1 Kings 4:23

23 ten fat oxen, twenty range oxen, and a hundred sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened poultry.

1 Kings 4:23 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 4:23

Ten fat oxen
Such as were kept up in the stall and fatted:

and twenty oxen out of the pastures;
which were killed as they were taken from thence, and not put up to be fed:

and an hundred sheep;
out of the folds:

beside harts, and roebucks, and fallow deer;
which were clean creatures, according to the Levitical law, ( Deuteronomy 14:5 ) ; these were hunted in fields, or taken out of the park, or were presents from other countries; so that here was plenty of beef, mutton, and venison: for the spiritual application of this to the antitypical Solomon, and his provisions, see ( Matthew 22:4 ) ;

and fatted fowl;
such as we call capons ^F1; some Jewish writers ^F2, because of the likeness of sound in the word here used, take them to be Barbary fowls, or such as were brought from that country: there is a sort of birds called (barbaroi) , which were without a voice, that neither heard men, nor knew their voice ^F3.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 So David de Pomis, Tzemach David, fol. 12. 3. and some in Kimchi in loc.
F2 Baal Aruch & R. Elias Levit. Tishbi, in voce (rbrb) .
F3 Scholia in Aristoph. Aves, p. 550.

1 Kings 4:23 In-Context

21 And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

22 Solomon’s provisions for a single day were thirty cors of fine flour, sixty cors of meal,

23 ten fat oxen, twenty range oxen, and a hundred sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened poultry.

24 For Solomon had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates —over all the kingdoms from Tiphsah to Gaza—and he had peace on all sides.

25 Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel dwelt securely from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.