And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his
glory,
&c.] This is a certain truth, to be affirmed in the strongest
manner, and to be believed, that not only men and kings too in
general; but even particularly Solomon, the richest and most
magnificent of all the kings of Israel, whose grandeur, and
glory, exceeded all the princes of the earth; that even he, not
in his common dress, but when "in his glory", and in "all" his
glory, when arrayed with his royal and richest robes, with his
crown on his head, and when seated on his throne,
was not arrayed like one of these
lilies, or flowers of the field: for the glory and beauty of his
garments were purely from art, but their's by nature; which can
never be equalled by art. This phrase, "Solomon in all his
glory", is the same which the Jewish doctors, in their writings,
express by (wtevb hmlv) ,
"Solomon in his hour" F7: that is as their commentators
explain it F8, (wtwklm teb) , "in the time of his reign"; for they say
he was first a king, and then a private person. Now, not whilst
he was a private person, but when a king, in the height of his
grandeur and magnificence, and when dressed out in the most
splendid manner, he was exceeded in array by a single lily: or
the sense is, in his royal apparel. For as the same doctors say,
``what is a man's "glory?" It is his clothing that is his outward glory; and again, garments are the glory of a man F9.''
F7 Misn. Bava Metzia, c. 7. sect. 1. T. Bab. ib. fol. 49. 1. & 83. 1. & 86. 2.
F8 Jarchi & Bartenora in ib.
F9 Tzeror Hammor, fol. 95. 1. & 99. 4. & 110. 4.