18 Then the king made a great ivory seat, plated with the best gold.
For the king had Tarshish-ships at sea with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the Tarshish-ships came with gold and silver and ivory and monkeys and peacocks.
Your robes are full of the smell of all sorts of perfumes and spices; music from the king's ivory houses has made you glad.
Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all he did, and his ivory house, and all the towns of which he was the builder, are they not recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel?
Then the king made a great ivory seat, plated with the best gold. There were six steps up to it, and a foot-rest of gold fixed to it, and arms on the two sides of the seat, with two lions at the side of the arms. And twelve lions were placed on one side and on the other side on the six steps: there was nothing like it in any kingdom.
<A Psalm. Of David.> The Lord said to my lord, Be seated at my right hand, till I put all those who are against you under your feet.
For there seats for the judges were placed, even the rulers' seats of the line of David.
Who are resting on beds of ivory, stretched out on soft seats, feasting on lambs from the flock and young oxen from the cattle-house;
Who, being the outshining of his glory, the true image of his substance, supporting all things by the word of his power, having given himself as an offering making clean from sins, took his seat at the right hand of God in heaven;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Kings 10
Commentary on 1 Kings 10 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 10
Still Solomon looks great, and every thing in this chapter adds to his magnificence. We read nothing indeed of his charity, of no hospitals he built, or alms-houses; he made his kingdom so rich that it did not need them; yet, no question, many poor were relieved from the abundance of his table. A church he had built, never to be equalled; schools or colleges he need not build any, his own palace is an academy, and his court a rendezvous of wise and learned men, as well as the centre of all the circulating riches of that part of the world.
1Ki 10:1-13
We have here an account of the visit which the queen of Sheba made to Solomon, no doubt when he was in the height of his piety and prosperity. Our Saviour calls her the queen of the south, for Sheba lay south of Canaan. The common opinion is that it was in Africa; and the Christians in Ethiopia, to this day, are confident that she came from their country, and that Candace was her successor, who is mentioned Acts 8:27. But it is more probable that she came from the south part of Arabia the happy. It should seem she was a queen regent, sovereign of her country. Many a kingdom would have been deprived of its greatest blessings if a Salique law had been admitted into its constitution. Observe,
1Ki 10:14-29
We have here a further account of Solomon's prosperity.
Lastly, Well, thus rich, thus great, was Solomon, and thus did he exceed all the kings of the earth, v. 23. Now let us remember,