1 Kings 14:3 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Take with thee ten loaves, &c.— What the presents were which were made to the ancient prophets, we are not always told; but all the particulars of that made to Ahijah, by Jeroboam's queen, are here given us. I very much question, however, whether that was any part of the disguise that she assumed, as Bishop Patrick supposes, who imagines that she presented him with such things as might make the prophet think her to be a country woman, rather than a courtier. It undoubtedly was not a present which proclaimed royalty; that would have been contrary to Jeroboam's intention of her being unknown. But it does not appear to have been in the estimation of the East a present only fit for a countrywoman to have made; for D'Arvieux tells us, that when he waited upon an Arab emir, his mother and sister, to gratify whose curiosity that visit was made, sent him early in the morning, after his arrival in the camp, a present of pastry, honey, fresh butter, with a bason of sweetmeats of Damascus. Now this present differs but little from that of Jeroboam's wife, who carried loaves, cracknels, or other cakes enriched with seeds, (a species of bread then and still very common in the East,), and a cruse of honey, and was made by princesses, that avowed their quality. See Observations, p. 236 where the reader will find more respecting the custom of making presents in the East; and p. 133, where the author endeavours at large to confirm the meaning which he gives to the word נקדים nikkuddim, cracknels.