1st Kings Chapter 4

From The Open Bible Project

4:1 King Solomon was king over all Israel.

4:2 These were the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest;

• (a) That is, his chief officers.
• (b) He was the son of Achimais and Zadok’s nephew.

4:3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder;

4:4 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

• (c) Not Abiathar whom Solomon had put from his office, (1 Kings 2:27) but another of that name.

4:5 and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; and Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister, [and] the king's friend;

4:6 and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.

4:7 Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household: each man had to make provision for a month in the year.

4:8 These are their names: Ben Hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

4:9 Ben Deker, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan;

4:10 Ben Hesed, in Arubboth (to him [pertained] Socoh, and all the land of Hepher);

4:11 Ben Abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as wife);

4:12 Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth Shean which is beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel Meholah, as far as beyond Jokmeam;

4:13 Ben Geber, in Ramoth Gilead (to him [pertained] the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; [even] to him [pertained] the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);

• (d) Which bore Jair’s name, because he took them from the Canaanites, (Numbers 32:41).

4:14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

4:15 Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon as wife);

4:16 Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

4:17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar;

• (e) Solomon did not observe the division that Joshua made, but divided it as might best serve his purposes.

4:18 Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin;

4:19 Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan; and [he was] the only officer who was in the land.

4:20 Judah and Israel were many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.

• (f) They lived in all peace and security.

4:21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt: they brought tribute, and served Solomon all the days of his life.

• (g) Which is the Euphrates.

4:22 Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal,

4:23 ten head of fat cattle, and twenty head of cattle out of the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fattened fowl.

4:24 For he had dominion over all [the region] on this side the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the River: and he had peace on all sides around him.

• (h) For they were all tributaries to him.

4:25 Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

• (i) Throughout all Israel.

4:26 Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

4:27 Those officers provided food for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon's table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking.

4:28 Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds brought they to the place where [the officers] were, every man according to his duty.

4:29 God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and very great understanding, even as the sand that is on the seashore.

• (k) Meaning, great understanding and able to comprehend all things.

4:30 Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

• (l) That is, the philosophers and astronomers who were judged most wise.

4:31 For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations all around.

4:32 He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were one thousand five.

• (m) Which for the most part are thought to have perished in the captivity of Babylon.

4:33 He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fish.

• (n) From the highest to the lowest.

4:34 There came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.