30 Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Children of the east country - Rather, "of the East" - the Beni Kedem - a distinct tribe, who occupied both sides of the Euphrates along its middle course (marginal reference). They were mostly nomads, who dwelt in tents Jeremiah 49:28-29. Job belonged to them Job 1:3, as did probably his three friends; and, perhaps, Balsam Numbers 23:7. They must have been either Arabs or Aramaeans. We may see in the Book of Job the character of their "wisdom." Like Solomon's, it was chiefly gnomic but included some knowledge of natural history. The "wisdom of Egypt" was of a different kind. It included magic Genesis 41:8; Exodus 7:11, geometry, medicine, astronomy, architecture, and a dreamy mystic philosophy, of which metempsychosis was the main principle. It is not probable that Solomon was, like Moses (marginal reference), deeply versed in Egyptian science. The writer only means to say that his wisdom was truer and more real than all the much-praised wisdom of Egypt.
The children of the east country - That is the Chaldeans, Persians, and Arabians, who, with the Egyptians, were famed for wisdom and knowledge through all the world.
And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the (l) east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
(l) That is, the philosophers and astronomers who were judged most wise.
And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east,.... The Arabians, and Persians, famous for wisdom, and who lay to the east of the land of Judea; whose wisdom lay in the knowledge of the stars, in divination by birds, and soothsaying (m):
and all the wisdom of Egypt; which it was eminent for in the times of Moses, and in which he was learned and well-skilled, Acts 7:22; and hence in later times the philosophers of the Gentiles travelled to get knowledge, as Pherecydes, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Plato, and others to Egypt, said to be the mother of arts and sciences (n).
(m) Midrash Kohelet. fol. 76. 3. (n) Macrob. in Som. Scip. c. 19. 21. & Saturnal l. 1. c. 15.
Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country--that is, the Arabians, Chaldeans, and Persians (Genesis 25:6).
all the wisdom of Egypt--Egypt was renowned as the seat of learning and sciences, and the existing monuments, which so clearly describe the ancient state of society and the arts, show the high culture of the Egyptian people.
His wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the sons of the East, and all the wisdom of the Egyptians. קרם בּני (sons of the East) are generally the Arabian tribes dwelling in the east of Canaan, who spread as far as to the Euphrates (cf. Judges 6:3, Judges 6:33; Judges 7:12; Judges 8:10; Job 1:3; Isaiah 11:14, etc.). Hence we find קרם ארץ used in Genesis 25:6 to denote Arabia in the widest sense, on the east and south-east of Palestine; whereas in Genesis 29:1 קרם בּני ארץ signifies the land beyond the Euphrates, viz., Mesopotamia, and in Numbers 23:7, קרם הררי, the mountains of Mesopotamia. Consequently by "the sons of the East" we are to understand here primarily the Arabians, who were celebrated for their gnomic wisdom, more especially the Sabaeans (see at 1 Kings 10), including the Idumaeans, particularly the Temanites (Jeremiah 49:7; Obadiah 1:8); but also, as כּל requires, the Chaldaeans, who were celebrated both for their astronomy and astrology. "All the wisdom of the Egyptians," because the wisdom of the Egyptians, which was so greatly renowned as almost to have become proverbial (cf. Isaiah 19:11; Isaiah 31:2, and Acts 7:22; Joseph. Ant. viii. 2, 5; Herod. ii. 160), extended over the most diverse branches of knowledge, such as geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and astrology (Diod. Sic. i. 73 and 81), and as their skill in the preparation of ointments from vegetable and animal sources, and their extensive acquaintance with medicine, clearly prove, embraced natural science as well, in which Solomon, according to 1-Kings 4:33, was very learned.
East country - The Chaldeans, Persians, and Arabians, who all lay eastward from Canaan, and were famous in ancient times for their wisdom and learning. Egypt - The Egyptians, whose fame was then great for their skill in the arts and sciences, which made them despise the Grecians as children in knowledge.
*More commentary available at chapter level.