1Kings
4:1 ¶ So king Solomon was king over all
Israel. 2 And these were the
princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok the priest, 3 Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha,
scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder. 4 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was
over the host: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests: 5 And Azariah the son of Nathan was over
the officers: and Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer, and
the king’s friend: 6 And Ahishar was
over the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the tribute.
7 And Solomon had twelve officers over
all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man
his month in a year made provision. 8
And these are their names: The son of Hur, in mount Ephraim:
9 The son of Dekar, in Makaz, and in
Shaalbim, and Bethshemesh, and Elonbethhanan: 10 The son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him pertained
Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher: 11
The son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor; which had Taphath the
daughter of Solomon to wife: 12 Baana
the son of Ahilud; to him pertained Taanach and Megiddo, and all
Bethshean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Bethshean to
Abelmeholah, even unto the place that is beyond Jokneam: 13 The son of Geber, in Ramothgilead; to him pertained
the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; to him also
pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great
cities with walls and brasen bars: 14
Ahinadab the son of Iddo had Mahanaim: 15 Ahimaaz was in Naphtali; he also took
Basmath the daughter of Solomon to wife: 16
Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth: 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar:
18 Shimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin:
19 Geber the son of Uri was in
the country of Gilead, in the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and
of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer which was in
the land.
Here is
listed Solomon’s administration with names that might mean little to us. Of
note are place names like Megiddo from which will come the word Armageddon in
Revelation, which is the Mount of Megiddo. Another name is a subordinate king,
Og of Bashan, the namesake of the one killed as the Israelites battled their
way into the Promised Land.
1Kings
4:20 ¶ Judah and Israel were
many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking,
and making merry. 21 And Solomon reigned
over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the
border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his
life. 22 And Solomon’s provision for one
day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, 23 Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the
pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and
fatted fowl. 24 For he had dominion over
all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over
all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about
him. 25 And Judah and Israel dwelt
safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to
Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. 26
And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and
twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And those
officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king
Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing. 28 Barley also and straw for the horses and
dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every
man according to his charge.
Verse 20
is hyperbole as no one in their right mind believes that there were as many
Israelites as sand on the seashore but just a huge amount of people, millions
perhaps. Solomon will write;
Proverbs
14:28 In the multitude of people is the
king’s honour: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.
Solomon’s
reign is a mercy and a blessing to the people of Israel. He was paid tribute by
other kings nearby and everyone benefited from God’s blessing on His rule. It
was a Golden Age for Israel.
Verse 26
brings up an important point I discussed in Genesis about chariot warfare.
In my
comments on Genesis 50:7-14 I noted;
The phrase chariots and horsemen will play a very important part in places in
the Old Testament and be a source of contention. One thing missing in
scholarship and Bible exposition is the common sense understanding of chariot
warfare. A chariot was a mobile fighting platform as well as a ceremonial
vehicle whose weak link was also how it was delivered to the forefront of the
battle so quickly; its horses. Logic tells us, logic and common sense, that the
horses would be what the infantry would go after first. Kill the horses and the
chariot cannot move and respond to the battle. So, with chariots there needed
to be a string of horses and horsemen to accompany them. Like the pit crew at a
NASCAR event these teams needed to be able to replace dead and injured horses
or, in a fierce battle, the chariot would have been rendered useless and even
helpless quite quickly, as the driver would not be able to remove to safety in
the event of being overwhelmed, with dead horses.
1Kings
4:26 And Solomon had forty thousand
stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
2Chronicles
9:25 And Solomon had four thousand
stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed
in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.
So, in these two verses which have
been the source of much disagreement it is very obvious to me that Solomon had
40,000 stalls for chariot horses and 4,000 stalls that were big enough for the
chariot and the horse team that drew it. This would be necessary for
maintenance and preparation before training and battle. This also implies a
string of 10 horses per chariot as the primary team and backup. These backup
teams would have not only needed protection by cavalry but perhaps were a
capable fighting force all their own. There is no contradiction, just common
sense and reading comprehension needed here.
1Kings
4:29 ¶ And God gave Solomon wisdom and
understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is
on the sea shore. 30 And Solomon’s
wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the
wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser
than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the
sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. 32 And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his
songs were a thousand and five. 33 And
he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the
hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl,
and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34
And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings
of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.
Solomon
was given an abundant wisdom and compassion for his people. He was the greatest
and most wise man of his era. We have many of his proverbs in that book. Also,
he was a well-known natural scientist who studied the world around him
extensively. This drew people from the cultures around him who had heard of
him, although there is little documentation from that era to help us see what
they thought about him. We are limited mostly to Biblical texts to learn about
Solomon. This is not surprising as there is not any textual evidence of
anything from Og of Bashan or any writings left to us of Ethan the Ezrahite,
etc. etc. Remember, it says all kings of the earth, which had heard of his
wisdom. This doesn’t lead us to kings from China or Western Europe. This is
localized to Solomon’s part of the world. I’ve explained previously that people
writing, even under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in the ancient world
are referring to their part of the earth typically when speaking of all the
earth.
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