“Shlomo’s provisions for one day consisted of 150 bushels of fine flour, 310 bushels of meal, ten fattened oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen, and one hundred sheep, in addition to deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened poultry.”-1 Kings 5:2-3
Verses 2 and 3 give us a list of food items needed for Solomon’s royal court.
And it is HUMONGOUS!
The amount of food supplies wasn’t for one month, or even one week…
But for an entire day.
Scholars have estimated that these were provisions for a population ranging from 14,000 to 60,000 people.
The difference is only due to how ancient measures were interpreted compared to our modern standard measures, and how many supplies each person needed.
Either way, the amount of food provided daily was staggering.
It shows just how big Solomon’s government had grown in such a short time.
It also shows how much of their own crops and farm animals the average citizen had to sacrifice to support Solomon and his officials.
And by the way, this ain’t necessarily extravagant for this era.
A little digging into how Persian and Arabian kings ran their kingdoms shows that Solomon’s royal court and tax system were actually pretty normal for the time.
Other kings and sultans had just as many government workers on the payroll and collected just as much in taxes.
So the numbers here in 1st Kings shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as excessive.
Solomon was just running his kingdom as other kings did.
So what’s the takeaway for today?
Here’s what’s coming to me.
At the risk of sounding like some New Ager who preaches manifestation and unlimited abundance…
The message coming to me is actually kinda similar.
The Lord we worship IS a God of unlimited abundance.
He has no limitations, and there is no hedge or boundary to how much he can provide.
We saw this demonstrated many times during the Wilderness Journey after the Exodus.
I’m not just talking about the manna he rained down from heaven.
But also, how about that time when he fed the Israelites quail from heaven when they were begging for meat?
Although this wasn’t a positive scene, God’s response was essentially…
“You want meat?
I’ll give you meat.
So much meat it’ll come out of your nostrils and make you sick.”
Again, I know this wasn’t a positive scene.
That scene was all about the danger of despising God’s provision while longing for what you left behind.
Yet, my point still stands.
The Lord is NOT limited in what He can do and what He can provide if He so chooses.
To close on a positive note…
Recall what Yeshua did when he fed the crowds who had come to hear him preach out of five loaves of bread and two fish.
The crowd numbered about 5,000 men.
This means the actual total, including women and children, was likely significantly higher.
Some estimates push it to 15,000-20,000 people.
Everyone ate until they were full.
And then they collected twelve baskets of leftovers.
Again, the point is they had more food at the end than they started with.
My point is reinforced 10-fold.
The God we worship is indeed one of unlimited abundance.
I should add that John’s account contains an interesting detail.
After the miracle, the crowd wanted to take Yeshua by force and make Him king.
He slipped away, but then after that, he preached his famous “Bread of Life” discourse in John 6.
That’s when He connected the miracle directly to Himself as the true bread come down from heaven.
That was a clear callback to the manna in the wilderness.
Alrighty, I could literally go on forever with all of these cool connections.
So let’s stop here.
Later homies.
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