1 Kings 10:26

SOLOMON'S VIOLATION OF GOD'S COMMANDMENT REGARDING HORSES

"And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance. And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt; and the king's merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price. And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means."

The RSV makes Solomon's horse business a little clearer. Through the king's traders they (the horses) were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria (1 Kings 10:29).

Here we are confronted with another of Solomon's shameful violations of God's specific word. With regard to Israel's king, which was prophesied through Moses, and concerning whom the Lord said, "He shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt that he might multiply horses ... he shall not multiply wives to himself ... neither shall he multiply to himself silver and gold" (Deuteronomy 17:16-17). In the italicized portion of this passage in Deuteronomy, Matheney found, "A dark hint that Solomon may have sold some Israelites into slavery in Egypt in order to obtain his horses and chariots."[16]

In the next chapter, we shall see the shameful end of Solomon's so-called glorious reign.