Solomon’s Prosperity

Judah and Israel are many and joyful, Solomon's rule stretches across neighboring kingdoms, and his table is supplied in abundance. The section centers on a land at peace, secure from Dan to Beersheba.

T²⁰he people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and they were eating and drinking and rejoicing. ²¹And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. ²²Solomon’s provisions for a single day were thirty cors of fine flour, sixty cors of meal, ²³ten fat oxen, twenty range oxen, and a hundred sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened poultry. ²⁴For Solomon had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates — over all the kingdoms from Tiphsah to Gaza — and he had peace on all sides. ²⁵Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel dwelt securely from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.

The account closes with the practical scale of Solomon's resources: horses, chariots, and the monthly provisions supplied by the governors. The kingdom's prosperity is shown not only in mood but in maintained logistics.

²⁶Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 horses. ²⁷Each month the governors in turn provided food for King Solomon and all who came to his table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking. ²⁸Each one also brought to the required place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and other horses.