1 Kings 4:33

33. He spake of trees… beasts… fowl… creeping things… fishes He enjoyed rare opportunities for becoming familiar with the various species of both the animal and vegetable creation. His extended commerce with all nations brought to him specimens of all rare trees, plants, and animals. Cedars he multiplied in his own land like sycamores; (1 Kings 10:27;) his navies and caravans supplied him apes and peacocks, horses and mules, and spices. 1 Kings 10:22; 1 Kings 10:25. Compare Song of Solomon 4:13-14. That he composed and wrote scientific treatises on botany and natural history, as many commentators have assumed, is not necessarily the meaning of this verse. In the concluding chapters of Job, and in many of the Psalms and Proverbs, we find many wise sayings and parabolic allusions based on the wisdom of God as displayed in the creation; and it seems more natural, on the whole, to suppose Solomon’s sayings about trees, etc., to have been of this character. And so Irenaeus observes that Solomon “expounded psychologically the wisdom of God which is manifest in creation.” So also Josephus: “He spake a parable upon every sort of tree, from the hyssop to the cedar; and in like manner, also, about beasts, and about all sorts of living creatures, whether upon the earth, or in the seas, or in the air; for he was not unacquainted with any of their natures, nor omitted inquiries about them, but described them all like a philosopher, and demonstrated his exquisite knowledge of their several properties.” And so his sayings on these subjects were probably more of the character of natural theology than of natural science. No wonder that his fame went through all lands, and attracted, among others, the queen of Sheba to his court. Chapter 10.