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1 Kings Chapter 4
Solomon's Officials
The kingdom was not divided but united.
Sadly this changes after the death of Solomon but under his reign
they were all one kingdom.
- 1Kings 4:2 And these
were the princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok the
priest,
- 3 Elihoreph and
Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of
Ahilud, the recorder.
- 4 And Benaiah the
son of Jehoiada was over the host: and Zadok and Abiathar were
the priests:
Azariah was the the son of Jhanan
according to the record in 1 Chronicles chapter 6 verse 10. So he
was from the line of Zadok but not a son. Jesus was considered the
son of David when he was far down the line from David until Jesus
came to us in human flesh. In other words a grandson or great
grandson or others that came after them were considered sons.
- 1Chronicles 6:8
And Ahitub begat Zadok, and Zadok begat Ahimaaz,
- 9 And Ahimaaz
begat Azariah, and Azariah begat Johanan,
- 10 And Johanan
begat Azariah, (he it is that executed the priest's office in
the temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem:)
Benaiah mentioned in 1 Kings verse 4,
took the place of Joab. This is recorded in chapter 2 of first
Kings. He was made general.
Whether this was Nathan the prophet is
not stated but it could have been Nathan the son of David which the
line from which Mary (the mother of Jesus) descended from. Joseph was from the line
of Solomon which made Jesus in the line of the kings but also the
direct line of Mary because Joseph was not the real father of Jesus.
Jesus was born miraculously by the Holy Spirit. Even though Joseph
was not the biological father of Jesus, He was still in
the line of the kings being an adopted or step son to Joseph. He
still was considered the son of David through his son Nathan as well
as Solomon. This is why Jesus is sometimes called the son of David
as well as being the Son of God.
- 1Kings 4:6 And
Ahishar was over the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda was
over the tribute.
- 7 And 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.
- 8 And these are
their names: The son of Hur, in mount Ephraim:
- 9 The son of Dekar,
in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Bethshemesh, and Elonbethhanan:
- 10 The son of Hesed,
in Aruboth; to him pertained Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher:
- 11 The son of
Abinadab, in all the region of Dor; which had Taphath the
daughter of Solomon to wife:
- 12 Baana the son of
Ahilud; to him pertained Taanach and Megiddo, and all Bethshean,
which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Bethshean to
Abelmeholah, even unto the place that is beyond Jokneam:
- 13 The son of Geber,
in Ramothgilead; 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:
- 14 Ahinadab the son
of Iddo had Mahanaim:
- 15 Ahimaaz was in
Naphtali; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon to wife:
- 16 Baanah the son of
Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth:
- 17 Jehoshaphat the
son of Paruah, in Issachar:
- 18 Shimei the son of
Elah, in Benjamin:
- 19 Geber 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.
The household as well as officers under
Solomon would have taken lots of food to feed each day so they
needed all these officers to be in charge of that service. It
boggles my mind to think of all it took to provided for running just
this part of the kingdom. What a responsibility Solomon had.
Solomon's Wealth and Wisdom
-
1Kings 4:20 Judah and
Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude,
eating and drinking, and making merry.
This was not a sinful type of eating
and drinking that is mentioned many times in the bible itself but a
type of rejoicing. It was a time of peace.
- 1 Kings 4:21 And
Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land
of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought
presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.
- 22 And Solomon's
provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and
threescore measures of meal,
- 23 Ten fat oxen, and
twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside
harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl.
- 24 For 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.
Wouldn't this be great for all the
earth to be at peace and have a fair and just leader with godly
freedom for all to come and go, visiting each other, doing good etc.
I say godly freedom here because freedom to do as one pleases
without restraint can lead to evil. That is why we need Jesus to
rule and reign. He is the only one capable of ruling fairly, justly
and properly discern what is evil. We live in a day when in some
places they falsely have assumed that growing one's own food or
raising cattle harms the environment and have forbidden people to do
so. We've had cattle and people have grown food since the beginning
of creation, yet all the sudden someone has said it causes harm. Go
figure. God's gifts to us will not harm us or the earth. Sin will
though. I believe in taking care of the environment but not in
ridiculous things that are put in place to control and harm their
citizens. Let's learn to care and love each other instead, seeking
God for directions.
-
1Kings 4:25 And Judah and
Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig
tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
This is a preview of how it will be
when Jesus reigns. If Solomon hadn't of messed up later, this may
have continued through the days of his sons that ruled after him.
Every man under his vine and fig tree. They owned their own property
and had freedom.
This part as well as multiple wives was
forbidden by the law of God given by Moses. So we see that Solomon
was human and not perfect. Perhaps this was badly needed but it was
symbol of trusting in the many horses instead of God. Those wives
later lured Solomon into idolatry.
- Deuteronomy 17:16
But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the
people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply
horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall
henceforth return no more that way.
- 17 Neither shall
he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away:
neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
Also in Isaiah there is a warning to
Israel not to trust in Egypt for help as well as horses and other
things.
- Isaiah 31:1 Woe to
them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and
trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen,
because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy
One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
- 2 Yet he
also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his
words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and
against the help of them that work iniquity.
- 3 Now the Egyptians
are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit.
When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth
shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all
shall fail together.
Again and again in scripture we see the
strong need to watch and pray always so that we do not enter into
temptation and depart from God or depart from the will of God. We
need God every day, every hour and every minute. Trading with other
countries or helping other countries in need is not wrong but
getting to the place of depending on them and not being self
sufficent is never good. It opens the door to being under someone's
control that might start demanding things we don't agree with.
- 1 Kings 4:27 And
those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all
that came unto king Solomon's table, every man in his month:
they lacked nothing.
- 28 Barley also and
straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place
where the officers were, every man according to his charge.
- 29 And God gave
Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness
of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
- 30 And Solomon's
wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east
country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
- 31 For 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.
- 32 And he spake
three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and
five.
- 33 And he spake of
trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the
hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts,
and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.
- 34 And there came of
all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the
earth, which had heard of his wisdom.
Some of these proverbs we have today in
the bible. Thankfully many scribes have copied them for us
under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Two of them is the
book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. There are probably many more in a
cave somewhere waiting to be discovered. I love Proverbs myself. One
of my favorites is:
Jesus mentions one of Solomon's
visitors.
-
Luke 11:31 The queen of
the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this
generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts
of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a
greater than Solomon is here.
Also in Luke and Matthew, Jesus speaks
of Solomon.
Acts chapter 7 mentions Solomon when
Stephen was speaking before the high priest just before he was
stoned for preaching Jesus and doing miracles in His name. They
hired men to speak falsely against Stephen, accusing him of
blaspheme against Moses and God. Some of this starts in chapter 6 of
Acts. He was one of the first to men to die for the cause of Christ.
He was stoned and actually saw Jesus standing on the right hand of
the Father. Another awesome fact about Stephen is that before he
died after seeing Jesus, he asked that the sin be not laid against
those that were stoning him.
-
Acts 7:45 Which also our
fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the
possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face
of our fathers, unto the days of David;
-
46 Who found favour before
God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
-
47 But Solomon built him an house.
-
48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with
hands; as saith the prophet,
-
49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house
will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my
rest?
-
50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
David wanted to build the house for the Lord
but Solomon buildt one after David's death but Stephen points out
the fact that God doesn't dwell in temples we make here. Yet we know
that He is with us and we can have the Holy Spirit dwelling with us,
not just in our places of worship but within our very souls. We are never alone after we come to Jesus Christ for salvation.
DC
1 Kings Chapter 5
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