Solomon organizes the kingdom
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📚So King Solomon was king over all Israel.2 📚And these were the officials he had: Azariah the son of Zadok the priest, 3 📚Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder. 4 📚And Benaiah 📖 the son of Jehoiada was over the army, and Zadok and Abiathar 📖 were the priests. 5 📚And Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers, and Zabud the son of Nathan was the principal officer, and the king’s friend, 6 📚and Ahishar was over the household, and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the labour force 📖.
7 📚And Solomon had twelve officials over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household 📖, each one providing this in his appointed month in a year. 8 📚And these were their names: The son of Hur 📖, in Mount Ephraim; 9 📚the son of Dekar, in Makaz and in Shaalbim and in Beth Shemesh and Elon-beth-hanan; 10 📚the son of Hesed, in Aruboth – he had Sochoh and all the land of Hepher; 11 📚the son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor (his wife was Taphath, the daughter of Solomon); 12 📚Baana the son of Ahilud – he had Taanach and Megiddo and all Beth Shean, which is near Zartanah below Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel-Meholah and beyond Jokneam; 13 📚the son of Geber, in Ramoth Gilead – he had the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh which are in Gilead, and his was the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bars of brass; 14 📚Ahinadab the son of Iddo had Mahanaim, 15 📚Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (also he married Basmath, the daughter of Solomon); 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, the land of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan 📖, the only official who was in that land.
20 📚In number Judah and Israel were as many as the sand which is by the sea, eating and drinking and rejoicing 📖. 21 📚And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the Euphrates River 📖 to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of their life. 22 And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures 📖 of meal,
4:22 Solomon’s retinue in his palace must have been very large.⚜
23 📚ten fat oxen and twenty oxen from the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides deer and roebucks and gazelles and fatted fowl. 24 📚For he had dominion over all the region on this side of the River, from Tiphsah to Azzah, over all the kings on this side of the River. And he had peace on all sides around him. 25 📚And Judah and Israel lived in safety all the days of Solomon, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba.
4:25 Two of the things people want most – peace and prosperity.⚜
26 📚And Solomon had forty thousand 📖 stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
27 And those officials provided food for King Solomon, and for all who came to King Solomon’s table, each man in his month. They lacked nothing. 28 📚They also brought barley and hay for the horses and steeds where they were, each man according to his charge.
Solomon’s wisdom
29 📚And God gave Solomon exceedingly great wisdom and understanding and largeness of heart, as great as the sand on the seashore. 30 📚And Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the East 📖 country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 📚For he was wiser than all men 📖, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman and Chalcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame was in all nations around Israel. 32 📚And he uttered three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five. 33 📚And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree in Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He also spoke of animals and of birds and of creeping things and of fish.
4:33 Solomon’s wisdom was primarily a knowledge of God, an understanding of people, an ability to administer the kingdom, etc, but included such matters as these.⚜
34 📚And some from every people came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth 📖 who had heard of his wisdom.