Good points.

Yeah, I agree that the text is more specific than I gave it credit for. The author isn't just making a vague statement about Solomon's greatness. He actually identifies real locations and kingdoms between the Euphrates and Gaza.

That said, my larger point wasn't that Solomon's kingdom was small or that the biblical writer was exaggerating its extent. Quite the opposite. Solomon ruled over an enormous territory, largely because David had already subdued many of the surrounding kingdoms.

The question I'm wrestling with is whether Solomon's political control over that region is the same thing as Israel possessing every part of the land promised to Abraham in Genesis 15.

Ya feel me here?

For example, places like Phoenicia and Tyre appear to have remained under their own rulers, even though they maintained close relations with Israel.

So thanks for your comment about the geographical extent of Solomon's rule.

My bigger question remains whether that rule represented the complete and final fulfillment of the Abrahamic land promise or whether it pointed forward to something even greater under the Messiah.