1 Kings 4:22

22 Solomon needed much food each day to feed himself and all the people who ate at his table: one hundred ninety-five bushels of fine flour, three hundred ninety bushels of grain,

1 Kings 4:22 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 4:22

And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of
fine flour
The measure here used was the "corus", or "cor", the same with the homer, which was equal to ten ephahs, and, according to Bishop Cumberland ^F23, held seventy five wine gallons and five pints, and somewhat more; by which may be known how many gallons of fine flour these thirty measures held, which were all consumed in one day:

and threescore measures of meal:
sixty measures of a coarser sort, for the servants, not so finely dressed; the same measure is here used as before; and it is observed by some, that one cor is equivalent to six hundred forty eight Roman pounds, and allowing to one man two pounds a day for his food, there would be food enough for 29,160 men out of 90 times 648, or 58,320 pounds ^F24. Others exaggerate the account; Vilalpandus says it would have sufficed 48,600 persons; Seth Calvisius 54,000, and Salianus 70,000 ^F25; the Jews say ^F26 that he had 60,000 that ate at his table; that is, who were maintained at his court.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 3. p. 86.
F24 Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. p. 516.
F25 Vid. Witsii Miscellan. tom. 2. exercit. 10. sect. 26.
F26 Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 8. 2.

1 Kings 4:22 In-Context

20 There were as many people in Judah and Israel as grains of sand on the seashore. The people ate, drank, and were happy.

21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought Solomon the payments he demanded, and they were under his control all his life.

22 Solomon needed much food each day to feed himself and all the people who ate at his table: one hundred ninety-five bushels of fine flour, three hundred ninety bushels of grain,

23 ten cows that were fed on good grain, twenty cows that were raised in the fields, one hundred sheep, three kinds of deer, and fattened birds.

24 Solomon controlled all the countries west of the Euphrates River -- the land from Tiphsah to Gaza. And he had peace on all sides of his kingdom.