How many stalls did Solomon have?

Claim:

1 Kings 4:26 states that Solomon had 40,000 stalls. However, 2 Chronicles 9:25 states that he had 4,000. Which is true?

Response:

The Masoretic Text (MT) says that Solomon had 40,000 stalls. However, this is most likely a copyist error. The 2 Chronicles passage is far more likely, because of the fact that there were only 12,000 horsemen. If 40,000 was the true number, then horses would outnumber men over 3 to 1. Since Hebrew numbers were so easy to miscopy, there is good reason to believe that one of these numbers was miscopied by a scribe. For more on this subject, see comments on Exodus 12:37.

About The Author
James Rochford

James earned a Master’s degree in Theological Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, graduating magna cum laude. He is the founder of Evidence Unseen and the author of several books. James enjoys serving as a pastor at Dwell Community Church in Columbus, Ohio, where he lives with his wife and their two sons.

Join Now

You make Evidence Unseen possible. If our content has impacted you and you value our work, learn about becoming a member. Membership gives you access to our Bible commentaries, audio library, and online courses. We couldn’t do this without you. Thank you for being part of this work.

I'd like more resources.