1 Kings 14:27

1 Kings 14:27. Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields— This shews to what a low condition the kingdom of Judah was reduced. Those shields were a matter of state and grandeur; and therefore it concerned them, if they were able, to have them of the same value that they were before, as they were carried before the king to the house of the Lord: it seemed likewise to be a matter of religion, that their value should not be diminished. Now, in making these three hundred shields, we are told, chap. 1Ki 10:17 three pounds of gold went to one shield. This, at four pounds per ounce, or forty-eight pounds sterling to the pound, amounts to no more than forty-three thousand two hundred pounds; and therefore it was a miserable case that they were reduced from so much wealth to so much poverty, that neither reasons of state nor of religion could raise so small a sum on so great an occasion. See Bedford's Scrip. Chronol.