And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
They brought every man his present - i:e., to him as their feudal superior. No doubt, the making of presents is in the East an established custom of social life. Not only when going into the presence of a superior is it usual to pay such a compliment, but even in familiar visits among inferior people the presentation of some gift-even a flower or fruit-some token of regard, is expected; and the visitor who should omit or neglect the observance of this mark of civility would incur the suspicion of intending to affront or defraud the person on whom he waited. But the presents described in this verse as brought to Solomon by foreign prince, were of a totally different character from the conventional tokens of civil contact. They were made as an acknowledgment of dependence and subjection-in fact, a kind of homage or tribute to Solomon; and that we are to understand the presents spoken of in this verse as brought with such a view, is evident from the fact that they were contributed "a rate year by year," as in Assyria ('Nineveh and Babylon,' p. 635). 26. (See the notes at 2 Chronicles 1:14-17.)