1 Kings 10:20

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

lions: Genesis 49:9, Numbers 23:24, Numbers 24:9, Revelation 5:5

the like made: Heb. so made

Reciprocal: Ecclesiastes 2:4 - I builded

Cross-References

Genesis 10:1
This is the account of Noah's sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who also had sons after the flood.

Genesis 10:6
The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

Genesis 10:9
He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; so it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps,.... There was a lion on each side of every step, a symbol of royal power, as before observed; so the Egyptians placed lions under the throne of Orus r:

there was not the like made in any kingdom; for the matter and form of it, for its grandeur and magnificence; there was none at least at that time, whatever has been since; for this is the first throne of ivory we read of.

r Hori Apoll. Hieroglyph, l. 1. c. 17.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Solomon’s throne, as described, is certainly grander than any of which we have a representation, either in Assyria or Egypt. Much more, then, would it transcend the thrones in inferior kingdoms.