1 Kings 10:15

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹⁴The weight of gold that came to Solomon each year was 666 talents, ¹⁵not including the revenue from the merchants, traders, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land.¹⁶King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. ¹⁷He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸Additionally, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁹The throne had six steps and a rounded top at the back of the throne. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with a lion standing beside each armrest. ²⁰Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any kingdom. ²¹All of King Solomon's drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. ²²For the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram's fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. ²³So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

all the kings: 1 Chronicles 9:24, 2 Chronicles 9:13, 2 Chronicles 9:14, Psalms 72:10, Isaiah 21:13, Galatians 4:25

governors: or, captains

Reciprocal: Genesis 42:34 - traffic Genesis 43:11 - spices 2 Kings 20:13 - precious things Isaiah 39:2 - precious things Jeremiah 25:24 - Arabia Ezekiel 27:21 - Arabia Acts 2:11 - Arabians Revelation 18:13 - cinnamon

Cross-References

Genesis 10:2
The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

Genesis 10:3
The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

Genesis 10:8
And Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth.

Genesis 10:15
Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,

Genesis 10:18
the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans were scattered

Genesis 10:20
These are the sons of Ham according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.

Genesis 10:21
And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth; Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber.

Genesis 10:24
And Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber.

Genesis 23:3
Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites,

Genesis 49:13
Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore and become a harbor for ships; his border shall extend to Sidon.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 or deputy governors of countries conquered by his father, and who collected tribute from the people, and paid it to him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

There is no mention in the original of “spice merchants.” Two classes of traders are spoken of; but both expressions are general.

Kings of Arabia - Rather, “kings of the mingled people” (compare Jeremiah 25:24). These were probably tribes half Jewish, half Arabian, on the borders of the western desert. They are regarded as Arabs by the author of Chronicles (marginal reference).

Governors - The word used here is thought to be of Aryan origin. It appears to have been a title given by the Persians to petty governors, inferior to the great satraps of provinces. We find it borne by, among others, Tatnai Ezra 5:6, Zerubbabel Haggai 1:1, and Nehemiah Nehemiah 5:14. It can scarcely have been in use among the Jews so early as Solomon, and we must therefore suppose it to have been substituted by the writer of Kings for some corresponding Semitic title. The empire of Solomon was not a state governed from a single center by an organisation of satrapies or provinces (1 Kings 4:21 note). But exceptionally, in some parts of the empire, the kings had been superseded by “governors” (compare 1 Kings 20:24).