1 Kings 4:20
in 1 Kings 4The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Judah and Israel were many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.
KJV
Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry.
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This verse in 1 Kings 4
Commentary
8 notes on this verseEating and drinking, and making merry - They were very comfortable, very rich, very merry, and very corrupt. And this full feeding and dissipation led to a total corruption of manners.
This site's exposition
as the sand which is by the sea
Judah and Israel multiplied as the sand of the sea is the promise the Lord swore to Abraham at Genesis 22:17, and for one generation under Solomon the oath reads as present fact rather than future hope. The verse pairs that fulfillment with plain contentment, eating and drinking, and making merry, the peace that made the multiplying visible to a watching nation. The same sand-of-the-shore picture returns at verse 29 to measure Solomon's own wisdom, so the chapter weighs both a people and a king on the same shore.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): Judah and Israel were many, and that good land was sufficient to maintain them all. They were as the sand of the sea in multitude. Now was fulfilled the promise made to Abraham concerning the increase of his seed ( Gen. xxii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude,....
Go where you would, you might see all the marks of plenty, peace, and satisfaction. The spiritual peace, and joy, and holy security, of all the faithful subjects of the Lord Jesus were typified by this. The kingdom of God is not, as Solomon's was, meat and drink, but, what is infinitely better, righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
We will read a few verses first, and at the close of them you will find the text. The last words are the text for this occasion. From the whole passage you will see that the kingdom of Israel under the sway of Solomon was a fair type of the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps it most exactly describes His future dominion, in the long-expected Glory of the latter days. The present state of the Church may be compared to the reign of David, splendid with victories, but disturbed with battles.
We will read a few verses first, and at the close of them you will find the text. The last words are the text for this occasion. From the whole passage you will see that the kingdom of Israel under the sway of Solomon was a fair type of the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps it most exactly describes His future dominion, in the long-expected Glory of the latter days. The present state of the Church may be compared to the reign of David, splendid with victories, but disturbed with battles. But there are better days to come, days in which the kingdom shall be extended and become more manifest—and then the Lord Jesus Christ shall be even more conspicuously seen as the Solomon of the kingdom, "who shall have dominion from sea to sea." Yet even now, as "we that have believed do enter into rest," so do we also enter into the richest provision which is made in the Covenant of Grace, even at this present time. And I may say of all who have come under the sway of Christ, that we dwell in a region of peace, seated, every man, under his vine and fig tree and none making us afraid. "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," and, "therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." "The peace of God which passes all understanding" does keep our heart and mind by Jesus Christ. Israel under Solomon had abundance as well as peace. What says the historian? They were "as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry." It is said that there was such plenty in the land in Solomon's time that gold was of no more value than silver and silver became of little more value than iron! And as for the other metals, they were little accounted of.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
There is some doubt about the proper arrangement of the remainder of this chapter. The best alteration, if we alter the Hebrew order at all, would be to place 1Ki 4:20-21 after 1Ki 4:25. Many ... - See 1Ki 3:8 note; and compare Psa 127:1-5, which is traditionally ascribed to Solomon, and which celebrates the populousness and security of Israel in his day.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And one officer over the land. Rav and Shmuel have differing opinions, one says, one was appointed over all of them, and this was Azaryoh[u] the son of Noson, who was mentioned previously, 6 Above v. and one says he was [appointed] for the thirteenth month.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְהוּדָ֤ה | yehudah | Judah | H3063 → | 819 times |
| וְיִשְׂרָאֵל֙ | veyisrael | and Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| רַבִּ֔ים | rabim | [were] numerous | H7227 → | 454 times |
| כַּח֥וֹל | kachol | like the sand | H2344 → | |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | [is] at | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַיָּ֖ם | haiyam | the sea | H3220 → | 396 times |
| לָרֹ֑ב | laro | for multitude | H7230 → | 149 times |
| אֹכְלִ֥ים | ʾokhelim | [they were] eating | H398 → | 810 times |
| וְשֹׁתִ֖ים | veshotim | and [were] drinking | H8354 → | 217 times |
| וּשְׂמֵחִֽים׃ | usemechim | and [were] joyful | H8056 → | 21 times |
יְהוּדָ֤הJudah
yehudahH3063 →819 times
וְיִשְׂרָאֵל֙and Israel
veyisraelH3478 →2507 times
רַבִּ֔ים[were] numerous
rabimH7227 →454 times
כַּח֥וֹלlike the sand
kacholH2344 →
אֲשֶׁר־which
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
עַל־[is] at
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַיָּ֖םthe sea
haiyamH3220 →396 times
לָרֹ֑בfor multitude
laroH7230 →149 times
אֹכְלִ֥ים[they were] eating
ʾokhelimH398 →810 times
וְשֹׁתִ֖יםand [were] drinking
veshotimH8354 →217 times
וּשְׂמֵחִֽים׃and [were] joyful
usemechimH8056 →21 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 22:17I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
it leads to
- Genesis 15:5
And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 33:22
As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister…
- Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”
- Genesis 26:4
I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,
- Psalms 72:8–9
May he rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.
- Genesis 15:5
Through
1 Kings 3:8Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a people too numerous to count or number.
it leads to
- Genesis 22:17
I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 22:17
Through
Genesis 32:12But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”
it leads to
- Genesis 28:13–15
And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the…
- Genesis 28:13–15
Through
Zechariah 9:15The LORD of Hosts will shield them. They will destroy and conquer with slingstones; they will drink and roar as with wine. And they will be filled like sprinkling bowls, drenched like the corners…
it leads to
- Zechariah 12:6
On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among the sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right…
- Zechariah 12:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 1 Kings
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1504: “The Swift Camels” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.