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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Kings 4:20 - 4:28
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Solomon's Riches and Power
v. 20. Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, according to the prophecy of Jehovah, Gen_22:17, eating and drinking and making merry, happy under the wise and beneficent rule of Solomon,
v. 21. And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river, the great river Euphrates, unto the land of the Philistines, in the southwest, along the Mediterranean, and unto the border of Egypt, in the south; they brought presents, they were tributary vassals, and served Solomon all the days of his life.
v. 22. And Solomon's provision for one day, the food which he needed for his big royal establishment, was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, the total amount of flour having been computed to be 171 bushels, or enough for 28,000 pounds of bread,
v. 23. ten fat oxen, those especially fattened for the table, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, such as were not fattened, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, gazelles, and fallow-deer, antelopes, and fatted fowl. This gave a total daily consumption of meat amounting to some 20,000 pounds.
v. 24. For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah, a large and populous town on the west bank of the Euphrates, even to Azzah, or Gaza, on the border of the Philistines, in the extreme southwestern section, over all the kings on this side the river; and he had peace on all sides round about him, none of the surrounding nations dared to take up arms against him.
v. 25. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, in a state of happy security, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon; his reign completed, also in this respect, the Golden Age of Israel's history.
v. 26. And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, four thousand horses for his fourteen hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, his cavalry serving to strengthen his standing army very materially.
v. 27. And those officers, the twelve enumerated above, provided victual for King Solomon and for all that came to King Solomon's table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing.
v. 28. Barley also, which took the place of oats, and straw for the horses and dromedaries, literally, "swift beasts," coursers. probably used for conveying urgent messages, brought they unto the place where the officers were, in the various towns where horses were stationed, every man according to his charge. There was universal prosperity and general contentment under the reign of Solomon.