Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole 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” 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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole 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^F15Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 34. , 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.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

Shields — Smaller than targets.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

1 Kings 10:17 And [he made] three hundred shields [of] beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

Ver. 17. And he made three hundred shields.] Nothing so big as those targets, [1 Kings 10:16] but lost with them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Three pound, or, three hundred shekels, as it is expressed 2 Chronicles 9:16.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

17.Shields — Ordinary shields, such as were carried on the arm.

Three pounds — Three mina. 2 Chronicles 9:16 reads three hundred shekels; according to which these shields were half the weight of the targets or long shields described in the previous verse; that is, about nine pounds. Both the greater and smaller shields were probably made of wood and overlaid with gold, and were designed more for ornament than for use. They were hung up in one of the great halls of Solomon’s palace, (see note on 1 Kings 7:2,) whence they were subsequently carried away by Shishak king of Egypt. 1 Kings 14:25-26.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Targets, smaller than the former, and resembling a crescent. Ducit Amazonidum lunatis agmina peltis. (Virgil, Æneid i.) (Calmet)

--- Paralipomenon reads, shields. --- Fine. Septuagint, "ductile." Hebrew sseut, "beaten, refined," &c. --- Hundred is omitted in Hebrew and Septuagint, (Haydock) but is found in 2 Paralipomenon (ix. 16.) where we read 300 of gold, in like manner as 600 of gold in the preceding verse, without specifying the particular weight in either. These targets or shields, seem to have been heavier than the former, and designed only for ornament, being placed in the great hall, as they weighed each 375 Roman pounds, or 18,000 sicles; (Calmet) unless minæ, pound, be here put for sicle; as Josephus ([Antiquities?] ii. 3.) says that sons of Jacob sold their brother for twenty pieces of silver, Genesis xxxvii. 28. (Menochius) --- Salien thinks that 200 shields were each worth 600 sicles, and these 300 targets weighed each 300 sicles of gold. (Haydock)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

shields. Taken away by Shishak in the reign of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:26).

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

No JFB commentary on this verse.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) Pound—that is, maneh, equal (see 2 Chronicles 10:16) to one hundred shekels.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

in the house

7:2