Commentary - 2 Chronicles 1:14-17

Bird's-eye view

In this short passage, we are given a snapshot of the Solomonic golden age at its zenith. Immediately following God's grant of wisdom and the promise of unparalleled riches, the Chronicler shows us the fulfillment of that promise. On the surface, this is a record of immense blessing, military might, and economic prosperity. Solomon's kingdom is the sole superpower of the age. However, bubbling just beneath the surface of this glorious account are the tell-tale signs of compromise. The seeds of Israel's future division and Solomon's personal downfall are being sown right here, in the midst of all this splendor. This passage is therefore a profound lesson in the seductive nature of worldly success and a pointed reminder that God's commands for His kings were not arbitrary suggestions.

The Chronicler wants us to see the glory, to be sure. But he also wants us to read this with Deuteronomy 17 in the back of our minds. The law for the king was explicit: he was not to multiply horses for himself, especially not from Egypt, nor was he to multiply silver and gold. As we will see, Solomon, for all his God-given wisdom, walks right into the very snares God had warned him about. This is not just a historical account; it is a theological commentary on the nature of temptation and the slow, subtle slide of disobedience that can begin even in a season of great blessing.

Outline

Context In 2 Chronicles

This section comes directly after Solomon's famous request for wisdom at Gibeon (2 Chron 1:7-12). God was pleased with his request and not only granted him wisdom but also promised him riches and honor beyond any king before or after him. These verses (14-17) are the immediate demonstration of that promise being fulfilled. The Chronicler is establishing Solomon's reign as one of immense divine favor. However, unlike the writer of Kings, the Chronicler often smooths over the rough edges of Israel's heroes. But the details here are too significant to ignore, and they function as a subtle foreshadowing. The very things that mark his glory, horses from Egypt, vast quantities of silver, are the very things prohibited in the law for the king. This creates a tension in the narrative: God is blessing Solomon extravagantly, but Solomon is handling that blessing in a disobedient manner.

Key Issues

Verse-by-Verse Commentary

14 And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. And he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

The Chronicler begins with Solomon's military expansion. The gathering of chariots and horsemen was the ancient equivalent of building up a fleet of tanks and fighter jets. This was the pinnacle of military technology and power. David, his father, had hamstrung the horses of his enemies (2 Sam 8:4), showing a reliance on God rather than on military hardware. Solomon, however, goes in the opposite direction. He is not just acquiring a token force; he is amassing a significant army. The numbers are staggering for the time: 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen. This is a statement of geopolitical dominance. He is not just king of Israel; he is an emperor. He stations them strategically, both in dedicated "chariot cities" and with himself in the capital. This is a picture of a well-organized, centralized, and powerful state. On one level, this is a fulfillment of God's promise of honor and strength. But on another, it is the first step away from the kind of radical trust in God that characterized his father's best moments. The law in Deuteronomy 17:16 explicitly says the king "shall not multiply horses for himself." The word is "multiply." Solomon is doing precisely that.

15 The king also made silver and gold as plentiful as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the Shephelah.

The second violation of Deuteronomy 17 follows immediately on the heels of the first. The king was not to "greatly multiply to himself silver and gold." What does Solomon do? He multiplies it to such an extent that it becomes common, like stones in the street. This is hyperbole, of course, but it communicates a level of wealth that is simply staggering. Silver, a precious metal, lost its value because there was so much of it. This is economic power to match his military might. The cedars, imported luxury timber used for significant building projects like the Temple, became as common as the cheap, local sycamore-fig trees. God was pouring out blessing, fulfilling his promise. But Solomon's wisdom seems to be functioning in a purely secular, administrative sense. He knows how to build an economy, how to manage logistics, how to project power. What he is forgetting is that the purpose of the limitations in Deuteronomy was to keep the king's heart from being lifted up and turned away from the Lord. Wealth, like military power, can become a substitute for faith. When you can buy anything you want, it is easy to forget the one from whom all blessings flow.

16 Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and from Kue; the king’s merchants procured them from Kue for a price.

Here the Chronicler gives us the source of the military buildup, and it is the most spiritually significant detail in the passage. The horses came from Egypt. Deuteronomy 17:16 is explicit: "he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to the end that he should multiply horses." Why the prohibition on Egypt? Because Egypt is the archetypal symbol of the house of bondage. It represents the world's way of doing things, a reliance on human power, slavery, and oppression. God had miraculously delivered His people from Egypt, and for the king to lead them back there, even for trade, was a spiritual regression. It was a turning back to the garlic and leeks, a forgetting of the redemption at the Red Sea. Solomon, in his worldly wisdom, establishes a trade relationship with the very symbol of bondage. He is building his security on the resources of the world, not on the promises of God. Kue, likely Cilicia in modern-day Turkey, was a renowned horse-breeding region, but the mention of Egypt is the theological dagger. The king's own merchants are running this operation, indicating it is a state-sponsored enterprise. This is not a minor infraction; it is a foundational compromise.

17 And they imported a chariot from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150; and by the same means they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

The final verse reveals the full extent of Solomon's enterprise. Not only is he importing horses and chariots for his own army, but he has become an international arms dealer. He is the middleman, buying from Egypt and selling to the surrounding nations, the Hittites and the Arameans. From a business perspective, this is brilliant. He is leveraging his geographic location and political power to control the regional arms trade, no doubt increasing his wealth and influence immensely. He has a monopoly. But what is he doing? He is strengthening the very pagan nations that were perennial threats to Israel. He is equipping his potential enemies. This is the kind of "wisdom" that looks shrewd to the world but is folly to God. It is a wisdom divorced from obedience. He is using God's blessing to set up a system that is entirely reliant on worldly principles of power and profit. The prices are listed to show the scale and reality of the operation, this was big business. But in trafficking the instruments of war, he is trafficking in the very things that will ultimately lead to conflict and sorrow, not just for the nations, but for his own people.

Application

The story of Solomon is a cautionary tale for every believer, every church, and every nation blessed by God. The moment of our greatest prosperity can often be the moment of our greatest peril. God's blessings are a test. What will we do with them? Will we receive them with gratitude and consecrate them to His service, or will we leverage them to build our own little empires, trusting in our own strength and wisdom?

Solomon did not wake up one day and decide to build temples to Chemosh and Molech. The apostasy of his later years began here, with what seemed like wise and prudent policy. A strong army. A robust economy. International trade. What could be wrong with that? The problem was that it was all done in direct contradiction to the clear Word of God. It was a substitution of worldly means for faithful obedience. The law for the king was designed to keep him utterly dependent on God. Solomon's policies were designed to make him utterly independent.

We must learn to see the Egyptian horses in our own lives. Where do we compromise, thinking it is just being practical? Where do we trust in our bank accounts or our political savvy more than we trust in the living God? Solomon's wisdom, divorced from simple obedience, became a snare. True wisdom, the wisdom from above, begins with the fear of the Lord. It is not enough to be successful in the eyes of the world. We are called to be faithful in the eyes of our God, who sees the heart and weighs the subtle compromises that no one else notices.