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Selected Verse: 1 Kings 4:30 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| 1Ki 4:30 |
King James |
And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country--that is, the Arabians, Chaldeans, and Persians (Gen 25:6).
all the wisdom of Egypt--Egypt was renowned as the seat of learning and sciences, and the existing monuments, which so clearly describe the ancient state of society and the arts, show the high culture of the Egyptian people. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| Children of the east country - Rather, "of the East" - the Beni Kedem - a distinct tribe, who occupied both sides of the Euphrates along its middle course (marginal reference). They were mostly nomads, who dwelt in tents Jer 49:28-29. Job belonged to them Job 1:3, as did probably his three friends; and, perhaps, Balsam Num 23:7. They must have been either Arabs or Aramaeans. We may see in the Book of Job the character of their "wisdom." Like Solomon's, it was chiefly gnomic but included some knowledge of natural history. The "wisdom of Egypt" was of a different kind. It included magic Gen 41:8; Exo 7:11, geometry, medicine, astronomy, architecture, and a dreamy mystic philosophy, of which metempsychosis was the main principle. It is not probable that Solomon was, like Moses (marginal reference), deeply versed in Egyptian science. The writer only means to say that his wisdom was truer and more real than all the much-praised wisdom of Egypt. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| East country - The Chaldeans, Persians, and Arabians, who all lay eastward from Canaan, and were famous in ancient times for their wisdom and learning. Egypt - The Egyptians, whose fame was then great for their skill in the arts and sciences, which made them despise the Grecians as children in knowledge. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| The children of the east country - That is the Chaldeans, Persians, and Arabians, who, with the Egyptians, were famed for wisdom and knowledge through all the world. |
6 But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.
11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
8 And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.
7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.
3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
28 Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.
29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.