Verse 30
30. Took their king’s crown Some take מלכם , malcam, rendered their king, as a proper name, Milcom, (compare 1 Kings 11:5; 2 Kings 23:23, and Zephaniah 1:5,) the great Ammonite idol, elsewhere called Molech. The Septuagint reads, took the crown of Molcom their king. But David would hardly have suffered the crown of that abominable idol to be put upon his head.
The weight… a talent of gold More than one hundred pounds. This seems incredibly heavy for a crown worn upon the head, and so many interpreters have explained the meaning as worth the weight of a gold talent. But this explanation hardly accords with the natural meaning of the words. Pfeiffer, without sufficient evidence, understands here the weight not of a Hebrew but a Syriac talent. It is better to regard the statement as an inexact but popular estimate of the weight of a crown unusually large and heavy. Sir Harford Jones Brydges describes the Persian crown of state as excessively heavy, and relates that, happening to look back, on quitting the audience chamber, he saw the king lifting his crown from his head, as if anxious to relieve himself from its oppressive weight.
With the precious stones The meaning is, according to 1 Chronicles 20:2, that the crown was set with precious stones.
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