| I Kings 4:30
| And the wisdom of Solomon surpassed the wisdom of all the Orientals, and of the Egyptians;
| Orientals of Chaldea, Arabia, Idumea, etc., Daniel 2:2., Abdias viii., Numbers 22:5. Job and his friends were of this description. The Greeks acknowledged that they had received their philosophy from the barbarians; (Laert. proem.) and Casaubon observes, that the ancient defendants of the Christian faith proved the same truth. (Not. Ibid.) They shewed that all true saving knowledge had been derived from the Hebrews. (Haydock) --- The Chaldeans maintain that their countrymen were the fountains of science; and many suppose that Abraham communicated these treasures to the Egyptians; whereas the latter pretend, that a colony from their country had imparted that blessing to the Chaldeans. Diodorus (B. i.) says that Belus conducted such a colony, and the Greeks chiefly owed their information to the Egyptians. God had communicated to Solomon all that was of real use in those sciences, in a superior degree, Wisdom 7:17. (Josephus, [Antiquities?] 8:2.) He was eminently skilled in natural philosophy, etc. (Calmet)
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