I got [me] servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:
Ver. 7. I got me servants, &c.] Too many by one, viz., Jeroboam, who rent ten tribes from his son. It is well observed by an interpreter, that Solomon, among all his delights, got him not a fool or jester, which some princes cannot be without, no, not when they should be most serious. It is recorded of Henry III, king of France, that in a solemn procession at Paris, he could not be without his jester, who, walking between the king and the cardinal, made mirth to them both. a There was sweet devotion the while.
I had great possessions of great and small cattle.] Mηλα, b pecudes, et postea synechdochicos, opes significant: sic pecunia a pecude. So chesita signifies in Hebrew both money and a lamb.
a Epit. Hist. Gallica.
b Melanch., in Hesiod.