36 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty and six talents of gold. From Ophir and Tarshish, and wherever he traded; which was of our money, according to Berewood (k), 2,997,000 pounds; or as another learned man (l), who makes it equal to 5,138,520 ducats of gold. (k) De Ponder. & Pret. c. 5. (l) Scheuchzer....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Besides that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffic of the spice merchants,.... What they paid him as a duty or custom for the importation of their goods: and of all the kings of Arabia; who were subject to him, and paid him a yearly tribute, or at least made presents, see 1 Kings 4:21 and of the governors of the country; who were viceroys...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And King Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold,.... Which were a larger sort of shields, which covered the whole body; and these were made of gold beaten with the hammer, or drawn into plates, being melted like wax; so the Poeni or Carthaginians made shields of gold (m): six hundred shekels of gold went to one target; which is to be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold,.... Which were a lesser sort: three pounds of gold went to one shield; or three hundred shekels, as in 2 Chronicles 9:16 a hundred shekels made one pound; so that these were but half the value of the former, and one of them was worth but two hundred and twenty five pounds: Eupolemus (o), an Heathen...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory,.... To sit on and judge his people; and ivory being white, may denote the purity, justice, and equity with which he judged; the white throne in Revelation 20:11 may be an allusion to this; the ivory he had from Tarshish, 1 Kings 10:22 and overlaid it with the best gold; for the greater splendour and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The throne had six steps,.... Up to the footstool of the throne, which was of gold, 2 Chronicles 9:18 and was high, that everyone in court might see him, and the better hear the sentence he gave: and the top of the throne was round behind; had a semicircle at the top of it, like an alcove: and there were stays on either side on the place of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps,.... There was a lion on each side of every step, a symbol of royal power, as before observed; so the Egyptians placed lions under the throne of Orus (r): there was not the like made in any kingdom; for the matter and form of it, for its grandeur and magnificence;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold,.... Such quantities of it were brought to him from Ophir, and paid to him in tribute, and given him as presents: and all the vessels of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; not only what were used in his palace at Jerusalem, but in his country house at some little distance: none were of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish, with the navy of Hiram,.... Tharshish was not the place the navy went from, but whither it went to, as appears from 2 Chronicles 9:21 and designs not Tarsus in Cilicia; nor Tartessus in Spain, or Gades, or which was however near it; though it appears from Strabo (s) and Mela (t) that the Phoenicians...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. In which he was an eminent type of Christ; see Ephesians 3:8.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. For it was all of God, a peculiar gift of his; by "all the earth" is meant the inhabitants of it, and only them, and those the more principal; who came from the several parts of it, hearing the fame of his wisdom, to know the truth of it, and to improve...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they brought every man his present,.... To recommend them, and introduce them into his presence: vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, and horses, and mules, a rate year by year; everyone brought according to the commodities of his country; and they did yearly, out of great respect to him, and in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen,.... Both for war; for though it was a time of peace, he provided against the worst, lest an enemy should come upon him suddenly, and when unprepared: and he had one thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; of the latter [See comments on 1 Kings 4:26] whom he bestowed in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones,.... By the vast quantity he received from Tarshish; this is an hyperbolical expression: and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are the vale for abundance; not by the growth of them, but by the importation of them from the dominion of Hiram; this is said in the same figurative way;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt,.... To mount his horsemen with, and draw his chariots; which seems contrary to the command in Deuteronomy 17:16 and linen yarn; the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price; or rather linen itself; or linen garments, as Ben Gersom; linen being the staple commodity of Egypt, see Isaiah 19:9,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver,.... Which, reckoning at two shillings and six pence a shekel, amounted to seventy five pounds; but a shekel was not worth more than two shillings and four pence farthing: and an horse for one hundred and fifty; and this being the fourth part of the above sum, the Jews...