1 Kings 10:29

And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver,.... Which, reckoning at two shillings and six pence a shekel, amounted to seventy five pounds; but a shekel was not

A chariot: this is not to be understood of the chariots and horses themselves, (for then all horses had been set at an equal price, which is most absurd,) but by a metonymy, for the lading of chariots and horses, which consisting of fine linen and silk, &c., were of great value; and the king’ s custom, together with the charges of the journey, amounted to these sums. The Hittites; a people dwelling principally in the northern and eastern parts of Canaan, , whom the Israelites, contrary to their duty, spared, and suffered to live among them, , who afterwards, it seems, grew numerous and potent, and, it may be, they sent out colonies (after the manner of the ancient times) into some parts of Syria and Arabia and possibly these kings of the Hittites may be some of those kings of Arabia, .

1 Kings 10:29 And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred [shekels] of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring [them] out by their means.Ver. 29. And a chariot came up.] A chariot with four horses. The custom of six horses in a coach with a postilion, began among us but in King James’ s days by the duke of Buckingham, that king’ s favourite.

(29) A chariot.—This is the chariot and its team of two or three horses; the “horse” is the charger. The price (though so far considerable as to indicate a large expenditure on the whole) shows that the supply was large, and the commerce regular.The kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Syria—evidently allies or tributaries of Solomon, who were allowed, or compelled, to purchase their horses and chariots through his merchants. Of all the earlier inhabitants of Palestine the Hittites alone are mentioned as having existed in power after the conquest (as here and in 2 Kings 7:6); and this statement is curiously confirmed by both Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions, describing a powerful confederacy of Hittites in the valley of the Orontes in Syria, not far from Phœnicia, with whom both empires waged war. The possession of horses and chariots by the northern confederacy round Hazor is especially noted in the history of the Conquest (Joshua 11:4-6).

Verse 29. A chariot came up - for six hundred shekels] This was the ordinary price of a chariot, as a hundred and fifty shekels were for a horse. Kings of the Hittites] These must have been the remains of the original inhabitants of Canaan, who had gone to some other country, probably Syria, and formed themselves into a principality there. It seems that neither horses nor chariots came out of Egypt but by means of Solomon's servants. MR. BRUCE'S ACCOUNT OF SOLOMON'S VOYAGE TO OPHIR "WE are not to wonder, if the prodigious hurry and flow of business, and the immensely valuable transactions they had with each other, had greatly familiarized the Tyrians and Jews with their correspondents, the Cushites and shepherds, on the coast of Africa. This had gone so far as, very naturally, to create a desire in the queen of Azab, the sovereign of that country, to go herself and see the application of the immense treasures that had been exported from her country for a series of years, and the prince who so magnificently employed them. There can be no doubt of this expedition; as Pagan, Arab, Moor, Abyssinian, and all the countries around, vouch for it nearly in the terms of Scripture. "Her name, the Arabs say, was Belkis; the Abyssinians, Maqueda. Our Saviour calls her queen of the south, without mentioning any other name, but gives his sanction to the truth of the voyage. 'The queen of the south (or Saba, or Azab) shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold a greater than Solomon is here.' No other particulars, however, are mentioned about her in Scripture; and it is not probable that our Saviour would have said she came from the uttermost parts of the earth, if she had been an Arab, and had near fifty degrees of the continent behind her. But when we consider that the boundaries of the known land, to the southward, were at that time Raptum or Prassum, as we have just seen, these, being the uttermost parts of the known earth, were, with great propriety, so styled by our Saviour; and of these she was undoubtedly sovereign. The gold, the myrrh, cassia, and frankincense were all the produce of her own country. "Whether she was a Jewess or a pagan is uncertain. Sabaism was the religion of all the East; it was the constant attendant and stumbling block of the Jews: but considering the multitude of that people then trading from Jerusalem, and the long time it continued, it is not improbable she was a Jewess. 'And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions,' 1 Kings 10:1; 2 Chronicles 9:1. Our Saviour moreover speaks of her with praise, pointing her out as an example to the Jews.

29. And a chariot] The word is used (Exodus 14:25; Joshua 11:6; Joshua 11:9, &c.) for a ‘chariot employed in war,’ and that is probably the sense here. These also Solomon’s merchants supplied from Egypt, and in this verse we have the notice of their retail trade. It may be that these traders did not pay to the king according to their profits, but paid him a duty for the privilege of trading; but this does not appear. The Hebrew word for ‘shekels’ is omitted here as in 1 Kings 10:16 above. See note there. for all the kings of the Hittites] The Hittites were divided into numerous small kingdoms, situated in the country between the Euphrates on one side and Hamath and Damascus on the other. Their two chief cities were Carchemish and Kadesh. In the early times some Hittite settlements were made in southern Palestine, and we read of these people in the days of the patriarchs (Genesis 26:34, &c.). and for the kings of Syria] Syria (Heb. Aram) is the name given in the Old Test. to all the country north-east of Phœnicia and extending beyond the Euphrates and Tigris. Sometimes the term includes the Hittite country. Mesopotamia is distinguished (Genesis 24:10; Deuteronomy 23:5, &c.) as Aram-Naharaim (i.e. Syria of the two rivers), and is sometimes called Padan-Aram (Genesis 25:20). Other portions were known by distinctive names, as Aram-Maachah (1 Chronicles 19:6), Arambeth-Rehob (2 Samuel 10:6), Aram-Zobah (2 Samuel 10:6; 2 Samuel 10:8). It was for the princes of these districts that Solomon’s merchants brought up horses and chariots from Egypt. All these small kingdoms became afterwards subject to Damascus. by their means] Literally ‘in their hand.’ That is, these merchants were the agents through whom the various princes obtained their supplies. In 2 Chronicles 9:28 it is not only from Egypt, but from all lands, that horses for Solomon’s trade were brought, but 2 Chronicles 1:16-17 is word for word the same as the account in this chapter.

Taking the shekel at about three shillings of our money, six hundred silver shekels would be equal to about 90; and 150 shekels to 22 British pounds and 10 shillings.

29. Six hundred shekels of silver — According to Keil about thirty-five pounds sterling, or one hundred and seventy-five dollars. A hundred and fifty — About forty-five dollars.