1 Kings 10:17

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

in the house: 1 Kings 7:2

Reciprocal: Exodus 25:36 - beaten 2 Samuel 8:7 - shields 1 Kings 10:21 - the house 1 Kings 14:26 - the shields of gold 1 Chronicles 18:7 - shields 2 Chronicles 9:15 - two 2 Chronicles 12:9 - the shields Isaiah 22:8 - the armour

Cross-References

Genesis 34:2
When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold,.... Which were a lesser sort:

three pounds of gold went to one shield; or three hundred shekels, as in 2 Chronicles 9:16 a hundred shekels made one pound; so that these were but half the value of the former, and one of them was worth but two hundred and twenty five pounds: Eupolemus o, an Heathen writer, makes mention of those golden shields Solomon made, and which were made for show, and not for war, as follows:

and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon; one part of which was made an armoury of, see Song of Solomon 4:4.

o Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 34.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These shields, together with the 500 taken by David from Hadadezer 2 Samuel 8:7 were hung round the outer walls of a building, reckoned as belonging to the “house of the Forest of Lebanon,” but separate from it, and called sometimes “the Tower of David” Song of Solomon 4:4, or from its use “the armoury” Song of Solomon 4:4; Isaiah 22:8. The practice of hanging shields outside walls for ornamentation seems to have existed at Tyre Ezekiel 27:10-11, Rome, Athens, and elsewhere. Traces of it are thought to be found in the Assyrian sculptures.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 10:17. He made three hundred shields — The מגן magen was a large shield by which the whole body was protected.

Mr. Reynolds computes that the two hundred targets, on each of which were employed three hundred shekels of gold, were worth £28,131 16s. 9 1/2d.

And the three hundred shields, in forming each of which three pounds of gold were employed, were worth £210,976 7s. 7d.