CHAPTER 4

(1014 B.C.)

SOLOMONS OFFICERS

¹So king Solomon was king over all Israel. (Verses 2-19 give his principal officers. It seems their appointment was made according to Solomons great wisdom, which, in effect, was an appointment by the Holy Spirit. Had the work of the flesh of Chapter 2 prevailed concerning Adonijah and Joab, with Abiathar, tyrants would now have ruled Israel, making life utterly miserable for the whole kingdom.)

²And these were the Princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok the Priest (Zadok was the High Priest, with many other Priests under him),

³Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, Scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder (Jehoshaphat held the same office under David, and is mentioned in all three lists [II Sam. 8:16-17; 20:24-25; I Chron. 18:15]).

⁴And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host: and Zadok and Abiathar were the Priests (Abiathar is probably mentioned here simply because he had been High Priest along with Zadok for a short period of time when Solomon first came to power; there is no record that he was restored):

⁵And Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers: and Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer, and the kings friend (the Nathan mentioned here was probably Davids son and, thereby, Solomons half-brother; if, in fact, this is the same Nathan, then Mary, the Mother of our Lord, had her lineage to David through this Nathan):

⁶And Ahishar was over the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the tribute.

⁷And 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.

⁸And these are their names: The son of Hur, in Mount Ephraim:

⁹The son of Dekar, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan:

¹⁰The son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him pertained Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher:

¹¹The son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor; which had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife:

¹²Baana the son of Ahilud; to him pertained Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, even unto the place that is beyond Jokneam:

¹³The son of Geber, in Ramoth-gilead; 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:

¹⁴Ahinadab the son of Iddo had Mahanaim:

¹⁵Ahimaaz was in Naphtali; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon to wife:

¹⁶Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth:

¹⁷Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar:

¹⁸Shimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin:

¹⁹Geber 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.

SOLOMONS DAILY PROVISION

²⁰Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry. (All of this resulted from the one fact that Solomon, Gods choice, was king.

The destruction of the rebels and the enthronement of Gods elect prince originated this universal contentment and prosperity. It is a fore-picture of the happy day that awaits the Earth, when the rebels who now govern it and fill it with misery will be overthrown, and the Prince of Peace, the greater than Solomon [Mat 12:42], will take unto Himself His great Power and reign gloriously before His ancient People, Israel.

The present miseries that oppress the nations, which they vainly try to remove by repeated efforts, will have an end whenever the Messiah returns and takes the government of this world into His Mighty Hands Williams.)

²¹And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river (the Euphrates, which would have taken in about half of present day Iraq) unto the land of the Philistines (the Mediterranean shore was the western border of his realm), and unto the border of Egypt (this was probably all the way to the Gulf of Suez, which included the entirety of the Sinai Peninsula; actually, David had conquered all of these territories, which included that promised by the Lord to Abraham [Gen. 15:18]): they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life (likewise, the nations of the world will serve Christ during the coming Millennial Reign, of Whom Solomon was a Type).

²²And Solomons provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour (about 6 bushels), and threescore measures of meal (about 12 bushels),

²³Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts (deer), and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl.

SOLOMONS GREATNESS AND WISDOM

²⁴For 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. (As Solomon then had dominion, Christ will have dominion over the entirety of the Earth during the coming Kingdom Age. Tyrants, rebels, and despots will have no place in this coming grand and glorious Kingdom; consequently, there will be peace. In fact, there can only be peace when the Prince of Peace returns!)

²⁵And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. (Once again, this pictures the peace and prosperity which will prevail in the Earth during the reign of the Messiah. Just as surely as it was with Solomon, who was a Type of Christ, as surely it will be under Christ, and even far, far greater. For a greater than Solomon is here.)

²⁶And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. (In the parallel Passage in Chronicles, the number is stated as four thousand. Four thousand agrees, and forty thousand does not, with the other numbers given here. Consequently, this must have been a mistake by a Scribe. The Hebrew language does not contain numbers, but rather uses letters for its numbers; and some of the letters are very nearly identical, making it easy to miscopy. At any rate, Solomon was a very rich man, in fact, the richest man on the face of the Earth of his day.)

²⁷And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all who came unto king Solomons table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing (unfortunately, at the present time, millions go to bed hungry; however, let it ever be said that according to the Word of God, when Jesus Christ returns, of every nation and every person on the face of the Earth, it will be said, They lacked nothing.)

²⁸Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries (mules) brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.

²⁹And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore (these different words indicate the variety and scope of his talents, which were beyond compare; in fact, and as stated, there has never been one before or after like Solomon).

³⁰And Solomons wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt (the learning of Egypt was of great repute in the Old World; Solomon exceeded that!).

³¹For 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 (typical of the fame of Christ, which will spread over the entirety of the Earth, in the coming Kingdom Age [Isa. 66:19]).

³²And he spoke three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five (of his Proverbs, less than one-third are preserved in the Book of Proverbs; the rest are lost to us; of his songs, the only two remaining are Psalms 72 and 127; some think he may have also written Psalm 128).

³³And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springs out of the wall: he spoke also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes (this means that his knowledge was not only speculative, but scientific; in his acquaintance with natural history, he outshone the Egyptians; he dealt with the least productions of nature, as well the greatest).

³⁴And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the Earth, which had heard of his wisdom. (Not only was Israel greatly blessed, but every nation that took advantage of Solomons wisdom was blessed as well. The great questions were brought to Solomon, and the answers were forthcoming, resulting in tremendous prosperity for all.

In the days of the coming Kingdom Age, when Jesus Christ rules and reigns in Jerusalem, All kings of the Earth will come to Him as well.)