Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 10:28

"And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt; and the king`s merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price." — 1 Kings 10:28 (ASV)

Linen yarn.—The introduction of this seems to be an error. If the reading of the Hebrew text is to stand, the sense appears to be, “And Solomon’s horses were brought from Egypt; a troop of the king’s merchants obtained a troop (of horses) at a fixed price.”

The horses were brought up, that is, in caravans from the plains of Egypt, where they abounded (Exodus 9:3; Exodus 14:9; Deuteronomy 17:17; Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 36:9). Although, since they are not represented on monuments before the eighteenth dynasty, it is thought they were introduced from abroad, perhaps by the Hyksos, or shepherd kings.

But the Septuagint has a remarkable various reading, “and from Tekoa” (from which the Vulgate et de Coa probably comes), according to which the passage runs very simply: “And Solomon’s horses were brought from Egypt; and from Tekoa the king’s merchants,” etc. Tekoa lay on the hills east of Hebron, not far from Bethlehem, and might well have been an emporium for caravans from Egypt.

The parallel passages of 2 Chronicles 1:16–17 and 2 Chronicles 9:28 give us no help, for the former is exactly the same as this, and the latter reads as follows: And they brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt and out of all lands.