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1 Kings 10:16

in 1 Kings 10

King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And king Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one buckler.

KJV

And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target.

This verse in 1 Kings 10

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
And King Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold,.... Which were a larger sort of shields, which covered the whole body; and these were made of gold beaten with the hammer, or drawn into plates, being melted like wax; so the Poeni or Carthaginians made shields of gold (m): six hundred shekels of gold went to one target; which is to be understood not of the weight, but of the price or value of them, which amounted to four hundred and fifty pounds of our money; so Brerewood (n). (m) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 35. 3. (n) Ut supra.

This site's exposition

King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold

on 1 Kings 10:16-17

Solomon makes “two hundred large shields of hammered gold” and three hundred small ones of “three minas of gold” each. They equip a ceremonial guard, since gold is too soft for battle. At 14:26-27 Shishak carries them off and Rehoboam makes bronze ones in their place.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

But Solomon had shields and targets carried before him, to signify that he took more pleasure in using his power for the defence and protection of the good, to whom he would be a praise. Magistrates are shields of the earth. (2.) He made a stately throne, on which he sat, to give laws to his subjects, audience to ambassadors, and judgment upon appeals,

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold - I have already conjectured that the צנה tsinnah might resemble the Highland targe or target, with a dagger projecting from the Umbo or center.
The “targets” seem to have been long shields protecting the whole body, while the “shields” of the next verse were bucklers of a smaller size, probably round, and much lighter. They may be compared with the Assyrian long shield, and the ordinary Assyrian round shield. As the amount of gold used in each of the larger shields was only 600 shekels - worth from 650 to 700 of our money - and that used in the smaller ones was only half as much it is evident that the metal did not form the substance of the shields, but was laid as a coating or plating over them.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

This was in addition [to the gold that came from] traveling merchants. Merchants would bring him who visited the land on business. 5 Alternatively, retailers who sell small quantities, spy [=תרים] out the land to determine where to do business.—Metzudas Tzion
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on I Kings 10:15:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיַּ֨עַשׂand he made

    vaiyaasH6213 →2628 times

  • הַמֶּ֧לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • שְׁלֹמֹ֛הSolomon

    shelomohH8010 →291 times

  • מָאתַ֥יִםtwo hundred

    matayimH3967 →581 times

  • צִנָּ֖הbody shield[s]

    tzinahH6793 →

  • זָהָ֣בgold

    zahavH2091 →389 times

  • שָׁח֑וּטbeaten

    shachutH7820 →

  • שֵׁשׁ־six

    shesh-H8337 →216 times

  • מֵא֣וֹתhundred<s>

    meotH3967 →581 times

  • זָהָ֔בgold

    zahavH2091 →389 times

  • יַעֲלֶ֖הhe put up

    yaalehH5927 →890 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַצִּנָּ֥הthe body shield

    hatzinahH6793 →

  • הָאֶחָֽת׃<the> one

    haechatH259 →971 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Kings

Solomon Receives the Queen of Sheba — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Solomon Receives the Queen of Sheba — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); F. W. Farrar, The First Book of Kings (Expositor's Bible); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.