1 Kings 10:22

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 it is not difficult to understand how such a class of traffic would give a name to the vessels that bore it, just as we say now -an East Indiaman." Josephus explains the name by saying they were ships which plied ἐν τῇ Ταρσικῇ λεγομένῃ θαλάττῃ -in the Tarsic sea as it is called." But it is clear that the articles brought in Solomon's fleet could not be found in the country about Tartessus, except perhaps some gold. It is better therefore to understand the name as derived from the character of the craft rather than from the place to which they sailed.

once in three years came the navy The voyage here alluded to was most likely the voyage to Ophir mentioned in 1 Kings 9:28. The time consumed between voyage and voyage would be partly spent in loading and unloading, and in traffic at the various marts at which the fleet touched. Josephus explains that the things brought were procured by barter, though neither he nor the text tells us what was taken in the fleet when the voyage commenced.

ivory, and apes, and peacocks The words used for the two first of these are most likely of Sanskrit origin, the second entirely, the first in part; and as peacocks are natives of India these names point to India as the source from which Solomon's imports were drawn. Whether the ships visited India or collected their cargoes on the coasts of Arabia and in the Persian Gulf it is not easy to decide. The time occupied is enough for even a ship of that period to have coasted round India.

In the LXX. after 1 Kings 10:22 is inserted great part of the substance of that long omission noticed above from 1 Kings 10:15-25, in chapter 9; though there is no mention made of Pharaoh's expedition against Gezer, nor of the daughter of Pharaoh coming out of Zion to dwell in the house built for her, nor of Solomon's sacrifices thrice in the year.