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| 1 And king Solomon was king over all Israel. |
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| 2 And these are the princes whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok was priest; |
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| 3 Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, chronicler; |
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| 4 and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; |
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| 5 and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the superintendents; and Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer, the king's friend; |
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| 6 and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the levy-service. |
Adoniram – Secretary of the treasury, the one having charge over the assessments, etc., and who presided over the forced labor. R3385:4
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| 7 And Solomon had twelve superintendents over all Israel; and they provided food for the king and his household: each man his month in the year had to make provision. |
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| 8 And these are their names: Ben-Hur, in mount Ephraim. |
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| 9 Ben-Deker in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elon-Beth-hanan. |
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| 10 Ben-Hesed, in Arubboth; he had Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher. |
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| 11 Ben-Abinadab had all the upland of Dor; Taphath the daughter of Solomon was his wife. |
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| 12 Baana the son of Ahilud had Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean, which is by Zaretan beneath Jizreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-Meholah, as far as beyond Jokneam. |
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| 13 Ben-Geber, in Ramoth-Gilead; he had the villages of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; he had the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bars of bronze. |
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| 14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo, at Mahanaim. |
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| 15 Ahimaaz, in Nephtali; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon as wife. |
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| 16 Baanah the son of Hushai, in Asher and in Aloth. |
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| 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar. |
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| 18 Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin. |
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| 19 Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, and of Og the king of Bashan; and he was the only superintendent that was in the land. |
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| 20 Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry. |
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| 21 And Solomon ruled over all kingdoms from the river to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. |
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| 22 And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal, |
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| 23 ten fatted oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and fallow-deer, and fatted fowl. |
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| 24 For he had dominion over all on this side the river, from Tiphsah as far as Gazah, over all the kings on this side the river; and he had peace on all sides round about. |
Peace on all sides – Whereas King David's reign was full of wars, King Solomon's had none. PD44/53
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| 25 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. |
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| 26 And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. |
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| 27 And those officers provided food for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon's table, every man in his month: they let nothing be wanting. |
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| 28 And the barley, and the straw for the horses and coursers, they brought to the place where the superintendents were, every man according to his charge. |
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| 29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and very great understanding and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore. |
Gave Solomon wisdom – Not the heavenly wisdom, not spiritual understanding. R2053:2
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| 30 And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the sons of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt. |
Solomon's wisdom excelled – Prefigured the all-comprehensive wisdom of Christ. R2053:1
Only an imperfect realization of the wise and understanding heart suggested in his dream-prayer. R2053:2
Children of the east – Implying that his wisdom was along the lines of the sciences and philosophies popular with them. R2053:5
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| 31 For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the nations round about. |
Wiser than all men – In the time of Solomon, the zenith of their glory, the Jews were a people distinguished and honored among nations. C244
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| 32 And he spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a thousand and five. |
Three thousand proverbs – Not all deemed of the Lord worthy of preservation in sacred Scripture. R2053:5
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| 33 And he spoke of the trees, from the cedar-tree that is on Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of cattle, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes. |
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| 34 And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom. |
Of all people – "Many people will say, Come and let us go up to the house of the Lord." (Isa. 2:3) R2053:1
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