1 Kings 4:31 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Kings 4:31
For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.
to be wise (in mind · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
men
הָֽאָדָם֒ha.'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Ethan
מֵאֵיתָ֣ןme.'ei.Tan
H387
Ethan · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
Ezrahite
הָאֶזְרָחִ֗יha.'ez.ra.Chi
H250
an Ezrachite or descendant of Zerach · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine singular absolute
Heman
וְהֵימָ֧ןve.hei.Man
H1968
Heman · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
Chalcol
וְכַלְכֹּ֛לve.khal.Kol
H3633
Calcol · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
Darda
וְדַרְדַּ֖עve.dar.Da'
H1862
Darda · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
sons
בְּנֵ֣יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Mahol
מָח֑וֹלma.Chol
H4235
Machol · proper noun, a man's name
fame
שְׁמ֥וֹshe.Mo
H8034
an appellation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
nations
הַגּוֹיִ֖םha.go.Yim
H1471
a foreign nation · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
about
סָבִֽיבsa.Viv
H5439
(as noun) a circle · noun, common both genders singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Chronicles 2:6 And the sons of Zerah; Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all.
1 Chronicles 15:19 So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were appointed to sound with cymbals of brass;
1 Kings 3:12 Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before…
1 Chronicles 6:33 And these are they that waited with their children. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman a singer, the son of Joel, the son of Shemuel,
Psalms 89:1-52 I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of th…
Luke 11:31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts o…
1 Kings 5:7 And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the LORD this day, which hath giv…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 4:29–end
Solomon's wisdom was more his glory than his wealth, and here we have a general account of it.
I. The fountain of his wisdom: God gave it him, Kg1 4:29. He owns it himself. Pro 2:6, The Lord giveth wisdom. He gives the powers of reason (Job 38:36), preserves and improves them. The ordinary advances of them are owing to his providence, the sanctification of them to his grace, and this extraordinary pitch at which they arrived in Solomon to a special grant of his favour to him in answer to prayer.
II. The fulness of it: He had wisdom and understanding, exceeding much, great knowledge of distant countries and the histories of former times, a quickness of thought, strength of memory, and clearne…
wiser than all men--that is, all his contemporaries, either at home or abroad.
than Ethan--or Jeduthun, of the family of Merari (Ch1 6:44).
Heman-- (Ch1 15:17-19) --the chief of the temple musicians and the king's seers (Ch1 25:5); the other two are not known.
the sons of Mahol--either another name for Zerah (Ch1 2:6); or taking it as a common noun, signifying a dance, a chorus, "the sons of Mahol" signify persons eminently skilled in poetry and music.
Adam Clarke on 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 Psa 89:1, title; and among the singers in Ch1 6:42. There is a Heman mentioned in the title to Psa 88:1. In Ch1 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 instru…
Calcol — (1 Chr. 2:6), sustenance, the same probably as Chalcol (1 Kings 4:31), one of the four sages whom Solomon excelled in wisdom; for “he was wiser than all men.”
Chalcol — (1 Kings 4:31) [Calcol]
Darda — Pearl of wisdom, one of the four who were noted for their wisdom, but whom Solomon excelled (1 Kings 4:31).
Ethan — Firm. (1.) “The Ezrahite,” distinguished for his wisdom (1 Kings 4:31). He is named as the author of the 89th Psalm. He was of the tribe of Levi. (2.) A Levite of the family of Merari, one of the…
Ezrahite — A title given to Ethan (1 Kings 4:31; Ps. 89, title) and Heman (Ps. 88, title). They were both sons of Zerah (1 Chr. 2:6).
Ezrahite, The — (son of Zerah), a title attached to two persons—Ethan, (1 Kings 4:31; Psalms 89:1) title, and Heman, Psal 88:1 title.
Heman — Faithful. (1.) 1 Kings 4:31; 1 Chr. 2:6, a son of Zerah, noted for his wisdom. (2.) Grandson of Samuel (1 Chr. 6:33; 15:17), to whom the 88th Psalm probably was inscribed. He was one of the “seers”…
Mahol — Dance, the father of four sons (1 Kings 4:31) who were inferior in wisdom only to Solomon.
Philosophy — It is the object of the following article to give some account (I.) of that development of thought among the Jews which answered to the philosophy of the West; (II.) of the systematic progress of…
Zerah — Sunrise. (1.) An “Ethiopian,” probably Osorkon II., the successor of Shishak on the throne of Egypt. With an enormous army, the largest we read of in Scripture, he invaded the kingdom of Judah in the…
Chalcol · General references — General references
Darda · A famous wise man — A famous wise man
on 1 Kings 4:31
For he was wiser than all men,.... Not only that lived in his time, but in ages past since the fall of Adam, and in times to come, especially in natural wisdom and knowledge, in all the branches of it; for though some men excel in some part of knowledge, yet not in all, as Solomon did:
than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; men of the same names are said to be sons of Zerah, grandson of Judah, 1 Chronicles 2:6; wherefore these are either other men, or their father had two names; or Mahol here may be an appellative, and describe the character of these then, and point at what they were famous for, as that they were sons of music, piping, and dancing, as…
Solomon's Wisdom. - Kg1 4:29. According to His promise in Kg1 3:12, God gave Solomon wisdom and very much insight and לב רחב, "breadth of heart," i.e., a comprehensive understanding, as sand by the sea-shore, - a proverbial expression for an innumerable multitude, or great abundance (cf. Kg1 4:20; Gen 41:49; Jos 11:4, etc.). חכמה signifies rather practical wisdom, ability to decide what is the judicious and useful course to pursue; תּבוּנה, rather keenness of understanding to arrive at the correct solution of difficult and complicated problems; לב רחב, mental capacity to embrace the most diverse departments of knowledge.
Kg1 4:30
His wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the sons of the…
Ethan and Heman were among the musicians appointed by David (see 1 Chr 6:33-47; 15:16-19; Pss 88, 89). • The sons of Mahol were Temple singers, so Heman, Calcol, and Darda may have participated in the worship services (see 1 Chr 15:17, 19-22).
Rashi on 1 Kings 4:19
And one officer over the land. Rav and Shmuel have differing opinions, one says, one was appointed over all of them, and this was Azaryoh[u] the son of Noson, who was mentioned previously,6Above v. 5. and one says he was [appointed] for the thirteenth month.7I.e., the purpose of appointing a thirteenth officer was to take care of the king for the thirteenth month of a leap year. See Maseches Sanhedrin 12a.
Heman · 1. A man noted for wisdom, to whom — 1. A man noted for wisdom, to whom
Mahol · Father of Heman, Chalcol, and Darda — Father of Heman, Chalcol, and Darda
Wisdom · Of — Of
Wise Men · General references — General references
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
