ten fat oxen, and twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl.
Chapter 4 lists the officers who kept Solomon's household supplied. Verse 23 names the meat that reached his table each day, and the amount shows both the size of his household and the generosity of his table.
The scale of one day's food
One writer sets this daily order beside the table of Nehemiah. Nehemiah governed Jerusalem long after the kingdom fell:
W. W. FeredaySolomon's daily provision was immense. His household was large, and his hospitality was lavish. What Nehemiah did in Jerusalem after the kingdom's collapse was humble by comparison. He often entertained "150 men, Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us." For this he needed one ox and six choice sheep a day. He kept it modest, because the people who had come back from exile were poor (Neh. 5:17-18). This devoted governor sought nothing for himself: only the good of the people.
Only clean animals
The deer, gazelles and roebucks are not random game. The law listed them among the animals Israel could eat, and it marked clean animals by two tests:
C. E. StuartThere were two marks. One was a habit; the other was something in the way they walked. The habit was chewing the cud. The mark in their walk was a split, divided hoof... These included animals of the herd or the flock, the only source of sacrifices, and the hart, the roebuck or gazelle, and fallow deer... Of these the hart, roebuck, and fallow deer appeared daily on Solomon's table (1 Kings 4:23).
So the king's table, for all its abundance, stayed inside the boundaries God had drawn for His people's food.
A government that feeds
Commentators read this daily supply as a preview of the Lord's coming reign:
Leslie M. GrantScripture records Solomon's provision for one day as about 150 bushels of fine flour and 300 bushels of meal. It also lists ten fatted oxen, 100 sheep, deer, gazelles, roebucks and fatted fowl. This is a reminder that in the Millennium the Lord Jesus will richly bless Israel by the provision He makes for His redeemed people. Good government does not only keep order, but provides for the welfare of the people. This kind reign of Solomon worked for "peace on every side" (v.24).
Another writer ties this to God's promise for Zion: "I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread" (Psalm 132:15). He also recalls the day the Lord fed five thousand men in the wilderness. The crowd wanted to crown Him at once, but "God's time was not yet" (W. W. Fereday).
What the queen of Sheba saw
The queen of Sheba noticed how well Solomon's servants ate. One writer asks what feeds the servants of Christ:
W. W. FeredayThen she saw that all Solomon's servants were well fed. "The food of his table" struck her. With what food does Christ nourish those who are His? Hear Him saying in John 6:51 — "the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."... Eating His flesh and drinking His blood means faith taking hold of the Saviour Himself, the One who once was slain. I share in the Lord's Supper on the first day of the week. But I have the privilege of feeding on Christ every day and every hour of the day.
What such splendour cost the people
All this had to be paid for, and commentators differ on how heavy the cost was. One writer links the burden of keeping up such splendour to the complaint later brought to Solomon's son:
W. W. FeredayIn the highest days of Israel's prosperity this burden became unbearable. So we hear them saying to the son of Solomon, "Your father made our yoke heavy" (1 Kings 12:4). The greater the glory of the Kingdom, the heavier the burden on the people had to be.
Another writer is more cautious. He says "there is no certain evidence that this was really so." The labour served "the glory and security of the kingdom, whose prosperity all were supposed to profit by" (C. Knapp). Either way, the contrast with Christ's own reign stands. One writer sums it up: "His glory will far exceed that of Solomon, but it will be as true then as now, 'My yoke is easy, and my burden is light'" (W. W. Fereday).
Summary
- Table. Fat oxen, pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep and game came to the king every day. Nehemiah, governing later, needed one ox and six sheep.
- Clean. The law allowed deer, gazelle and roebuck. Even at its richest, the table stayed inside God's limits.
- Government. Real rule does more than keep order. It feeds. This daily supply previews the blessing Christ will bring Israel.
- Christ. The queen of Sheba saw that everyone around the king ate well. Christ's own feed on Him daily, not just on one day of the week.
- Yoke. The people carried the cost of Solomon's glory, and they told his son so. The King he pictures gives an easy yoke and a light burden.