1 Kings 4
TSK
So king Solomon was king over all Israel.
And these were the princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok the priest,
Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder.
And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests:
And Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers: and Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer, and the king's friend:
And Ahishar was over the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the tribute.
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.

officers These are doubtless to be considered as general receivers; for, as Sir John Chardin observes, `the revenues of the princes of the East are paid in the fruits and productions of the earth: there are no other taxes on the peasants.'

each man

1 Chronicles 27:1-15 Now the children of Israel after their number, to wit, the chief …

And these are their names: The son of Hur, in mount Ephraim:
The son of Dekar, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Bethshemesh, and Elonbethhanan:
The son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him pertained Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher:
The son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor; which had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife:
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:
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:
Ahinadab the son of Iddo had Mahanaim:
Ahimaaz was in Naphtali; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon to wife:
Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth:
Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar:
Shimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin:
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.
Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry.
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.
And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal,

provision [heb] bread
measures [heb] cors.

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

Ten fat

Nehemiah 5:17,18 Moreover there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers…

harts Dr. Shaw understands {ayil} as the name of the genu, including all the species of the deer kind, whether they are distinguished by round horns, as the stag, or by flat ones, as the fallow deer, or by the smallness of the branches, as the roe.

roe-bucks [See note on

Deuteronomy 15:22 You shall eat it within your gates: the unclean and the clean person …

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.
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.
And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
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.
Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
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.
And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.
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.

the cedar tree The word {airez}, whence the Cahldee and Syriac {azro}, and the Arabic and Ethiopic {arz} and Spanish {alerze}, unquestionably denotes the {cedar}; it is thus rendered by the LXX. and other versions, (), and by the Vulgate {cedrus}; and the inhabitants of mount lebanon still call it {ars}. The cedar is a large and nobel evergreen tree, and grows on the most elevated part of the mountain, is taller than the pine, and so thick that five men together could scarcely fathom one. It shoots out its branches at ten or twelve feet from the ground; they are large and distant from each other, and are perpetually green. The wood is of a brown colour, very solid and incorruptible, if preserved from wet. The tree bears a small cone, like that of the pine.

Numbers 24:6 As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, …

2 Kings 19:23 By your messengers you have reproached the LORD, and have said…

Psalm 92:12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like …

the hyssop

Exodus 12:22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that …

Numbers 19:18 And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and …

Psalm 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall …

Hebrews 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according …

of beasts

Genesis 1:20-25 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature …

And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge by R. A. Torrey [ca. 1880]
Expanded version courtesy INT Bible ©2013, Used by permission

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