1 Kings 4:30

30 The wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all the people of [the] east and more than all the wisdom of Egypt.

1 Kings 4:30 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 4:30

And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children
of the east
The Arabians, and Persians, famous for wisdom, and who lay to the east of the land of Judea; whose wisdom lay in the knowledge of the stars, in divination by birds, and soothsaying F13:

and all the wisdom of Egypt;
which it was eminent for in the times of Moses, and in which he was learned and well-skilled, ( Acts 7:22 ) ; and hence in later times the philosophers of the Gentiles travelled to get knowledge, as Pherecydes, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Plato, and others to Egypt, said to be the mother of arts and sciences F14.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 Midrash Kohelet. fol. 76. 3.
F14 Macrob. in Som. Scip. c. 19. 21. & Saturnal l. 1. c. 15.

1 Kings 4:30 In-Context

28 The barley and the straw for the horses and for packhorses they brought to the place where they were, each according to his share.
29 God gave wisdom to Solomon and very great discernment, as well as {breadth of understanding}, as the sand which is on the edge of the seashore.
30 The wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all the people of [the] east and more than all the wisdom of Egypt.
31 He was wiser than all the men: Ethan the Ezrahite; Heman, Calcol, and Darda the children of Mahol; and {he was very well known}.
32 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five.

Footnotes 1

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