36 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Geber the son of Uri [was] in the country of Gilead,.... Which was beyond Jordan, and inhabited by the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh; this must be understood of all the country, excepting what was under the jurisdiction of the son of Geber, 1 Kings 4:13; and which had been the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Judah and Israel [were] many, as the sand which [is] by the sea in multitude,.... Being blessed with great fruitfulness in their families, and having no pestilential disease among them, nor wars to lessen their number, and so the promise to Abraham was fulfilled, Genesis 22:17; and which was an emblem of Christ's spiritual subjects, especially in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms,.... Not only over Judah and Israel, but all people round about him, they standing in fear of him; or who brought him presents, or paid tribute to him, which was an acknowledgment of superiority over them, and doing homage to him: from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour,.... The measure here used was the "corus", or "cor", the same with the homer, which was equal to ten ephahs, and, according to Bishop Cumberland (w), held seventy five wine gallons and five pints, and somewhat more; by which may be known how many gallons of fine flour these...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ten fat oxen,.... Such as were kept up in the stall and fatted: and twenty oxen out of the pastures; which were killed as they were taken from thence, and not put up to be fed: and an hundred sheep; out of the folds: beside harts, and roebucks, and fallow deer; which were clean creatures, according to the Levitical law, Deuteronomy 14:5; these...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For he had dominion over all [the region] on this side the river,.... Or beyond the river Euphrates, in the sense before given, 1 Kings 4:21; which accounts for the plenty of provisions he had, and the revenue with which he supported such a table he kept: from Tiphsah even to Azzah; or Gaza, one of the five principalities of the Philistines....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Judah and Israel dwelt safely,.... Without fear of any injury done to their persons or properties by any enemy; which is, and will be, more abundantly fulfilled in Christ, the antitype of Solomon, Jeremiah 23:5; every man under his vine, and under his fig tree; which were principal trees in the land of Judea, put for all the rest; and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon had forty thousand stalls for horses,.... In 2 Chronicles 9:25; it is only four thousand; and therefore some think that here is a mistake of the copier, of "arbaim", forty, for "arbah", four; which it is thought might be through divine permission, in such lesser matters, without any prejudice to the authority of the Scriptures in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And these officers provided victuals for King Solomon,.... The twelve before mentioned; and this is repeated here, after the account of his horses, to observe, that they provided for them also, as well as for the sake of what follows; that the large provision made by them was not only for Solomon's family and domestic servants, but for strangers...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Barley also, and straw for the horses and dromedaries,.... Or rather mules, by comparing the passage with 2 Chronicles 9:24; the particular kind of creatures meant is not agreed on; though all take them to be a swifter sort of creatures than horses; or the swifter of horses, as race horses or posts horses: barley was for their provender, that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much,.... In things natural, moral, divine, and spiritual, and that not slight and superficial, but exceeding deep, and large beyond expression; and this he had not from the acuteness of his genius merely, nor from his industry and diligence; but by the gift of God, as whatsoever solid wisdom...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east,.... The Arabians, and Persians, famous for wisdom, and who lay to the east of the land of Judea; whose wisdom lay in the knowledge of the stars, in divination by birds, and soothsaying (m): and all the wisdom of Egypt; which it was eminent for in the times of Moses, and in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For he was wiser than all men,.... Not only that lived in his time, but in ages past since the fall of Adam, and in times to come, especially in natural wisdom and knowledge, in all the branches of it; for though some men excel in some part of knowledge, yet not in all, as Solomon did: than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he spake three thousand proverbs,.... Wise sayings, short and pithy sentences, instructive in morality and civil life; these were not written as the book of Proverbs, but spoken only, and were taken from his lips, and spread by those that heard them for the use of others, but in process of time were lost; whereas the above book, being written...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he spake of trees,.... Of all trees, herbs, and plants, of the nature, virtues, and use them: from the cedar tree that [is] in Lebanon: a mountain on the northern border of Judea, famous for cedars, the tallest and largest of trees: even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; which grew about Jerusalem, and in the mountains of it, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth,.... Who sent their ambassadors to his court to know the truth of what was reported, and bring them some proofs and specimens, by which they might judge of the truth of the relations that had been told them; which perhaps might seem to them to be beyond all...