1 Kings 10:20

20 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any kingdom.

1 Kings 10:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 10:20

And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other
upon the six steps
There was a lion on each side of every step, a symbol of royal power, as before observed; so the Egyptians placed lions under the throne of Orus ^F18:

there was not the like made in any kingdom;
for the matter and form of it, for its grandeur and magnificence; there was none at least at that time, whatever has been since; for this is the first throne of ivory we read of.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Hori Apoll. Hieroglyph, l. 1. c. 17.

1 Kings 10:20 In-Context

18 Additionally, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

19 The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with a lion standing beside each armrest.

20 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any kingdom.

21 All King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.

22 For the king had the ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.