(23) On this side the river.--This translation, although it expresses the true reference, viz., to the country west of the Euphrates, is literally incorrect. The words mean, "on the further side of the river," considered from the point of view of Babylon (see the use in the later books, or in Ezra 4:6; Ezra 6:6, &c.); and accordingly indicate composition at the time of the Exile, or, at any rate, at a period when the Babylonish empire was so established in supreme sovereignty as to determine the geographical nomenclature of the East.

Verse 23. - Ten fat [Heb. fatted, i.e., for table] oxen, and twenty fat oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts and roebucks [or gazelles] and fallowdeer [Roebucks. The name Yahmur is still current in Palestine in this sense (Conder, p. 91)], and fatted fowl [This word (בַּרְבֻּדִים) occurs nowhere else. The meaning most in favour is geese.]

4:20-28 Never did the crown of Israel shine so bright, as when Solomon wore it. He had peace on all sides. Herein, his kingdom was a type of the Messiah's; for to Him it is promised that he shall have the heathen for his inheritance, and that princes shall worship him. The spiritual peace, and joy, and holy security, of all the faithful subjects of the Lord Jesus, were typified by that of Israel. The kingdom of God is not, as Solomon's was, meat and drink, but, what is infinitely better, righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The vast number of his attendants, and the great resort to him, are shown by the provision daily made. Herein Christ far outdoes Solomon, that he feeds all his subjects, not with the bread that perishes, but with that which endures to eternal life.Ten fat oxen,.... Such as were kept up in the stall and fatted:

and twenty oxen out of the pastures; which were killed as they were taken from thence, and not put up to be fed:

and an hundred sheep; out of the folds:

beside harts, and roebucks, and fallow deer; which were clean creatures, according to the Levitical law, Deuteronomy 14:5; these were hunted in fields, or taken out of the park, or were presents from other countries; so that here was plenty of beef, mutton, and venison: for the spiritual application of this to the antitypical Solomon, and his provisions, see Matthew 22:4;

and fatted fowl; such as we call capons (a); some Jewish writers (b), because of the likeness of sound in the word here used, take them to be Barbary fowls, or such as were brought from that country: there is a sort of birds called which were without a voice, that neither heard men, nor knew their voice (c).

(a) So David de Pomis, Tzemach David, fol. 12. 3. and some in Kimchi in loc. (b) Baal Aruch & R. Elias Levit. Tishbi, in voce (c) Scholia in Aristoph. Aves, p. 550.