1 Kings 10:19

19 There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.

1 Kings 10:19 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 10:19

The throne had six steps
Up to the footstool of the throne, which was of gold, ( 2 Chronicles 9:18 ) and was high, that everyone in court might see him, and the better hear the sentence he gave:

and the top of the throne was round behind;
had a semicircle at the top of it, like an alcove:

and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat;
or "hands" F17, such as the arms of a chair, to lean and rest upon:

and two lions stood beside the stays;
which were not only ornamental, and for support of the stays, but expressive of majesty, and of undaunted courage and resolution to do justice, and of the danger such expose themselves to, who oppose magistrates in the discharge of their office; and in which Solomon was a type of Christ, the lion of the tribe of Judah; and for the same reasons were the like portraits on the steps, as follows.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 (tdy) "manus", V. L. Montanus (agkwnev) "brachiola", Sept. in 2 Chron. ix. 18.

1 Kings 10:19 In-Context

17 [he made] three hundred shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Levanon.
18 Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold.
19 There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.
20 Twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other on the six steps: there was nothing like it made in any kingdom.
21 All king Shlomo's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Levanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Shlomo.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.