The Kingdom's Administration

Solomon's officials: priests, scribes, a recorder, Benaiah over the army, Azariah over the governors, Ahishar over the household, "and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the tribute [mas, forced labor]." Twelve governors over all Israel "provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision."

"Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry." Solomon rules from the River to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt. "And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba."

"And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much… And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt… And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop… he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes."

Twelve districts

The districts only partly follow tribal lines and leave out Judah, which some see as a privilege for Judah and a burden on the north, a grievance that surfaces in chapter 12. Several district towns (Megiddo, Taanach, Beth-shean) are excavated.

Wisdom of the East and of Egypt

Egypt and Mesopotamia had long traditions of wisdom literature (the Instruction of Amenemope, the Sayings of Ahiqar) and of lists classifying plants and animals. The numbers of Solomon's proverbs and songs are the Bible's claim; the book of Proverbs attributes collections to him (Proverbs 1:1; 10:1; 25:1).

Hebrew and Greek order

The Greek arranges this material differently: parts of 4:20–5:14 appear in other places in 3 Kingdoms (including the additions in chapter 2). The Hebrew and Greek also number these verses differently (Hebrew 5:1–14 = English 4:21–34).