And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he as the sycamores that are in the lowland for abundance.
Chronicles ends its account of Solomon by measuring his wealth in an odd way. It does not count it: silver became as cheap as stone, and imported cedar as common as an everyday local tree — and the question is what that surplus pictures.
The verse is not saying Solomon had a lot of silver. It is saying silver stopped being precious.
And what riches and glory the king had! Everything was of gold. Silver dropped in value in his days; it was worth next to nothing. Compare this with what will take place in the coming kingdom of our Lord. "Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle" (Is. 55:13). "Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron" (Isa. 60:17).
Another writer notes that gold, not silver, filled the king's houses, and links gold to the glory of the kingdom still to come:
In Solomon's house all the drinking vessels were gold, and the vessels in the House of the Forest of Lebanon were gold. None were silver, for silver was accounted as nothing in Solomon's kingdom. Gold symbolizes the glory of God, which will be predominant in the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus.
The second half of the verse does the same with timber.
Cedar trees became as common as the sycamores. The cedars were imported from Lebanon.
The comparison only works if you know the second tree, the one Zacchaeus climbed:
This is a tree large enough for a man to rest in its branches, as Zacchaeus did. Luke 19:4. It was known in Egypt, and was plentiful in Palestine. Amos was a "gatherer of sycamore fruit." David had a special overseer of such trees.
One writer reads the verse with what comes just before it: the queen's gift, the king's greater generosity, and his fleets of ships.
The queen of Sheba gives the king a royal present suited to her rank and her means. The king, I need not say, was not to be outdone in generosity. The greatness of his throne is described, and the vastness of his shipping as well — and the abundance that resulted for all the people.
Solomon's abundance came by trade. One writer sets it beside a greater abundance, when God's own glory rises on Zion:
When the glory of Jehovah rises upon Zion, she will shine in full beauty. Every land will adorn her: gold from Sheba, and incense, the treasures of Midian and Kedar, and the glory of Lebanon will be there.
One writer states plainly what Solomon pictures:
Solomon was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ when He will reign as King with all enemies put under His feet.
Solomon's reign was the brightest earth has seen. The same writer sets it beside the book of Ecclesiastes:
But oh, what a vast difference between even the brightest days this earth has ever seen and the days we have just been describing! Read the Book of Ecclesiastes and note its emptiness and frustration of spirit: "What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted" (Ecc. 1:15). "I saw under the sun that in the place of justice there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there was wickedness" (3:16).
One writer notes why the Lord Jesus used Solomon as a comparison, and what the king's clothing lacked:
What a wonderful wealth there was in Solomon's reign! Silver was like stones, we are told. The Queen of Sheba fainted at the sight, it so far exceeded her expectations, so we can see why the Lord here selects Solomon. However grand and beautiful his clothing was, it was only artificial. The other was of God.
- Cheap — Silver did not just grow plentiful; it lost its worth. It was "accounted as nothing," and gold filled the king's house instead.
- Common — Cedar shipped in from Lebanon became as ordinary as the sycamore, a tree already plentiful in the land.
- Shared — The king's generosity and shipping produced abundance for all the people, not a private treasury.
- Coming — Isaiah promises the same exchange on a larger scale — gold for bronze, silver for iron — when God's glory rises on Zion.
- Short — The brightest reign earth has seen still produced Ecclesiastes, and even the king's finest clothing was only artificial. The reign Solomon pictures is Christ's.
And they brought to Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands.
This one line of trade closes the account of Solomon's splendour. Horses arrive from Egypt and from every other land, and the record adds no comment. So why does Chronicles report the trade without blame, when the same act marks the start of a king's ruin?
One writer points out what Chronicles leaves out, and why.
In fact, in this trade with Egypt Solomon was disobeying God. Yet God used even this disobedience for His own glory, for Chronicles says nothing about this matter being disobedience. The emphasis is instead on something else. Solomon's wealth, increased as it was by trade with the nations, is a picture of the greater wealth and splendour of the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus. Tribute from the whole world will increase His glory, and Egypt pictures that world.
God had already set limits for any king of Israel. One of them named this exact trade.
But God gave a warning to any king who might arise. He was not to multiply horses, or send his people to Egypt to bring horses back. Of course war horses were considered necessary for the protection of the kingdom. Could faith not depend on God for such protection rather than on horses? ... These things did not protect the kingdom from division soon after Solomon died. Depending on these things is not depending on God.
Before Solomon, horses barely appear in Israel's story. One writer names the few exceptions, and the command Solomon broke.
Note that there is no mention of a horse in Israel up to the days of Solomon. The only exceptions are the few that David captured and kept, according to 2 Samuel 8:4, and Absalom, who prepared chariots and horses when making his bid for the kingdom. This first command, then, Solomon flagrantly disobeyed.
The same writer adds that the step looked natural. Solomon's wife came out of Egypt, and she "was not likely to be content with humble donkeys or mules."
Solomon had himself written the sentence that ruled out this policy. That is what gives the verse its sting.
Solomon himself tells us in Proverbs 21:31 that "the horse is made ready for the day of battle." Then he adds the words he later quite forgot: "but the victory belongs to the LORD." ... but David wrote before Solomon began to reign, "The war horse is a vain hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue" (Psalm 33:17). In days of danger the Lord is worth more to His people than regiments of cavalry.
The horses did not stay in Israel. The next verse shows them sold on, and this turned a private failure into a public one.
Solomon appears to have established a considerable business in horse-dealing. ... The next verse tells us that he sold horses to the kings of the Hittites and of Syria. This trading may have been profitable, but the Lord was not pleased with His servant for it. What a testimony to the nations around him! They should have learned from him that trusting God is better than trusting horses.
David won his wars without horses. One writer traces what Solomon's horses cost him.
David won his great victories without horses, since God was with him. Solomon had horses, and from that point Israel began to say goodbye to victory. He multiplied horses and wives and riches. He did the three things God told the king not to do, and he did them in the most flagrant way. The consequence of all this self-promotion is solemn. This idea — that the way of life is to get everything possible for self-gratification — traps you into disobedience, and you forfeit the support of God. Solomon did not act in ignorance of God's Word — it was simply staring him in the face.
- Gift. Chronicles reports the horses without blame. It reads Solomon's wealth as a picture of the reign of the Lord Jesus, when tribute comes to Him from the whole world.
- Limit. God told Israel's king not to multiply horses or fetch them from Egypt. Faith was to depend on Him for protection, not on horses.
- Direction. Horses were almost unknown in Israel before Solomon. Buying them from Egypt was the one route God had forbidden His king.
- Blindness. Solomon wrote that the victory belongs to the Lord, then forgot it. Knowing the right sentence does not keep anyone.
- Loss. The horses never saved the kingdom. It split soon after Solomon died.