1 Kings

Wealth and Wisdom

Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms, from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and the frontiers of Egypt. All these paid tribute and served Solomon during his lifetime.

Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty cors of fine flour, sixty cors of meal,

ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides harts, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl.

He ruled over the entire region west of the Euphrates, from Tipshah to Gaza, and over all its kings. He had peace on all frontiers.

Judah and Israel lived in security, from Dan to Beersheba, and everyone was safe under his vine and his fig tree for as long as Solomon lived.

Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.

All these governors supplied provisions for King Solomon and all his guests at the table, each providing during his assigned month, seeing that nothing was lacking.

They also brought barley and straw for the horses and swift studs wherever the king stayed, each doing this during his appointed month.

God gave Solomon great wisdom and understanding, and knowledge as vast as the sand on the shore,

so that his wisdom surpassed that of all the people of the east and of the Egyptians.

He was wiser than any man; wiser than Ethan, the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol and Darda, sons of Mahol; and his fame spread among all the surrounding nations.

He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.

He took his examples from all the trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he also spoke of the beasts and birds, and reptiles and fish.

People from all nations came to hear Solomon’s wisdom; all the kings of the earth who had heard of it sent messengers to listen to him.

Alliance with Hiram of Tyre

Now, Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in place of his father. For David had always been Hiram’s friend.

Solomon then sent this message to Hiram:

“You know that David, my father, could not build a temple for the Lord his God because his enemies were at war with him until the time when the Lord gave him victory over them.

But now the Lord my God has given me peace on all sides, and no enemy or calamity afflicts us.

And so I intend to build a temple for the Lord my God as the Lord told David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set upon your throne, shall build the house for my Name.’

Now, therefore, give orders to have cedars of Lebanon cut for me. My servants will join yours, and I will pay your servants the wages you set, for you know that none of us can cut timber like the Sidonians.”

When Hiram heard Solomon’s answer, he was exceedingly glad and said: “Blessed be the Lord this day who has given David a wise son to rule over these great people.”

Then Hiram sent a messenger to Solomon with these words: “I have heard the message you sent me, and I am ready to do whatever you want concerning the cedar and cypress timber.

My servants shall have it sent down to the sea from Lebanon. I will make it into rafts and deliver them to your chosen place by sea. I will have the rafts broken up there, and you can take the timber away. You, for your part, will provide food for my household.”

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

while Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat yearly as food for his household and twenty thousand cors of pure oil.

The Lord gave wisdom to Solomon as he had promised him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, who bound themselves by a treaty.

King Solomon conscripted thirty thousand men from Israel for forced labor.

He sent them to Lebanon in relays of ten thousand a month so that they would be in Lebanon for a month and at home for two months. Adoniram was in charge of drafting laborers.

Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country,

in addition to three thousand three hundred overseers in charge of the people engaged in the work.

By order of the king, they quarried large and expensive stones to give the temple a foundation of hewn stones.

Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites did the hewing and prepared timber and stone to build the temple.