Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 4:1-19
Here we have,
I. Solomon upon his throne (Kg1 4:1): So king Solomon was king, that is, he was confirmed and established king over all Israel, and not, as his successors, only over two tribes. He was a king, that is, he did the work and duty of a king, with the wisdom God had given him. Those preserve the name and honour of their place that mind the business of it and make conscience of it.
II. The great officers of his court, in the choice of whom, no doubt, his wisdom much appeared. It is observable, 1. That several of them are the same that were in his father's time. Zadok and Abiathar were then priests (Sa2 20:25), so they were now; only then Abiathar had the precedency, now Zadok. Jehosh…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 4:8
The son of Hur--or, as the Margin has it, Benhur, Bendekar. In the rural parts of Syria, and among the Arabs, it is still common to designate persons not by their own names, but as the sons of their fathers.
Adam Clarke on 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: -
Ipse inter primos correpta dura bipenni
Limina perrumpit, Postes que a cardine vellit
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.
John Gill on 1 Kings 4:14
Ahinadab the son of Iddo had Mahanaim. Another city on the other side Jordan, where both Ishbosheth and David sometimes dwelt, 2 Samuel 2:8; this and the places adjacent must be very fruitful, since this officer was to furnish the king with provisions for a month once a year from hence,
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 4:7-19
