Commentaria in II Paralipomenon
Chapter 9
The queen of Saba comes to Solomon. Solomon’s yearly revenues, the spears, the shields, and the other golden cups, the throne of ivory overlaid with gold, his death and burial.
1. And the queen of Saba, when she had heard of the fame of Solomon, came to try him with hard questions at Jerusalem, with great riches, and camels that carried spices, and abundance of gold, and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon, she told him all that was in her heart. 2. And Solomon explained to her all that she had proposed: and there was not any thing that he did not make clear to her. 3. And when she had seen this, the wisdom, that is, of Solomon, and the house which he had built, 4. and the meat of his table, and the dwellings of his servants, and the offices of his ministers, and their apparel, his cupbearers also and their apparel, and the victims which he offered in the house of the Lord: there was no more spirit in her, for astonishment. 5. And she said to the king: The report is true which I heard in my own country of thy virtues and wisdom. 6. I did not believe them that told it, till I came myself, and saw with my own eyes, and proved that scarce the half of thy wisdom had been told me: thou hast exceeded the fame by thy virtues. 7. Blessed are thy men, and blessed are thy servants, who stand before thee always, and hear thy wisdom. 8. Blessed be the Lord thy God, who hath been pleased to set thee upon his throne, king of the Lord thy God. Because God loveth Israel, and will save them for ever, therefore he hath made thee king over them, to do judgment and justice. 9. And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a very great store of spices, and precious stones: there were no such spices as these, which the queen of Saba gave to king Solomon. 10. And the servants of Hiram with the servants of Solomon brought gold from Ophir, and thyine trees, and most precious stones: 11. of which the king made, of the thyine trees, steps in the house of the Lord, and in the king’s house, harps also and psalteries for the singers: never were there seen such trees in the land of Juda. 12. And king Solomon gave to the queen of Saba all that she desired, and that she asked, and much more than she had brought to him: and she returned, and went to her own country with her servants. 13. Now the weight of the gold that was brought to Solomon every year, was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold: 14. besides that sum which the ambassadors of divers nations, and the merchants were accustomed to bring, and all the kings of Arabia, and the governors of the countries, who brought gold and silver to Solomon. 15. And king Solomon made two hundred golden spears of the sum of six hundred pieces of gold, which were spent upon every spear: 16. and three hundred golden shields of three hundred pieces of gold each, with which every shield was covered; and the king put them in the armoury, which was surrounded with a wood. 17. The king also made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the purest gold. 18. Six steps also, by which they went up to the throne, and a footstool of gold, and two arms on each side, and two lions standing by the arms, 19. and twelve other little lions standing upon the six steps on both sides: there was no such throne in any kingdom. 20. And all the vessels of the king’s table were of gold, and the vessels of the house of the forest of Libanus were of the purest gold. For silver in those days was counted for nothing: 21. for the king’s ships went to Tharsis with the servants of Hiram, once in three years; and they brought from thence gold and silver, and ivory, and apes, and peacocks. 22. And Solomon was magnified above all the kings of the earth for riches and glory. 23. And all the kings of the earth desired to see the face of Solomon, to hear the wisdom which God had given in his heart, 24. and they brought him presents, vessels of silver and of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses and mules, every year. 25. Solomon also had forty thousand horses in the stables, and twelve thousand chariots and horsemen, and he placed them in the cities of the chariots, and where the king was in Jerusalem. 26. He exercised also authority over all the kings, from the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, and to the borders of Egypt. 27. And he made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones: and cedars as plentiful as sycamores, which grow in the plains. 28. And horses were brought him out of Egypt, and out of all countries. 29. Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are written in the words of Nathan the prophet, and in the books of Ahias the Silonite, and in the vision of Addo the seer, against Jeroboam the son of Nabat. 30. And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 31. And he slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Roboam his son reigned in his stead.
I explained this chapter in 3 Kings X. Verse 5. Of thy virtues.—The Hebrew, the Septuagint, and the Chaldee have, of thy words, that is, of thy deeds, or of things pertaining to thee. Each [spear] weighed and was worth four drachmas, that is, four crowns, as I showed in 3 Kings, chapter X, verse 16. Verse 21. To Tharsis.—The Hebrews called seas, and what lay beyond the sea, Tharsis; especially far distant lands unknown to themselves, such as Ophir and India. See what I said in 3 Kings, chapter IX, verse 28, and Jonas, chapter I, verse 3.
Verse 16. In the armoury, which was surrounded with a wood—that is, in the house of the forest of Libanus, as the Septuagint renders it. Moreover the three hundred and six hundred gold pieces of the shields and spears were sicles.
Roboam by his harshness turned the people away from himself; whence the tribe of Juda alone adhered to him, but the other ten tribes made Jeroboam king over themselves.