Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 4:20-28
Such a kingdom, and such a court, surely never any prince had, as Solomon's are here described to be.
I. Such a kingdom. Never did the crown of Israel shine so brightly as it did when Solomon wore it, never in his father's days, never in the days of any of his successors; nor was that kingdom ever so glorious a type of the kingdom of the Messiah as it was then. The account here given of it is such as fully answers the prophecies which we have concerning it in Ps. 72, which is a psalm for Solomon, but with reference to Christ. 1. The territories of his kingdom were large and its tributaries many; so it was foretold that he should have dominion from sea to sea, Psa 72:8-11. Solomon reigned not…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 4:24
from Tiphsah--that is, Thapsacus, a large and flourishing town on the west bank of the Euphrates, the name of which was derived from a celebrated ford near it, the lowest on that river.
even to Azzah--that is, Gaza, on the southwestern extremity, not far from the Mediterranean.
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 4:22
Solomon's provision for one day: -
Of fine flour 30 measures, or cors. Of meal 60 ditto. Stall-fed oxen 10 Ditto from the pasture 20 Sheep 100; with harts, roebucks, fallow deer, and fat fowls. The כר cor was the same as the homer, and contained nearly seventy-six gallons, wine measure, according to Bishop Cumberland.
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 Deu 12:15; Deu 14:5.
Fatted fowl - ברברים אבוסים barburim abusim, I suppose, means all the wild fowls in season during each month. Michaelis derives ברברים barburim from ברא bar…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Gill on 1 Kings 4:24
For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river,.... Or beyond the river Euphrates, in the sense before given, 1 Kings 4:21; which accounts for the plenty of provisions he had, and the revenue with which he supported such a table he kept:
from Tiphsah even to Azzah; or Gaza, one of the five principalities of the Philistines. Tiphsah is thought to be the Thapsacus of Pliny (d) which both he and Ptolemy (e) place near the river Euphrates, since called Amphipolis; the former places it in Syria, the latter in Arabia Deserta; and which Strabo (f), from Eratosthenes, describes as 4800 furlongs or six hundred miles from Babylon, and from the place where Mesopotamia begins not less t…
