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“And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and
twelve thousand horsemen” (1 Kings 4:26).
“And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand
horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem” (2
Chronicles 9:25).
Gleason Archer, in his Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, devoted a small portion of
that text to discussing differences related to numbers in the books of 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2
Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles (1982, pp. 221-223). And, as he pointed out, there are between
eighteen to twenty such differences found among reports in those six Bible books. Archer termed
this group of difficulties “transmissional errors,” noting that numerals and proper
names are “more liable to copyist errors” (p. 222). Therefore, two possibilities exist
for addressing the difficulty between the forty thousand of 1 Kings 4:26 and the four thousand of 2 Chronicles 9:25: (1) either forty is correct and four is a mistake; or (2) vice
versa.
E.M. Zerr believed that forty thousand was the more accurate of the two, suggesting that forty
thousand horses would be adequate for twelve thousand horsemen (1948, 2:94). [However, Zerr did
note that in the Hebrew language, it requires the addition of only three letters on the end
of the word “four” to make it into “forty” (2:94).] On the other hand, Barnes
(1998, 2:152), Clarke (n.d., 2:399), Keil and Delitzsch (1996, 3:39), and the editors of The Pulpit Commentary (Spence and Exell, 1978, 5:75) emphasized that four thousand, not forty
thousand, is the correct rendition. Keil and Delitzsch noted that the “forty” of 1 Kings
4:26 “is an old copyist’s error” (1996, p. 39).
What are the reasons for believing that the four thousand figure is correct? First, in both
verses the numbers correspond to how many “stalls” or “stables” Solomon had.
Spence and Exell pointed out that most likely there was one horse per stall (or stable)
corresponding to what is seen commonly today (3:75). Second, Barnes mentioned the concordance of
four thousand horses with the number of chariots when he wrote: “Solomon’s chariots were
but 1,400 (x. 26; 2 Chr. i. 14), for which 40,000 horses could not possibly be required. The
Assyrian chariots had at most three horses apiece, while some had only two. 4,000 [sic] horses
would supply the full team of three to 1,200 and the smaller team of two to 2000 chariots”
(2:152). [Barnes (2:152), as well as Spence and Exell (5:75), further noted that the number twelve
thousand corresponds to the number of horses for cavalry, as opposed to being merely the number of
horsemen. This, however, is of no consequence in the current discussion other than to point out
that four thousand and twelve thousand are proportionate in nature.] Third, Clarke noted that even
the Septuagint has four thousand in 2 Chronicles 9:25 (2:399). [ NOTE
: The Septuagint does not contain 1 Kings 4:26.]
The four thousand figure appears to be the more probable of the two renderings. Moreover, a
simple scribal error (of adding a mere three letters to the Hebrew word for “four”) is
the most likely reason for the difficulty. Zerr, in writing of this difficulty, observed: “
When Jesus was here he condemned the scribes for many sins. But not one instance is recorded where
he even intimated they were unfaithful in their work as scribes…. We therefore understand that
such omissions as we are considering were incidental, and did not discount the truthfulness of the
Inspired Book” (1948, 2:94).
REFERENCES
Archer, Gleason (1982), Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan).
Barnes, Albert (1998 reprint), Barnes’ Notes: Exodus to Esther (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker).
Clarke, Adam (no date), A Commentary and Critical Notes on the Old Testament: Joshua to
Esther (New York: Abingdon).
Keil, C.F. and F. Delitzsch (1996 reprint), Commentary on the Old Testament: 1 and 2 Kings,
1 and 2 Chronicles (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson).
Spence, H.D.M., and Joseph S. Exell, eds. (1978), The Pulpit Commentary: I & II Kings (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Zerr, E.M. (1948), Bible Commentary: Old Testament (Bowling Green, KY: Guardian of
Truth).
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