During his reign, David had taken vast areas of land when
the surrounding countries attacked him. When
Solomon became king all that land came under his control, and there was no one
to dispute his claims. It was a vast
area stretching from the Euphrates River to the border of Egypt, as we see in I Kings 4:20-26. “Judah
and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and
drinking, and making merry. And Solomon
reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and
unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the
days of his life.
And Solomon's
provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore
measures of meal, Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an
hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl. For he had dominion over all the region on
this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this
side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man
under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days
of Solomon. And Solomon had forty
thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.”
Solomon’s kingdom stretched from Tiphsah, a ford on the
Euphrates in northern Syria to Azzah, on the Euphrates in present day Iraq, to the
Philistine land on the Mediterranean shore and southward to the northern edge
of the Gulf of Aqaba and the eastern boundary of Egypt. When he took control, none of the surrounding
nations had any hope of attacking him because of his huge standing army. Just to feed his government officials and the
armyi took a vast amount of food every day.
Even later in his reign when other nations began to attack him the
people in central Israel between Dan and Beersheba were not seriously affected.
The first 19 verses of I Kings 4 list Solomon’s various
officers. As I Kings 4:27-28 tell us, it
was those officers’ jobs to collect the supplies needed for supporting the army
and government. “And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that
came unto king Solomon's table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing. Barley also and straw for the horses and
dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man
according to his charge.”
God had blessed Solomon with great power, but hae also kept
his promise to give him wisdom, as I Kings 4:29-34 describes. “And
God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of
heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of
all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the
Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame
was in all nations round about. And he
spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree
that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he
spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all people to hear the
wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom. “
Solomon became widely known for his wisdom and knowledge,
with people traveling vast distances to learn from him. During his life time Jerusalem was considered
the greatest of intellectual centers in the world. Some
of his proverbs or wise saying can still be found in the books of Proverbs and
Ecclesiastes, as well as a poem about marriage, in the Song of Solomon.
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