The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 690
CH. 34 SABA' PT. 22 desired, of palaces and statues, يَعْمَلُونَ لَهُ مَا يَشَاءُ مِنْ مَّحَارِيْبَ They made for him what he. 14 وَتَمَاثِيْلَ وَجِفَانٍ كَالْجَوَابِ وَقُدُورٍ and basins like reservoirs, and رسلت اِعْمَلُوا آلَ دَاوُدَ شُكْرًا large cooking vessels fixed in their places and We said: dominions extended from northern Syria along the coast of the eastern Mediterranean down to the Red Sea, along the Arabian Sea and up to the Persian Gulf. In fact, in Solomon's time, the Israelite empire had reached its zenith in wealth, power and prestige as the word which, among other things, means power and conquests, used in the verse, shows. The verse also shows that Solomon possessed a large mercantile navy: And King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophire, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty tents and brought it to King Solomon (1 Kings 9:26-28). Solomon's foreign alliances formed the basis for foreign commercial relations. From the Egyptians he bought chariots and horses, which he sold to the Hittites and other people of the north. With the Phoenicians he united in maritime commerce, sending out a fleet once in three years from Ezion-geber, at the head of the Gulf of Akaba, to Ophire, presumably on the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. From this distant port, and others on the way, he derived fabulous amounts of gold and tropical products. These revenues gave him almost unlimited means for increasing the glory of his capital city and palace, and for the perfection of his civil and military organizations (Jew. Enc. vol. xi. p. 437). The words, "And We caused a fount of molten copper to flow for him. " signify the high stage to which industry and craftsmanship had developed under Solomon. He had erected factories in which copper was melted. In the Bible we have: 2604 Moreover, he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof and ten cubits the height thereof. Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass and the height thereof was five cubits (II Chronicles 4:1-2). The expression. "And of the jinn were some who worked under him" shows that Solomon had conquered and pressed into service wild and rebellious mountain tribes who worked for him day and night. Incidentally, the verse shows that Solomon's rule was firm and strong. A reference to this is also to be found in the Bible in II Chronicles, 2:18.