1 Kings 10:16

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

two hundred: Mr. Reynolds computes that these 200 targets were worth 28,131 16s. 9d.; and that the 300 shields were worth 210,976 7s. 7d. 1 Kings 14:26-28, 2 Chronicles 9:15, 2 Chronicles 9:16, 2 Chronicles 12:9, 2 Chronicles 12:10

Reciprocal: Exodus 25:36 - beaten 1 Samuel 17:6 - target of brass 2 Samuel 8:7 - shields 1 Chronicles 18:7 - shields 2 Chronicles 1:14 - Solomon

Cross-References

Judges 1:21
The Benjamites, however, failed to drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. And to this day the Jebusites dwell among the Benjamites in Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 24:18
And that day Gad came to David and said to him, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

Zechariah 9:7
I will remove the blood from their mouths and the abominations from between their teeth. Then they too will become a remnant for our God; they will become like a clan in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And King Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold,.... Which were a larger sort of shields, which covered the whole body; and these were made of gold beaten with the hammer, or drawn into plates, being melted like wax; so the Poeni or Carthaginians made shields of gold m:

six hundred shekels of gold went to one target; which is to be understood not of the weight, but of the price or value of them, which amounted to four hundred and fifty pounds of our money; so Brerewood n.

m Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 35. 3. n Ut supra. (De Ponder. & Pret. c. 5.)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The “targets” seem to have been long shields protecting the whole body, while the “shields” of the next verse were bucklers of a smaller size, probably round, and much lighter. They may be compared with the Assyrian long shield, and the ordinary Assyrian round shield. As the amount of gold used in each of the larger shields was only 600 shekels - worth from 650 to 700 of our money - and that used in the smaller ones was only half as much it is evident that the metal did not form the substance of the shields, but was laid as a coating or plating over them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 10:16. Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold — I have already conjectured that the צנה tsinnah might resemble the Highland targe or target, with a dagger projecting from the UMBO or centre.