1 Kings 4: Edit history

1 Kings 4 continues from 1 Kings 3, in which Solomon asks for wisdom and displays it in a judgment. This chapter catalogs the organization and prosperity of the kingdom he governed by that wisdom. It also provides the background for the preparations for building the temple that begin in 1 Kings 5.

Outline

• Verses 1–6 Solomon's officials. The chapter names the priests, the scribes, the recorder, the commander of the army, the officer over the district governors, the king's friend, the officer over the household, and the officer over the forced labor.
• Verses 7–19 Solomon appoints twelve governors over all Israel, each of whom provides food for the royal household for one month of the year. The names of the governors and their districts follow.
• Verses 20–21 The people of Judah and Israel become as numerous as the sand by the sea, and the kingdoms from the River (the Euphrates) to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt bring tribute.
• Verses 22–28 The chapter records the daily provisions of the royal household (thirty measures of fine flour, sixty measures of meal, thirty oxen, one hundred sheep, and more), peace on every side, forty thousand stalls of horses and twelve thousand horsemen, and the supplies furnished by the governors.
• Verses 29–34 The wisdom God gave Solomon surpasses the wisdom of the East and of Egypt. He spoke three thousand proverbs, composed 1,005 songs, and discoursed on plants and animals, and kings of many nations come to hear his wisdom.

Key Verses

• 1 Kings 4:25 "dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree" — an expression of the peace of Solomon's reign.
• 1 Kings 4:29 "And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much" — a statement that Solomon's wisdom came from God.
• 1 Kings 4:32 "And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five" — the basis of the tradition linking Solomon with wisdom literature.

People and Places

• Solomon: Son of David and king of Israel.
• Zadok and Abiathar: Named as priests in verse 4.
• Benaiah: Son of Jehoiada and commander of the army.
• Adoniram: Son of Abda and officer over the forced labor.
• Taphath and Basmath: Daughters of Solomon who became the wives of the governors Ben-Abinadab and Ahimaaz, respectively.
• Ethan, Heman, Chalcol, and Darda: Renowned wise men with whom Solomon is compared in verse 31.
• Megiddo: A city within the district assigned to Baana.
• Dan and Beersheba: Used idiomatically for the northern and southern extremities of the land of Israel.

Points for Reflection

• In the Hebrew Bible, verses 21–34 are numbered 5:1–14. English Bibles, like Korean Bibles, follow the chapter and verse divisions used here.
• The figure of forty thousand stalls in verse 26 appears as four thousand in 2 Chronicles 9:25. A widely known interpretation attributes this difference to the process of scribal transmission.
• The districts of the twelve governors correspond only in part to the boundaries of the twelve tribes of Israel, and Judah does not appear separately in the list. Interpretations differ on how to understand this.
• Verse 4 names Abiathar as a priest, yet in 1 Kings 2 he is removed from the priesthood. Various explanations have been offered as to what point in time this list reflects.
• Ethan and Heman in verse 31 also appear in the superscriptions of Psalm 88 and Psalm 89. Interpretations differ on whether they are the same individuals.
• Verse 32 forms the background of the tradition connecting Solomon with Proverbs. The text, however, does not say that the present book of Proverbs is identical to those three thousand proverbs.
• The expression of peace in verse 25 also appears in the eschatological vision of Micah 4:4. Verse 34 forms the background to Jesus' words about "a greater than Solomon" in Matthew 12:42.