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1 Kings 4:21-28 | Bible Study
Studying Vines and Horses Can Tell You a Lot
Solomon's Prosperity
We have firmly moved into a new era of Solomon's reign.
The battle for the kingship is over and God has gifted Solomon unparalleled wisdom and wealth (see previous studies on 1 Kings 1-3).
1 Kings 4:21-28 details the wealth that flows into Solomon's kingdom during his reign.
It's an easy passage to gloss over, but there are some really important insights we can glean from these verses.
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1 Kings 4:21-28 (my translation)
21 Now Solomon was ruler of every kingdom from the river to the land of the Philistines and until the border of Egypt. They (the kingdoms) brought gifts and served Solomon all the days of his life.
22 Solomon’s food for one day was thirty cors of milled flour and sixty cors of unmilled flour. 23 Ten fattened cattle and twenty pastured cattle and a hundred sheep—beside doe and gazelle and roebuck and fattened chickens. 24 Indeed, he ruled everywhere across the river from Tiphsah and until Gaza, over all the kings across the river and he had peace from everywhere across from him and around him.
25 And Judah and Israel lived in security: each man beneath his own vine and beneath his own fig tree from Dan to Beersheba all the days of Solomon.
26 Now Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots and twelve thousand charioteers. 27 And these officials sustained King Solomon and everyone who drew near to King Solomon’s table—each man for his month. They did not allow anything to be lacking. 28 Now the barley and the straw for the horses and for pack animals each man would bring to the place where he would be according to his charge.
Judah and Israel in the United Monarchy?
This is one of those observations that is easy to miss. The names Judah and Israel are so common throughout the Bible that we might not notice when their use is significant.
1 Kings 4 and the surrounding material describes the most glorious time in the monarchy’s history. The 12 tribes are united under Solomon’s reign. They are firmly established in the land and they are not at war. You would expect for the text to simply refer to the people as “Israel.” Instead, we find references to “Israel” and “Judah” everywhere.
This observation reminds us that the passage was written from a later perspective when the kingdom was no longer united. “Israel” and “Judah” were two related but separate kingdoms.
What vines and fig trees can tell us
Each person sitting under his or her own vine and fig tree is an image of peace and prosperity. It represented the ideal situation.
- Passages like Micah 4:1-5 and Joel 2:22 envision the day when this will be a reality once more.
- Psalm 105:33 uses the destruction of the vine and fig tree to describe God’s punishment of the Egyptians.
- Similarly, Jeremiah 5:17 uses the destruction of vines and fig trees as a prophetic warning.
So, when we read that every person lived in security beneath their own vine and fig tree, the narrator wants us to see this as an ideal time in the nation’s history.
So many horses? But why?
Whereas 1 Kings 4:25 describes the ideal situation for the people, verse 26 subtly suggests there are cracks in the foundation. At first glance, the sheer number of Solomon’s horses seems like statistical evidence of his success.
If you re-read this verse with Deuteronomy’s laws about the king in mind, however, you draw a drastically different conclusion.
16 Even so, he must not acquire many horses for himself, or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, since the Lord has said to you, “You must never return that way again.” (NRSV)
Suddenly, Solomon’s horses become a major red flag. Why does he have so many?
Summary
As with much of 1 Kings 1-11, the narrator wants us to see Solomon and his reign in two lights. On the one hand, this was an ideal time in the people’s history. The monarchy prospered and the people experienced peace. On the other hand, Solomon’s prosperity is riddled with red flags. He is violating the laws laid out for kings in Deuteronomy.
Informed readers of 1-2 Kings know where this is headed: destruction. These stories serve as a warning: what seems like prosperity can be undermined by violating God’s commands.
Recommended Resources
This blog post is a part of the Passage of the Week. Join the email list to get guided study notes sent to your inbox every Monday and Friday.
Here are a couple of commentaries you might find helpful on the book of Kings.
***Some of the links in this post are affiliate links with Amazon. This just means that if you purchase something through that link, Amazon will pay me a small portion of the purchase price. It's a way to help support mybibleschool.***
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