1 Kings 4:28

_BARLEY ALSO AND STRAW FOR THE HORSES AND DROMEDARIES BROUGHT THEY UNTO THE PLACE WHERE THE OFFICERS WERE, EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS CHARGE._ Barley also and straw. Straw is not needed for litter, but barley mixed with chopped strew is the usual fodder of horses. DROMEDARIES - the one-humped camels, distinguished for their great fleetness....

20-28 Never did the crown of Israel shine so bright, as when Solomon wore it. He had peace on all sides. Herein, his kingdom was a type of the Messiah's; for to Him it is promised that he shall have the heathen for his inheritance, and that princes shall worship him. The spiritual peace, and joy, and holy security, of all the faithful subjects of the Lord Jesus, were typified by that of Israel. The kingdom of God is not, as Solomon's was, meat and drink, but, what is infinitely better, righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The vast number of his attendants, and the great resort to him, are shown by the provision daily made. Herein Christ far outdoes Solomon, that he feeds all his subjects, not with the bread that perishes, but with that which endures to eternal life....

Verse 1 Kings 4:28. _AND DROMEDARIES_] The word רכש _rechesh_, which we translate thus, is rendered _beasts_, or _beasts of burden_, by the _Vulgate; mares_ by the _Syriac_ and _Arabic; chariots_ by the _Septuagint_; and _race-horses_ by the _Chaldee_. The original word seems to signify a very _swift_ kind of _horse_, and _race-horse_ or _post-horse_ is probably its true meaning. To communicate with so many distant provinces, Solomon had need of many animals of this kind....

Barley is to this day in the East the common food of horses. DROMEDARIES - Coursers. The animal intended is neither a camel nor a mule, but a swift horse. THE PLACE WHERE THE OFFICERS WERE - Rather, “places where the horses and coursers were,” i. e., to the different cities where they were lodged....

EXPOSITION SOLOMON'S RULE, STATE, AND WISDOM.—The remainder of this chapter, which de-scribes to us the extent and character of Solomon's sway (1 Kings 4:20, 1 Kings 4:21, 1 Kings 4:24, 1 Kings 4:25), the pomp and provision of his household (1 Kings 4:22, 1 Kings 4:23, 1 Kings 4:26-11),

BARLEY ALSO, AND STRAW FOR THE HORSES AND DROMEDARIES,.... Or rather mules, by comparing the passage with 2 Chronicles 9:24; the particular kind of creatures meant is not agreed on; though all take them to be a swifter sort of creatures than horses; or the swifter of horses, as race horses or posts horses: barley was for their provender, that being the common food of horses in those times and countries, and in others, as Bochart h has shown from various writers; and in the Misnah i it is called the food of beasts; and Solomon is said to have every day his own horses two hundred thousand Neapolitan measures of called "tomboli" k; so the Roman soldiers, the horse were allowed a certain quantity of barley for their horses every morning, and sometimes they had money instead of it, which they therefore called "hordiarium" l and the "straw" was for the litter of them: these...

3. SOLOMON'S PRINCES AND OFFICERS THE PROSPEROUS KINGDOM AND THE KING'S GREAT WISDOM CHAPTER 4 _ 1. The Princes (1 Kings 4:1)_ 2. The Officers (1 Kings 4:7) 3. The prosperous kingdom (1 Kings 4:20) 4. Solomon's great wisdom (1 Kings 4:29) “So King Solomon was king over all Israel.” A list of the princes and the twelve officers is given first. Their names fit in perfectly with the character of the kingdom, foreshadowing the coming and better kingdom of our Lord. We give the names of the princes with their meaning. Azariah, “Jehovah is help”; Elihoreph, “my God is reward”; Ahiah, “Brother of Jeho

1 KINGS 3:1 TO 1 KINGS 4:34. EARLY DAYS, REIGN, AND WISDOM OF SOLOMON. The sources of this section are various, and the arrangement of the narrative in the LXX should be noticed. There are (_a_) a statistical account of Solomon s reign, referred to, apparently in 1 Kings 11:41, as the book of the acts of Solomon; (_b_) a number of narratives about this reign; (_c_) several Deuteronomic additions_ e.g._ 1 Kings 3:6; 1 Kings 3:14, etc.: and (_d_) some very late passages, possibly originally explanatory notes. The history of Solomon's reign

_unto the place where_the officers _were_ As shewn by the italics of A. V. there is no word in the original for -the officers." The verb moreover is in the singular. It is better therefore to render with the margin of R.V. -where he (i.e. the king) was" or -where it should be....

STRAW FOR THE HORSES— See Joshua 19:21 whence there is room to think, that this was not straw to _litter_ with. The _litter_ now used for _horses,_ &c. in the east, is their own dung, dried in the sun, and bruised between the hands, which is heaped up again in the morning, and in the summer sprinkled with fresh water to keep it from corrupting. _Observations,_ p. 209. REFLECTIONS.—1. Solomon's kingdom was prodigiously extensive: not only Israel submitted to his gentle sway, but all the nations which his father had conquered by arms; nor did any of them think of struggling against an administration so wise and equitable. _Note;_ More extensive is the dominion of the Prince of Peace, even from pole to pole; and those who know the blessings of his government count their service perfect freedom. 2. The people of Israel and Judah were immensely num