1 Kings 10:18

18 The king built a massive throne of ivory accented with a veneer of gold.

1 Kings 10:18 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 10:18

Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory
To sit on and judge his people; and ivory being white, may denote the purity, justice, and equity with which he judged; the white throne in ( Revelation 20:11 ) may be an allusion to this; the ivory he had from Tarshish, ( 1 Kings 10:22 )

and overlaid it with the best gold;
for the greater splendour and majesty of it; not that he covered it all over, for then the ivory would not be seen, but interlined it, or studded it with it, whereby it appeared the more beautiful and magnificent. Such a throne of gold and ivory was decreed to Caesar by the Romans ^F16.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F16 Appian. Alex. l. 2.

1 Kings 10:18 In-Context

16 King Solomon crafted two hundred body-length shields of hammered gold - seven and a half pounds of gold to each shield

17 - and three hundred smaller shields about half that size. He stored the shields in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

18 The king built a massive throne of ivory accented with a veneer of gold.

19 The throne had six steps leading up to it, its back shaped like an arch. The armrests on each side were flanked by lions.

20 Lions, twelve of them, were placed at either end of the six steps. There was no throne like it in any of the surrounding kingdoms.