She thereupon presented to Solomon a hundred and twenty talents of gold (more than three million thalers nearly half a million sterling - Tr.]), and a very large quantity of spices and precious stones. The בּשׂמים probably included the genuine balsam of Arabia, even if בּשׂם was not the specific name of the genuine balsam. "There never more came so much of such spices of Jerusalem." Instead of לרב עוד...בּא לא we find in the Chronicles, 1 Kings 10:9, simply היה לא, "there was nothing like this balsam," which conveys the same meaning though expressed more indefinitely, since ההוּא ecni כּבּשׂם points back to the preceding words, "balsam (spices) in great quantity."

(Note: It was this which gave rise to the legend in Josephus (Ant. viii. 6, 6), that it was through this queen that the root of the true balsam (Opobalsamum), which was afterwards cultivated in gardens at Jericho and Engedi, was first of all brought to Palestine (cf. Movers, Phnizier, ii. 3, p. 226ff.).

1 Kings 10:16 Parallel Commentaries

two hundred. Mr. Reynolds computes that these

200 targets were were worth

28,131l

16s

9d.; and that the

300 shields were worth

210,976l

7s

7d.

1 Kings 14:26-28 And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all...

2 Chronicles 9:15,16 And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one target...

2 Chronicles 12:9,10 So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD...