Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 30. Orientals of Chaldea, Arabia, Idumea, and so forth Daniel 2:2. Obadiah 8. Numbers 22:5. Job and his friends were of this description. The Greeks acknowledged that they had received their philosophy from the barbarians; (Laert. proem.) and Casaubon observes, that the ancient defendants of the Christian faith proved the same truth. Not. Ibid. They shewed that all true saving knowledge had been derived from the Hebrews. Bible.—The Chaldees maintain that their countrymen were the fountains of science; and many suppose that Abraham communicated these treasures to the Egyptians; whereas the latter pretend, that a colony from their country had imparted that blessing to the Chaldees. Diodorus (B. i.) says that Belus conducted such a colony, and the Greeks chiefly owed their information to the Egyptians. God had communicated to Solomon all that was of real use in those sciences, in a superior degree. Wisd. 7:17. Joseph. viii. 2. He was eminently skilled in natural philosophy, and so forth Calmet.