straw for the horses and coursers to the place where it ought to be. To שׁם יהיה אשׁר the lxx, Vulg., and others supply המּלך as the subject: wherever the king might stay. This is certainly more in harmony with the imperfect יהיה than it would be to supply הרכשׁ, as Bochart and others propose; still it is hardly correct. For in that case ולרכשׁ לסּוּסים could only be understood as referring to the chariot horses and riding horses, which Solomon kept for the necessities of his court, and not to the whole of the cavalry; since we cannot possibly assume that even if Solomon changed his residence according to the season and to suit his pleasure, or on political grounds, as Thenius supposes, though this cannot by any means be inferred from 1Ki 9:18 and 1Ki 9:19, he took 16,000 horses about with him. But this limitation of the clause is evidently at variance with the context, since ולרכב לסּוּסים too plainly refer back to 1Ki 4:6. Moreover, “if the king were intended, he would certainly have been mentioned by name, as so many other subjects and objects have come between.” For these reasons we agree with Böttcher in taking יהיה indefinitely: “where it (barley and straw) was wanted, according to the distribution of the horses.” רכשׁ probably denotes a very superior kind of horse, like the German Renner (a courser or race-horse). כּמשׁפּטו אישׁ, every one according to his right, i.e., whatever was appointed for him as right.

1Ki 4:29

Solomon’s Wisdom. - 1Ki 4:29. According to His promise in 1Ki 3:12, God gave Solomon wisdom and very much insight and לב רחב, “breadth of heart,” i.e., a comprehensive understanding, as sand by the sea-shore, - a proverbial expression for an innumerable multitude, or great abundance (cf. 1Ki 4:20; Gen 41:49; Jos 11:4, etc.). חכמה signifies rather practical wisdom, ability to decide what is the judicious and useful course to pursue; תּבוּנה, rather keenness of understanding to arrive at the correct solution of difficult and complicated problems; לב רחב, mental capacity to embrace the most diverse departments of knowledge.

1Ki 4:30

His wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the sons of the East, and all the wisdom of the Egyptians. קרם בּני (sons of the East) are generally the Arabian tribes dwelling in the east of Canaan, who spread as far as to the Euphrates (cf. Jdg 6:3, Jdg 6:33; Jdg 7:12; Jdg 8:10; Job 1:3; Isa 11:14, etc.). Hence we find קרם ארץ used in Gen 25:6 to denote Arabia in the widest sense, on the east and south-east of Palestine; whereas in Gen 29:1 קרם בּני ארץ signifies the land beyond the Euphrates, viz., Mesopotamia, and in Num 23:7, קרם הררי, the mountains of Mesopotamia. Consequently by “the sons of the East” we are to understand here primarily the Arabians, who were celebrated for their gnomic wisdom, more especially the Sabaeans (see at 1 Kings 10), including the Idumaeans, particularly the Temanites (Jer 49:7; Oba 1:8); but also, as כּל requires, the Chaldaeans, who were celebrated both for their astronomy and astrology. “All the wisdom of the Egyptians,” because the wisdom of the Egyptians, which was so greatly renowned as almost to have become proverbial (cf. Isa 19:11; Isa 31:2, and Act 7:22; Joseph. Ant. viii. 2, 5; Herod. ii. 160), extended over the most diverse branches of knowledge, such as geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and astrology (Diod. Sic. i. 73 and 81), and as their skill in the preparation of ointments from vegetable and animal sources, and their extensive acquaintance with medicine, clearly prove, embraced natural science as well, in which Solomon, according to 1Ki 4:33, was very learned.

1Ki 4:31 “He was wiser than all men (of his time), than Ethan the Ezrachite and Heman, Chalcol and Darda, the sons of Machol.” These four persons are most probably the same as the “sons of Zerach” (Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara) mentioned in 1Ch 2:6, since the names perfectly agree, with the exception of דּרע for דּרדּע, where the difference is no doubt attributable to a copyist’s error; although, as the name does not occur again, it cannot be decided whether Dara or Darda is the correct form. Heman and Ethan are also called Ezrachites (האזרחי) in Psa 88:1 and Psa 89:1; and אזרחי is another form of זרחי, the name of the family of Zerach the son of Judah (Num 26:13, Num 26:20), lengthened by א prosthet. But they were both Levites - Heman a Korahite of the line of Kohath and a grandson of Samuel (1Ch 6:18-19), and Ethan a Merarite (1Ch 6:29-32; 1Ch 15:17) and the president of the Levitical vocal choirs in the time of David (1Ch 15:19); and Heman was also “the king’s seer in the words of God” (1Ch 25:5). Their Levitical descent is not at variance with the epithet Ezrachite. For as the Levite in Jdg 17:7 is spoken of as belonging to the family of Judah, because he dwelt in Bethlehem of Judah, and as Samuel’s father, Elkanah the Levite, is called an Ephraimite in 1Sa 1:1, because in his civil capacity he was incorporated into the tribe of Ephraim, so Heman and Ethan are called Ezrachites because they were incorporated into the Judaean family of Zerach. It by no means follows from 1Ch 2:6 that they were lineal descendants of Zerach. The whole character of the genealogical fragment contained in 1Ch 2:6. shows very clearly that it does not give the lineal posterity of Zerach with genealogical exactness, but that certain persons and households of that family who had gained historical renown are grouped together without any more precise account of their lineal descent. Calcol and Darda (or Dara) are never met with again. It is no doubt to these two that the expression מחול בּני refers, though it cannot be determined whether מחול is a proper name or an appellative noun. In support of the appellative meaning, “sons of the dance,” in the sense of sacras choreas ducendi periti, Hiller (in the Onomast. p. 872) appeals to Ecc 12:4, “daughters of song.” - ”And his name was,” i.e., he was celebrated, “among all the nations round about” (cf. 1Ki 10:1, 1Ki 10:23-24).

1Ki 4:32 “He spoke three thousand proverbs, and there were a thousand and five of his songs.” Of these proverbs we possess a comparatively small portion in the book of Proverbs, probably a selection of the best of his proverbs; but of the songs, besides the Song of Songs, we have only two psalms, viz., Ps 72 and Psa 127:1-5, which have his name, and justly bear it.

1Ki 4:33 “And he spoke of trees, from the cedar on Lebanon to the hyssop which grows upon the wall.” The cedar and hyssop are placed in antithesis, the former as the largest and most glorious of trees, the latter as the smallest and most insignificant of plants, to embrace the whole of the vegetable kingdom. Thenius maintains that by אזוב we are not to understand the true hyssop, nor the Wohlgemuth or Dosten (ὀρίγανον), according to the ordinary view (see at Exo 12:22), because they are neither of them such small plants as we should expect in an antithesis to the cedar, but “one of the wall-mosses growing in tufts, more especially the orthotrichum saxatile (Oken), which forms a miniature hyssop with its lancet-shaped leaves, and from its extreme minuteness furnishes a perfect antithesis to the cedar.” There is much to favour this view, since we can easily imagine that the Hebrews may have reckoned a moss, which resembled the hyssop in its leaves, as being itself a species of hyssop. -  “And of beasts and birds, of creeping things and fishes;” the four principal classes into which the Hebrews divided the animal kingdom. Speaking of plants and animals presupposes observations and researches in natural science, or botanical and zoological studies.

1Ki 4:34

The widespread fame of his wisdom brought many strangers to Jerusalem, and all the more because of its rarity at that time, especially among princes. The coming of the queen of Sheba to Jerusalem (1 Kings 10) furnishes a historical proof of this.Greatly as the fame of Solomon’s wisdom is extolled in these verses, it was far outdone in subsequent times. Even Josephus has considerably adorned the biblical accounts in his Antiqq. viii. 2, 5. He makes Solomon the author not only of 1005 βιβλία περὶ ᾠδῶν καὶ μελῶν, and 300 βίβλους παραβολῶν καὶ εἰκόνων, but also of magical books with marvellous contents. Compare the extracts from Eupolemus in Eusebii praep. Ev. ix. 31ff., the remnants of Solomon’s apocryphal writings in Fabricii Cod. apocr. V. T. i. pp. 914ff. and 1014f., the collection of the Talmudical Sagas in Othonis Lex. rabb. philol. pp. 668f., and G. Weil, bibl. Legenden der Mussulmänner, pp. 225-279. According to the Koran (Sure xxvii. 1Ki 4:17.), Solomon understood the languages not only of men and demons, but also of birds and ants. The Turkish literature contains a “Book of Solomon,” Suleimanname, consisting of seventy volumes, from which v. Hammer (Rosenöl, i. p. 147ff.) has given extracts. Preparations for Building the Temple - 1 Kings 5

Immediately after the consolidation of his kingdom, Solomon commenced the preparations for the building of a temple, first of all by entering into negotiations with king Hiram of Tyre, to procure from him not only the building materials requisite, viz., cedars, cypresses, and hewn stones, but also a skilled workman for the artistic work of the temple (1Ki 5:1-12); and, secondly, by causing the number of workmen required for this great work to be raised out of his own kingdom, and sending them to Lebanon to prepare the materials for the building in connection with the Tyrian builders (1Ki 5:13-18). - We have a parallel passage to this in 2 Chron 2, which agrees with the account before us in all the leading points, but differs in many of the details, omitting several things which were not essential to the main fact, and communicating others which are passed over in our account, e.g., Solomon’s request that a Tyrian workman might be sent. This shows that the two accounts are extracts from a common and more elaborate source, the historical materials being worked up in a free and independent manner according to the particular plan adopted by each of the two authors. (For further remarks on the mutual relation of the two narratives, see my apologetischer Versuch über die Bücher der Chronik, pp. 216ff.)

Solomon's Officers. (b. c. 1014.)

1 So king Solomon was king over all Israel. 2 And these were the princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok the priest, 3 Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder. 4 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests: 5 And Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers: and Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer, and the king's friend: 6 And Ahishar was over the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the tribute. 7 And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision. 8 And these are their names: The son of Hur, in mount Ephraim: 9 The son of Dekar, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan: 10 The son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him pertained Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher: 11 The son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor; which had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife: 12 Baana the son of Ahilud; to him pertained Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, even unto the place that is beyond Jokneam: 13 The son of Geber, in Ramoth-gilead; to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars: 14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo had Mahanaim: 15 Ahimaaz was in Naphtali; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon to wife: 16 Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth: 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar: 18 Shimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin: 19 Geber the son of Uri was in the country of Gilead, in the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer which was in the land.

Here we have,

I. Solomon upon his throne (v. 1): So king Solomon was king, that is, he was confirmed and established king over all Israel, and not, as his successors, only over two tribes. He was a king, that is, he did the work and duty of a king, with the wisdom God had given him. Those preserve the name and honour of their place that mind the business of it and make conscience of it.

II. The great officers of his court, in the choice of whom, no doubt, his wisdom much appeared. It is observable, 1. That several of them are the same that were in his father's time. Zadok and Abiathar were then priests (2 Sam. xx. 25), so they were now; only then Abiathar had the precedency, now Zadok. Jehoshaphat was then recorder, or keeper of the great seal, so he was now. Benaiah, in his father's time, was a principal man in military affairs, and so he was now. Shisha was his father's scribe, and his sons were his, v. 3. Solomon, though a wise man, would not affect to be wiser than his father in this matter. When sons come to inherit their father's wealth, honour, and power, it is a piece of respect to their memory, cæteris paribus—where it can properly be done, to employ those whom they employed, and trust those whom they trusted. Many pride themselves in being the reverse of their good parents. 2. The rest were priests' sons. His prime-minister of state was Azariah the son of Zadok the priest. Two others of the first rank were the sons of Nathan the prophet, v. 5. In preferring them he testified the grateful respect he had for their good father, whom he loved in the name of a prophet.

III. The purveyors for his household, whose business it was to send in provisions from several parts of the country, for the king's tables and cellars (v. 7) and for his stables (v. 27, 28), that thus, 1. His house might always be well furnished at the best hand. Let great men learn hence good house-keeping, to be generous in spending according to their ability, but prudent in providing. It is the character of the virtuous woman that she bringeth her food from afar (Prov. xxxi. 14), not far-fetched and dear-bought, but the contrary, every thing bought where it is cheapest. 2. That thus he himself, and those who immediately attended him, might be eased of a great deal of care, and the more closely apply themselves to the business of the state, not troubled about much serving, provision for that being got ready to their hand. 3. That thus all the parts of the kingdom might be equally benefited by the taking off of the commodities that were the productions of their country and the circulating of the coin. Industry would hereby be encouraged, and consequently wealth increased, even in those tribes that lay most remote from the court. The providence of God extends itself to all places of his dominions (Ps. ciii. 22); so should the prudence and care of princes. 4. The dividing of this trust into so many hands was prudent, that no man might be continually burdened with the care of it nor grow exorbitantly rich with the profit of it, but that Solomon might have those, in every district, who, having a dependence upon the court, would be serviceable to him and his interest as there was occasion. These commissioners of the victualling-office, not for the army or navy (Solomon was engaged in no war), but for the household, are here named, several of them only by their surnames, as great men commonly call their servants: Ben-hur, Ben-dekar, &c., though several of them have also their proper names prefixed. Two of them married Solomon's daughters, Ben-Abinadab (v. 11) and Ahimaaz (v. 15), and no disparagement to them to marry men of business. Better match with the officers of their father's court that were Israelites than with the sons of princes that were strangers to the covenant of promise. The son of Geber was in Ramoth-Gilead (v. 19), and Geber himself was in the country of Sihon and Og, which included that and Mahanaim, v. 14. He is therefore said to be the only officer in that land, because the other two, mentioned v. 13, 14, depended on him, and were subordinate to him.

The Supply of Solomon's Household. (b. c. 1014.)

20 Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry. 21 And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. 22 And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, 23 Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl. 24 For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him. 25 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. 26 And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon's table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing. 28 Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.

Such a kingdom, and such a court, surely never any prince had, as Solomon's are here described to be.

I. Such a kingdom. Never did the crown of Israel shine so brightly as it did when Solomon wore it, never in his father's days, never in the days of any of his successors; nor was that kingdom ever so glorious a type of the kingdom of the Messiah as it was then. The account here given of it is such as fully answers the prophecies which we have concerning it in Ps. lxxii., which is a psalm for Solomon, but with reference to Christ. 1. The territories of his kingdom were large and its tributaries many; so it was foretold that he should have dominion from sea to sea, Ps. lxxii. 8-11. Solomon reigned not only over all Israel, who were his subjects by choice, but over all the neighbouring kingdoms, who were his subjects by constraint. All the princes from the river Euphrates, north-east to the border of Egypt south-west, not only added to his honour by doing him homage and holding their crowns from him, but added to his wealth by serving him, and bringing him presents, v. 21. David, by his successful wars, compelled them to this subjection, and Solomon, by his admirable wisdom, made it easy and reasonable; for it is fit that the fool should be servant to the wise in heart. If they gave him presents, he gave them instructions, and still taught the people knowledge, not only his own people, but those of other nations: and wisdom is better than gold. He had peace on all sides, v. 24. None of all the nations that were subject to him offered to shake off his yoke, or to give him any disturbance, but rather thought themselves happy in their dependence upon him. Herein his kingdom typified the Messiah's; for to him it is promised that he shall have the heathen for his inheritance and that princes shall worship him, Isa. xlix. 6, 7; liii. 12. 2. The subjects of his kingdom and its inhabitants, were many and cheerful. (1.) They were numerous and country was exceedingly populous (v. 20): Judah and Israel were many, and that good land was sufficient to maintain them all. They were as the sand of the sea in multitude. Now was fulfilled the promise made to Abraham concerning the increase of his seed (Gen. xxii. 17), as well as that concerning the extent of their dominion, Gen. xv. 18. This was their strength and beauty, the honour of their prince, the terror of their enemies, and an advancement of the wealth of the nation. If they grew so numerous that the place was any where too strait for them, they might remove with advantage into the countries that were subject to them. God's spiritual Israel are many, at least they will be so when they come all together, Rev. vii. 9. (2.) They were easy, they dwelt safely, or with confidence and assurance (v. 25), not jealous of their king or of his officers, not disaffected either to him or one to another, nor under any apprehension or danger from enemies foreign or domestic. They were happy and knew it, safe and willing to think themselves so. They dwelt every man under his vine and fig-tree. Solomon invaded no man's property, took not to himself their vineyards and olive-yards, as sometimes was the manner of the king (1 Sam. viii. 14), but what they had they could call their own: he protected every man in the possession and enjoyment of his property. Those that had vines and fig-trees ate the fruit of them themselves; and so great was the peace of the country that they might, if they pleased, dwell as safely under the shadow of them as within the walls of a city. Or, because it was usual to have vines by the sides of their houses (Ps. cxxviii. 3), they are said to dwell under their vines. (3.) They were cheerful in the use of their plenty, eating and drinking, and making merry, v. 20. Solomon did not only keep a good table himself, but enabled all his subjects, according to their rank, to do so too, and taught them that God gave them their abundance that they might use it soberly and pleasantly, not that they might hoard it up. There is nothing better than for a man to eat the labour of his hands (Eccl. ii. 24), and that with a merry heart, Eccl. ix. 7. His father, in the Psalms, had led his people into the comforts of communion with God, and now he led them into the comfortable use of the good things of this life. This pleasant posture of Israel's affairs extended, in place, from Dan to Beer-sheba—no part of the country was exposed nor upon any account uneasy; and it continued a long time, all the days of Solomon, without any material interruption. Go where you would, you might see all the marks of plenty, peace, and satisfaction. The spiritual peace, and joy, and holy security, of all the faithful subjects of the Lord Jesus were typified by this. The kingdom of God is not, as Solomon's was, meat and drink, but, what is infinitely better, righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

II. Such a court Solomon kept as can scarcely be paralleled. We may guess at the vast number of his attendants, and the great resort there was to him, by the provision that was made daily for his table. Of bread there were so many measures of flour and meal as, it is computed, would richly serve 3000 men (Carellus computes above 4800 men), and the provision of flesh (v. 23) was rather more in proportion. What vast quantities were here of beef, mutton, and venison, and the choicest of all fatted things, as some read that which we translate fatted fowl! Ahasuerus, once in his reign, made a great feast, to show the riches of his kingdom, Esth. i. 3, 4. But it was much more the honour of Solomon that he kept a constant table and a very noble one, not of dainties or deceitful meats (he himself witnessed against them, Prov. xxiii. 3), but substantial food, for the entertainment of those who came to hear his wisdom. Thus Christ fed those whom he taught, 5000 at a time, more than ever Solomon's table would entertain at once: and all believers have in him a continual feast. Herein he far outdoes Solomon, that he feeds all his subjects, not with the bread that perishes, but with that which endures to eternal life. It added much both to the strength and glory of Solomon's kingdom that he had such abundance of horses, 40,000 for chariots and 12,000 for his troops, 1000 horse, perhaps, in every tribe, for the preserving of the public peace, v. 26. God had commanded that their king should not multiply horses (Deut. xvii. 16), nor, according to the account here given, considering the extent and wealth of Solomon's kingdom, did he multiply horses in proportion to his neighbours; for we find even the Philistines bringing into the field 30,000 chariots (1 Sam. xiii. 5) and the Syrians at least 40,000 horse, 2 Sam. x. 18. The same officers that provided for his house provided also for his stable, v. 27, 28. Every one knew his place, and work, and time; and so this great court was kept without confusion. Solomon, that had vast incomes, lived at a vast expense, and perhaps wrote that with application to himself, Eccl. v. 11. When goods increase those are increased that eat them; and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes, unless withal they have the satisfaction of doing good with them?

Solomon's Distinguished Reputation. (b. c. 1014.)

29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 30 And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. 32 And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. 33 And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34 And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.

Solomon's wisdom was more his glory than his wealth, and here we have a general account of it.

I. The fountain of his wisdom: God gave it him, v. 29. He owns it himself. Prov. ii. 6, The Lord giveth wisdom. He gives the powers of reason (Job xxxviii. 36), preserves and improves them. The ordinary advances of them are owing to his providence, the sanctification of them to his grace, and this extraordinary pitch at which they arrived in Solomon to a special grant of his favour to him in answer to prayer.

II. The fulness of it: He had wisdom and understanding, exceeding much, great knowledge of distant countries and the histories of former times, a quickness of thought, strength of memory, and clearness of judgment, such as never any man had. It is called largeness of heart; for the heart is often put for the intellectual powers. He had a vast compass of knowledge, could take things entire, and had an admirable faculty of laying things together. Some, by his largeness of heart, understand his courage and boldness, and that great assurance with which he delivered his dictates and determinations. Or it may be meant of his disposition to do good with his knowledge. He was very free and communicative, had the gift of utterance as well as wisdom, was as free of his learning as he was of his meat, and grudged neither to any that were about him. Note, It is very desirable that those who have large gifts of any kind should have large hearts to use them for the good of others; and this is from the hand of God, Eccl. ii. 24. He shall enlarge the heart, Ps. cxix. 32. The greatness of Solomon's wisdom is illustrated by comparison. Chaldea and Egypt were nations famous for learning; thence the Greeks borrowed theirs; but the greatest scholars of these nations came short of Solomon, v. 30. If nature excels art, much more does grace. The knowledge which God gives by special favour goes beyond that which man gets by his own labour. Some wise men there were in Solomon's time, who were in great repute, particularly Heman, and others who were Levites, and employed by David in the temple-music, 1 Chron. xv. 19. Heman was his seer in the word of God, 1 Chron. xxv. 5. Chalcol and Darda were own brothers, and they also were noted for learning and wisdom. But Solomon excelled them all (v. 30), he out-did them and confounded them; his counsel was much more valuable.

III. The fame of it. It was talked of in all nations round about. His great wealth and glory made his wisdom much more illustrious, and have him those opportunities of showing it which those cannot have that live in poverty and obscurity. The jewel of wisdom may receive great advantage by the setting of it.

IV. The fruits of it; by these the tree is known: he did not bury his talent, but showed his wisdom,

1. In his compositions. Those in divinity, written by divine inspiration, are not mentioned here, for they are extant, and will remain to the world's end monuments of his wisdom, and are, as other parts of scripture, of use to make us wise unto salvation. But, besides these, it appears by what he spoke, or dictated to be written from him, (1.) That he was a moralist, and a man of great prudence, for he spoke 3000 proverbs, wise sayings, apophthegms, of admirable use for the conduct of human life. The world is much governed by proverbs, and was never better furnished with useful ones than by Solomon. Whether those proverbs of Solomon that we have were any part of the 3000 is uncertain. (2.) That he was a poet and a man of great wit: His songs were 1005, of which one only is extant, because that only was divinely inspired, which is therefore called his Song of songs. His wise instructions were communicated by proverbs, that they might be familiar to those whom he designed to teach and ready on all occasions, and by songs, that they might be pleasant and move the affections. (3.) That he was a natural philosopher, and a man of great learning and insight into the mysteries of nature. From his own and others' observations and experience, he wrote both of plants and animals (v. 33), descriptions of their natures and qualities, and (some think) of the medicinal use of them.

2. In his conversation. There came persons from all parts, who were more inquisitive after knowledge than their neighbours, to hear the wisdom of Solomon, v. 34. Kings that had heard of it sent their ambassadors to hear it and to bring them instructions from it. Solomon's court was the staple of learning, and the rendezvous of philosophers, that is, the lovers of wisdom, who all came to light their candle at his lamp and to borrow from him. Let those who magnify the modern learning above that of the ancients produce such a treasure of knowledge any where in these latter ages as that was which Solomon was master of; yet this puts an honour upon human learning, that Solomon was praised for it, and recommends it to the great men of the earth, as well worthy their diligent search. But,

Lastly, Solomon was, herein, a type of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and hidden for use; for he is made of God to us wisdom.