See the marginal references. By all the earth we are, of course, only to understand the kings or people of neighboring nations.<\/P><\/p>\n
Verse 23. Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for<\/B><\/I> <\/B>riches<\/B><\/I>] Mr. Reynolds, stating the yearly tribute of Solomon, 666 talents of gold, at about four times as much as his father left him, hence reckons that he had <\/I>4,909,371 8s<\/I>. 8d<\/I>. each year, <\/I>94,410 19s<\/I>. 9 1\/4d<\/I>. per week, 13,487 5s<\/I>. 8d<\/I>. per day, taking each day, week<\/I>, and year<\/I>, one with another.<\/P> <\/p>\nFuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
18-26. a great throne of ivory<\/B>Itseems to have been made not of solid ivory, but veneered. It was inthe form of an armchair, with a carved back. The ascent to it was bysix steps, on each of which stood lions, in place of a railingwhilea lion, probably of gilt metal, stood at each side, which, we maysuppose from the analogy of other Oriental thrones, supported acanopy. A golden footstool is mentioned (2Ch9:18<\/span>) as attached to this throne, whose magnificence is describedas unrivalled.<\/P><\/p>\n So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.<\/strong> In which he was an eminent type of Christ; see Eph 3:8<\/span>.<\/p>\n In 1Ki 10:23-29<\/span> everything that had to be stated concerning the wealth, wisdom, and revenue of Solomon is summed up as conclusion (cf. 2Ch 9:22-28<\/span> and 2Ch 1:14-17<\/span>).<\/p>\n 1Ki 10:23-25<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> 1Ki 10:23<\/span>, 1Ki 10:24<\/span> point back to 1Ki 5:9-14<\/span>. : Solomon became greater, not was greater, on account of the Vv consec<\/em>. , all the world, corresponds to in 1Ki 5:14<\/span>. The foreigners out of all lands, who came on account of his wisdom, brought Solomon presents: gold and silver vessels, clothes ( , court dresses, which are still customary presents in the East), , armour, spices, horses and mules.<\/p>\n 1Ki 10:26-27<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> 1Ki 10:26<\/span> is simply a repetition of 1Ki 5:6<\/span> (compare also 1Ki 9:19<\/span>); and 1Ki 10:27<\/span> is merely a further extension of 1Ki 10:21<\/span>. The words of 1Ki 10:27<\/span>, “Solomon made silver like stones in Jerusalem, and cedars like the sycamores in the lowland for abundance,” are a hyperbolical description of his collection of enormous quantities of precious metals and costly wood. , sycomori<\/em>, mulberry fig-trees, are very rare in Palestine in its present desolate state (see Rob. Pal<\/em>. iii. 27), and are only met in any abundance in Egypt; but in ancient times they abounded in the lowlands of Palestine to such an extent, that they were used as common building wood (vid., Isa 9:9<\/span>, on which Theodoret observes, ( ) ). According to 1Ch 27:28<\/span>, the sycamore forests in the lowland of Judah were royal domains.<\/p>\n 1Ki 10:28-29<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> (cf. 2Ch 1:16-17<\/span>). “And (as for) the going out of horses from Egypt for Solomon, a company of king’s merchants fetched (horses) for a definite price.” This is the only possible explanation of the verse according to the Masoretic punctuation; but to obtain it, the first must be connected with in opposition to the accents, and the second must be pointed . This is the rendering adopted by Gesenius in his Thesaurus<\/em> and Lexicon<\/em> (ed. Dietr. s. v<\/em>. ). The meaning company or troop may certainly be justified from Gen 1:10<\/span>; Exo 7:19<\/span>, and Lev 11:36<\/span>, where the word signifies an accumulation of water. Still there is something very strange not only in the application of the word both to a company of traders and also to a troop of horses, but also in the omission of (horses) after the second . Hence the rendering of the lxx and Vulgate deserves attention, and may possibly be the one to be preferred (as Michaelis, Bertheau on Chron<\/em>., and Movers assume). The translators of these versions have taken as the name of a place, , or rather , de Coa<\/em>.<\/p>\n (Note: That or is the earliest reading of the lxx, and not the of the Cod. Vat. and Alex., is very evident from the statement which we find in the Onomast<\/em>. of Eusebius ( ed. Larsow et Parth<\/em>. p. 260), , ; for which Jerome has Coa, quae est juxta Aegyptum<\/em>, after the Vulgate.) <\/p>\n According to this, the rendering would be: “And as for the going out of horses from Egypt and Koa (or Kawe) for Solomon, the king’s traders fetched them from Joa (Kawe) for a fixed price.” It is true that the situation of Koa<\/em> cannot be more precisely defined; but there seems to be very little doubt that it was a place for the collection of customs upon the frontier of Egypt.<\/p>\n 1Ki 10:29<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> “And there came up and went out a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty shekels; and so (in the same manner as for Solomon) they led them out for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram through their hand.” , like in 2Sa 8:4<\/span>; 2Sa 10:18<\/span>, and Eze 39:20<\/span>, denotes a chariot with the team of horses belonging to it, possibly three horses (see at 1Ki 5:6<\/span>), not quadriga <\/em> (Clericus and others), or two draught horses and two as a reserve (Thenius). For the inference, that if a horse cost 150 shekels, a team of four would be obtained for 600, is not quite a certain one, since the chariot itself would certainly not be given in. A hundred and fifty shekels are a little more than 130 thalers ( 19, 10s. – Tr.), and 600 would be 525 thalers ( 78, 15s.). These amounts are sufficient to show how untenable the opinion of Movers is, that the sums mentioned are not the prices paid for horses and chariots, but the payment made for their exit, or the customs duty. And his other opinion is quite equally erroneous, namely that the chariots and horses were state carriages and horses of luxury intended for the king. – The merchants are called the king’s traders, not because a portion of their profits went into the royal treasury as the tax upon trade (Bertheau), nor as the brokers who bought for the king (Thenius), but because they carried on their trade for the king’s account. cannot be adduced as evidence to the contrary; for linguists require no proof that this cannot mean “ auf ihre Hand <\/em>,” as Thenius assumes. Bttcher’s explanation is the right one, namely, “through their hand,” inasmuch as they brought the horses and chariots themselves even to those kings who lived at a greater distance, without employing intermediate agents. The kings of the , the Hittites in the wider sense (= Canaanites, as in Jos 1:4<\/span>; 2Ki 7:6<\/span>; Eze 16:3<\/span>), and of Aram, were in part Solomon’s vassals, since his rule extended over all the Canaanites with the exception of the Phoenicians, and over several kingdoms of Aram.<\/p>\n (23-25) All the kings.<\/strong>These verses indicate the character of the empire of Solomon, as a loosely-compacted group of tributary states round the dominant kingdom of Israel, kept to their allegiance mainly by the ascendency of his personal wisdom and ability, partly by the ties of commercial intercourse and the attractions of his wealth and splendour, and to some degree (though in his case to a less extent than usual) by an imposing military force. It rose rapidly in the comparative abeyance of the great neighbouring empires of Egypt and Assyria, and fell as rapidly on the death of Solomon and the disruption of the kingdom. In the grand description of it in Psalms 72<\/span>, we observe that while its wealth and prosperity are painted in bright colours, the chief stress is laid on its moral greatness, as a kingdom of righteousness and peace: All kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth . . . He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment. Here, with the same general idea, but with a characteristic difference of expression, the chief emphasis is laid on the wisdom of Solomon, acknowledged as the gift of God (see Note on 1Ki. 4:29<\/span>), and being a moral and religious at least as much as an intellectual power. In this higher character it was the type of the kingdom of the true Son of David. In this, rather than in wealth and power, lay its true glory; and the falling away from this in the later days of Solomon brought at once decay and ruin.<\/p>\n The Ultimate Greatness Of Solomon ( 1Ki 10:23-29<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ). <\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n The author concludes his description of the magnificence of Solomon by indicating the impact that he made on the ancient world, both in reputation and in arms dealing. The build up has been intentional. He wanted it to be seen how gracious YHWH had been to Solomon, giving him a name in the world as He had given David (2Sa 7:9<\/span>), and making him supremely wealthy and powerful. But as we have also seen he continually leaves us to recognise the cracks that there were on the surface, because unlike David, Solomon’s heart was not fully right towards God, something that he will shortly emphasise. Thus he expects us to be aware of where all this is leading, to the collapse and disintegration of the kingdom. It was not simply unstinted admiration of Solomon. In the future kings would be judged not by the standard of Solomon, but by the standard of David. <\/p>\n Analysis. <\/p>\n a <\/strong> So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom, and all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart (1Ki 10:23-24<\/span>). <\/p>\n b <\/strong> And they brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year (1Ki 10:25<\/span>). <\/p>\n c <\/strong> And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen, and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, which he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem (1Ki 10:26<\/span>). <\/p>\n b <\/strong> And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance (1Ki 10:27<\/span>). <\/p>\n a <\/strong> And the horses which Solomon had, were brought out of Egypt and Kue, and the king’s merchants received them from Kue at a price, and a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty, and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means (1Ki 10:28-29<\/span>). <\/p>\n Note that in ‘a’ Solomon’s great wealth and wisdom is exalted, and in the parallel this is revealed in his arms dealing whereby he cornered the market in chariots and horses. In ‘b’ the vassal nations of Israel constantly brought in to Solomon a stream of tribute, and in the parallel the result was that silver and cedar wood became so abundant that they could be compared numerically with stones and common sycamore trees. Central in ‘c’ is a description of Solomon’s own armed might in terms of chariots. <\/p>\n Central to this passage is the fact that Solomon trust was now firmly in chariots and horsemen (contrast Psa 20:7<\/span>). This was what his greatness and wisdom had led him to, armed might and global arms-dealing. The chariot is, in fact, rarely looked on with favour in the Biblical narratives, being usually in the hands of Israel’s enemies, and in Kings such chariots are seen as in direct contrast with the heavenly chariots of YHWH which protect His people (2Ki 2:11-12<\/span>; 2Ki 6:17<\/span>; 2Ki 7:6<\/span>; 2Ki 13:14<\/span>; compare Psa 68:17<\/span>). The prophetic attitude was that men were to trust in YHWH rather than in chariots (Deu 20:1<\/span>; Psa 20:7<\/span>; Psa 46:9<\/span>; Psa 76:6<\/span>; and see especially Isa 2:6-7<\/span>; Isa 31:1<\/span>; Isa 31:3<\/span>; Mic 5:10<\/span>), and there are no grounds for thinking that the prophetic writer here saw it any differently (he would be familiar with Isaiah and Micah, and with the Psalms). Thus what appeared to be Solomon’s high point was really in the writer’s view also his low point. He no longer trusted in YHWH, he trusted in chariots. <\/p>\n 1Ki 10:23-24<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.’ <\/p>\n All that has gone before has led up to this point. The presentation of the wealth and glory of Solomon has reached its zenith, (although, as we have seen, along the way the prophet has constantly drawn out the cracks behind the facade). Clearly the comparison is in terms of the world as it was then known in Palestine, the Ancient Near East. There was no king around who could compare with Solomon for riches and for wisdom. His superiority in both areas was widely acknowledged. He truly had a great name among ‘the kings of the earth’ (i.e. of surrounding nations). And all acknowledged that he had special wisdom from God, and came to learn from him. He was a kind of father figure, almost a Messianic figure, to the nations. <\/p>\n 1Ki 10:25<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> And they brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.’ <\/p>\n And those riches grew year by year, as vassal nations and subjects owned his overlordship and brought their tribute in silver and gold and splendid clothing, and armour, and spices, and horses, and mules (a highly valued article in those days). And they did it as their liability was assessed year by year. <\/p>\n 1Ki 10:26<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen, and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, which he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.’ <\/p>\n Solomon had also reached the high point militarily speaking. He had one large unit and four smaller units of chariots, together with twelve units of ‘horsemen’ to man the chariots and care for the horses. These were spread around the chariot cities, with a fair proportion being with the king in Jerusalem. This was where his trust now lay. <\/p>\n 1Ki 10:27<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance.’ <\/p>\n Such was the prosperity of Israel, and especially of Jerusalem, that silver had a common value with stones (it was not much accounted of – 1Ki 10:21<\/span>), while valuable cedarwood was as common as the local ‘sycamore trees’ (large well-rooted spreading trees which produced an inferior kind of fig and grew in abundance, while having little value). <\/p>\n 1Ki 10:28<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> And the horses which Solomon had, were brought out of Egypt and Kue, and the king’s merchants received them from Kue at a price.’ <\/p>\n Having seen the potential of the chariot with its horses, and spotting a gap in the market, Solomon, in partnership with Pharaoh as a result of his special relationship with the Pharaoh through his wife, brought to Israel horses from both Egypt and Kue, the latter bought by his merchants at an agreed price (the former would be supplied in accordance with the partnership agreement). Kue was just north of the Taurus and was famous for horse-breeding. <\/p>\n 1Ki 10:29<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.’ <\/p>\n The partnership then sold Egyptian chariots for six hundred shekels of silver, and sold on the horses at one hundred and fifty shekels each, to the kings of the Hittites (seven city states in Syria which we know perpetuated the name of the Hittites, including Carchemish and Hamath) and to the kings of Aram, the Aramaean states. (The Assyrians and Babylonians knew Syria and Palestine as a whole as ‘Hatti-land’). This had the advantage of building up buffer states against anyone who might encroach from the north. It was also very profitable. <\/p>\n The chariots appear very expensive, but they may have been special ceremonial chariots intended for royalty and suitably furbished, or ‘chariot’ may have signified the complete set up, a chariot with its three horses (two to draw it and one led). The prices of the horses as trained chariot horses were not excessive. A letter from Mari in 18th century BC refers to horses bought at 300 shekels apiece, while at Ugarit a horse was bought for the royal stud for 200 shekels. <\/p>\n Thus the mighty Solomon had become an international arms dealer, with his focus on chariots and horses. This was what his wisdom had brought him to. We must remember that the prophetic writer was aware of the inveighing of the prophets against such activities and knew what all this had come to, and as he copied down what he found in the state annals it must have been with a grieved heart. Indeed this portrayal of Solomon’s power and glory would now be followed by an indication of his follies and the reason for the total failure of his kingdom. <\/p>\n We might set what we have seen about Solomon in this chapter in contrast with Paul’s words in 2Co 3:17-18<\/span>. ‘We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen, for the things which are seen are temporal, the things which are unseen are eternal.’ It was that lesson of which Elisha was aware (2Ki 6:17<\/span>). <\/p>\n 1Ki 10:23 So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.<\/p>\n Ver. 23. For riches and wisdom.<\/strong> ] Take them both together, and well he might be imparallel: for Stultitiam patiuntur opes:<\/em> and Difficile est opibus non tradire mores.<\/p>\n exceeded: Mr. Reynolds, stating Solomon’s income at about four times as much as his father left him, reckons that he had each year 142,242,034. 9s. 7d., each week 2,735,423 14s. 9d., and each day, 390,770 16s. 4d. 1Ki 3:12, 1Ki 3:13, 1Ki 4:29-34, 2Ch 9:22, 2Ch 9:23, Psa 89:27, Eph 3:8, Col 1:18, Col 1:19, Col 2:2, Col 2:3 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Pro 3:13 – is the Ecc 1:16 – Lo Ecc 2:9 – General Dan 1:20 – in all<\/p>\n 1Ki 10:23-25. For riches and for wisdom The latter of which he asked of God, who graciously promised to add the former, and did so to a great degree. But what is here said is not to be taken in too strict a sense, but only as intending that he was richer than the kings of the earth in general were at that time. And all the earth sought to Solomon, &c. That is, all the kings of the earth, as it is expressed 2Ch 9:23; namely, of those parts of the earth, or of the neighbouring countries, and the great men thereof. They came, as the queen of Sheba did, to be acquainted with his wisdom, which the heard was a supernatural gift, and to receive an increase of knowledge thereby. They brought every man his present a rate year by year By this conclusion it seems as if the persons here spoken of were tributary to him.<\/p>\n So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. See the marginal references. By all the earth we are, of course, only to understand the kings or people of neighboring nations. Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible Verse 23. Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 10:23”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"