Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Solomon enjoys days of peace and prosperity . He becomes world renowned for his wisdom and conscripts more than 180,000 Israelites to secure the necessary materials for the temple.
II. Photo
The people are content: “All the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba dwelt in safety, everyone under his own vine and under his own fig tree.” (v. 5)
III. Important Verses
1: Solomon’s rule extended over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and the boundary of Egypt. They brought Solomon tribute and were subject to him all his life.
2-3: Solomon’s daily provisions consisted of 30 kors of semolina, and 60 kors of [ordinary] flour, 10 fattened oxen, 20 pasture-fed oxen, and 100 sheep and goats, besides deer and gazelles, roebucks and fatted geese.
5: All the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba dwelt in safety, everyone under his own vine and under his own fig tree.
9-14: The LORD endowed Solomon with wisdom and discernment in great measure, with understanding as vast as the sands on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the Kedemites and than all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was the wisest of all men: [wiser] than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalkol, and Darda the sons of Mahol. His fame spread among all the surrounding nations. He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered one thousand and five. He discoursed about trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; and he discoursed about beasts, birds, creeping things, and fishes. Men of all peoples came to hear Solomon’s wisdom, [sent] by all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.
22-25: So Hiram sent word to Solomon: “I have your message; I will supply all the cedar and cypress logs you require. My servants will bring them down to the sea from the Lebanon; and at the sea I will make them into floats and [deliver them] to any place that you designate to me. There I shall break them up for you to carry away. You, in turn, will supply the food I require for my household.” So Hiram kept Solomon provided with all the cedar and cypress wood he required, and Solomon delivered to Hiram 20,000 kors of wheat as provisions for his household and 20 kors of beaten oil. Such was Solomon’s annual payment to Hiram.
IV. Outline
1. Solomon’s dominion
2-3. Daily provisions
4-5. Peace and prosperity
6. Horses and riders
7-8. Provisions of the prefects
9-14. Solomon’s wisdom is world renowned
15-23. King Hiram agrees to supply Solomon with cedar wood in exchange for food
24-26. The exchange
27-32. Over 180,000 Israelites are conscripted for work
V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.
VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Collins, John J. “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible,” (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).
De Vries, Simon John. “1 Kings” Word Biblical Commentary vol. 12 (Waco, Texas: Wordbooks, 1985).
Longe, Burke O. “1 Kings with an Introduction to Historical Literature” Forms of Old Testament Literature vol. 9 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1984).
Photo taken from http://magnanimuswines.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/bg_grape_cluster.jpg
