In this part of the chapter, we turn to the description of King Solomon's wealth: the weight of gold that arrived to him annually, the large shields and bucklers that he made, the great ivory throne, the golden vessels, the ships of Tarshish, and finally the summary of his reign and his passing. Some of these matters were already explained at length in the Book of Kings; therefore, the Malbim himself was concise here where the accounts repeat themselves, and we shall follow in his footsteps, focusing primarily on the new details.
וַיְהִי מִשְׁקַל הַזָּהָב אֲשֶׁר בָּא לִשְׁלֹמֹה בְּשָׁנָה אֶחָת שֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת וְשִׁשִּׁים וָשֵׁשׁ כִּכְּרֵי זָהָב׃ - Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold.
This was the gold that came to him from Ophir.
לְבַד מֵאַנְשֵׁי הַתָּרִים וְהַסֹּחֲרִים מְבִיאִים וְכׇל מַלְכֵי עֲרַב וּפַחוֹת הָאָרֶץ מְבִיאִים זָהָב וָכֶסֶף לִשְׁלֹמֹה׃ - Besides that which the traveling merchants and the traders brought; and all the kings of the west and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon.
The "traveling merchants" (anshei hatarim), as the Radak explains, are the small-scale traders with limited merchandise, who search extensively when buying and selling. Since their business volume is small, they constantly travel and search (tarim) for a bargain, for a profitable deal, and were thus called tarim. The "traders" (socharim), by contrast, are the large wholesale merchants. Both groups brought silver and gold to Solomon from all over the world. "The kings of Arav" refers to the kings of the west, and "the governors of the land" are the prominent ministers, from the term pechah (governor), a title that appears frequently in Ezra and Nechemiah, and as in the verse, "Present it now to your governor (lefechatecha); will he be pleased with you or show you favor?" - the satraps and governors, the high-ranking ministers of the realm.
וַיַּעַשׂ הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה מָאתַיִם צִנָּה זָהָב שָׁחוּט שֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת זָהָב שָׁחוּט יַעֲלֶה עַל הַצִּנָּה הָאֶחָת׃ - And King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold; six hundred [shekels] of beaten gold went into each large shield.
Two hundred tzinot, meaning two hundred large shields. However, a tzinah surrounds the one holding it on three sides, as in the verse, "You crown him with favor like a shield (katzinah)" - it surrounds and encloses a person, unlike a standard shield (magen), which protects only from the front. "Beaten gold" (zahav shachut) is gold that is soft and pliable for hammering, which due to its high quality could be drawn out thin like a thread (chut). Six hundred gold coins went into each large shield.
וּשְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת מָגִנִּים זָהָב שָׁחוּט שְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת זָהָב יַעֲלֶה עַל הַמָּגֵן הָאֶחָת וַיִּתְּנֵם הַמֶּלֶךְ בְּבֵית יַעַר הַלְּבָנוֹן׃ - And three hundred shields of beaten gold; three hundred [shekels] of gold went into each shield. And the king placed them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
Here the text speaks of smaller shields (magenim), and therefore three hundred gold pieces were sufficient for each shield, as opposed to six hundred for a tzinah - since the tzinah encircles from three sides while the magen protects only from the front, and was thus naturally smaller. He placed all of them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. The commentary attributed to Rashi explains that Solomon built a great house in Jerusalem, and it was called by this name because of the vast number of large cedar trees from Lebanon used to construct it, as it is written: "And he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon... upon four rows of cedar pillars." It was there that he placed the shields - and this is the meaning of the verse, "And on that day you looked to the armor of the House of the Forest," which refers to these shields stored there. Ultimately, Shishak took them all. The Metzudat David explains that it was a great house built in the actual forest of Lebanon, and was therefore named after its location, whereas according to the commentary attributed to Rashi it was named after the Lebanese cedar trees.
וַיַּעַשׂ הַמֶּלֶךְ כִּסֵּא שֵׁן גָּדוֹל וַיְצַפֵּהוּ זָהָב טָהוֹר׃ - The king made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold.
An ivory throne - crafted from elephant tusk, from the "ivory" (shenhabim) mentioned later in the chapter.
וְשֵׁשׁ מַעֲלוֹת לַכִּסֵּא וְכֶבֶשׁ בַּזָּהָב לַכִּסֵּא מׇאֳחָזִים וְיָדוֹת מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה עַל מְקוֹם הַשָּׁבֶת וּשְׁנַיִם אֲרָיוֹת עֹמְדִים אֵצֶל הַיָּדוֹת׃ - The throne had six steps, and a golden ramp was fastened to the throne, with armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.
Six steps to the throne - there were six steps to ascend to it. One should not imagine an ordinary chair here, but rather an immense dais. In front of the steps was an incline made of gold, and upon it one would ascend to the throne. "Armrests on either side of the place of sitting" - rod-like supports on the right and left, where the one seated rests his arms on the sides of the throne. And two golden lions stood beside the armrests.
וּשְׁנֵים עָשָׂר אֲרָיוֹת עֹמְדִים שָׁם עַל שֵׁשׁ הַמַּעֲלוֹת מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה לֹא נַעֲשָׂה כֵן לְכׇל מַמְלָכָה׃ - And twelve lions stood there on the six steps, on either side; nothing like it had ever been made for any kingdom.
Twelve golden lions stood upon the six steps, six on this side and six on that side. The intricate details of the throne and its mechanisms were discussed at length when studying Sefer Melachim, where Targum Sheni to Megillat Esther was cited, offering an extensive description of the throne and its extraordinary mechanical marvels. It is recounted there that Pharaoh Necho sought to take the throne for himself, but when he stepped onto it, one of the lions struck him because he did not know the secret workings of the throne, and from that injury he became lame (necheh). This was ultimately what prompted Achashverosh to construct a similar throne for himself in Shushan, since he could not take the original throne. He brought artisans to build a replica, and afterward, when they wished to transport it, there was concern that it would break apart, which is why he established his royal seat in Shushan - all on account of Shlomo's throne.
וְכֹל כְּלֵי מַשְׁקֵה הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה זָהָב וְכֹל כְּלֵי בֵּית יַעַר הַלְּבָנוֹן זָהָב סָגוּר אֵין כֶּסֶף נֶחְשָׁב בִּימֵי שְׁלֹמֹה לִמְאוּמָה׃ - All of King Shlomo's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was accounted as nothing in the days of Shlomo.
When a king is wealthy, he can afford vessels of gold. One of lesser means makes them of silver; less than that, of copper; and a poor man makes them of iron and tin. In Shlomo's court, everything was gold, for this is the way of royalty - to conduct affairs with the utmost grandeur. For this reason, the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash were also made of gold. "Zahav sagur" (pure gold) is the most precious grade of gold, and Chazal remarked that when a merchant opens his shop to sell this gold, all the others close, for they will have no business that day, as so-and-so is selling zahav sagur.
"Silver was accounted as nothing in the days of Shlomo" - silver lost its prestige, since everything was crafted from gold and from only the most luxurious materials. A chatan would not buy silver candlesticks for his kallah - what was silver? It was as if he had bought her iron. As noted humorously when studying Sefer Melachim: a child asks his father for money (kesef), and the father replies, "There is no money (ein kesef)." In the days of Shlomo, no such excuse existed - silver was accounted as nothing.
כִּי אֳנִיּוֹת לַמֶּלֶךְ הֹלְכוֹת תַּרְשִׁישׁ עִם עַבְדֵי חוּרָם אַחַת לְשָׁלוֹשׁ שָׁנִים תָּבוֹאנָה אֳנִיּוֹת תַּרְשִׁישׁ נֹשְׂאוֹת זָהָב וָכֶסֶף שֶׁנְהַבִּים וְקוֹפִים וְתוּכִּיִּים׃ - For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish would come, bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
Here Scripture provides the reason why silver was not considered anything of value: the king had regular fleets sailing to Tarshish with the servants of Huram, and once every three years they would return laden with gold and silver. Shenhavim refers to elephant tusks (ivory), kofim to apes in the literal sense, and tukiyim are not modern parrots, but peacocks, as rendered by the Targum; the Metzudat Tziyon defines them as birds of beautiful plumage with shifting hues, known as peacocks.
There is an important Malbim here. Although it appears in 1 Kings 10:22, since it bears directly on our subject, we shall present it here. The Malbim cites the Abarbanel - Rabbi Yitzchak Abarbanel - who maintained that Tarshish is the city of Carthage in North Africa, on the Mediterranean Sea. Because of this, the Abarbanel was greatly perplexed: How could ships sail from Etzyon-Gever on the shores of the Red Sea to Tarshish, when the desert strip of the land of Suez separates them? In their time there was not yet a canal connecting the seas, so there was no waterway from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. He was therefore forced to suggest that "ships of Tarshish" was an expression referring to their design and class - the type of large ship used for sailing to Tarshish - rather than their actual destination.
However, our verse later in Divrei HaYamim remained difficult for him: "He allied with him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made ships in Etzyon-Gever" - where Scripture explicitly states "to go to Tarshish," meaning that the ships actually sailed to Tarshish, and not merely that they were "ships of Tarshish" in design. This difficulty led him so far as to suggest that Ezra the Scribe erred, writing regarding Yehoshaphat that he made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir because he thought that "ships of Tarshish" meant ships bound for Tarshish, when in reality they were only ships built in the Tarshish style. These are his words.
Yet the Malbim, as a man of staunch faith, asserts: Far be it from us to adopt such a view and say that the author of Divrei HaYamim was mistaken. Ezra the Scribe lived not long after the period described, whereas we live thousands of years later - shall we say that he erred? Surely he understood what took place far better than we do, and if he wrote Tarshish, to Tarshish they went. Even if we cannot resolve the geography, it is far better to remain with an unanswered question than to say that Ezra the Scribe made a mistake - this the Malbim categorically rejects.
The Malbim therefore takes an entirely different approach: Tarshish is neither the name of the ships nor their model. Rather, as he explains in his commentary to Yeshayahu (chapter 23), Tarshish is Tartessos - not Carthage in North Africa, but ancient Spain, which served as a trading colony of the Tyrians. The Tyrians who arrived in Spain called it Hispania after the shefanim (hyraxes or rabbits) found there in abundance, and they discovered vast amounts of refined silver on the surface of the land, to the extent that they fashioned all their utensils from it, as well as the bands and hooks of their ships - for the Tyrians were master mariners. They established a settlement there, a center of international commerce visited by many nations, and named it Tartessos. This city was situated near the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean, and as is well known, the Red Sea connects into the great ocean. Accordingly, the ships built at Etzyon-Gever could indeed navigate between Ophir and Tarshish.
Earlier it was related that he dispatched them from there to Ophir, and Chiram sent his servants alongside the servants of Shlomo - Shlomo's servants being the primary force in the expedition - and from there they brought gold, but not silver, which is not found in Ophir. For, as the Malbim notes, gold is found in hot lands, while silver is found in cold lands. This is an intriguing and fitting observation: silver is brought from Russia, while gold is brought from Africa. Hot lands yield gold, which is yellow like the sun; cold lands yield silver, which is white like frost and snow.
The Malbim concludes: Far be it from the Holy Scriptures to contain anything that contradicts reality. Nor is this the only place where he vigorously disputes the Abarbanel. Although the Malbim frequently draws upon the Abarbanel's commentary, in places where those explanations run contrary to the outlook of Chazal, or where, as here, they cast doubt upon the author of the book as though Ezra did not properly understand, the Malbim does not spare his critique. We see this similarly regarding King David and his sin, where the Abarbanel leveled severe accusations against David and presented a series of harsh questions on his conduct, and the Malbim resolved them one by one to uphold the statement of Chazal: "Whoever says David sinned is nothing but mistaken." Surely it must be numbered among the great merits of the Malbim that when he reached the Heavenly Realm after one hundred and twenty years, King David came out to greet him for having defended his honor against the sharp critiques of the Abarbanel. Thus, here too, we see the Malbim as a man of deep faith for whom the words of Chazal serve as a guiding light.
וַיִּגְדַּל הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה מִכֹּל מַלְכֵי הָאָרֶץ לְעֹשֶׁר וְחׇכְמָה׃ - King Shlomo grew greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom.
Fulfilling what was told to him: "That which you did not ask I have also given you, both wealth and honor."
וְכֹל מַלְכֵי הָאָרֶץ מְבַקְשִׁים אֶת פְּנֵי שְׁלֹמֹה לִשְׁמֹעַ אֶת חׇכְמָתוֹ אֲשֶׁר נָתַן הָאֱלֹהִים בְּלִבּוֹ׃ - And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Shlomo to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
And this was to fulfill that which was said to him, "I have given you a wise and discerning heart, such that there was none like you before" - and everyone came to hear his wisdom.
וְהֵם מְבִיאִים אִישׁ מִנְחָתוֹ כְּלֵי כֶסֶף וּכְלֵי זָהָב וּשְׂלָמוֹת נֵשֶׁק וּבְשָׂמִים סוּסִים וּפְרָדִים דְּבַר שָׁנָה בְּשָׁנָה׃ - "And they brought each man his gift: silver vessels, gold vessels, garments, weaponry, spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year."
They came to hear his wisdom, and with this as the reason, they also brought a tribute to Shlomo, for it is disrespectful to come before the king empty-handed, as it is written: "And they shall not appear before Hashem empty-handed," and earthly kingship mirrors heavenly kingship. And all of this was "a rate year by year" - once a year they would arrive, and each one brought a lavish gift.
וַיְהִי לִשְׁלֹמֹה אַרְבַּעַת אֲלָפִים אֻרְיוֹת סוּסִים וּמַרְכָּבוֹת וּשְׁנֵים עָשָׂר אֶלֶף פָּרָשִׁים וַיַּנִּיחֵם בְּעָרֵי הָרֶכֶב וְעִם הַמֶּלֶךְ בִּירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם׃ - "And Shlomo had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Yerushalayim."
Here it says four thousand, whereas in Sefer Melachim it says forty thousand, and we have already addressed this. Chazal said that there were forty thousand stables, and in each one four thousand horses; however, in practice this creates a major difficulty, for this amounts to an astronomical number - one hundred and sixty million horses, which would cover the entire Land of Israel, and this sounds like an exaggeration. Therefore, the Malbim's explanation seems more likely: Shlomo had four thousand stables, and in each stable were ten horses, totaling forty thousand. With this, both figures are reconciled: four thousand refers to the large stable complexes, and forty thousand refers to the number of horses - which are also called stalls, in the sense of compartments, a stall for a single horse, whereas the large stable complex contained ten compartments.
וַיְהִי מוֹשֵׁל בְּכׇל הַמְּלָכִים מִן הַנָּהָר וְעַד אֶרֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּים וְעַד גְּבוּל מִצְרָיִם׃ - "And he ruled over all the kings from the River unto the land of the Pelishtim, and unto the border of Egypt."
In Sefer Melachim it is written: "From the River, the land of the Pelishtim," and Ezra comes and explains: "from the River" - the Euphrates River, "unto the land of the Pelishtim."
וַיִּתֵּן הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת הַכֶּסֶף בִּירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם כָּאֲבָנִים וְאֵת הָאֲרָזִים נָתַן כַּשִּׁקְמִים אֲשֶׁר בַּשְּׁפֵלָה לָרֹב׃ - "And the king made silver in Yerushalayim like stones, and cedars he made as abundant as the sycamores that are in the lowland."
The Metzudat David writes: He placed them in the city streets like stones. And if you ask, who would leave silver lying in the city street? The Metzudat David explains: "And because they were so heavy, it was impossible to carry them and steal them" - these were large, heavy blocks. Nowadays someone would come with an ATV and haul it away, but in those days, dragging something like that was complicated, so they could not carry them off and steal them. "And cedars he made as sycamores" - the sycamore is a type of fig tree found abundantly in the Shephelah, and with similar abundance he placed cedars in Yerushalayim.
וּמוֹצִיאִים סוּסִים מִמִּצְרַיִם לִשְׁלֹמֹה וּמִכׇּל הָאֲרָצוֹת׃ - "And they imported horses for Shlomo from Egypt and from all the lands."
Egypt was the center for horses, and from there they would export horses to bring to Shlomo, as well as from all the lands. In this, he violated what the Torah warns: "He shall not multiply horses for himself."
וּשְׁאָר דִּבְרֵי שְׁלֹמֹה הָרִאשֹׁנִים וְהָאַחֲרוֹנִים הֲלֹא הֵם כְּתוּבִים עַל דִּבְרֵי נָתָן הַנָּבִיא וְעַל נְבוּאַת אֲחִיָּה הַשִּׁילוֹנִי וּבַחֲזוֹת יֶעְדּוֹ הַחֹזֶה עַל יָרׇבְעָם בֶּן נְבָט׃ - Now the rest of the acts of Shlomo, the first and the last, are they not written in the words of Natan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Achiyah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Yedo the seer concerning Yarov'am the son of Nevat?
"The first and the last" - what he did in his early days and what he did at the end of his days. It is very possible that Scripture emphasizes this because his standing in the earlier period was quite different from the later: in the first, he still walked in the ways of Hashem, whereas in the last, we see that his wives turned his heart astray. Therefore it designates them as "the last", because they were different from the first. "In the words of Natan the prophet" - as it is written, "And it came to pass that night, that the word of Hashem came to Natan," until "and he called his name Yedidyah," referring to what the Holy One, blessed be He, delivered through Natan: that there would be a son, and through him the Beis HaMikdash would be built. "And in the prophecy of Achiyah the Shilonite" - for it was he who tore the kingdom and gave it to Yarov'am the son of Nevat.
The Malbim notes an interesting nuance here. In Melachim it is written, "And the rest (veyeter) of the acts of Shlomo... are written in the book of the acts of Shlomo," whereas here it says, "And the rest (ushe'ar) of the acts of Shlomo." What is the difference between yeter and she'ar, since they seemingly mean the same thing? The Malbim has already explained in several places: notar (from yeter) always refers to something that is left over on its own, whereas nish'ar (from she'ar) refers to something that was deliberately left behind. A person says, "Leave this behind (tash'ir)," and does not say, "toteer"; whatever I did not take - that is what remains left over (notar).
According to this, in Melachim it speaks of matters that did not need to be recorded in Sacred Scripture - the secular affairs of Shlomo, state matters, and the like - which were written in his private royal chronicles, for kings kept autobiographical chronicles where they recorded all that happened to them. These matters are called yeter, meaning surplus, as it is not essential to know every detail of his kingdom. But here, Scripture speaks of the sacred matters written by Shlomo, akin to Shir HaShirim and Koheles, which the prophets arranged into dedicated books. Therefore, it calls them she'ar: those matters that he left behind and did not include as part of Koheles or Shir HaShirim. She'ar denotes something significant that was deliberately preserved. This fits very well with what is listed here: the words of Natan the prophet, the prophecy of Achiyah the Shilonite, and Yedo - who is Iddo - the seer concerning Yarov'am the son of Nevat, who foresaw his downfall; all of these are matters of holiness. Scripture thus alludes to the sacred writings left by Shlomo that are found elsewhere.
וַיִּמְלֹךְ שְׁלֹמֹה בִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם עַל כׇּל יִשְׂרָאֵל אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה׃ - And Shlomo reigned in Yerushalayim over all Israel forty years.
Why the emphasis on "over all Israel forty years"? The Radak explains: Because David HaMelech did not reign over all Israel for forty years. Even though it is written that he reigned for forty years, in Chevron he reigned for seven years over Yehudah alone, so he did not have a full forty years over all Israel. In contrast, Scripture tells us: take note, Shlomo reigned in Yerushalayim over all Israel for forty years.
וַיִּשְׁכַּב שְׁלֹמֹה עִם אֲבֹתָיו וַיִּקְבְּרֻהוּ בְּעִיר דָּוִיד אָבִיו וַיִּמְלֹךְ רְחַבְעָם בְּנוֹ תַּחְתָּיו׃ - And Shlomo slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father; and Rechav'am his son reigned in his place.
Notice: "And Shlomo slept" - without mentioning "the king", even though in verse 27 it states, "And the king made silver..." As we have already explained, the title "the king" is not applied to someone who has already passed away, for there is no authority on the day of death. If "the king" does appear, one must examine whether he actually died. Thus, regarding Pharaoh it is written, "and the king of Egypt died," and Chazal taught that this means he was afflicted with tzara'as. Why should we depart from the plain meaning of the verse when it says he died? Because it says "king", and one cannot be called king on the day of his death - someone who has died is no longer called king - which indicates that he was still alive, and necessarily this "death" refers to one of the conditions considered equivalent to death.
This chapter concludes the account of Shlomo with a depiction of the peak of his wealth and greatness: the gold that flowed to him from Ophir and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land; the large shields and bucklers in the House of the Forest of Lebanon; the ivory throne, the likes of which was not made in any kingdom; the golden vessels, to the extent that silver was accounted as nothing; and the ships of Tarshish - regarding which we learned a great fundamental principle from the Malbim, that Heaven forbid one should say the author of Scripture made a mistake, and it is better to remain with an unresolved difficulty than to challenge the words of Ezra the Scribe. We saw the fulfillment of Hashem's promise to Shlomo of wealth and wisdom; the precise nuance between "yeter" and "she'ar," which teaches of the sacred writings he left behind; and finally, the conclusion of his forty-year reign over all Israel and his passing, in which the title "the king" is omitted - for there is no authority on the day of death.