1 Kings 4

Chap. IV. Ver. 1—34. The officers of Solomon’s household, the extent of his dominions, and the variety of his knowledge.— If the glory of a king consists in the peace and prosperity of his subjects, Solomon was now, as a prince, supremely happy. He reigned over all the kingdoms (or provinces rather) from the great river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, and to the frontiers of Egypt. But his wisdom was still more extensive than his dominions. For “God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore;” a figure which Lord Bacon thus beautifully explains: “As the sand on the sea shore encloses a great body of waters, so Solomon’s mind contained an ocean of knowledge.”

He was wiser than all men; and gave proofs of his extraordinary wisdom, both in his conversations and compositions. His conversations embraced the whole circuit of natural history; he uttered a great number of apothegms, and his songs and odes, sacred and moral, are computed at one thousand and five. Of these numerous productions, the book of Proverbs has preserved to us more than 900; several of his sacred odes are probably included in David’s Psalms; and of his songs, the book of Canticles preserves at least seven or eight. Dr. Mason Good reckons them at twelve. Of the rest we know nothing. Solomon’s great desire, however, seems to have been, not for speculative, but practical wisdom, as it applied to his government, the improvement of his country, and the instruction of mankind.

“The best knowledge (as Henry observes) is that which enables us to do our duty; to discern between good and bad—right and wrong—truth and falsehood.”
** What tho’ I trace each herb and flower
That drinks the morning dew,
Did I not own Jehovah’s power,
How vain were all I knew?
Say, what’s the rest but empty boast,
The pedant’s idle claim,
Who, having all the substance lost,
Attempts to grasp a name?”

Notes on the verses

Chap. IV. Ver. 3. Scribes, &c.—Compare note on (2 Samuel 8:16).; xx. 24. Ver. 4. Zadok and Abiathar.—This must have been written before (1 Kings 11:27). which see. F. Ver. 7. Officers.—{These are doubtless to be considered as general receivers; for, as Sir John Chardin observes, “the revenues of the princes of the East are paid in the fruits and productions of the earth: there are no other taxes on the peasants.”}—Bagster. Ver. 13. Walls and brazen bars.—The gates and bars covered with brass, probably, like those in Priam’s palace. Ver. 23. Ten fat oxen.—Tavernier, describing the establishment of a royal seraglio, says, it required five hundred sheep and lambs daily.—Orient. Lit. No 528.—Roebucks and fallow deer—See note on (Deuteronomy 14:5). Ver. 24. Tiphsah to Azzah.—That is, probably, from Thapsacus (on the Euphrates) to Gaza, in the S. W. corner of Canaan.—Dr. Wells. Ver. 25, Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses.—In (2 Chronicles 9:25), we read four thousand, which is far more probable. Ver. 28. Barley.—Hasselquist says, in the East, horses are still fed with barley.—Orient. Lit. No. 530.—Dromedaries.—The Hebrew Rakesh, seems a general term, including all kinds of working cattle.—Parkhurst. Ver. 31. Sons of Mahol.—“The choir;” i.e. musicians and poets.—Bishop Lowth. See (1 Chronicles 2:6). Ver. 33. From the Cedar.—(The word airez, whence the Chaldee and Syriac arzo and the Arabic and Ethiopic arz, and Spanish alerce, unquestionably denotes the cedar; it is thus rendered by the LXX. and other Greek versions, and by the Vulgate, and the inhabitants of mount Lebanon still call it ars. (See Michaelis.) The cedar is a large and noble evergreen tree; and according to Tournefort, makes a distinct genus of plants, but it is comprehended by Linnæus among the junipers. Gabriel Sionata thus describes the cedar of Lebanon: “The cedar grows on the most elevated part of the mountain, is taller than the pine, and so thick that five men together could scarcely fathom one. It shoots out its branches at ten or twelve feet from the ground; they are large and distant from each other, and are perpetually green. The wood is of a brown colour, very solid and incorruptible, if preserved from wet.

The tree bears a small cone, like that of the pine.”]—Bagster.