What Does 1 Kings 10:18 Mean in the King James?

Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.

1 Kings 10:18 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The throne’s gold does not replace its ivory: beneath the splendor, the Hebrew still calls it a tooth.

THE MEANING

You see authority take visible form in a seat made from tooth and covered with the best gold. The gold changes the surface; the tooth remains beneath it.

THE ROOT

שֵׁן

shen tooth

GROWS FROM

שׁנן

sh-n-n

To sharpen or make sharp; ⁨שֵׁן⁩ names a tooth, the sharp instrument of the mouth.

The Hebrew calls the ivory a tooth, keeping the animal source visible inside the royal object. The root’s sharpening sense adds an edge beneath the polished gold: the covering changes the appearance, not the material underneath.

ALSO GROWS

shen: Tooth; tusk

שֵׁן

This is the word used for the throne’s ivory, so its material is literally named as a tooth.

shanan: Sharpen

שָׁנַן

This branch recalls the pointed substance beneath the throne’s smooth, gilded surface.

shinnantam: You shall teach them diligently; literally, sharpen them

שִׁנַּנְתָּם

The same root can picture repeated sharpening, showing how its tooth and edge meanings remain linked.

THE PATTERN

A throne makes rule visible, while what scripture places beneath or around it reveals the character and setting of that rule.

The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays.

1 Kings 10:19 · KJVThe next verse makes the seat’s authority visible through its structure, supports, and surrounding lions.

Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

Psalm 89:14 · KJVHere the throne’s foundation is described through justice and judgment, with mercy and truth before the ruler.

And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

Revelation 4:2 · KJVThe throne makes heavenly rule visible through the one seated upon it.

THE THREAD

Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.

Psalm 45:6 · KJV

The same Hebrew word ⁨כִּסֵּא⁩ (kisse, throne) appears here and in 1 Kings 10:18. In the psalm, the throne is marked by its enduring rule rather than its ivory and gold surface.

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