1 Kings 4:1-20. Lists of Solomon's officers (Not in Chronicles) 1. _over all Israel_ The whole land yielded him willing obedience, the people were contented and happy (see below, 1 Kings 4:20) and the enemies of the king were removed.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Azariah the son of Zadok the priest_ The two last words are to be referred to Azariah and not to Zadok. The Vat. LXX. omits the title, but the Alex. text has ὁ ἱερεύς. On the contrary the Vulgate renders -Sadoc _Sacerdotis_." The Zadok here named is the son of Ahitub (1 Chronicles 6:8), and Azariah... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shisha_ This name appears as _Shavsha_(1 Chronicles 18:16) and as _Sheva_(2 Samuel 20:25). A comparison of those verses with 2 Samuel 8:17, shews that the person meant was also called Seraiah, from which word the other forms are probably copyists" corruptions. Seraiah's office had descended to his... [ Continue Reading ]
_over the host_ Benaiah had been put into Joab's office. See 1 Kings 2:34. _Zadok and Abiathar_were _the priests_ The Hebrew says only -were priests." Abiathar was still called priest, we may presume, after his banishment to Anathoth. The existence of two chief places for worship and sacrifice, the... [ Continue Reading ]
_the officers_ The word signifies such persons as had the oversight of any work. Thus the same word is used for the victualling officers in 1 Kings 4:7; it is again used in 1 Kings 5:16 for the persons at the head of the preparation for the temple-building, and in 1 Kings 9:23 of those who bare rule... [ Continue Reading ]
After the mention of Ahishar, the LXX. (_Vat._) adds καὶ Ἐλιὰκ ὁ οἰκόνομος καὶ Ἐλιὰβ υἱὸς Σὰφ ἐπὶ τῆς πατριᾶς. _Adoniram_ He is mentioned again 1 Kings 5:14; and the name is found in a contracted form _Adoram_(2 Samuel 20:24; 1 Kings 12:18) and _Hadoram_(2 Chronicles 10:18). He was stoned to death... [ Continue Reading ]
_twelve officers_ The stations of these men were in different parts of the country, and each for his month had to gather from the district assigned to him contributions in kind for the royal household.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The son of Hur_ Better BEN-HUR. So the Vulgate and similarly in 1 Kings 4:9-11; 1 Kings 4:13. The name is a patronymic, and five out of these twelve officers are thus designated by their fathers" names rather than by their own. Perhaps at the time the father in each case was more distinguished than... [ Continue Reading ]
_the son of Dekar_ Read BEN-DEKER, according to the Hebrew pointing. The name Deker is found nowhere else. _in Makaz_ The name does not occur again, and we can only conjecture the whereabouts of the place from the other names with which it is joined. Shaalbim, the town next mentioned, was in the tr... [ Continue Reading ]
_the son of Hesed_ Read BEN-HESED. Of Hesed we have no further notice. _in Aruboth_ The Hebrew points require us to spell the word ARUBBOTH. Judging from the names which follow, Arubboth was a town or district in the low country lying between the mountainous portion of Judah and the Mediterranean.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the son of Abinadab_ Read BEN-ABINADAB. Abinadab was a very common Jewish name. We have no further mention of this man. in _all the region of Dor_ Hebrew _Naphath Dor_. Dor was an ancient city of the Canaanites, lying on the sea-coast under the side of Mount Carmel. It was in the tribe of Manasseh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Baana the son of Ahilud_ Probably the brother of Jehoshaphat the recorder mentioned in 1 Kings 4:3. _Taanach and Megiddo_ These places are both inland to the east of Dor, Megiddo being a little north of Taanach which lies in the valley of Esdraelon. Cf. Judges 5:19 -Taanach by the waters of Megiddo... [ Continue Reading ]
_the son of Geber_ Better, BEN-GEBER. The name -Geber" occurs again in 1 Kings 4:19, but whether the same person is meant by it there is nothing to shew. It is only found in these two places. _in Ramoth-gilead_ We now come to the mountainous district on the eastern side of the Jordan, in which were... [ Continue Reading ]
had _Mahanaim_ The Hebrew is, as noted in the margin of A. V., -to Mahanaim." The change of construction is as though some verb = -was appointed" had been in the mind of the writer for this one verse out of the list.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ahimaaz_ As no father's name is mentioned we may perhaps conclude that the well-known son of Zadok the priest is meant, who comes into historic notice at the time when David was fleeing before Absalom (2 Samuel 15:27). His close connexion with the royal family would be likely to secure for him, if... [ Continue Reading ]
_Baanah_ The Hebrew orthography is the same as in 1 Kings 4:12. So read BAANA. Here another son of his father's friend is cared for by Solomon. Hushai, father of Baana, was devoted to David's cause in the rebellion of Absalom (2 Samuel 15:32) and it speaks well for Solomon that this devotion is not... [ Continue Reading ]
_in Issachar_ The tribe of Zebulon came to the south of Naphtali, and south of this was Issachar. Jezreel and Gilboa were in this tribe.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Elah_ The usual manner of transliteration requires ELA, like Baana in 16.... [ Continue Reading ]
_in the country of Gilead_ Geber had the oversight of that part of Gilead which lay south of the district assigned to Ben-Geber (1 Kings 4:13). This comprised all the kingdom of Sihon and part of the kingdom of Og (Deut. chh. 2. 3), and was a very extensive province, but on account of its rugged cha... [ Continue Reading ]
_eating and drinking, and making merry_ Words added to the description of the increased population to mark the great prosperity of the land. There was abundance everywhere, and none to make them afraid. Cf. below, 1 Kings 4:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
Extent of Solomon's Kingdom, the provision for his table, his stud (Not in Chronicles) 21. This verse in the Hebrew is the beginning of Chapter 5, which has therefore 32 verses instead of 18 as in the English division. The LXX. and the Vulgate divide as in the A.V., but the former has a different o... [ Continue Reading ]
_measures_ The Hebrew word is _cor._It is of the same capacity as the _homer_, and is used both as a liquid and a dry measure (see 1 Kings 5:11). It contained 10 _ephahs_in dry, and 10 _baths_in liquid measure. According to the Rabbins the cor contained nearly 45 gallons, but Josephus gives a differ... [ Continue Reading ]
_roebucks_ The Hebrew word (צבי) is rendered δορκὰς by the LXX. i.e. a gazelle. It is akin to the proper name Tabitha, i.e. Δορκὰς (Acts 9:36). The rendering _roebuck_is better suited to the description of the next kind of animals mentioned and which A. V. translates _fallow deer_. _fatted fowl_ Th... [ Continue Reading ]
_on_this _side the river_ The side intended is of course here quite plain. It is the country west of the Euphrates towards Palestine. But the same Hebrew came to be used by those who were dwelling east of the Euphrates (cp. Ezra 4:6; Ezra 6:6; Ezra 7:21; Ezra 7:25; Ezra 8:36; Nehemiah 2:7) when they... [ Continue Reading ]
_Judah and Israel_ Clearly marked off from one another, though no separation had yet taken place. _under his vine and under his fig tree_ A sort of proverbial description of a state of peace and prosperity. Cp. Micah 4:4. On the contrary, for a scene of desolation we have (Joel 1:12) -the vine is d... [ Continue Reading ]
_horses for his chariots_ This is one of the passages which make clear the meaning of the Hebrew _sus_, a horse to go in a chariot, and _parash_, a saddle-horse. In 2 Chronicles 9:25 the number of stalls is 4000 instead of 40000 as here.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And those officers_ Referring to the twelve enumerated in 1 Kings 4:8-19. There is a degree of awkwardness in the way in which the fresh mention of them is introduced, and this no doubt led to the transposition in the LXX. which has been noticed above. _they lacked nothing_ Rather, -they let nothi... [ Continue Reading ]
_unto the place where_the officers _were_ As shewn by the italics of A. V. there is no word in the original for -the officers." The verb moreover is in the singular. It is better therefore to render with the margin of R.V. -where he (i.e. the king) was" or -where it should be.... [ Continue Reading ]
The wisdom and fame of Solomon (Not in Chronicles) 29. _largeness of heart_ By this is meant a comprehensive powerful mind capable of grasping the knowledge of many and difficult subjects; poetry, philosophy, natural history in its various branches; he was master of them all. _as the sand that_is... [ Continue Reading ]
_the children of the east country_ i.e. The Chaldæans and Arabians who from early times were noted for their astrological investigations and for their wisdom. Job is spoken of as among these children of the east (Job 1:3) and the character of their wisdom and scientific learning may be gathered in s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman_ Ethan and Heman are among the names of the singers (1 Chronicles 15:19) appointed by David when the ark was brought up to the city of David, but there is no possibility of deciding whether those are the men alluded to here. In 1 Chronicles (1 Kings 15:17) Ethan is cal... [ Continue Reading ]
_three thousand proverbs_ Of which some are contained in the book of Proverbs to which his name is given, but these are not all his, nor would all that are attributed to him there approach the number in the text. The proverb (משׁל) of the Hebrews was, as we see from those preserved, more of the char... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he spake_ i.e. He gave descriptions of the whole vegetable world, and discussed the virtues of the various plants. For it has been always of their medicinal properties that the earliest works on plants have treated. They were the remedies for all diseases, and a knowledge of -simples," as they... [ Continue Reading ]
_from all kings of the earth_ It is most likely that what is meant is that embassies were sent from various kingdoms. The visit of the queen of Sheba (chap. 10) is preserved us probably as one of the more distant visits, and made, as could not often be the case, by the monarch in person. Here the L... [ Continue Reading ]