1 Kings 4:7

And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Solomon	וְלִשְׁלֹמֹ֞ה ve.lish.lo.Moh	H8010	Shelomah · conjunction + preposition + proper noun, a man's name
twelve	שְׁנֵים she.neim-	H8147	two · noun, common both genders dual absolute
officers	נִצָּבִים֙ ni.tza.Vim	H5324	to station · verb, niphal active participle, masculine plural absolute
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
victuals	וְכִלְכְּל֥וּ ve.khil.ke.Lu	H3557	properly · conjunction + verb, piel sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
king	הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ ha.Me.lekh	H4428	a king · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
household	בֵּית֑וֹ bei.To	H1004	a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
man	הָאֶחָ֖ד ha.e.chad	H259	properly · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
month	חֹ֧דֶשׁ Cho.desh	H2320	the new moon · noun, common masculine singular absolute
year	בַּשָּׁנָ֛ה ba.sha.Nah	H8141	a year (as a revolution of time) · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
provision	לְכַלְכֵּֽל le.khal.Kel	H3557	properly · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

1 Chronicles 27:1-15 Now the children of Israel after their number, to wit, the chief fathers and captains of thousands and hundreds, and their officers that ser…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 4:1-19

Here we have, I. Solomon upon his throne (Kg1 4:1): So king Solomon was king, that is, he was confirmed and established king over all Israel, and not, as his successors, only over two tribes. He was a king, that is, he did the work and duty of a king, with the wisdom God had given him. Those preserve the name and honour of their place that mind the business of it and make conscience of it. II. The great officers of his court, in the choice of whom, no doubt, his wisdom much appeared. It is observable, 1. That several of them are the same that were in his father's time. Zadok and Abiathar were then priests (Sa2 20:25), so they were now; only then Abiathar had the precedency, now Zadok. Jehosh…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 4:7

HIS TWELVE OFFICERS. (Kg1 4:7-21) Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel--The royal revenues were raised according to the ancient, and still, in many parts, existing usage of the East, not in money payments, but in the produce of the soil. There would be always a considerable difficulty in the collection and transmission of these tithes (Sa1 8:15). Therefore, to facilitate the work, Solomon appointed twelve officers, who had each the charge of a tribe or particular district of country, from which, in monthly rotation, the supplies for the maintenance of the king's household were drawn, having first been deposited in "the store cities" which were erected for their reception (Kg1 9:19; C…

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Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 4:7

Twelve officers - The business of these twelve officers was to provide daily, each for a month, those provisions which were consumed in the king's household; see Kg1 4:22, Kg1 4:23. And the task for such a daily provision was not an easy one.

John Gill on 1 Kings 4:7

And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel,.... Not with respect to the twelve tribes of Israel, for it does not appear that they had each of them a tribe under them, but some particular places in a tribe; but with respect to the twelve months of the year, in which each took his turn: which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision; furnished food of all sorts out of the country in which they presided for the space of one month in a year; by which means there was always a plenty of provisions at court for the king's family, and for all strangers that came and went, and no one part of the land was burdened or drained, nor the price of…

The Church Fathers

The officials elected by Solomon designate the order of the chosen ones whom Christ affirmed in his grace and appointed as rulers of his people. Indeed, twelve prefects were selected to administer the incomes of this king and his house, because just as many apostles had to be distributed over the entire world and had to be appointed as treasures of the divine mysteries, so that they might nourish with living and immortal food the Israel of God and might administer the incomes of the house of the peaceful king. Therefore, also the limits of each prefecture were clearly denoted, because, in a similar way, each apostle received a certain province: Simon preached in Rome, John in Ephesus, Matthew in Palestine and Thomas in the region of India.
— Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 4:1

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Month — Among the Egyptians the month of thirty days each was in use long before the time of the Exodus, and formed the basis of their calculations. From the time of the institution of the Mosaic law the…
Taxes — First mentioned in the command (Ex. 30:11-16) that every Jew from twenty years and upward should pay an annual tax of “half a shekel for an offering to the Lord.” This enactment was faithfully…
Cabinet · General references — General references
Commissary · For royal households — For royal households
Holy Land · Divided into: Twelve provinces by Solomon — Divided into: Twelve provinces by Solomon
Kings · Officers of: Providers for the king’s table — Officers of: Providers for the king’s table
Months · The Jews computed time by — The Jews computed time by
Officer · .Appointed by kings — .Appointed by kings
Purveyor · For — For
Tax · Paid in provisions — Paid in provisions

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

1 Kings 4:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 4:1-19

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 4:7

Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 4:7

John Gill on 1 Kings 4:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Kings 4:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 4:1-19

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 4:7

Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 4:7

John Gill on 1 Kings 4:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 4:7-19

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Kings 4:7-19

Rashi on 1 Kings 4:7