Poole on 1 Kings 4:20-25: The Greatness of Solomon's Kingdom

Verse 20:[1]  Judah and Israel were many, (Gen. 22:17; 1 Kings 3:8; Prov. 14:28) as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, (Ps. 72:3, 7; Mic. 4:4) eating and drinking, and making merry.

[Eating, etc.]  That is, living with great security and joy of soul (Vatablus).  Therefore, if they were owing any tribute to the King, the whole was well compensated to them (Martyr).

Verse 21:[2]  And (2 Chron. 9:26; Ps. 72:8; Ecclus. 47:13) Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from (Gen. 15:18; Josh. 1:4) the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt:  (Ps. 68:29; 72:10, 11) they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.

[From the river to the land of the Philistines[3] (thus Montanus, Syriac)]  Do not refer the land to the river[4] (for in the Hebrew נָהָר/river is in the absolute state, not נְהַר/river, as it ought to be in the construct state, if it were governing the genitive land), but to kingdoms; that is to say, he was obtaining all the kingdoms of the land of the Philistines, from the river, that is, which were lying between the Euphrates and the land of the Philistines inclusively (Lapide). מִן־הַנָּהָר֙ אֶ֣רֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים, which from the river of the land of Palestine, etc. (Castalio).  From the water that is in the region of the Philistines (Strigelius).  What then is the river of the land?  Responses:  1.  The River Rhinocolura, which divides the Philistines from the Arabs (Tostatus in Lapide, Tirinus).  2.  The Jordan, or rather the origin of Jordan in Lebanon (certain interpreters in Lapide).  3.  The Euphrates (Lapide).  From that river (that is, Euphrates) and from the land of the Philistines, etc. The proposition מִן/from, posited in one place, should be supplied in the other (Mariana).  From the river or stream the land (unto the land [Jonathan, Munster, Pagnine, Tigurinus]) of the Philistines (Grotius), that is, from the Euphrates (Grotius, thus Vatablus, Jonathan, Menochius, Tirinus, Piscator, etc.), as it appears from what follows (Grotius).  This is generally called so by antonomasia[5] (Malvenda).  This is to the East of the Holy Land.  The breadth of the rule of Solomon is described.  The Philistines were to the West:  Egypt to the South:  mention of the Northern region is made a little afterwards (Vatablus).  He does not understand that all the adjacent Kingdoms were subordinate to Solomon; but that their Kings were fearing Solomon, were sending, etc. (Vatablus out of Munster).

[Unto the border of Egypt]  This border was the river Sihor, Joshua 13:3, and that to the South (Piscator).

From the river Euphrates; for so far David, having conquered the Syrians, extended his empire, which Solomon also maintained in that extent.  And so God’s promise concerning the giving of the whole land, as far as Euphrates, to the Israelites, was fulfilled.  And if the Israelites had multiplied so much that the land of Canaan would not suffice them, having God’s grant of all the land as far as Euphrates, they might have seized upon it whensoever occasion required.  Unto the land of the Philistines, which is to be understood inclusively; for it is unreasonable to think that the Philistines were not within Solomon’s dominion.  Unto the border of Egypt; unto the river Sihor, which was the border between Egypt and Canaan, Joshua 13:3.  Compare Genesis 15:18.  Served Solomon, by tribute, or other ways, as he needed and required.

Verse 22:[6]  And Solomon’s provision (Heb. bread[7]) for one day was thirty measures (Heb. cors[8]) of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal…

[Cors]  The כֹּר/cor is the same thing as the ‎חֹמֶר/homer, and contains thirty Seahs[9] and ten measures of an Ephah.  Concerning which see Exodus 16:36;[10] Leviticus 5:11[11] (Munster, Menochius).  Therefore, since a seah, which is also called a modius, is sufficient for one man for one day; it follows that the daily bread of Solomon was sufficient for two thousand and seven hundred men (Menochius).  This abundance could seem to be great; but he had many wives; likewise singers, etc.; for the most part these pertain to magnificence (Martyr).

Thirty measures; Hebrew, cors:  each of which contained ten ephahs, Exodus 16:36.  So this provision was sufficient for near three thousand persons.

[Of meal]  That is, of a coarser sort, for wheat flour was finer than meal (Vatablus).

Meal, of a coarser sort, for common use, and for the inferior sort.

Verse 23:[12]  Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl.

Ten fat oxen, fitted in stalls.

[Oxen of the pastures (thus all interpreters), ‎בָּקָ֛ר רְעִ֖י]  Oxen of the pasture (Jonathan, Montanus), not fattened, to which are opposed the fat (Vatablus).  רְעִי/pasture is taken for מִרְעֶה/pasture (Munster).

Out of the pastures; well fleshed, tender, and good, though not so fat as the former.

[Of gazelles, ‎וְיַחְמוּר [13]]  [Concerning which term see what things we gathered on Deuteronomy 14:5.[14]]

[And of fatted fowl, ‎וּבַרְבֻּרִים אֲבוּסִים׃ [15]]  [They render it variously:]  1.  Birds (capons[16] [Montanus, Vatablus, Pomarius[17] and Aquinas in Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals], roosters [Pagnine and Rabbi Salomon[18] in Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals]) fattened (Jonathan, similarly the Syriac, Arabic) (or castrated [Munster], or choice [Septuagint in Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals and in Piscator]).  This does not satisfy:  1.  אֵבוּס in Sacred Scripture is the feeding-trough of sheep or mules,[19] not of fattened fowl.  2.  If he had understood birds, there is no reason why he would not have expressly mentioned צִפּוֹרִים/birds.[20]  The same is able to be objected concerning roosters, etc.  2.  To some בַרְבּוּר/barbur is in the place of אֲבַרְבּוּר, from אֶבֶר/wing; thus it signifies birds, flying creatures, in general.  This appears to be followed by Josephus, the Chaldean, the Syriac and Arabic, the Vulgate, Levi[21] and Mordecai.  But the matter is nearly without parallel, that the first Radical would be cut from Nouns that are formed from Quiescent Pe-Aleph roots.  3.  These birds were brought from Barbary:  thus Baal Aruch,[22] likewise Kimchi and Elias.[23]  Which ought not to have been received with such hissing; as if the name of Barbary were born just today or yesterday.  For, besides that Barbary on the west of Africa, which lies near the Mediterranean Sea; there is also another Barbary, the name of which is much more ancient, namely, an Æthiopic and eastern, on the Arabian Gulf, or Red Sea:  of which mention is made by Ptolemy,[24] Arrianus,[25] Stephanus,[26] and also the Talmudists,[27] and the Paraphrasts.  Therefore, thence are guinea fowl able to be brought, of which is great abundance there, as testify Agatharcides[28] and Diodorus Siculus,[29] etc.  Moreover, Solomon built a fleet in the Red Sea, whence was the journey into that Barbary.[30]  But neither does this satisfy:  1.  Then they would not be called בַּרְבֻּרִים/Barburim, but Barbarim.  2.  It is not evident that that Barbary was so called in the age of Solomon.  3.  Why would those birds of Barbary come into the account, rather than so many others born in Judea and the surrounding regions? (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 2:1:19:135).  Others translate it, fatted cattle and fattened birds (Tigurinus); birds fattened at the manger (Osiander); whatever choicest fattened birds (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals, Junius and Tremellius, Piscator).  Hebrew:  manger-fattened, that is, which were fattened at the manger (Piscator, thus Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals), not as others in the pastures.  This version satisfies:  For, 1.  in asserting this the elders agree with the Talmudists; from the Greeks one renders it ἐκλεκτῶν σιτευτά, the fattened of the choice; but animals that are fattened, having been shut up are called σιτευτά.  2.  This is supported by analogy; in Deuteronomy 28:22, חַרְחוּר, extreme burning, is from חָרַר, to burn.  And thus בַרְבּוּר/barbur, the choicest thing, is constructed from בָּרַר, to select, with the first radical doubled, so that the signification might be intensified.  Thus from קָלַל, to be slight/trifling, is קְלוֺקֵל, a thing altogether light, or common;[31] from צָלַל, to be or grow dark, is צִלְצָל, a thicker cloud.[32]  3.  Choice sheep are called ‎בְּרֻרוֹת in a passage almost parallel, Nehemiah 5:18, and so בַּרְבֻּרוֺת, because of the doubled letter, are the choicest (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 2:1:19:135).

Verse 24:[33]  For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over (Ps. 72:11) all the kings on this side the river:  and (1 Chron. 22:9) he had peace on all sides round about him.

[From Tiphsah to Gaza]  Hebrew:  תִּפְסַח/Tiphsach.  Question:  What then was this place?  Response:  This appears to have been a different one from that Tiphsah in 2 Kings 15:16, because that one was not across the river (which is said of this Tiphsah), whether you understand Euphrates or Jordan.  But near Tirzah,[34] which was formerly the head of the ten tribes[35] (Sanchez).  These were the borders of the breadth of his kingdom, just as in verse 21 were the borders of length.  And so Tiphsah was beyond Jordan (Menochius).  Tiphsah here is set in opposition to Gaza:  whence it appears that it was situated near Euphrates (Lapide).  Undoubtedly this is the town which of old was called Thapsarum, which Pliny[36] says was on the Euphrates, Natural History 5:24 (Grotius after Junius, Piscator).  This city was famous, concerning which Xenophon[37] in his Education of Cyrus 1:254; Ptolemy in his Geography 5:19; Strabo in his Geography 2; 16 (Malvenda).

Tiphsah; either that Tiphsah, 2 Kings 15:16, which was in the kingdom of Israel within Jordan; or rather, another place of that name upon the river now mentioned, to wit, Euphrates, even that eminent city which is mentioned by Ptolemy, and Strabo, and Pliny, called Thapsarum.  And this best agrees with the following Azzah, which was the border of Canaan in the south and west, Genesis 10:19; Deuteronomy 2:23, as Tiphsah was in the north and east.  And so his dominion is described by both its borders.

[And all the Kings, etc.]  It is hyperbole, in the place of many regions situated beyond the Euphrates (Munster).  He was ruling in the whole region that was beyond Euphrates, that is, from which they were bringing those gifts/tributes to him (Vatablus).  [Others otherwise:]  The Kings beyond Jordan, for example, of the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Syrians, etc., whom David had subjugated (Sanchez).  Those were the Kings under Solomon’s protection and guardianship, on account of which they were paying a fixed tribute (Grotius).

All the kings on this side the river; who owned subjection and paid tribute to him.

[He had peace on all sides round about him, ‎מִכָּל־עֲבָרָ֖יו מִסָּבִֽיב׃]  From all sides (passages [Montanus]) of him from a circuit (Pagnine, thus Jonathan, Junius and Tremellius, Vatablus); that is to say, his neighbors were not daring to undertake anything against him (Vatablus).  Others:  with all his servants, etc. (Munster, Tigurinus) [as if they had read, עֲבָדָיו, his servants].

Verse 25:[38]  And Judah and Israel (see Jer. 23:6) dwelt safely (Heb. confidently[39]), (Mic. 4:4; Zech. 3:10) every man under his vine and under his fig tree, (Judg. 20:1) from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.

[Under his vine, etc.]  That is to say, Even in the country they were living freely, fearing no enemy (Menochius out of Vatablus).  The Jews were wont diligently to cultivate their vines and fig trees above all other trees, on account of the sweetness of their fruit, and the pleasantness of their shade (Glassius’ “Sacred Rhetoric” 296).  Under his vine, etc., that is, by eating their fruits (Vatablus).

Under his vine and under his fig tree; enjoying the fruit of his own labours with safety and comfort.  Under these two trees, which were most used and cultivated by the Israelites, he understands all other fruit-bearing trees, and all other comforts, by a synecdoche.  And they are brought in as sitting or dwelling under these trees, partly, for recreation or delight in the shade; and partly, for the comfort or advantage of the fruit; and withal, to note their great security, not only in their strong cities, but even in the country, where the vines and fig trees grew, which were most open to the incursions of their enemies.

[1] Hebrew:  ‎יְהוּדָ֤ה וְיִשְׂרָאֵל֙ רַבִּ֔ים כַּח֥וֹל אֲשֶׁר־עַל־הַיָּ֖ם לָרֹ֑ב אֹכְלִ֥ים וְשֹׁתִ֖ים וּשְׂמֵחִֽים׃

[2] Hebrew: ‎וּשְׁלֹמֹ֗ה הָיָ֤ה מוֹשֵׁל֙ בְּכָל־הַמַּמְלָכ֔וֹת מִן־הַנָּהָר֙ אֶ֣רֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים וְעַ֖ד גְּב֣וּל מִצְרָ֑יִם מַגִּשִׁ֥ים מִנְחָ֛ה וְעֹבְדִ֥ים אֶת־שְׁלֹמֹ֖ה כָּל־יְמֵ֥י חַיָּֽיו׃ פ

[3] Hebrew:  ‎מִן־הַנָּהָר֙ אֶ֣רֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים.

[4] That is, the river of the land.

[5] That is, an epithet or title used in the place of the proper name.

[6] Hebrew:  ‎ויְהִ֥י לֶֽחֶם־שְׁלֹמֹ֖ה לְי֣וֹם אֶחָ֑ד שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים כֹּר֙ סֹ֔לֶת וְשִׁשִּׁ֥ים כֹּ֖ר קָֽמַח׃

[7] Hebrew:  ‎לֶחֶם.

[8] Hebrew:  ‎כֹּר.

[9] A seah was a dry measure of about 8 liters (roughly two gallons).

[10] Exodus 16:36:  “Now an omer (‎וְהָעֹמֶר) is the tenth part of an ephah (‎עֲשִׂרִ֥ית הָאֵיפָ֖ה).”

[11] Leviticus 5:11:  “But if he be not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah (‎עֲשִׂירִ֧ת הָאֵפָ֛ה) of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any frankincense thereon:  for it is a sin offering.”

[12] Hebrew:  ‎עֲשָׂרָ֙ה בָקָ֜ר בְּרִאִ֗ים וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים בָּקָ֛ר רְעִ֖י וּמֵ֣אָה צֹ֑אן לְ֠בַד מֵֽאַיָּ֤ל וּצְבִי֙ וְיַחְמ֔וּר וּבַרְבֻּרִ֖ים אֲבוּסִֽים׃

[13] 1 Kings 4:23:  “Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer (‎וְיַחְמוּר), and fatted fowl.”

[14] Deuteronomy 14:5:  “The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer (‎וְיַחְמוּר), and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois.”

[15] בַּרְבֻּרִים are fattened birds.  אָבַס signifies to feed or fatten.

[16] That is, cocks, castrated to preserve the tenderness of their meat.

[17] Samuel Baumgarten Pomarius (1624-1683) was a German Lutheran churchman, controversialist, and theologian.  He served as Professor of Theology at Wittenberg.

[18] The details of the life of Rabbi Salomon Jarchi (Solomon Jarchi ben Isaac) have been obscured by the mists of time.  It is relatively safe to associate him with the eleventh century.  He commented on the whole of the Hebrew Bible, and the principal value of his commentary is its preservation of traditional Jewish interpretation.  He also authored the first comprehensive commentary on the Talmud.

[19] Proverbs 14:4:  “Where no oxen are, the crib (‎אֵבוּס) is clean:  but much increase is by the strength of the ox.”  Isaiah 1:3:  “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib (‎אֵבוּס):  but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.”  Job 39:9:  “Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib (‎עַל־אֲבוּסֶךָ)?”

[20] See, for example, Genesis 7:14:  “They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort (וְכָל־הָע֣וֹף לְמִינֵ֔הוּ כֹּ֖ל צִפּ֥וֹר כָּל־כָּנָֽף׃).”

[21] Although little is known about the life of Levi ben Gershon, also known as Gersonides and Ralbag (1288-1344), his interests included, not only Biblical and Talmudic interpretation, but also philosophy, science, and mathematics.  He composed commentaries on the Former Prophets.

[22] The Aruch is a celebrated Jewish lexicon published in 1101 by Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome, an Italian Jewish lexicographer (c. 1035-1106), who is sometimes called Baal Aruch.  The Aruch is an encyclopedic work that has been expanded greatly since ben Jehiel completed the first edition.

[23] Elias Levita (1468-1549) was a Jewish Hebrew grammarian, respected among Christians such as Munster and Fagius.  Tishbi was a lexicon presenting for the German reader seven hundred and twelve words used in the Talmud and Midrash.  It was translated into Latin by Fagius.

[24] Geography 4:7.  Claudius Ptolemæus (c. 90-c. 168), of Roman Alexandria, was a scientist and thinker of great profundity; and his contribution to the fields of geography and astronomy in the Western world has been enormous.

[25] Lucius Flavius Arrianus of Nicomedia was a second century Greek historian and a Roman senator.

[26] Stephanus of Byzantium (sixth century), a Greek grammarian and lexicographer, wrote a geographical dictionary, entitled Ethnica, which only survives in fragments.  Stephanus draws on Ptolemy and Arrianus as sources.

[27] Genesis Rabbah 60:2:  “Eliezer said:  Shall a Cushite or a Barbari (בַּרְבָּרִי) enslave me?  It is better for me to be a slave in the household of Abraham, and not in some other household.”  Similarly in Pesiqta de-Rav Kahana 5:7; Pesiqta Rabbati 15; and Song of Songs Rabbah 2:1:8.

[28] From On the Erythræan Sea.  Agatharcides (second century BC) was a Greek historian.  Only fragments of his works in history and geography survive.

[29] Historical Library 3:39.  Here, Diodorus Siculus draws heavily on Agatharcides’ On the Erythræan Sea.

[30] 1 Kings 9:26-28.

[31] Numbers 21:5:  “And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread (‎בַּלֶּ֖חֶם הַקְּלֹקֵֽל׃).”

[32] Isaiah 18:1:  “Woe to the land shadowing (‎צִלְצַל) with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia…”

[33] Hebrew:  כִּי־ה֞וּא רֹדֶ֣ה׀ בְּכָל־עֵ֣בֶר הַנָּהָ֗ר מִתִּפְסַח֙ וְעַד־עַזָּ֔ה בְּכָל־מַלְכֵ֖י עֵ֣בֶר הַנָּהָ֑ר וְשָׁל֗וֹם הָ֥יָה ל֛וֹ מִכָּל־עֲבָרָ֖יו מִסָּבִֽיב׃

[34] In the tribe of Manasseh, about eight miles northeast of Shechem.

[35] See, for example, 1 Kings 5:33; 16:8.

[36] Gaius Plinius Secundus, or Pliny the Elder (23-79), distinguished himself as a learned author, a celebrated Roman Procurator, and a courageous soldier.  In his Natural History, Pliny in encyclopedic fashion attempts to cover the entire field of human knowledge as it stood in his day.  It remains an invaluable resource in the fields of history, geography, literature, and Biblical studies.

[37] Xenophon (c. 427-355 BC) was a mercenary soldier, who traveled extensively in the East.  He was also an acquaintance and admirer of Socrates.

[38] Hebrew:  ‎וַיֵּשֶׁב֩ יְהוּדָ֙ה וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל לָבֶ֗טַח אִ֣ישׁ תַּ֤חַת גַּפְנוֹ֙ וְתַ֣חַת תְּאֵֽנָת֔וֹ מִדָּ֖ן וְעַד־בְּאֵ֣ר שָׁ֑בַע כֹּ֖ל יְמֵ֥י שְׁלֹמֹֽה׃ ס

[39] Hebrew:  לָבֶטַח.