1st Kings Chapter 4 verse 30 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 30. - And Solomon's wisdom excelled [or exceeded; same word as in ver. 29] the wisdom of all the children of the east country [By the Beni-Kedem we are hardly to understand (with Rawlinson) a distinct tribe on the banks of the Euphrates. It is true that the land of the Beni-Kedem is identified with Haran or Mesopotamia (Genesis 29:1), and the mountains of Kedem (Numbers 23:7) are evidently those of Aram. It is also true that "the children of the East" are apparently distinguished from the Amalekites and Midianites (Judges 6:8, 33; Judges 7:12; Judges 8:10). It is probable, nevertheless, that the name is here employed to designate all the Arabian tribes east and southeast of Palestine - Sabaeans, Idumeans, Temanites, Chaldeans. What their wisdom was like, we may see in the Book of Job. Cf. Jeremiah 49:7; Obadiah 1:8] and all the wisdom of Egypt. [The learning of Egypt was of great repute in the Old World. It differed very considerably from the wisdom of Kedem, being scientific rather than gnomic (Isaiah 19:11, 12; Isaiah 31:2, 8; Acts 7:22) and including geometry, astronomy, magic, and medicine. See Jos., Ant. 8:02.5; Herod. 2:109. 160. Wilkinson, "Ancient Egyptians" vol. 2. pp. 316-465.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(30-34) The whole passage implies a general growth of wisdom, a largeness of knowledge, and an outburst of literature, of which, as usual with great men, Solomon is at once the child and the leader.(30) The wisdom of all the children of the east.--The phrase "children of the east" is apparently used (see Genesis 29:1; Judges 6:3; Judges 6:33; Judges 7:12; Judges 8:10) for the tribes of the country lying between the country of Israel and Mesopotamia. Of these "men of the east," Job is expressly said to be one, and among the chief (Job 1:3), What their wisdom was, the utterances of Job and his friends may testify, showing as they do large knowledge of nature and of man, speculating on the deepest moral questions, and throughout resting, though with an awe greater than was felt within the circle of the Abrahamic covenant, upon the consciousness of the one God. The Book of Job also shows that this wisdom was not unconnected with the proverbial "wisdom of Egypt," with which it is here joined. The Egyptian wisdom (as the monuments show) was a part of a more advanced and elaborate civilisation, enriched by learning and culture, and manifesting itself in art and science, but perhaps less free and vigorous than the simpler patriarchal wisdom of the children of the east. . . .