---
title: "Clarke"
description: "natural history, 32, 33. People from all nations come to hear his wisdom, 34. NOTES ON CHAP. IV Verse 1 Kings 4:2. These were the princes which he had; Az"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/1-kings/4"
---

*natural history*, 32, 33.
*People from all nations come to hear his wisdom*, 34.
NOTES ON CHAP. IV

Verse [1 Kings 4:2](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/2). ***These*****were*****the princes which he had; Azariah the son of**********Zadok the priest.*** — These were his *great, chief*, or *principal* men. None of them were *princes* in the common acceptation of the word.

Verse [1 Kings 4:3](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/3). ***Elihoreph and Ahiah - scribes*** — *Secretaries* to the king.
***Jehoshaphat - recorder*** — *Historiographer* to the king, who chronicled the affairs of the kingdom. He was in this office under David see [2 Samuel 20:24](../../../kjv/2-samuel/20/24).

Verse [1 Kings 4:5](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/5). ***Azariah*****- was*****over the officers*** — He had the *superintendence* of the twelve officers mentioned below; see [1 Kings 4:7](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/7).
***Zabud*****- was*****principal officer*** — Perhaps what we call *premier*, or *prime minister*.
***The king's friend*** — His chief *favourite*- his *confidant*.

Verse [1 Kings 4:6](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/6). ***Ahishar*****was*****over the household*** — the king's *chamberlain*.
***Adoniram*****- was*****over the tribute.*** — What we call *chancellor* of the *exchequer*. He received and brought into the treasury all the proceeds of *taxes* and *tributes*. He was in this office under David; see [2 Samuel 20:24](../../../kjv/2-samuel/20/24).

Verse [1 Kings 4:7](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/7). ***Twelve officers*** — The business of these twelve officers was to provide daily, each for a month, those provisions which were consumed in the king's household; see [1 Kings 4:22-23](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/22-23). And the task for such a daily provision was not an easy one.

Verse [1 Kings 4:13](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/13). ***Threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars*** — These were fortified cities: their gates and bars covered with plates of brass. Such were the gates in Priam's palace: -
AERATOS. VIRG. AEn., lib. ii. ver. 479.

Fierce Pyrrhus in the front, with forceful sway,
Plied the huge axe, and hew'd the beams away;
The solid timbers from the portal tore,
And rent from every hinge the BRAZEN *door*.
PITT.

Verse [1 Kings 4:20](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/20). ***Eating and drinking, and making merry.*** — They were very comfortable, very rich, very merry, and very corrupt. And this full feeding and dissipation led to a total corruption of manners.

Verse [1 Kings 4:21](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/21). ***Solomon reigned over all kingdoms*** — The meaning of this verse appears to be, that Solomon reigned over all the provinces from the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, even to the frontiers of Egypt. The Euphrates was on the *east* of Solomon's dominions; the Philistines were *westward* on the Mediterranean sea; and Egypt was on the *south*. Solomon had, therefore, as tributaries, the kingdoms of *Syria, Damascus, Moab*, and *Ammon*, which lay between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean. See *Calmet*. Thus he appears to have possessed all the land that God covenanted with Abraham to give to his posterity.

Verse [1 Kings 4:22](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/22). ***Solomon's provision for one day***: -
***Sheep*** — צאן *tson*, comprehending both sheep and goats.
***Harts*** — מאיל *meaiyal*, the deer.
***Roebucks*** — צבי *tsebi*, the gazal, antelope, or wild goat.
***Fallow deer*** — יחמור *yachmur*, the buffalo. See the notes on [Deuteronomy 12:15](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/12/15); [Deuteronomy 14:5](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/14/5).
***Fatted fowl.*** — ברברים אבוסים *barburim abusim*, I suppose, means all the *wild fowls* in *season* during each month. Michaelis derives *barburim* from ברא *bara*, which in Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, signifies a *field*, a *desert*; all that is *without* the cities and habitations of men: hence חיות ברא *cheyvath bara*, wild beasts, [Daniel 2:38](../../../kjv/daniel/2/38), תור בר tor bar, wild bull; and therefore *barburim* may signify creatures living in the *fields, woods*, and *deserts*, which are taken by *hunting*, and opposed to those which are *domesticated*; and, consequently, may include *beasts* as well as *fowls*. Many have translated the word *capons*; but, query, was any such thing known among the ancient Jews? Solomon's table, therefore, was spread with all the *necessaries* and *delicacies* which the *house* or the *field* could afford.
But how immense must the number of men have been who were fed daily at the palace of the Israelitish king! *Vilalpandus* computes the number to be not less than *forty-eight thousand, six hundred*; and Calvisius makes, by estimation from the consumption of food, *fifty-four thousand*! These must have included all his guards, each of whom received a *ration* from the king's store.

Verse [1 Kings 4:25](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/25). ***Every man under his vine*** — They were no longer obliged to dwell in *fortified* cities for fear of their enemies; they spread themselves over all the country, which they everywhere cultivated; and had always the privilege of eating the fruits of their own labours. This is the meaning of the phrase.

Verse [1 Kings 4:26](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/26). ***Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses - and twelve**********thousand horsemen.*** — In [2 Chronicles 9:25](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/9/25), instead of *forty thousand stalls*, we read *four thousand*; and even this number might be quite sufficient to hold horses for *twelve* *thousand* horsemen; for *stalls* and *stables* may be here synonymous. In [1 Kings 10:26](../../../kjv/1-kings/10/26) it is said he had *one thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand* *horsemen*; and this is the reading in [2 Chronicles 1:14](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/1/14). In [2 Chronicles 9:25](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/9/25), already quoted, instead of *forty thousand stalls for horses*, the *Septuagint* has τεσσαρες χιλιαδες θηλειαι ἱπποι, *four thousand* *mares*; and in this place the whole verse is omitted both by the *Syriac* and *Arabic*. In the *Targum* of Rabbi Joseph on this book we have ארבע מאה *arba meah, four hundred*, instead of the *four* *thousand* in Chronicles, and the *forty thousand* in the text. From this collation of parallel places we may rest satisfied that there is a *corruption* in the *numbers* somewhere; and as a sort of *medium*, we may take for the whole *four thousand stalls, one* *thousand four hundred chariots*, and *twelve thousand horsemen*.

Verse [1 Kings 4:28](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/28). ***And dromedaries*** — The word רכש *rechesh*, which we translate thus, is rendered *beasts*, or *beasts of burden*, by the *Vulgate; mares* by the *Syriac* and *Arabic; chariots* by the *Septuagint*; and *race-horses* by the *Chaldee*. The original word seems to signify a very *swift* kind of *horse*, and *race-horse* or *post-horse* is probably its true meaning. To communicate with so many distant provinces, Solomon had need of many animals of this kind.

Verse [1 Kings 4:29](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/29). ***God gave Solomon wisdom, &c.*** — He gave him a capacious mind, and furnished him with extraordinary assistance to cultivate it.
***Even as the sand that*****is*****on the sea-shore.*** — Lord *Bacon* observes on this: "As the sand on the sea-shore encloses a great body of waters, so Solomon's mind contained an ocean of knowledge." This is a happy and correct illustration.

Verse [1 Kings 4:30](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/30). ***The children of the east country*** — That is the Chaldeans, Persians, and Arabians, who, with the Egyptians, were famed for wisdom and knowledge through all the world.

Verse [1 Kings 4:31](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/31). ***He was wiser than all men*** — He was wiser than any of those who were most celebrated in his time, among whom were the four after mentioned, viz., *Ethan, Heman, Chalcol*, and *Darda*. Ethan was probably the same as is mentioned in some of the Psalms, particularly [Psalms 89:1](../../../kjv/psalms/89/1), title; and among the singers in [1 Chronicles 6:42](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/6/42). There is a *Heman* mentioned in the title to [Psalms 88:1](../../../kjv/psalms/88/1). In [1 Chronicles 2:6](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/2/6) we have all the four names, but they are probably not the same persons, for they are there said to be the *sons of Zerah*, and he flourished long before Solomon's time.
Some suppose that בני מחול *beney machol* should be rendered *masters of dancing* or *music*, as מחול *machol* signifies not only a *dance* or *choir*, but also an instrument of *music* of the *pipe* kind. Perhaps a reference is here made to Solomon's skill in *music* and *poetry*, as he is compared to persons who appear to have been eminent *poets* and *musicians*.

Verse [1 Kings 4:32](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/32). ***He spake three thousand proverbs*** — The book of Proverbs, attributed to Solomon, contain only about *nine hundred* or *nine hundred* and *twenty-three* distinct proverbs; and if we grant with some that the first *nine chapters* are not the work of Solomon, then all that can be attributed to him is only about *six* *hundred* and *fifty*.
Of all his *one thousand* and *five songs* or *poems* we have only *one*, the book of Canticles, remaining, unless we include [Psalms 127:1-5](../../../kjv/psalms/127/1-5), *Except the Lord build the house*, &c., which in the title is said to be *by* or *for* him, though it appears more properly to be a psalm of *direction*, left him by his father David, relative to the building of the temple.

Verse [1 Kings 4:33](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/33). ***He spake of trees - beasts - fowl - creeping things, and of**********fishes.*** — This is a complete system of natural history, as far as relates to the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and the first intimation we have of any thing of the kind: Solomon was probably the first *natural historian* in the world.
O, how must the heart of Tournefort, Ray, Linne, Buffon, Cuvier, Swammerdam, Blosch, and other naturalists, be wrung, to know that these works of Solomon are all and for ever lost! What light should we have thrown on the animal and vegetable kingdoms, had these works been preserved! But the providence of God has not thought fit to preserve them, and succeeding naturalists are left to invent the system which he probably left perfect. If there be any remains of his wisdom, they must be sought among the orientals, among whom his character is well known, and rates as high as it does with either Jews or Christians. I shall give some extracts from their works relative to Solomon when I come to consider his character at the end of [1 Kings 11:43](../../../kjv/1-kings/11/43).

Verse [1 Kings 4:34](../../../kjv/1-kings/4/34). ***There came of all people to hear the wisdom of**********Solomon*** — We learn from [1 Kings 10](../../../kjv/1-kings/10), that the queen of Sheba was one of those visitants, and perhaps the most remarkable, as we have the particulars of her visit, but not of the others.
It is astonishing that of a person so renowned for wisdom, so little should be left to prove the truth of a fact of which all the civilized nations of the world have heard, and of which scarcely any man has ever doubted. The people that came from all kings of the earth were probably ambassadors, who came to form and maintain friendship between their sovereigns and the Israelitish king. We cannot understand the place as speaking of people who, either through an idle or laudable curiosity, came to see and converse with Solomon; to give free access to such people would ill comport with the maintenance of his dignity.

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