1 Kings 4:26

26 et habebat Salomon quadraginta milia praesepia equorum currulium et duodecim milia equestrium

1 Kings 4:26 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 4:26

And Solomon had forty thousand stalls for horses
In ( 2 Chronicles 9:25 ) ; it is only four thousand; and therefore some think that here is a mistake of the copier, of "arbaim", forty, for "arbah", four; which it is thought might be through divine permission, in such lesser matters, without any prejudice to the authority of the Scriptures in matters of faith and practice; but without supposing this, a reconciliation may be made, by observing, that here the writer, as Ben Gersom notes, gives the number of the horses that were in the stables, which were forty thousand, there the stables themselves, which were four thousand, ten horses in a stable; or here he numbers the stalls, which were forty thousand, and there the stables, which were four thousand, there being ten stalls in each; and the word there has the letter "yod" in it more than here, which is the numerical letter for "ten", and may point thereunto; or here the writer speaks of all the stalls for horses Solomon had throughout the kingdom, there of those only he had in Jerusalem. Benjamin of Tudela F7 affirms, that these stalls, or stables, which Solomon built very strong of large stones, are still in being in Jerusalem, and that there is no building to be seen like it any where; but no other writer speaks of them; nor is it at all probable that they should remain:

for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen;
some of the said stalls of horses were for his chariots, to draw in them for various uses, of which had 1400, ( 1 Kings 10:26 ) ; and others to mount twelve thousand horsemen, who were placed in various parts, to defend kingdom.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Itinerar. p. 43.

1 Kings 4:26 In-Context

24 ipse enim obtinebat omnem regionem quae erat trans flumen quasi a Thapsa usque Gazam et cunctos reges illarum regionum et habebat pacem ex omni parte in circuitu
25 habitabatque Iudas et Israhel absque timore ullo unusquisque sub vite sua et sub ficu sua a Dan usque Bersabee cunctis diebus Salomonis
26 et habebat Salomon quadraginta milia praesepia equorum currulium et duodecim milia equestrium
27 nutriebantque eos supradicti regis praefecti sed et necessaria mensae regis Salomonis cum ingenti cura praebebant in tempore suo
28 hordeum quoque et paleas equorum et iumentorum deferebant in locum ubi erat rex iuxta constitutum sibi
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.