1 Kings 4:30

Contextual Overview

²⁹God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight, and understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore. ²⁹ God gave Shlomo wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and very great understanding, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore. ²⁹ And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. ²⁹ And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, ²⁹ God gave Solomon great wisdom so he could understand many things. His wisdom was as hard to measure as the grains of sand on the seashore. ²⁹ God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment; the breadth of his understanding was as infinite as the sand on the seashore. ²⁹Now God gave Solomon [exceptional] wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand of the seashore. ²⁹ Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore. ²⁹ And God gaue Salomon wisdome and vnderstanding exceeding much, & a large heart, euen as the sand that is on the sea shore, ²⁹And God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of understanding in his heart, like the sand that is on the seashore.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the children: Genesis 25:6, Job 1:3, Daniel 1:20, Daniel 4:7, Daniel 5:11, Daniel 5:12, Matthew 2:1, Matthew 2:16

the wisdom of Egypt: Isaiah 19:11, Isaiah 19:12, Acts 7:22

Reciprocal: Genesis 29:1 - came Judges 6:3 - children Judges 7:12 - the Midianites 2 Chronicles 9:22 - passed all the kings Job 1:8 - none Ecclesiastes 1:14 - General Ecclesiastes 1:16 - Lo Ezekiel 25:4 - men

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 m:

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 n.

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

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Children of the east country - Rather, “of the East” - the Beni Kedem - a distinct tribe, who occupied both sides of the Euphrates along its middle course (marginal reference). They were mostly nomads, who dwelt in tents Jeremiah 49:28-29. Job belonged to them Job 1:3, as did probably his three friends; and, perhaps, Balsam Numbers 23:7. They must have been either Arabs or Aramaeans. We may see in the Book of Job the character of their “wisdom.” Like Solomon’s, it was chiefly gnomic but included some knowledge of natural history. The “wisdom of Egypt” was of a different kind. It included magic Genesis 41:8; Exodus 7:11, geometry, medicine, astronomy, architecture, and a dreamy mystic philosophy, of which metempsychosis was the main principle. It is not probable that Solomon was, like Moses (marginal reference), deeply versed in Egyptian science. The writer only means to say that his wisdom was truer and more real than all the much-praised wisdom of Egypt.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 4:30. The children of the east country — That is the Chaldeans, Persians, and Arabians, who, with the Egyptians, were famed for wisdom and knowledge through all the world.