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Chapter 4: King Solomon's Officials and Governors
1 Kings 4:1-6 ~ Solomon's royal officials
These men were Solomon's court officials, the members of Solomon's cabinet or Privy Council. They were the chief executive officers for the nation of Israel. Twelve men are named. All of their offices are listed except #1, Azariah, who may be understood to be a chief priest since he is the son (grandson) of Zadok. In the list of the priestly genealogy in 1 Chronicles 5:35 he is the son of Ahimaaz and the grandson of Zadok. While Zadok is the High Priest, his grandson may serve as the chief superintendent of the daily liturgy. . From the time of David, the Zadok line was considered to be the only legitimate line of high priests (Ez 40:46; 43:19; 44:15; 48:11).
#s 2 and 3: 3 Elihaph and Ahijah sons of Shisha, secretaries [scribes]
The royal scribes like Elihaph and Ahijah performed a very important function in a royal court. They were responsible for any diplomatic correspondence to other nations, letters of the king to his royal governors and officials, and they were responsible for making a record the official history of the reign of the king. It is possible they wrote the "Annals of King Solomon" mentioned in 1 Kings 11:41 that may have provided information used by the inspired writer of 1 Kings.
#4: Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud, herald
Included among this man's duties was making the ceremonial and judicial reporting and announcing for the king. He was the official "spokesman" who served as an intermediary between the king and the people. He was also the head of the diplomatic service and had served King David (2 Sam 8:16; 20:24).
#5: Benaiah son of Jehoiada, commander of the army,
Benaiah is another of David's officers who now serves his son. He was one of David's elite warriors and the commander of David's personal body guard (2 Sam 23:20-23). Solomon promoted him from commander of the royal body guard to commander of the armies of Israel after Joab's death (1 Kng 2:25).
#s 6 and 7: Zadok and Abiathar, priests;
There is a suggested problem with this part of the list: Zadok and Abiathar, priests in verse four may be a gloss that was incorrectly inserted since Abiathar was dismissed and Zadok is the sole high priest (see 2:35), but glosses are later additions that usually correct a change in history and so a change to what was formerly the case is unlikely. But perhaps this was the original record of officials prior to Abiathar's dismissal.
#8: Azariah son of Nathan, chief administrator;
This son or grandson of Nathan the prophet was Solomon's chief prefect who manager the regional prefects and the districts under their jurisdiction in verses 7-19.
#9: Zabud son of Nathan, Friend of the King;
Another son or grandson of Nathan holds the title "Friend of the King." He is the chief advisor of the king. David's chief advisor ("Friend of the king") was Hushai (2 Sam 15:32).
#10: Ahishar, master of the palace
This man is Solomon's chief steward or vicar who is in charge of the royal household. See a description of his important duties in Isaiah 22:20-25. Joseph son of Jacob held a similar position, first for his master Potiphar and then for the Egyptian Pharaoh (Gen 39:4-5; 41:40-45). His position is the highest in the land next to the king he serves. It is the same office that St. Peter and his successors serve in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ that is the Church.
#11: Eliab son of Joab, commander of the army in verse 6b is probably not an error since Benaiah, one of David's "mighty men" and formerly the commander of David's royal guard, was now quite elderly. He was named the commander of the army after carrying out Solomon's command to execute Joab (2:25 and 3:4), but it is possible the verse should read Eliab son of Joab was the acting commander of the army or second in command to Benaiah. Evidently Eliab son (or grandson) of Joab was not implicated in his father's treason; he is also Solomon's second cousin.
#12: Adoram son of Abda, in charge of forced labor
Adoram is Solomon's tribute officer. His name is also spelled Adoniram. This man may be the son of the Adoram who served David (2 Sam 20:24) since he will also serve Solomon's son King Rehoboam (1 Kng 12:18). Conscripted labor on behalf of the kings was another form of taxation. The office was created by Solomon and concerning the raising of a labor force for public projects and the application of taxes to support public works.
The New Jerusalem Bible follows the order of the Greek Septuagint translation which gives the list of administrators in a logical order. The order in the Hebrew Masoretic text has been compromised by glosses with some verses dating at the earliest from the time of the Babylonian exile while the remainder is even later and is missing from the Septuagint.
1 Kings 4:7-19 ~ Solomon's chief administrators/royal governors
David's royal court was rather modest. His focus was on securing Israel's borders, subduing Israel's enemies, and reducing the neighboring states to vassals of Israel. Solomon's ambitions are more international and he wanted an elaborate royal court that supported those ambitions. Therefore, he needed the revenues to supply the opulence he desires. The means to securing the funding was by increasing the taxes paid by the tribes of Israel to the central government in the form of provisions for the royal court. In order to accomplish this, Solomon divided his kingdom into twelve administrative districts ruled by his royal governors. These men do not owe their allegiance to any one tribe but are completely loyal to Solomon and the central government. Notice that two of the governors are married to Solomon's daughters (verses 11 and 15).
Solomon's twelve districts fall into three groups:
- The territory of Ephraim and Manasseh (verse 8) with the conquered Canaanite towns (verses 9-12), and the annexed districts of Transjordan (verses 13-14).
- The territory of the northern tribes (verses 15-17).
- The territory of Benjamin (verse 18) and Gad on the east side of the Jordan (verse 19).
There was a special arrangement for Solomon's tribe of Judah.
1 Kings 5:7-8, 20, 1-6 (order in the Septuagint) ~ Provisions for Solomon's court
The royal governors had to supply the king and his royal household with a month's provisions of food each year from their districts. The Trans-Euphrates refers to kingdoms that bordered the Euphrates River and acknowledged Solomon as their over-lord or great king by paying an annual tribute.
Question: To whom did God promise that his descendants would one day control of this expansive territory? See Gen 15:18-21.
Answer: It was a promise made to Abraham.
The Hebrew text reads 40 thousand but the number of 4,000 stalls of horses from the Greek text is more reasonable and it agrees with 2 Chronicles 9:26. Solomon had 1,400 chariots (1 Kng 10:26 and 2 Chr 1:14); Chariot horses have to be specially trained as opposed to cavalry horses and there were usually two teams of horses per chariot.(2)
| 1 Kings 5:6 | 2 Chronicles |
| 12,000 chariot drivers with 2-3 men per chariot and some in reserve (5:6 and 10:26) | 12,000 chariot drivers with 2-3 men per chariot and some in reserve (1:14; 9:25) |
| 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots (5:6) | 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots (9:25) |
| 1,400 chariots (10:26) | 1,400 chariots (1:14) |
In the conquest of Canaan, the Israelites did not acquire horses and chariots even though their Canaanite enemies had them (Josh chapter 11), nor did David acquire horses and chariots even though his Philistine enemies had them (2 Sam 8:4). When he captured chariots and horses he did not keep all of them but only kept some of the horses.
CHALLENGE “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are made-up names.”
DEFENSE: The names themselves provide evidence they are authentic.
Ancient writers sometimes attributed their works to long-dead authors to increase the prestige of their works, but that wouldn’t have applied to the Gospels. Not only were their names being used in the first century (see Day 109), when the authors lived, they also weren’t the people you’d pick to add prestige to the documents. Their names may be prestigious today, but that is because of their Gospels. At the time, things were different.
Mark and Luke weren’t even apostles but junior associates. Mark was initially a companion of Paul and Barnabas and later served as Peter’s interpreter, and Luke was one of Paul’s traveling companions.
Both are mentioned only a handful of times in the New Testament, and the mentions aren’t all good. Mark abandoned his first mission trip (Acts 13:13), and Paul refused to take him on a second mission. This led to such a sharp argument between Paul and Barnabas that the two dissolved their partnership (Acts 15:37–40). Mark eventually redeemed himself (2 Tim. 4:11), but his early failure remained a black mark.
Although Luke’s reputation was unblemished, he is named only three times (Col. 4:14; 2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 24), making him far less prominent than other Pauline companions, such as Timothy (twenty-five mentions), Titus (thirteen mentions), and Silas (twelve mentions).
Matthew’s Gospel is the most Jewish, which makes Matthew the last person whose name would give it prestige. Not only was Matthew only a midlevel apostle (note his placement when the names of the Twelve are given; Matt. 10:2–4, Mark 3:16–19, Luke 6:14–16, Acts 1:13), he was also a tax collector (Matt. 9:9), and tax collectors were hated by Jews, who saw them as collaborators with the Romans and sinners (Matt. 9:11, 18:17).
The only major name attached to a Gospel is John, and while John son of Zebedee was prominent (note his placement in the lists of the Twelve), there is a question whether the fourth Gospel was written by him or another, lesser-known disciple named John (see Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, chapters 14–17). Thus, with the possible exception of John, the evangelists’ names are not what one would pick to lend authority to the Gospels.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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