1 Kings 4:24

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.

1 Kings 4:24 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 4:24

For he had dominion over all [the region] on this side the
river
Or beyond the river Euphrates, in the sense before given, ( 1 Kings 4:21 ) ; which accounts for the plenty of provisions he had, and the revenue with which he supported such a table he kept:

from Tiphsah even to Azzah;
or Gaza, one of the five principalities of the Philistines. Tiphsah is thought to be the Thapsacus of Pliny F4 which both he and Ptolemy F5 place near the river Euphrates, since called Amphipolis; the former places it in Syria, the latter in Arabia Deserta; and which Strabo F6, from Eratosthenes, describes as 4800 furlongs or six hundred miles from Babylon, and from the place where Mesopotamia begins not less than two thousand furlongs or two hundred and fifty miles:

over all the kings on this side the river;
the river Euphrates, or beyond it, in the sense before explained, as the kings of Syria, Arabia

and he had peace on all sides round about him;
in which he was a type of Christ, the Prince of peace.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 24.
F5 Geograph. l. 5. c. 19.
F6 Geograph. l. 16. p. 514.

1 Kings 4:24 In-Context

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.
25 During Solomon's life Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, also lived in peace; all of his people were able to sit under their own fig trees and grapevines.
26 Solomon had four thousand stalls for his chariot horses and twelve thousand horses.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.