1 Kings 5:10,11 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

So Hiram gave Solomon cedar-trees That is, he agreed to give him all that he desired; but the trees were not yet cut down and prepared. Twenty thousand measures of wheat Each measure spoken of here is supposed to contain six hundred and forty-eight pounds weight, so that the weight of the wheat yearly given to Hiram was two millions one hundred and sixty thousand pounds. Twenty measures of pure oil In the parallel place, 2 Chronicles 2:10. it is twenty thousand baths of oil, which has the sanction of many of the versions, and seems the most probable reading in this place; and so in 1 Kings 5:16, instead of three hundred, it is six hundred in the Chronicles; a variation which it is not easy to reconcile without supposing an error, most probably in this place, as the Seventy give their authority to the reading in the Chronicles. But it is thought by some that the place in Chronicles speaks of what was given to the workmen, who had other things, there mentioned, besides, to support them in their labour; but that this place speaks of what was given for the use of Hiram's family. Thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year Either for sustenance to the workmen during the years wherein they were employed in cutting down or hewing of timber, or for the yearly support of the king's house during the said time. Thus, by the wise disposal of Providence, one country has need of another, and is benefited by an other, that there may be a mutual correspondence and dependence, to the glory of God our common parent.