1 Kings 4 Commentary
Chapter 4 is about the greatness of Solomon. He had 12 governors. One of them was in charge of sixty large walled cities!
The names of governors and the areas they controlled give context to the extent to which the kingdom expanded. It was an empire!
Read about Bashan and Gilead, and know Israel’s kingdom covered the original land as per tribal allocations in the Book of Joshua.
We can celebrate Chapter 4 as the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel. The strength of Solomon is the strength of Israel.
They are happy. They are prosperous. They are numerous. Verse 20.
Remember the original triad: Increase, prosper, and have dominion. Genesis 1:28. Solomon’s Israel gives us a good picture. But it’s only a partial picture. How does Abraham’s seed become a blessing to the nation? Then you know we only have a partial picture!
It’s a shadow of what life would be like under the government of the Son, the son born to us, with the government on His shoulders – a government without an end! Isaiah 9.
During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and under their own fig tree. Verse 25. How else do you model the role of the Prince of Peace? It’s all part of the package that comes with the Son of David!
And Solomon’s wisdom? Again, how else do you foretell the ultimate wisdom of God? 1 Corinthians 1:24: “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
Thirty cattle and a hundred sheep, in addition to “deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl”, no palace would probably consume this amount of meat in one day! But that’s one good way to underline the words “abundance” and “prosperity”.
Are we close to being in a land flowing with milk and honey? This chapter would agree!
It’s not a neat model, but we get the picture of what it would look like when the nations come to the Wisdom of God. Verse 34. It’s all about unmatched wisdom, saving Wisdom…
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