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1 Kings 5:13

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

1 Kings 5:13

Verse 13 of 18

Scripture focus

And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

1 Kings 5:13 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on 1 Kings 5:13

Theological / Devotional

Raised a levy. This seems to have been the first time that the Israelites were called upon to perform forced labor. Samuel had foretold that with the coming of the kingdom this would be the case (1 Sam. 8:16). David had bound into forced service “the strangers that were in the land of Israel” (1 Chron. 22:2), but Israelites thus far had escaped such service. In connection with the building of the Temple, 30,000 laborers were drafted.

Supposing a population of 1,300,000 able-bodied Israelites (2 Sam. 24:9), this would be one out of 43.

By SdaBc