The ivory house - So called from the character of its ornamentation. Ivory was largely used in the ancient world as a covering of wood-work, and seems to have been applied, not only to furniture, but to the doors and walls of houses.
Nothing is known of the cities built by Ahab; but the fact is important as indicating the general prosperity of the country in his time, and his own activity as a ruler. Prosperity, it is plain, may for a while co-exist with causes - such as, the decay of religions - which are sapping the vital power of a nation, and leading it surely, if slowly, to destruction.
The book of the chronicles ... - See above, 1 Kings 14:19; 1Ki 15:31; 1 Kings 16:5, 1 Kings 16:14, 1Ki 16:20, 1 Kings 16:27.