The Old Testament Scriptures contain large amounts of historical data for the monarchs of ancient Israel. These lists were often included within 2 different sets of texts, and the question about the number of chief officers King Solomon had over his people is found in First Kings and Second Chronicles.

In the account of the Book of Kings, it says:

“Others were chiefs of the officials who were over Solomon’s work: five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.” (1 Kings 9:23 NKJV)

 While, on the other hand, the record in the Book of Chronicles says:

“And others were chiefs of the officials of King Solomon: two hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people.” (2 Chronicles 8:10 KJV)

There seems to be a contradiction here, for the one verse says 550 chiefs but the other has 250. What’s going on?

Explanation:

The explanation is quite simple and requires careful rereading. The first verse says, “… five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.” On the other hand, the second verse says, “… two hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people.”

These two verses speak about two different groups of people. One group was labelled as the people who “did the work,” which required 550 chiefs, and the other group was labelled “the people,” which had only 250 chiefs.

Conclusion:

The differences between Old Testament books like Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles are not “Bible contradictions” but provide more information for the reader on the same topic, event, or story. It appears that Solomon had a minimum of 800 chiefs of officials we know of at that point in time.

You’ll find other articles dealing with the supposed contradictions in the Bible here:
Articles on Bible difficulties

We also have videos on this topic, which you can find here:
YouTube playlist for Bible difficulties