He spake of trees, &c.— The several books which treated of the nature and virtue of animals as well as plants, are supposed to have been lost in the Babylonish captivity; but Eusebius, as he is quoted by Anastasius, informs us, that king Hezekiah, seeing the abuse which his subjects made of Solomon's works, by placing too much confidence in the remedies which he prescribed, and the natural secrets which he discovered, thought proper to suppress them all. Notwithstanding this, since his time many wicked and pernicious books concerning the secrets of magic, medicines, and inchantment, have appeared under the name of this prince, in order to gain the more credit and sanction.
Related Commentaries of 1 Kings 4:33
1 Kings 4:33
33 And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.