And his ‘aliyyah, upon which [Solomon] ascended to the House of the Lord. This is a stairway that he made to ascend from his house to the House of the Lord.

Algummim. I have explained this (2 Chr 2:7).

Mesillot for the House of the Lord. In the book of Kings, however, it says, “mis‘ad (=support) for the House of the Lord” (1 Kgs 10:12). What this means is the pillars that supported the ceilings.

In addition to what she had brought to the king. But in the book of Kings [it says], “in addition to what Solomon gave her in amounts befitting his royal affluence” (1 Kgs 10:13). What the verse means, then, is the following: King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything for which she expressed a desire, in addition to what he gave her on his own to reciprocate for what she had brought him. After all, he had to give her precious items on his own also, because she had brought him a large amount. So he did so: in amounts befitting his royal affluence, he reciprocated for what she had brought him, with items available in the land of Israel that were not available in her land. It is possible to explain, however, that what he gave the queen of Sheba was everything for which she had expressed an interest that pertained to [the resolution of] difficult questions and to matters of wisdom.

Vattahafokh (=and she turned around) and went back to her land. This is akin to “and she turned and went back to her land” in Kings (1 10:13): it means that she turned her face around to go. The same is true for: “a man hafakh (=turned around) to meet you, descending from his chariot” (2 Kgs 5:26).

Besides that which the tarim and soḥarim. Tarim are small-scale merchants, who have little merchandise or business. Because they have little business, they seek large profits when buying and selling.That is why they are called tarim (=seekers). Soḥarim are large-scale merchants.

Three hundred [shekels of] gold. In the book of Kings [it says] “three minas” (1 Kgs 10:17), because a mina is one hundred [shekels] of gold.

Attached to the throne. This means: The stairs were attached to the throne and flush up against it, and the kevesh (=ramp), which was of gold, was in front of the stairs. Kevesh is to be understood as something like a stair. But it is not built like stairs of stones or of wooden beams placed one above another. Rather, it is just one stair, which is on an incline, ascending continually from the ground until the place up to which it leads. That is why they made a kevesh for the altar: it was for the purpose of ascending to it—as it says in the Mishnah “He would ascend the kevesh” (Zevaḥim 5:4)—and it was forbidden to make stairs for it, as the text says, “Do not ascend by stairs” (Exod 20:23).

Shenhabbim ve-qofim ve-tukkiyyim. On [the parallel verse in] the book of Kings (1 10:22), Targum Jonathan renders: “elephant tooth, apes, and peacocks.”

Four thousand stalls of horses. But in Kings [it says] “forty thousand stalls of horses” (1 Kgs 5:6)! Our Sages, of blessed memory (b. Sanhedrin 21b), explain that there were forty thousand stalls, each with four thousand horses; or there were four thousand stalls, each with forty thousand horses.

Over all Israel for forty years. Because David did not reign over all Israel for forty years—after all, for seven years he reigned in Hebron only, over Judah (2 Sam 2:11)—the text says that Solomon did reign over all Israel for forty years.