Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills. Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue. A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Likewise, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.
Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills. Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue. A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Likewise, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.
Significance
These are parallel accounts of Solomon's horse and chariot trade with Egypt and Kue. Both texts note Solomon amassed 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and that silver was as common as stones in Jerusalem. The Chronicler places this trade notice at the beginning of Solomon's reign (ch. 1), while 1 Kings positions it at the end (ch. 10), near the critique of Solomon's foreign entanglements. The Chronicler's relocation removes the negative connotations associated with Deuteronomy 17:16's prohibition against the king multiplying horses from Egypt, presenting Solomon's wealth as evidence of divine blessing. The parallel further specifies the trade's terms—chariots imported from Egypt at 600 shekels of silver and horses at 150 shekels each (1 Kgs 10:29).
Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s)
Redemptive-Historical Progression — 2 Chronicles 1:14-17 repeats 1 Kings 10:26-29 nearly word for word (1,400 chariots, 12,000 horses, silver as common as stones, horses from Egypt and Kue), but the Chronicler moves the notice from the close of Solomon's reign to its opening, re-presenting the wealth as the immediate outworking of God's Gibeon grant of "riches and wealth and honor" (2 Chr 1:12) as redemptive history advances toward the true King whose riches never corrupt.
