Albert Barnes Commentary


Albert Barnes Commentary
"and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of Jehovah; there was no more spirit in her." — 1 Kings 10:5 (ASV)
And the food of his table - Compare 1 Kings 4:22–23. The scene described here is well illustrated by Assyrian banquet scenes, where we see numerous guests sitting, dressed handsomely in fringed robes, with armlets on their arms and bracelets around their wrists. Attendants stand behind them, and the guests hold magnificent drinking cups, evidently of a costly metal, which are filled from a great wine bowl at one end of the chamber.
And his ascent by which he went up - A rendering preferable to “the burnt-offering which he offered in.” The “ascent” was probably a private way by which the king passed from his palace on the western hill, across the ravine (Tyropoeum) and up the eastern hill, to the west side of the temple area (compare the marginal reference).