Today Our Daily Bread 1 Kings 4 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

If the e-mail text you receive is encrypted at all, just scroll down to the end of all of the text and click on Lena’s Journalin’ , which will take you directly to the web-page where you will be able to read the text quite clearly in it’s purposed form.

1 Kings 4:1-34
Solomon's Officials and Governors
1So Solomon was king over all Israel, 2and these were his high officials:
Azariah son of Zadok was the priest.
3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were court secretaries. Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the royal historian.
4 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was commander of the army. Zadok and Abiathar were the priests.
5 Azariah son of Nathan presided over the district governors. Zabud son of Nathan, a priest, was a trusted adviser to the king.
6 Ahishar was manager of palace affairs. Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the labor force.
7Solomon also had twelve district governors who were over all Israel. They were responsible for providing food from the people for the king's household. Each of them arranged provisions for one month of the year.
8These are the names of the twelve governors:
Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim.
9 Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-bethhanan.
10 Ben-hesed, in Arubboth, including Socoh and all the land of Hepher.
11 Ben-abinadab, in Naphoth-dor. F7 (He was married to Taphath, one of Solomon's daughters.)
12 Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, all of Beth-shan F8 near Zarethan below Jezreel, and all the territory from Beth-shan to Abel-meholah and over to Jokmeam.
13 Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead, including the Towns of Jair (named for Jair son of Manasseh) in Gilead, and in the Argob region of Bashan, including sixty great fortified cities with gates barred with bronze.
14 Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim.
15 Ahimaaz, in Naphtali. (He was married to Basemath, another of Solomon's daughters.)
16 Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and in Aloth.
17 Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar.
18 Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin.
19 Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, F9 including the territories of King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan.
And there was one governor over the land of Judah. F10
Solomon's Prosperity and Wisdom
20The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They were very contented, with plenty to eat and drink. 21King Solomon ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River F11 to the land of the Philistines, as far south as the border of Egypt. The conquered peoples of those lands sent tribute money to Solomon and continued to serve him throughout his lifetime.
22The daily food requirements for Solomon's palace were 150 bushels of choice flour and 300 bushels of meal, F12 23ten oxen from the fattening pens, twenty pasture-fed cattle, one hundred sheep or goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and choice fowl.
24Solomon's dominion extended over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza. And there was peace throughout the entire land. 25Throughout the lifetime of Solomon, all of Judah and Israel lived in peace and safety. And from Dan to Beersheba, each family had its own home and garden.
26Solomon had four thousand F13 stalls for his chariot horses and twelve thousand horses. F14 27The district governors faithfully provided food for King Solomon and his court, each during his assigned month. 28They also brought the necessary barley and straw for the royal horses in the stables.
29God gave Solomon great wisdom and understanding, and knowledge too vast to be measured. 30In fact, his wisdom exceeded that of all the wise men of the East and the wise men of Egypt. 31He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman, Calcol, and Darda—the sons of Mahol. His fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations. 32He composed some 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs. 33He could speak with authority about all kinds of plants, from the great cedar of Lebanon to the tiny hyssop that grows from cracks in a wall. He could also speak about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. 34And kings from every nation sent their ambassadors to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. FOOTNOTES:F7: Hebrew Naphath-dor, a variant name for Naphoth-dor. F8: Hebrew Beth-shean, a variant name for Beth-shan; also in 4:12b. F9: Greek version reads of Gad; compare 4:13. F10: As in some Greek manuscripts; Hebrew lacks of Judah. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. F11: Hebrew the river; also in 4:24. F12: Hebrew 30 cors [5.5 kiloliters] of choice flour and 60 cors [11 kiloliters] of meal. F13: As in some Greek manuscripts (see also 2 Chr 9:25); Hebrew reads 40,000. F14: Or 12,000 charioteers.

~Lena’s Journalin’~
Sometime you’ve got to go online to www.Studylight.org or another Bible study tools website and use the Lexicons. On StudyLight you can type “1 Kings 4” in the “passage display” search window, then on the right of it there is a scroll down window where you can choose translations, scroll down and choose “KJV with Strongs’ numbers”, then click on “search”. This will bring you to a page where 1 Kings 4 is written out and words in the passage are underlined. If you click on any of the underlined words a new smaller window will be brought up that will contain the definition of that word. It is so neat to do that with a passage that has lots of names, such as this passage does. It is truly amazing to see what these foreigners (to us) are called and what their names mean. It will help you to get through long lists of names and to become interested in the story behind them, rather than just trying to pronounce them. There is also a pronunciation key in that new smaller window, if you want to play with how to properly pronounce any Biblical names.
One key name in this context today is Solomon, whos name in Hebrew is Shalowm, Shalom is the God word for PEACE. With God, peace is not the same word as we may think of it in our culture, Peace is a complete word a whole word that encompasses much. The word Shalom is about as strong a word as is the word for “salvation”.
Well that makes sense huh, since our salvation brings us into a place of peace with our Maker. The reason we needed salvation as a human race was our original peace-filled with God nature was upset by acts of disobedience and war between worlds. Doesn’t that make sense that salvation and peace would go together? Did anyone ever ask you about your salvation this way, “Have you yet made peace with God?” Peace is about bringing back wholeness that was broken apart, that was scattered about. Our lives were torn into pieces by sin, the sins of our fathers of long ago. Its effects have been far reaching, reaching as far as we are today. Peace is about repair and restoration to the original. The original me? No, the original image of Him in us, as a human race. It has to happen in me, begin for me and for my sphere of influence, for my future generations, it has to start now in me. The restoration is about our covenent with God. Peace is the restoration of that covenant, God and man together back in “harmony” and agreement and unity with one another, no gaps, no open spaces and no places for any evil.
Solomon was king over Israel. If Israel represents God’s people, the church body, then Peace was reigning over God’s people.
In that peace there was an order set and kept. There were governors of that order. The peace was given in the midst of living in a chaotic world. Solomon appointed 12, one for each month to govern every month according to peace, to keep the order of peace. The # 12 speaks of order. In Hebrew it is seen as 2 #’s, 10 & 2. 10 is the number that represents sanctification of the whole, it is only a part in actuality, but its representation is of the whole. It is the # of the tithe. 2 represents harmony and agreement. The whole sanctified part coming into agreement, serving the keeping of the peace.
All that was set in order in this scripture has to do with the keeping of this peace. How much effort do we put into the keeping of our own eternally given by God peace? Do we treasure and guard it and order our lives as such for the keeping of the harmony we have been given through Jesus Christ for peace, for a covenant paid for by His blood for us to be reconciled to the Father?
Notice each man had a domain. The keeping of the peace did not mean man lost his domain, it meant he gained a greater domain, both his and God’s! Each man dwelled under his own fig tree (domain), under the domain of Solomon. Under the dominion of peace! As much as man can strive to keep his own kingdoms you can be sure they will fail and fall apart, but if he keeps the Lord’s peace, the King’s peace and tends to the keeping of covenant, the pursuit of true restoration to God and to bringing back the wholeness of truth, his dominion will increase.
I must decrease that He may increase, were the words of a great prophet, who came like 3,000 or so years after Solomon’s reign. Though they may not have been blood related, though John had no earthly kingdom, they were from the same Father God, they were of the same purpose, of the same spirit and Divine nature. Keepers of the peace, restorers of the breaches between men and God. They dwelled under their own fig trees, set for them by God. Covering of covenant.
Are you covered, by the restorative blood of the Lamb of God? Are you in a greater kingdom of peace serving the great purposes of the king? Or only your own family kingdom. Who’s is served first? His or yours?
A demonstration of that covering is being in the house of another, serving in the house of another. These 12 had their own houses, but they served the king in his house, and that was how they were given and able to keep their own houses well.


Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored. 19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.


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