7 I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem;
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
I got - Rather, I bought, in distinction from those born in the house. The "children of Solomon's servants" (compare Ezra 2:55, Ezra 2:58) were more probably of Canaanite origin 1-Kings 9:20-21; 1-Kings 5:15 than Hebrews 1-Kings 9:22.
Possessions of great and small cattle - Rather, herds of oxen and sheep.
All before me - King David's herds and flocks are mentioned in 1-Chronicles 27:29, 1-Chronicles 27:31 : but we have no specific account of the wealth of other Canaanite or Hebrew inhabitants of Jerusalem before Solomon.
Servants and maidens - For my works, fields, folds, and various domestic labors.
Servants born in any house - Besides those hired from without, he had married couples in the precincts of his grounds, palaces, etc., who, when their children grew up, got them employment with themselves.
Great and small cattle - Oxen, neat, horses, asses, mules, camels, and such like; with sheep and goats. And multitudes of most of these he needed, when we are told that his household consumed daily ten stall-fed oxen, with twenty from the pasture, with a hundred sheep; besides harts, roebucks, fallow deer, fatted fowls, and other kinds of provision, Probably, such another court for splendor and expense was not in the universe.
I procured [me] male and female servants, and had servants born in my (c) house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks above all that were in Jerusalem before me:
(c) Meaning, of the servants or slaves which he had bought, so the children born in their servitude, were the masters.
I got me servants and maidens,.... Menservants, and maidservants; the Targum adds,
"of the children of Ham, and of the rest of the strange people;''
these were such as he hired, or bought with his money;
and had servants born in my house; and these were all employed by him; either as his retinue and equipage, his attendants and bodyguards; or to take care of his household, his gardens, and pools; or for his horses and chariots, and for various offices; see 1-Kings 4:26, Ezra 2:58. Villalpandus computes the number of his servants to be forty eight thousand; if there were any pleasure and happiness in such a numerous attendance, Solomon had it;
also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me; oxen, cows, horses, asses, camels, mules, &c. also sheep and goats; which, as they were profitable, so it was pleasant to see them grazing on the hills and valleys, in the fields, mountains, and meadows.
born in my house--These were esteemed more trustworthy servants than those bought (Genesis 14:14; Genesis 15:2-3; Genesis 17:12-13, Genesis 17:27; Jeremiah 2:14), called "songs of one's handmaid" (Exodus 23:12; compare Genesis 12:16; Job 1:3).
"I procured servants and maidens, and also I obtained servants born in the house; also the possession of flocks; I obtained many horned and small cattle before all who were in Jerusalem before me." The obtaining of these possessions is, according to Genesis 17:12., to be understood of purchase. There is a distinction between the slaves, male and female (mancipia), obtained by purchase, and those who were home-born (vernae), the בּית (ילידי) בּני, who were regarded as the chief support of the house (Genesis 14:14), on account of their attachment to it, and to this day are called (Arab.) fada wayyt, as those who offer themselves a sacrifice for it, if need be. Regarding לי היה, in the sense of increasing possession; and regarding היה for היוּ, vid., at Ecclesiastes 1:10, Ecclesiastes 1:16; at all events, the sing. of the pred. may be explained from this, that the persons and things named are thought of in the mass, as at Zac 11:5; Joel 1:20 (although the idea there may be also individualizing); but in the use of the pass., as at Genesis 35:26; Daniel 9:24, the Semite custom is different, inasmuch as for it the passive has the force of an active without a definite subject, and thus with the most general subject; and as to the case lying before us in Ecclesiastes 2:7, we see from Exodus 12:49, cf. Genesis 15:17, that היה (יהיה) in such instances is thought of as neut. According to Genesis 26:14 and the passage before us, מקנה lay nearer than מקנה, but the primary form instead of the connecting form is here the traditional reading; we have thus apposition (Nebenordnung) instead of subordination (Annexion), as in zevahim shelamim, Exodus 24:5, and in habbaqar hannehhosheth, 2-Kings 16:17, although vaqar vatson may also be interpreted as the accus. of the more accurate definition: the possession of flocks consisting in cattle and sheep. But this manner of construction is, for a book of so late an origin, too artificial. What it represents Solomon as saying is consistent with historical fact; at the consecration of the temple he sacrificed hecatombs, 1-Kings 8:63; and the daily supply for the royal kitchen, which will at the same time serve to show the extent of the royal household, was, according to 1-Kings 5:2., enormous.
There now follows the enumeration of riches and jewels which were a delight to the eye; and finally, the large provision made for revelling in the pleasures of music and of sensual love.
*More commentary available at chapter level.