Notes on 1Kings

Version Date: November 2, 2025. (Date of First Version: November 20, 2021.)

1Ki 4:26 (5:6) The word of this verse that is translated "stalls" is ארות; this word also appears in 2Ch 32:28. To understand why Solomon had so many stalls of horses, it is important to define precisely the meaning of the singular form מרכב of this verse. Elsewhere in the Scripture, this word appears only in Lev 15:9 and So 3:10. In Lev 15:9, its apparent meaning is "saddle." Since 1Ki 4:26 (5:6) does not have מרכבה "chariot" or רכב "chariot" but מרכב, it does not seem likely that the text refers to chariots. Then, using the meaning "saddle" of מרכב, the phrase ארות למרכבו "stalls for his saddle" refers to places where horses fit for the royal saddle were kept. Then, the reason Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses appears to be that he wanted to have horses available wherever he went. As for the chariots of Solomon, the following remarks could be made. Though the form אריות of 2Ch 9:25 is similarly spelled to ארות "stalls," as spelled, it has a different meaning. It is found in the phrase אריות סוסים, which literally means "lions of horses." This phrase could refer to very strong horses. Alternatively, since "lions of horses" and chariots were counted together, it may be that "lions of horses" denoted some kind of war chariots that were very effective in battle. Note that 2Ch 9:25 mentions that Solomon had ארבעת אלפים אריות סוסים ומרכבות "four thousand lions of horses and chariots." The meaning of this statement is not that he had 4,000 "lions of horses" and an unspecified number of chariots, but that the number of the "lions of horses" plus the number of chariots was 4,000. (Two examples illustrating this point are as follows: in Jdg 16:27, כשלשת אלפים איש ואשה has been interpreted as giving the total number of men and women, and in 1Ki 4:26 (5:6), והחרש והמסגר אלף has been interpreted as specifying the sum of the number of craftsmen and the number of metal workers.) Now 1Ki 10:26 mentions that Solomon had 1,400 chariots, using for "chariots" the word רכב; another word, מרכבה, is used for "chariots" in the phrase "four thousand lions of horses and chariots" of 2Ch 9:25. In various passages, such as 1Ki 22:35 and 2Ki 10:15-16, both words are used for the same chariot. However, since מרכבה is commonly used for the chariots of important persons, it would seem that מרכבה was a kind of a רכב chariot. Then, assuming that the number of chariots was the same at the time of 1Ki 10:26 and at the time of 2Ch 9:25, the number of מרכבה chariots in 2Ch 9:25 did not exceed the number of רכב chariots in 1Ki 10:26, which was 1400. So, if the number of מרכבה chariots was no more than 1,400, it follows that the number of "lions of horses" was at least 4,000 - 1,400 = 2,600.

1Ki 5:11 (5:25) This verse describes what Solomon gave to the house of Hiram per year. He also provided for the workers of Hiram, and what he gave to them is listed in 2Ch 2:10 (9).

1Ki 6:15 The phrase עד קירות הספן "to the walls of the ceiling" refers to the region of the stone walls that was close to the ceiling. Thus, as the walls were built inside of the building, cedar wood was added to the stone walls, from the floor to the ceiling.

1Ki 6:34 The temple building was entered by means of two doors of ברושים "cypress wood." The front door had two leaves made of wood, while the second door had two leaves involving קלעים "curtains, hangings." Note that elsewhere the Scripture has used the word קלעים for the linen hangings placed around the court of the tabernacle, such as in Ex 27:9. Apparently, the hangings of the second door were attached to frames of cypress wood. It may be that the second door was somewhat like a screen door.

1Ki 7:21 When combining the names of the two pillars, the result is יכין בעז "He establishes Boaz". It is likely that Solomon was thinking about his forefather Boaz when he assigned these names.

1Ki 8:9 Since the jar of manna and the rod of Aaron were supposed to be in the ark, it is clear that by the time of the temple of Solomon they were lost (see the note on Heb 9:4.) Two instances involving unauthorized access to the ark were when the Philistines captured it and when the men of Beth Shemesh looked into it. A possibility would be that the men of Beth Shemesh took out the content of the ark when they looked inside. However, it would seem quite unlikely that the jar of manna and the rod were lost at that time. A more likely possibility would be that the Philistines looked inside the ark and did not keep the manna and the rod of Aaron. The Philistines were ignorant of the meaning of the rod and of the manna, and it may have seemed strange to them to find these items inside of the ark. Since the jar was of gold, it was probably placed into a Philistine treasury.

1Ki 10:1 "And the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, for the sake of the name of the LORD, and she came to test him with hard questions." This translation interprets the phrase לשם יהוה "for the name of the LORD" as indicating that for the sake of the glory of his name, God arranged that the queen of Sheba should hear and give attention to the fame of Solomon. She saw the wisdom of Solomon and had her questions answered (1Ki 10:3-4). By seeing wisdom, she saw the fear of the Lord, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Then, it would appear that she was converted to faith in the true God. Indeed, in 1Ki 10:9, she praised the true God. Understanding Mt 12:42 and Lk 11:31 as referring to the queen of Sheba, these two verses confirm that she was converted to faith in the true God.

1Ki 11:39 One reason the text has לא כל הימים "not all the days" is that the Messiah, the King of Israel, is a descendant of David.

1Ki 12:21 Following the text as written (see the Kethiv), the beginning of the verse is, "And the delegates of Judah went with Rehoboam to Jerusalem." The subject of the verb is inferred from the previous verse which states that the tribe of Judah followed Rehoboam.

1Ki 12:33 "And on the altar that he made in Bethel he offered sacrifices on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. Not only did he choose this month, but he also invented the festival for the sons of Israel. And he went up to the altar to make offerings." This translation is based on the form in which the text was written (see the Kethiv). Note that בחדש אשר בדא מלבד ויעש חג "in a month that he chose, besides that he also made a festival" was rendered "Not only did he choose this month, but he also invented the festival."

1Ki 13:5 Even to one who did not hear the words of the prophet, the fact that the altar was supernaturally torn down was a sign that God was not pleased with the worship taking place there.

1Ki 13:10 The command of the Lord was testifying to the fact that those coming for worship in Bethel were not getting any spiritual food or drink in that place. The man of God came by one way to Bethel and had to return by another way. To an observer in Bethel, this would have appeared as if he were not returning to the place from which he came. This was an indication that in a certain sense those going for worship to Bethel were not going to return to their land. Indeed, only the righteous, after their bodily resurrection, will return and inherit the land (Ps 37:9-11, 22, 29, 34, Dan 12:13, Ge 13:17, Mt 5:5).

1Ki 13:22 The man of God, being deceived by the prophet from Bethel, disobeyed the command of the Lord. Consequently, he was not buried in the tomb of his fathers. Likewise, those who were deceived so as to worship at Bethel were separated from godly ancestors (cf. Lk 13:28).

1Ki 13:28 This miracle drew further attention to the fact that God was reaching out to the people. They were to take seriously the message of the man of God and consider the events of that day. If the man of God died because he was deceived so as to disobey God's word, so much more the people were going to perish if they continued in their false ways. Though the man of God was deceived on some points, he remained God's man, for he sought to serve the Lord. The fact that his body remained intact and was not destroyed (cf. 1Pt 5:8) resembles the fact that God keeps safe the soul of the believer in spite of sins, failures, and troubles of this life (Lk 21:18).

1Ki 19:4-5 A possible explanation of the fact that the word רתם is used with both the masculine gender and the feminine gender is as follows. (Note thatרתם אחד in 1Ki 19:5 implies a masculine gender for רתם, while רתם אחת in 1Ki 19:4, which appears in the Kethiv, implies a feminine gender for רתם.) It is known that for some kinds of shrubs, a shrub produces either only flowers with male functionality or only flowers with female functionality. In this sense, such a shrub can be male or female. Thus, it would appear that Elijah was under a female shrub in 1Ki 19:4, but under a male shrub in 1Ki 19:5. Such plants that can be male or female are known as dioecious. Among dioecious plants in Israel we could note the juniper of the species Juniperus oxycedrus. The Juniperus phoenicia, which is also found in Israel, is said to have some dioecious plants. Note that the NASB has translated רתם with "juniper". There are also other Hebrew words that may have either the feminine or the masculine gender. For example, the word דב denotes female bears in 2Ki 2:24 and Is 11:7, but a bear of any gender in Pr 28:15.

1Ki 19:11 "And he said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD.' And behold, the LORD was coming, and before the LORD were a great wind, a mighty split of mountains, and a breaking of rocks. However, the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind there was an earthquake. However, the LORD was not in the earthquake." As written, the text does not state that the wind was tearing mountains and breaking rocks, but that it blew at the time when the mountains were torn and the rocks were broken. Indeed, when taking in account that the feminine gender appears in רוח גדולה "great wind," it is clear that the masculine forms חזק "mighty," מפרק, and משבר do not refer to רוח "wind." Note that the forms מפרק and משבר, translated here "split" and "breaking," respectively, can be derived from the verbs פרק "to break off" and שבר "to break" in the same manner that מספד "lamentation" is derived from ספד "to lament," or מועד "appointment" from יעד "to make an appointment," or מבצר "fortification" from בצר "to fortify," and so on.

1Ki 19:12-13 "And after the earthquake there was a fire. However, the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a sound; the silence was broken, and when Elijah heard, he wrapped his face in the mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, `What are you doing here, Elijah?`" In this translation, ואחר האש קול was rendered "And after the fire there was a sound," which follows the pattern of ואחר הרוח רעש "And after the wind there was an earthquake" and of ואחר הרעש אש "And after the earthquake there was a fire." The form דקה was parsed as the qal perfect 3fs of דקק "to crush." Since דקה has no object, it was taken with a passive meaning. In this interpretation, the sound that Elijah heard before going out of the cave did not have to be a voice. The common interpretation of קול דממה דכה as "the voice of a soft whisper" has several drawbacks. First, the text does not state that the Lord spoke something before Elijah went out of the cave. Moreover, a soft whisper is not consistent with the other appearances of the Lord that are recorded in the Old Testament (for example, see Ex 20:19, Eze 10:5.) Furthermore, though the verb דמם is used rather often, it is not associated with the meaning "to whisper" in any other passage. The translation proposed above does not assume that דממה can mean "whisper", but translates it with "silence", as suggested by the meaning of the verb דמם "to be silent, still".

1Ki 22:30 "And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, 'Disguise thyself and go into the battle; but put thou on thy royal robes.' Then, the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle." Ahab realized that the Syrians might seek to kill him, for the prophecy was that he would die in battle. Therefore he disguised himself. To ensure that somebody else would appear to be the king of Israel, he asked Jehoshaphat to enter the battle disguised but wearing royal robes. In this way, the Syrians could see that Jehoshaphat was king. However, since he was disguised, they could not tell that he was not the king of Israel.

The text התחפש ובא במלחמה ואתה לבש בגדיך was translated, "Disguise thyself and go into the battle; but put thou on thy royal robes." In this translation, the phrase התחפש ובא was interpreted as involving imperative forms. Note that ואתה "but thou" does not imply a change of subject, as could be seen in 1Ki 20:25, Nu 1:50, De 15:6, and 1Ki 8:30.