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",

And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

Forty thousand stalls of horses. In , it is but four thousand. Answ. First, Some acknowledge an error of the transcriber, writing arbahim, forty, for arbah, four, which was an easy mistake. And such mistakes in some copies, in these lesser matters, God might permit, for the trial and exercise of our faith, without any prejudice to the authority of the sacred Scriptures in the great doctrines of faith and good life. Secondly, It is not exactly the same Hebrew word which is here and there, though we translate both stalls; and therefore there may well be allowed some difference in the signification, the one signifying properly stables, of which there were 4000, the other stalls or partitions for each horse, which were 40,000; which great number seems directly forbidden, , except Solomon had some particular dispensation from God, which might be, though it be not recorded. For his chariots; both for his military chariots, which seem to be those 1400, , and for divers other uses, as about his great and various buildings, and merchandises, and other occasions, which might require some thousands of other chariots. Twelve thousand horsemen; appointed partly for the defence and preservation of his people in peace; and partly for attendance upon his person, and for the splendour of his government. Compare . But the words may be otherwise rendered, and twelve thousand horses, for parash manifestly signifies both a horse and horsemen. And these might be a better sort of horses than most of those which were designed for the chariots. Or thus, and for (which particle is easily understood and borrowed from the foregoing clause) twelve thousand horsemen; and so he means that the 40,000 horses were in part appointed for his chariots, and in part for his 12,000 horsemen.

1 Kings 4:26 And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.Ver. 26. Forty thousand stalls of horses.] In his four thousand stables, each of which had ten stalls or partitions, for ten horses at least. And this might be a piece of that yoke the people groaned under: which they ought not to have done, living in such a golden age.

(26) Forty thousand.—By comparison with the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 9:25, and with the notice in 1 Kings 10:26 (one thousand four hundred), it seems clear that for “forty thousand” “four thousand” should be read. They were kept in various “chariot cities,” as well as at Jerusalem. This multiplication of horses and horsemen—forbidden to the future king in Deuteronomy 17:16, but foretold by Samuel at the inauguration of the kingdom (1 Samuel 8:11-12)—is significant of military conquest and an extended empire. The Israelite armies, in frequent contradistinction from their enemies, had been hitherto mainly of infantry; and in Joshua 11:9 the chariots and horses captured were not used, but destroyed, “as the Lord bade Joshua.” Such armies were powerful for defence, not for invasion. Now, as it would seem for the first time, this provision of the ancient law, like many others, was set aside, and Solomon’s empire assumed the character of other great Oriental monarchies.

Verse 26. Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses - and twelve thousand horsemen.] In 2 Chronicles 9:25, instead of forty thousand stalls, we read four thousand; and even this number might be quite sufficient to hold horses for twelve thousand horsemen; for stalls and stables may be here synonymous. In 1Kg 10:26 it is said he had one thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; and this is the reading in 2 Chronicles 1:14. In 2 Chronicles 9:25, already quoted, instead of forty thousand stalls for horses, the Septuagint has τεσσαρεςχιλιαδεςθηλειαιἱπποι, four thousand mares; and in this place the whole verse is omitted both by the Syriac and Arabic. In the Targum of Rabbi Joseph on this book we have ארבע מאה arba meah, four hundred, instead of the four thousand in Chronicles, and the forty thousand in the text. From this collation of parallel places we may rest satisfied that there is a corruption in the numbers somewhere; and as a sort of medium, we may take for the whole four thousand stalls, one thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

26. horses for his chariots] This is one of the passages which make clear the meaning of the Hebrew sus, a horse to go in a chariot, and parash, a saddle-horse. In 2 Chronicles 9:25 the number of stalls Isaiah 4000 instead of 40000 as here.

In 2 Chronicles 9:25, the number of stalls for Solomon’s chariot horses is stated at 4,000, instead of 40,000. The number in the present passage is probably a corruption.

26. Forty thousand stalls of horses — Most interpreters have regarded this as a corruption in the text, and have thought to emend it by substituting the reading of 2 Chronicles 9:25, four thousand.