1 Kings 10:1-13. The Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon (2 Chronicles 9:1-12) 1. _Now when the queen of Sheba heard_ The -Sheba", of which the queen is here mentioned, was that part of Arabia spoken of in the note on the last verse of the preceding chapter. It embraced the greater part of Arabi... [ Continue Reading ]
_spices_ For which Arabia has always been famous.... [ Continue Reading ]
_there was not_any _thing hid from the king, which he told her not_ i.e. Nothing was too deep for him in all she asked, he discovered the correct answer and gave it to her.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the house that he had built_ This refers to his own palace, as is evident from the domestic details which immediately follow.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the sitting of his servants_ Here -servants" signifies the officers and distinguished persons who were privileged to sit at the king's table, and were ranged according to rank and in large numbers at the royal banquets. _the attendance of his ministers_ This refers most probably to those persons w... [ Continue Reading ]
_of thy acts_ The word may mean -sayings," as is represented on the margins of A. V. and R.V. But as she had seen all the king's state, as well as listened to his answers, it seems better to refer this word to the buildings and other splendour; for the admiration of the king's wisdom is expressed in... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame_ This is a good idiomatic representation of the Hebrew, which is literally -thou hast added wisdom and goodness to the fame &c." The -goodness" here spoken of includes all material prosperity. Cf. Job 2:10, where the same word stands in the original, -Sh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Happy are thy men_ The LXX. reads here μακάριαι αἱ γυναῖκές σου, having read נשׁיך -thy wives" instead of אנשׁיך -thy men." The Syriac and Arabic versions have the same variation.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessed be the Lord thy God_ We need not suppose from the use of this language that the queen had become a convert to Judaism, any more than that Hiram was so from the words put into his mouth above in chap. 1 Kings 5:7. It could not matter, in the mind of the heathen queen, whether she included on... [ Continue Reading ]
_And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold_ Large presents of this nature are still the rule among Oriental princes when they visit one another. Josephus however, contrary to his wont, has a less sum here, making the gift only -twenty talents" (_Ant_. viii. 6, 6). According to our... [ Continue Reading ]
_pillars for the house of the Lord_ The noun signifies -a prop," and it may be that some ornamental work like that indicated in the margin of the R.V. -a railing" is intended. It was some later addition, not any part of the fabric, which was already completed. In the parallel place of 2 Chron. (1 Ki... [ Continue Reading ]
_besides_that _which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty_ The Hebrew is literally -beside that which he gave to her according to the hand of king Solomon." For the phrase -according to the hand" signifying -after the liberality" compare Esther 1:7; Esther 2:18, where the same Hebrew is translated -... [ Continue Reading ]
Solomon's revenue, his magnificence and his traffic (2 Chronicles 9:13-24) 14. _six hundred threescore and six talents of gold_ Taking the gold shekel at the value of £2, and 3000 shekels in one talent, the sum here spoken of would amount to nearly four millions of our money, which for the time of S... [ Continue Reading ]
_beside_that he had _of the merchantmen_ There are two kinds of traders specified in this verse, and the participle here used to describe the first signifies -those who go about" with their goods, hawkers of their wares, which is a general characteristic of Oriental traffickers. Hence in R.V. the wo... [ Continue Reading ]
_two hundred targets_of _beaten gold_ The -targets" here spoken of appear, from the gold consumed in them, to have been much larger than the -shields" mentioned in the next verse. Both the names imply -protection," -covering," but give us no clue to their form. The LXX. makes these -targets" three h... [ Continue Reading ]
_three pound_of _gold went to one shield_ The word rendered pound here is -maneh," and according to the parallel passage (2 Chronicles 9:16) is equal to -one hundred shekels." There is no sufficient data for settling the value of these weights in terms of our English standards, but such computations... [ Continue Reading ]
_a great throne of ivory_ Like Ahab's ivory house, mentioned later on (1 Kings 22:39), the throne was no doubt only inlaid with ivory, in such a way that where the gold did not cover the framework there the ivory appeared. And we may suppose that the ivory was a very conspicuous part of the structur... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the top of the throne_was _round behind_ The word -top" is literally -head," and points to some erection in the nature of a canopy or baldachino. The roundness here spoken of might either be from the sides of the back being curved inward as they rose up, or from the canopy being arched from beh... [ Continue Reading ]
_all king Solomon's drinking vessels_ The LXX. here leaves out the defining word, merely putting σκεύη = vessels, but adds afterwards, what has nothing to represent it in our Hebrew, καὶ λουτῆρες χρυσοῖ, -and golden la vers.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish_ i.e. Of ships such as were used in the trade with Tarshish (cf. 1 Kings 22:48). These would probably be of the largest build then possible. Tarshish is most likely Tartessus in the south of Spain, with which place the Tyrians had considerable trade, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_And all the earth sought to Solomon_ In 2 Chronicles 9:23 the words are -and all the kings of the earth sought THE PRESENCE OF Solomon," and, as the Hebrew of the last words is the same as here, the fuller form will be better in this verse as it comes more close to the original. The LXX., the Syria... [ Continue Reading ]
_they brought every man his present_ After the fashion in royal visits, but the close of the verse indicates that these gifts were from tributaries and came in at fixed times. _vessels of silver_ These do not appear in the LXX., which also omits any notice of -armour," and for -spices" gives στακτὴ... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen_ By reason, as Josephus tells us, of the great number of horses which were brought to him in these yearly offerings. The word פרשׁ (_parash_) here rendered -horsemen" means both the horse for riding and the rider. Just as we speak of so many hundr... [ Continue Reading ]
_silver_ Here the LXX. has -gold and silver," and so too in the parallel passage 2 Chronicles 9:27, and where the passage is inserted 2 Chronicles 1:15 the LXX. reads τὸ ἀργύριον καὶ τὸ χρυσίον. _in the vale_ The word (_Shefelah_) here rendered -vale" is the name of that low-lying part of Palestine... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt_ The first clause of the verse ends here according to the Hebrew punctuation, and this appears to be a general statement, of which the particulars are given in what follows. But the literal rendering is -and the export of horses which was to Solomon (was)... [ Continue Reading ]
_And a chariot_ The word is used (Exodus 14:25; Joshua 11:6; Joshua 11:9, &c.) for a -chariot employed in war," and that is probably the sense here. These also Solomon's merchants supplied from Egypt, and in this verse we have the notice of their retail trade. It may be that these traders did not pa... [ Continue Reading ]