John Gill Commentary


John Gill Commentary
"ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fatted fowl." — 1 Kings 4:23 (ASV)
Ten fat oxen
Such as were kept up in the stall and fatted:
and twenty oxen out of the pastures ;
which were killed as they were taken from thence, and not put up to be fed:
and an hundred sheep ;
out of the folds:
beside harts, and roebucks, and fallow deer ;
which were clean creatures, according to the Levitical law, (Deuteronomy 14:5) ; these were hunted in fields, or taken out of the park, or were presents from other countries; so that here was plenty of beef, mutton, and venison: for the spiritual application of this to the antitypical Solomon, and his provisions, see (Matthew 22:4) ;
and fatted fowl ;
such as we call capons F1 ; some Jewish writers F2 , because of the likeness of sound in the word here used, take them to be Barbary fowls, or such as were brought from that country: there is a sort of birds called (barbaroi) , which were without a voice, that neither heard men, nor knew their voice F3 .