CHAPTER IV _An account of Solomon's chief officers_, 1-6. _Names of the twelve officers that were over twelve districts,_ _to provide victuals for the king's household monthly_, 7-19. _Judah and Israel are very populous; and Solomon reigns over_ _many provinces_, 20, 21. _The daily provision f... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:2. _THESE_ WERE _THE PRINCES WHICH HE HAD; AZARIAH THE SON OF_ _ZADOK THE PRIEST._] These were his _great, chief_, or _principal_ men. None of them were _princes_ in the common acceptation of the word.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:3. _ELIHOREPH AND AHIAH - SCRIBES_] _Secretaries_ to the king. _JEHOSHAPHAT - RECORDER_] _Historiographer_ to the king, who chronicled the affairs of the kingdom. He was in this office under David see 2 Samuel 20:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:5. _AZARIAH _- WAS _OVER THE OFFICERS_] He had the _superintendence_ of the twelve officers mentioned below; see 1 Kings 4:7. _ZABUD _- WAS _PRINCIPAL OFFICER_] Perhaps what we call _premier_, or _prime minister_. _THE KING'S FRIEND_] His chief _favourite _- his _confidant_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:6. _AHISHAR_ WAS _OVER THE HOUSEHOLD_] the king's _chamberlain_. _ADONIRAM _- WAS _OVER THE TRIBUTE._] What we call _chancellor_ of the _exchequer_. He received and brought into the treasury all the proceeds of _taxes_ and _tributes_. He was in this office under David; see 2 Samuel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:7. _TWELVE OFFICERS_] The business of these twelve officers was to provide daily, each for a month, those provisions which were consumed in the king's household; see 1 Kings 4:22-11. And the task for such a daily provision was not an easy one.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:13. _THREESCORE GREAT CITIES WITH WALLS AND BRAZEN BARS_] These were fortified cities: their gates and bars covered with plates of brass. Such were the gates in Priam's palace: - _Ipse inter primos correpta dura bipenni_ _Limina perrumpit, POSTES que a cardine vellit_ AERATOS. VIR... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:20. _EATING AND DRINKING, AND MAKING MERRY._] They were very comfortable, very rich, very merry, and very corrupt. And this full feeding and dissipation led to a total corruption of manners.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:21. _SOLOMON REIGNED OVER ALL KINGDOMS_] The meaning of this verse appears to be, that Solomon reigned over all the provinces from the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, even to the frontiers of Egypt. The Euphrates was on the _east_ of Solomon's dominions; the Philistin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:22. _SOLOMON'S PROVISION FOR ONE DAY_: - Of fine flour . . . . . . 30 measures, or _cors_. Of meal . . . . . . . . . 60 ditto. Stall-fed oxen. . . . . . 10 Ditto from the pasture. . 20 Sheep . . . . . . . . . . 100; with harts, roebucks, fallow deer, and fat fowls. The כר _cor_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:25. _EVERY MAN UNDER HIS VINE_] They were no longer obliged to dwell in _fortified_ cities for fear of their enemies; they spread themselves over all the country, which they everywhere cultivated; and had always the privilege of eating the fruits of their own labours. This is the mea... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:26. _SOLOMON HAD FORTY THOUSAND STALLS OF HORSES - AND TWELVE_ _THOUSAND HORSEMEN._] In 2 Chronicles 9:25, instead of _forty thousand stalls_, we read _four thousand_; and even this number might be quite sufficient to hold horses for _twelve_ _thousand_ horsemen; for _stalls_ and _s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:28. _AND DROMEDARIES_] The word רכש _rechesh_, which we translate thus, is rendered _beasts_, or _beasts of burden_, by the _Vulgate; mares_ by the _Syriac_ and _Arabic; chariots_ by the _Septuagint_; and _race-horses_ by the _Chaldee_. The original word seems to signify a very _swif... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:29. _GOD GAVE SOLOMON WISDOM, C._] He gave him a capacious mind, and furnished him with extraordinary assistance to cultivate it. _EVEN AS THE SAND THAT_ IS _ON THE SEA-SHORE._] Lord _Bacon_ observes on this: "As the sand on the sea-shore encloses a great body of waters, so Solomon'... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:30. _THE CHILDREN OF THE EAST COUNTRY_] That is the Chaldeans, Persians, and Arabians, who, with the Egyptians, were famed for wisdom and knowledge through all the world.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:31. _HE WAS WISER THAN ALL MEN_] He was wiser than any of those who were most celebrated in his time, among whom were the four after mentioned, viz., _Ethan, Heman, Chalcol_, and _Darda_. Ethan was probably the same as is mentioned in some of the Psalms, particularly Psalms 89:1, ti... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:32. _HE SPAKE THREE THOUSAND PROVERBS_] The book of Proverbs, attributed to Solomon, contain only about _nine hundred_ or _nine hundred_ and _twenty-three_ distinct proverbs; and if we grant with some that the first _nine chapters_ are not the work of Solomon, then all that can be at... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:33. _HE SPAKE OF TREES - BEASTS - FOWL - CREEPING THINGS, AND OF_ _FISHES._] This is a complete system of natural history, as far as relates to the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and the first intimation we have of any thing of the kind: Solomon was probably the first _natural histor... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 4:34. _THERE CAME OF ALL PEOPLE TO HEAR THE WISDOM OF_ _SOLOMON_] We learn from 1 Kings 10, that the queen of Sheba was one of those visitants, and perhaps the most remarkable, as we have the particulars of her visit, but not of the others. It is astonishing that of a person so renow... [ Continue Reading ]