Poole on 1 Kings 4:26: Solomon's Many Horses

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Verse 26:[1]  And (1 Kings 10:26; 2 Chron. 1:14; 9:25) Solomon had forty thousand (see Deut. 17:16) stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

[He had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots,אַרְבָּעִ֥ים אֶ֛לֶף אֻרְוֹ֥ת סוּסִ֖ים לְמֶרְכָּב֑וֹ]  Forty thousand horse-stables (stalls [Jonathan, Syriac, Arabic, Munster, Castalio], or partitions [Tigurinus]) of horses (or of horses in horse-stables [Pagnine]) for his chariot (Montanus), or for his chariots (Pagnine, Jonathan, Tigurinus Notes), or for his chariot-related matter, or of horses for chariots (Strigelius), or yoked together (Castalio).  But others translate it, for his cavalry (Syriac, Munster, similarly Junius and Tremellius, Arabic).  [But at this point a grave difficulty arises.]  In the place of this is found, 2 Chronicles 9:25, four thousand horse stalls.  Response 1:  Either the number has been corrupted here, and is to be read ‎אַרְבַּעַת אֲלָפִים, four thousand, as in Chronicles; or (as the Most Illustrious James Cappel[2] contends) אַרְבָּעִים signifies four, like אַרְבַּע.  Just as ‎שְׁמוֹנִים in Judges 3:30 he maintains to be eight years.  Also in Talmud tractate Yevamoth 4:48, where it is read יוֺם תְשָׁעִים שְׁלוֺשִׁים יֶרַח:  the matter itself proclaims that it is to be rendered, for ninety days are three months, not thirty.  Likewise in Bereshith Rabba[3] 53, Ishmael is said to have been cast out as שָׁנׅים וּשֶׁבַע עֶשְׂרִים בֶן, as son of seventeen years, not twenty-seven (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 1:2:9:157).  Response 2:  Here horses are counted, but in Chronicles stables (Rabbi Levi[4] in Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 1:2:9:157, Abarbanel[5] in Buxtorf’s[6] Vindication[7] 2:2:402); that is to say, there were forty thousand horses in four thousand horse-stables (Abarbanel in Buxtorf).  Thus most interpreters reconcile the numbers; says Buxtorf [let the credibility of which be upon him].  But to the reader it is plainly found in both places, that ‎אֻרְוֹת‎/stalls are counted, that is, stables, etc. (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 1:2:9:157).  Response 3:  There is a hypallage[8] here, he had forty thousand stalls of horses, that is, forty thousand horses in stalls (Lapide).  Which stalls were four thousand, as it is found in Chronicles (Malvenda, Vatablus).  That is, in each horse-stable there were ten horses (Vatablus).  Response 4:  The term stall is taken properly here:  but in Chronicles, by a Synecdoche of member, it is taken for a stable containing ten stalls (Piscator).  In this passage, stalls are counted; in Chronicles, enclosures of stalls, each of which contained ten horses; or, which is the same thing, there were four thousand greater horse-stables, which were containing forty thousand lesser horse-stables.  Which even the words indicate.  For, in this passage, it is ‎אֻרְוֹת; but, in Chronicles, ‎אֻרְיוֹת, namely, such horse-stalls, in which ten horses were contained; in order to signal this, they say, the י/Yod, the character of the number ten, was inserted (certain interpreters in Glassius’ Sacred Philology 71).  אֻרְוֹת in this place was not stables, but the distinct compartments in stables, out of which individual beasts of burden graze fodder; אָרָה signifies to graze.  Hence, in 2 Chronicles 32:28, Hezekiah built‎ אֻֽרָוֹת֙ לְכָל־בְּהֵמָ֣ה וּבְהֵמָ֔ה, compartments for every beast and beast,[9] that is, each beast:  For, thus the expression is to be rendered, as in Esther 9:21, ‎בְּכָל־שָׁנָ֖ה וְשָׁנָֽה׃, in every year and year,[10] that is, each year:  And, in Esther 9:28, ‎בְּכָל־דּ֣וֹר וָד֗וֹר, in every generation and generation,[11] in every age (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 1:2:9:157).

Forty thousand stalls of horses.  In 2 Chronicles 9:25, it is but four thousand.  Answer:  First, Some acknowledge an error of the transcriber, writing ‎אַרְבָּעִים/arbahim, forty, for אַרְבַּע/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 four thousand, the other stalls or partitions for each horse, which were forty thousand; which great number seems directly forbidden, Deuteronomy 17:16, 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 one thousand and four hundred, 1 Kings 10:26, 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.

The Ruins?

[And twelve thousand knights, ‎וּשְׁנֵים־עָשָׂ֥ר אֶ֖לֶף פָּרָשִֽׁים׃]  And twelve thousand horsemen (Montanus, Junius and Tremellius, Munster, Castalio, etc.).  In almost every nation, a horse is wont to be taken for a horseman; and, contrariwise, a horseman for a horse.  See Aulus Gellius’ Attic Nights[12] 18:1.  Therefore, horsemen here means the same thing as horses.  Moreover, horses here were of two sources, 1.  yoked together, 2.  more noble (Sanchez).  Therefore, there were forty thousand yoked horses, which were drawing either carts, or wagons, or plows; of which he had need for farming, and for the construction of the temple and of so many palaces.  There were also twelve thousand nobler horses, on which both the King’s honorary attendants and his familiars rode in the king’s retinue, at least on more solemn occasions (Tirinus out of Sanchez).  Those forty thousand chariot horses were drawing war chariots, or rustic carts.  For there were one thousand and four hundred other nobler chariots, 2 Chronicles 1:14, for conveying in dignity so many queens and concubines (Tirinus).  [Some connect these words with what went before, and thus render the place:]  And he had forty thousand stalls of horses ‎לְמֶרְכָּבוֹ, for his conveyances (or for the expedition of his chariots), ‎וּשְׁנֵים־עָשָׂ֥ר אֶ֖לֶף פָּרָשִֽׁים׃, and for twelve thousand horsemen.  (There is an Ellipsis of the prefix ל/for before וְלִשְׁנֵים.)  That is to say, those forty thousand horses served these two uses, namely, the expedition of chariots, and of horsemen (Glassius’ Sacred Philology 71).  But, since the chariots of Solomon were only one thousand and four hundred [as already observed], the number of horses appears excessive, even if you assign four to each chariot.  Response:  He maintained so many, so that fresh horses might succeed those thus employed in festivities and in labors (certain interpreters in Sanchez).  Question:  Whether Solomon sinned in multiplying horses?  Response 1:  A great many think that he did sin, since that was expressly forbidden, Deuteronomy 17:16.  And so both Joshua and David hamstrung the horses and burned the chariots that they captured.[13]  And perhaps the excessive cost, of which they complained in 1 Kings 12:4, hence arose (Tirinus out of Sanchez).  Solomon sinned, contrary to Deuteronomy 17.  But he sinned more in the cause, namely, in the multiplication of so many wives, whom the people were obliged to maintain (Lapide).  The Jews are too rigid here, according to whom it is not lawful for the King to have even one idle horse (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 1:2:9:175).  Response 2:  [Some interpreters vindicate Solomon:]  At least from grievous fault (thus Tostatus in Sanchez).  Solomon sinned against τὸ ῥητὸν, the express wording, of the Law, but not against the διάνοιαν/intention, or purpose, of the Law (which is especially to be attended to (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 1:2:9:175, thus Martyr).  The reasons for this prohibition appear to be, 1.  to avoid arrogance and trust in horses:[14]  2.  so that the King would not be too burdensome for his subjects:  3.  so that he would not return the people to Egypt in order to multiply horses (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 1:2:9:173).  And so, since Solomon did not have many chariots and horses for pride, but for necessary conveyance and the defense of the people, he appears not to have sinned against that Law (Martyr, Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals).  Add that in Solomon there is something peculiar, which God willed to be preeminent in external splendor; both because He had promised this, and so that we might have a more express type of the Messiah in him.  However that may be, Solomon professes that he did not trust in these horses, Proverbs 21:31 (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 1:2:9:173).

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 1 Kings 10:26.  But the words may be otherwise rendered, and twelve thousand horses, for פָּרָשׁ/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 forty thousand horses were in part appointed for his chariots, and in part for his twelve thousand horsemen.

[1] Hebrew:  ‎וַיְהִ֣י לִשְׁלֹמֹ֗ה אַרְבָּעִ֥ים אֶ֛לֶף אֻרְוֹ֥ת סוּסִ֖ים לְמֶרְכָּב֑וֹ וּשְׁנֵים־עָשָׂ֥ר אֶ֖לֶף פָּרָשִֽׁים׃

[2] James Cappel (1570-1614) was the older brother of Louis Cappel.  He was Professor of Hebrew and Theology at the Academy of Sedan.

[3] Bereshith Rabba, or Genesis Rabbah, is a sixth century midrash on Genesis.  It provides explanations and interpretations of words and phrases, which explanations are often only loosely connected with the text.  It draws upon Mishna, Tosefta, and the Targums.

[4] Although little is known about the life of Levi ben Gershon, also known as Gersonides and Ralbag (1288-1344), his interests included, not only Biblical and Talmudic interpretation, but also philosophy, science, and mathematics.

[5] Isaac Abarbanel (1437-1508) was one of the great Spanish Rabbis of his age and a stalwart opponent of Christianity, in spite of the danger.  He held fast to a literal interpretation of the Scripture, over against Maimonides’ philosophical allegorizing.  He commented on all of the Law and the Prophets.

[6] John Buxtorf, Jr. (1599-1664) succeeded his father as Professor of Hebrew at Basel (1629-1664), and was perhaps the equal of his father in learning.

[7] Anticritica:  seu Vindiciæ Veritatis Hebraicæ Adversus Ludovici Cappelli Criticam quam Vocat Sacram.

[8] That is, an interchange of the syntactical relationship of two terms.

[9] 2 Chronicles 32:28:  “Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts (‎וְאֻֽרָוֹת֙ לְכָל־בְּהֵמָ֣ה וּבְהֵמָ֔ה), and cotes for flocks.”

[10] Esther 9:21:  “To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly (‎בְּכָל־שָׁנָ֖ה וְשָׁנָֽה׃)…”

[11] Esther 9:28:  “And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation (‎בְּכָל־דּ֣וֹר וָד֗וֹר), every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.”

[12] Aulus Gellius (c. 125-c. 180) was a Roman grammarian, rhetorician, and collector of curiosities, which he set down in the twenty books of his Noctes Atticæ.

[13] Joshua 11:9; 2 Samuel 8:4; 1 Chronicles 18:4.

[14] See Psalm 20:7; 21:31; 33:16, 17; 147:10.