Ecclesiastes 2:8

I gathered me also silver and gold Here also we find a counterpart in what is recorded of the wealth of Solomon, the ships of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir, to the amount of 420 talents (1 Kings 9:28), the gifts from the queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:1), the total revenue of 666 talents (1 Kings 10:15), the 200 targets and 300 shields of beaten gold, and the throne of gold and ivory and the drinking vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon, and the silver that was in Jerusalem as stones (1 Kings 10:16-27).

the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces The words may point to the special gifts which came to Solomon by way of tribute from other lands, from Seba and Sheba (Psalms 72:10), from the "kings of Arabia and the governors of the country" (1 Kings 9:15; 1 Kings 10:27). Many commentators, however, see in the phrase a description of the treasures of Solomon as being such as were the special possessions of sovereign rulers and sovereign states as distinct from the wealth of private citizens. The word for "province" may be noted as a comparatively late word, hardly coming into use till the time of the Captivity (Lamentations 1:1; Ezekiel 19:8), and prominent chiefly in the books of the Persian period, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther and Daniel. It probably designates here the twelve districts into which Solomon divided his empire (1 Kings 4:7-19).

men singers and women singers The mention of women shews that the singers meant are not those connected with the choir of the Temple, but those who, as in the speech of Barzillai (2 Samuel 19:35), figured at state banquets. These women, as in Isaiah 23:6, were commonly taken from the class of harlot aliens, and as such were condemned by the counsel of the wise of heart (Sir 9:4). For the general use of music at feasts, comp. Isaiah 5:11-12; Amos 6:5; Sir 32:5-6; Sir 49:1.

the delights of the sons of men The use of the word in Song Song of Solomon 7:6 leaves little doubt that the phrase is an euphemism for sensual pleasures, and as such it helps to determine the meaning of the words that follow.

musical instruments, and that of all sorts The Hebrew substantive, which is not found elsewhere, is first given in the singular and then in the plural, as an emphatic way of expressing multitude, and has been very variously interpreted, as meaning, with the A.V., following Luther, a "musical instrument," or with the Vulgate "cups," or with the LXX. "cup-bearers," or a "bath," or "heaps" of treasure, or a "chariot," or a "palanquin," or even "male and female demons." Most modern scholars however agree, though differing as to its etymology, some finding its root-meaning in "couch," and some in the "female breast," and others in "captives taken in war," in rendering it as a "concubine." This agrees, it is obvious, with the context and with what is recorded of Solomon's seraglio with its thousand inmates (Song Song of Solomon 6:8; 1 Kings 11:3). It was not likely, we may add, that so characteristic a feature in that monarch's prodigal excesses should have been altogether passed over in a picture so elaborate. "Musical instruments," it may be added, would have formed a somewhat poor climax to the long catalogue of kingly luxuries. The interpolated "as" should be omitted.