וְ֠כֹל כְּלֵ֞י מַשְׁקֵ֨ה הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה֙ זָהָ֔ב וְכֹ֗ל כְּלֵ֛י בֵּֽית־יַ֥עַר הַלְּבָנ֖וֹן זָהָ֣ב סָג֑וּר אֵ֣ין כֶּ֗סֶף לֹ֥א נֶחְשָׁ֛ב בִּימֵ֥י שְׁלֹמֹ֖ה לִמְאֽוּמָה׃
Y todos los vasos de beber del rey Salomón eran de oro, y asimismo toda la vajilla de la casa del bosque del Líbano era de oro fino: no había plata; en tiempo de Salomón no era de estima.
Rabbeinu Bahya
Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra says that the prohibition not to amass too much silver and gold is intended to lessen the tax burden on the people as this would be the source of the king’s wealth. Historically, we find that Solomon who was immensely rich, had imposed a heavy burden of taxes on his subjects. Wealth is compared to fire. The more wood the greater the flame of the fire. We find that the people were resentful of the tax burden and they said so to Solomon’s son Rechavam (Kings I 12,4). The matter became such a burning issue that they murdered the king’s tax collector Adoniram in his own house (Kings I 12,10). In order to appreciate the concerns of the Torah all we have to do is look at the wisest of kings, Solomon, (may be even wisest of men) who fell victim to all three of the prohibitions of the Torah mentioned here. He had no fewer than 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariotry (Kings I 5,7); He had 700 wives and 300 concubines (Kings I 11,3). He was so wealthy that silver is described as meaningless in terms of wealth during his reign (Kings 10,27). Silver was treated as if it were merely stones. He had thought that due to his superior wisdom he would not fall victim to the warnings expressed by the Torah. Alas, he was wrong.