Study Desk

King Solomon ruled over Israel,^(a)

and these were his officials:^(b) Azariah son of Zadok, priest;

Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha, secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud, court historian;

Benaiah son of Jehoiada, in charge of the army; Zadok and Abiathar, priests;

Azariah son of Nathan, in charge of the deputies; Zabud son of Nathan, a priest and adviser to the king;

Ahishar, in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda, in charge of forced labor.

Solomon had 12 deputies for all Israel. They provided food for the king and his household; each one made provision for one month out of the year.^(c)

These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan;

Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (he had Socoh and the whole land of Hepher);

Ben-abinadab, in all Naphath-dor (Taphath daughter of Solomon was his wife);

Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the other side of Jokmeam;

Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the villages of Jair son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and he had the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, 60 great cities with walls and bronze bars);

Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also had married a daughter of Solomon—Basemath);

Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar;

Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin;

Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. There was one deputy in the land of Judah.^[a]

Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea;^(d) they were eating, drinking, and rejoicing.

^[b]Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and as far as the border of Egypt.^(e) They offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.^(f)

Solomon's provisions for one day were 150 bushels^[c] of fine flour and 300 bushels^[d] of meal,

10 fattened oxen, 20 range oxen, and 100 sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and pen-fed poultry,^[e](g)

for he had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza and over all the kings west of the Euphrates. He had peace on all his surrounding borders.

Throughout Solomon's reign, Judah and Israel lived in safety from Dan to Beer-sheba,^(h) each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.⁽ⁱ⁾

Solomon had 40,000^[f] stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen.^(j)

Each of those deputies for a month in turn provided food for King Solomon and for everyone who came to King Solomon's table. They neglected nothing.

Each man brought the barley and the straw for the chariot teams and the other horses^(k) to the required place according to his assignment.^[g]

God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight, and understanding^(l) as vast as the sand on the seashore.

Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East,^(m) greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.⁽ⁿ⁾

He was wiser than anyone^(o)—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite,^(p) and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol.^(q) His reputation extended to all the surrounding nations.^(r)

Solomon composed 3,000 proverbs,^(s) and his songs numbered 1,005.^(t)

He described trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall. He also taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

People came from everywhere, sent by every king on earth who had heard of his wisdom, to listen to Solomon's wisdom.^(u)

^[a]Hiram king of Tyre^(a) sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father's place,^(b) for Hiram had always been friends with David.^(c)

Solomon sent this message to Hiram:

"You know my father David was not able to build a temple for the name of Yahweh his God. This was because of the warfare all around him until the Lord put his enemies under his feet.^(d)

The Lord my God has now given me rest all around; there is no enemy or crisis.^(e)

So I plan to build a temple for the name of Yahweh my God,^(f) according to what the Lord promised my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the temple for My name.'^(g)

"Therefore, command that cedars from Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants' wages according to whatever you say, for you know that not a man among us knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians."^(h)

When Hiram heard Solomon's words, he greatly rejoiced and said, "May the Lord be praised today!⁽ⁱ⁾ He has given David a wise son to be over this great people!"

Then Hiram sent a reply to Solomon, saying, "I have heard your message; I will do everything you want regarding the cedar and cypress timber.

My servants will bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will break them apart there, and you can take them away. You then can meet my needs by providing my household with food."^(j)

So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted,

and Solomon provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels^[b] of wheat as food for his household and 110,000 gallons^[c] of oil from crushed olives.^(k) Solomon did this for Hiram year after year.

The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him.^(l) There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.^(m)

Then King Solomon drafted forced laborers from all Israel;⁽ⁿ⁾ the labor force numbered 30,000 men.

He sent 10,000 to Lebanon each month in shifts; one month they were in Lebanon, two months they were at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.

Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains,^(o)

not including his 3,300^[d] deputies^(p) in charge of the work. They ruled over the people doing the work.

The king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.^(q)

So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders,^(r) along with the Gebalites,^(s) quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the temple's construction.