Discovery Box2 Chronicles 9:9-31
Context9:9 She gave the king 120 talents 1 of gold and a very large quantity of spices and precious gems. The quantity of spices the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon has never been matched. 2 9:10 (Huram’s 3 servants, aided by Solomon’s servants, brought gold from Ophir, as well as 4 fine 5 timber and precious gems. 9:11 With the timber the king made steps 6 for the Lord’s temple and royal palace as well as stringed instruments 7 for the musicians. No one had seen anything like them in the land of Judah prior to that. 8 ) 9:12 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she requested, more than what she had brought him. 9 Then she left and returned 10 to her homeland with her attendants.
9:13 Solomon received 666 talents 11 of gold per year, 12 9:14 besides what he collected from the merchants 13 and traders. All the Arabian kings and the governors of the land also brought gold and silver to Solomon. 9:15 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; 600 measures 14 of hammered gold were used for each shield. 9:16 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; 300 measures 15 of gold were used for each of those shields. The king placed them in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest. 16
9:17 The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. 9:18 There were six steps leading up to the throne, and a gold footstool was attached to the throne. 17 The throne had two armrests with a statue of a lion standing on each side. 18 9:19 There were twelve statues of lions on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. There was nothing like it in any other kingdom. 19
9:20 All of King Solomon’s cups were made of gold, and all the household items in the Palace of the Lebanon Forest were made of pure gold. There were no silver items, for silver was not considered very valuable in Solomon’s time. 20 9:21 The king had a fleet of large merchant ships 21 manned by Huram’s men 22 that sailed the sea. Once every three years the fleet 23 came into port with cargoes of 24 gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. 25
9:22 King Solomon was wealthier and wiser than any of the kings of the earth. 26 9:23 All the kings of the earth wanted to visit Solomon to see him display his God-given wisdom. 27 9:24 Year after year visitors brought their gifts, which included items of silver, items of gold, clothes, perfume, spices, horses, and mules. 28
9:25 Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses 29 and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem. 30 9:26 He ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River 31 to the land of the Philistines as far as the border of Egypt. 9:27 The king made silver as plentiful 32 in Jerusalem as stones; cedar was 33 as plentiful as sycamore fig trees are in the lowlands 34 . 9:28 Solomon acquired horses from Egypt and from all the lands.
9:29 The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, from start to finish, are recorded 35 in the Annals of Nathan the Prophet, the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the Vision of Iddo the Seer pertaining to Jeroboam son of Nebat. 9:30 Solomon ruled over all Israel from Jerusalem 36 for forty years. 9:31 Then Solomon passed away 37 and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam replaced him as king.
[9:9] 1 tn The Hebrew word כִּכַּר (kikar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or, by extension, to a standard unit of weight. According to the older (Babylonian) standard the “talent” weighed 130 lbs. (58.9 kg), but later this was lowered to 108.3 lbs. (49.1 kg). More recent research suggests the “light” standard talent was 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg). Using this as the standard for calculation, the weight of the gold was 8,076 lbs. (3,672 kg).
[9:9] 2 tn Heb “there has not been like those spices which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.”
[9:10] 3 tn Heb “Huram’s” (also in v. 21). Some medieval Hebrew
[9:10] 4 tn Heb “who brought gold from Ophir, brought.”
[9:11] 6 tn Heb “tracks.” The parallel text in 1 Kgs 10:12 has a different term whose meaning is uncertain: “supports,” perhaps “banisters” or “parapets.”
[9:11] 7 tn Two types of stringed instruments are specifically mentioned in the Hebrew text, the כִּנּוֹר (kinnor, “zither”) and נֶבֶל (nevel, “harp”).
[9:11] 8 tn Heb “there was not seen like these formerly in the land of Judah.”
[9:12] 9 tn Heb “besides what she brought to the king.”
[9:12] 10 tn Heb “turned and went.”
[9:13] 11 tn The Hebrew word כִּכַּר (kikar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or, by extension, to a standard unit of weight. According to the older (Babylonian) standard the “talent” weighed 130 lbs. (58.9 kg), but later this was lowered to 108.3 lbs. (49.1 kg). More recent research suggests the “light” standard talent was 67.3 lbs. (30.6 kg). Using this as the standard for calculation, the weight of the gold Solomon received annually was 44,822 lbs. (20,380 kg).
[9:13] 12 tn Heb “the weight of the gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 units of gold.”
[9:14] 13 tn Heb “traveling men.”
[9:15] 14 tn The Hebrew text has simply “600,” with no unit of measure given.
[9:16] 15 tn The Hebrew text has simply “300,” with no unit of measure given.
[9:16] 16 sn This name was appropriate because of the large amount of cedar, undoubtedly brought from Lebanon, used in its construction. The cedar pillars in the palace must have given it the appearance of a forest. See 1 Kgs 7:2.
[9:18] 17 tc The parallel text of 1 Kgs 10:19 has instead “and the back of it was rounded on top.”
[9:18] 18 tn Heb “[There were] armrests on each side of the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.”
[9:19] 19 tn Heb “nothing like it had been made for any kingdom.”
[9:20] 20 tn Heb “there was no silver, it was not regarded as anything in the days of Solomon.”
[9:21] 21 tn Heb “for ships belonging to the king were going [to] Tarshish with the servants of Huram.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.
[9:21] 23 tn Heb “the fleet of Tarshish [ships].”
[9:21] 24 tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish came carrying.”
[9:21] 25 tn The meaning of this word is unclear; some suggest it refers to “baboons.” NEB has “monkeys,” NASB, NRSV “peacocks,” and NIV “baboons.”
[9:22] 26 tn Heb “King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth with respect to wealth and wisdom.”
[9:23] 27 tn Heb “and all the kings of the earth were seeking the face of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had placed in his heart.”
[9:24] 28 tn Heb “and they were bringing each one his gift, items of silver…and mules, the matter of a year in a year.”
[9:25] 29 tc The parallel text of 1 Kgs 10:26 reads “fourteen hundred chariots.”
[9:25] 30 tn Heb “he placed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.”
[9:26] 31 tn Heb “the River.” In biblical Hebrew the Euphrates River was typically referred to simply as “the River.”
[9:27] 32 tn The words “as plentiful” are supplied for clarification.
[9:27] 33 tn Heb “he made cedar.”
[9:27] 34 tn Heb “as the sycamore fig trees which are in the Shephelah.”
[9:29] 35 tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Solomon, the former and the latter, are they not written?”
[9:30] 36 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
