CHAPTER FOUR

 CHAPTER FOUR

1Ki 4:1  And King Solomon was king over all Israel. 

1Ki 4:2  And these were the rulers he had: Azariah the son of Zadok was the priest. 

1Ki 4:3  Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, were the scribes, Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud the recorder. 

1Ki 4:4  And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army. And Zadok and Abiathar were priests. 

1Ki 4:5  And Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers. And Zabud the son of Nathan was the minister and friend of the king. 

1Ki 4:6  And Ahishar was over the household. And Adoniram the son of Abda was over the forced labor. 

1Ki 4:7  And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel. And they sustained the king and his household. Each man had one month in the year to provide. 

1Ki 4:8  And these are their names: Ben-hur in the hills of Ephraim; 

1Ki 4:9  the son of Dekar in Makaz and in Shaalbim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan; 

1Ki 4:10  the son of Hesed, in Aruboth (to him was Sochoh and all the land of Hepher); 

1Ki 4:11  the son of Abinadab in all the height of Dor, Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife; 

1Ki 4:12  Baana the son of Ahilud to whom was Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean (which is by Zartanah below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, to the place that is beyond Jokneam); 

1Ki 4:13  the son of Geber in Ramoth-gilead (to him were the towns of Jair, Manasseh's son, which are in Gilead; and to him was the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars); 

1Ki 4:14  Ahinadab the son of Iddo had Mahanaim; 

1Ki 4:15  Ahimaaz was in Naphtali; he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon for a wife; 

1Ki 4:16  Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth; 

1Ki 4:17  Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah was in Issachar; 

1Ki 4:18  Shimei the son of Elah was in Benjamin; 

1Ki 4:19  Geber the son of Uri was in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan; and there was one officer who was in the land; 

1Ki 4:20  Judah and Israel were many, as the sand by the sea in multitude; eating and drinking and rejoicing. 

1Ki 4:21  And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. They brought presents and served Solomon all the days of his life. 

1Ki 4:22  And Solomon's food for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal, 

1Ki 4:23  ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides deer and gazelles, and roebucks, and fattened fowl. 

1Ki 4:24  For he had the rule over all on this side of the River, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side of the River. And he had peace on all sides from around him. 

1Ki 4:25  And Judah and Israel lived securely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree; from Dan even to Beer-sheba all the days of Solomon. 

1Ki 4:26  And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 

1Ki 4:27  And those officers provided food for King Solomon, and for all who came to King Solomon's table, a man in his month: they did not lack anything. 

1Ki 4:28  They also brought barley and straw for the horses and mules to the place where the officers were, each man according to his charge. 

1Ki 4:29  And God gave Solomon exceeding great wisdom and understanding, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the lip of the sea. 

1Ki 4:30  And Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the sons of the east, and than all the wisdom of Egypt. 

1Ki 4:31  For he was wiser than all men; wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his name was in all nations all around. 

1Ki 4:32  And he spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five. 

1Ki 4:33  And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree in Lebanon, even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fish. 

1Ki 4:34  And there came some from all the people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom. 

Verses 1-19 Summary: Verses 1-7 appear to be the court to Solomon. His closest advisors and protectors. It includes no less than two priests. It is interesting that Azariah is listed separately even though he is of the same household of the priests (Zadok). Other versions name Zadok's son Azariah as a "prince." The Hebrew words means "head person, or captain." 

NOTE: Adoniram's job was over "forced labor." We see this in 5:14 when it comes time to retrieve the lumber (cedar from Hiram) for the temple build-out. Strong's describes the "tribute" as "properly a burden (as causing to faint), that is, a tax in the form of forced labor: - discomfited, levy, task [-master], tribute (-tary)." 
See 1Sam. 8:10-19 to remember God's warning through Samuel. Is it happening? (Also consider the 12 officers it took just to feed and sustain the king's household. verses 8-19)

Verses 20-34 Summary: Peace and prosperity defines Solomon's reign. His wisdom is beyond anyone else. Besides this, he was prolific in song writing and proverbs. To add to it, he was a naturalist as well. What could go wrong? It seems God had provided everything for Solomon's success!