A E¹ 1,2. Appearance. E² 3. Acceptance. E³ 4-9. Admonition.
897 B.C.
1 Kings 9)
1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord (i.e. the Temple), and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do,
2 That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon (see 3:5).
3 And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me: I have hallowed this house, which you have built, to put My name there for ever; and My eyes and My mind shall be there perpetually.
E³ g 4. Obedience.
h 5. Establishment.
g 6. Disobedience.
h 7-9. Rejection.4 And if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of mind, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, [and] will keep My statutes and My judgments:
5 Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom upon Israel for ever, according as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man upon the throne of Israel.’
6 [But] if you all shall at all turn from following Me, all you or your sons, and will not keep My commandments [and] My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:
7 Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for My name, will I cast out of My sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples:
8 And this house will become conspicuous; every passer by will be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house?’
9 And they shall answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God (Elohim), Who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshiped them, and served them: therefore has the Lord brought upon them all this evil’ ” (or tumult).
10 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years (cp. 7:1), when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord, and the king's house,
11 {[Now] Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir (or Cyprus) trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,} that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not.
13 And he said, “What cities [are] these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Cabul to this day (= limitation. The point of the sarcasm is not apparent to us on account of our not knowing the meaning of the word. It has been variously suggested as meaning "worthless", "not to my taste" [Josephus]. Galilee always despised. Sept. reads "frontier"; others "received as a pledge"; others "good for nothing").
14 And Hiram sent to the king (referring to v.11. perhaps this was an advance for which the cities of v.11 were the security) six-score talents of gold (approx. 24,000 lbs.).
F i 15. Levy for buildings.
k 16. Pharaoh's daughter. City given.
l 17-19. Buildings. Gezer, &c.
i 20-23. Levy for buildings.
k 24-. Pharaoh's daughter. House built.
l -24. Building. Milo.987 to 880 B.C.
15 And this [is] the account (or schedule) of the levy which king Solomon raised (i.e. tribute of men. Same word as 5:13-18; not the same word as v.21.); for to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and the Millo (= a rampart, mount. Part of Jebusite city, or the filling up between Jebus and Moriah. Hezekiah strengthened it. Schechem had a "millo" [Judg. 9:6]. Cp. v.24; 11:27. 2 Sam. 5:9. 1 Chron. 11:8. 2 Chron. 32:54), and the wall of Jerusalem (begun by David [2 Sam. 5:9. 1 Chron. 11:8]. Solomon closed the breaches [11:27]), and Hazor (= castle. An old Canaanitish town [Josh. 11:1]), and Megiddo (= place of crowds. See Josh. 12:21. Judg. 1:27; 5:19 and 1 Kings 4:12), and Gezer (= a precipice. Gezer was formerly under the suzerainty of Egypt. Correspondence of the time of Amen-hotep III and IV, about 1450 B.C., has been found at Tel-el-Amarnah explorations, which mentions Yapakhi as "king" of Gezer. Letters from Abdkhiba, king of Jerusalem, complain of the Gezerites. First mention in Josh.10:33. Conquest only partial [Josh. 16:10. Judg. 1:29]. Allotted to Levites [Josh. 21:21]. In excavation by Palestine Exploration Fund a contract was found, dated 649 B.C. [in Assyrian]. Gezer still then under an Egyptian Governor. Another contract, dated 647 B.C., was found, showing an Assyrian occupation in the time of Manasseh. This may explain the "captains" of 2 Chron. 33:11).
16 [For] Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it [for] a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.
17 And Solomon rebuilt and fortified Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether,
18 And Baalath, and Tadmor (called, later, Palmyra [from its palms]) in the wilderness, in the land,
19 And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
20 [And] all the people [that were] left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which [were] not of the sons of Israel,
21 Their sons that were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bond-service to this day (see v.22).
22 But of the sons of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen (according to Lev. 25:39. The levy, of 5:13; 11:28, was a levy for free service. This was for bond-service [v.21]): but they [were] men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen.
23 These [were] the chief of the officers that [were] over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, which bare rule over the People that wrought in the work.
24 But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David to her house which [Solomon] had built for her:
then did he build Millo.
25 And three times in a year did Solomon offer up (cp. Ex.23:14-17. Deut.16:16. 2 Chron.8:13) burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built to the Lord, and he burnt incense upon the altar that [was] before the Lord. So he finished the house.
C G¹ 9:26-28. Riches. Navy.
H¹ 10:1-10. Wisdom. Queen of Sheba.
G² 10:11,12. Riches. Navy.
H² 10:13. Wisdom. Queen of Sheba.
G³ 10:14-29. Riches. Possessions.
26 And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber (= giants backbone. Cp. Num.33:35. Deut.2:8. Position lost when Edom revolted [2 Kings 8:20]. restored by Uzziah [2 Kings 14:22]. Finally lost by Ahaz [2 Kings 16:6]), which [is] beside Eloth (= a grove), on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom (= red).
27 And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, ship-men that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.
28 And they came to Ophir (= abundance. See 2 Chron. 8:18), and fetched from that gold, four hundred and twenty talents (84,000 lbs.), and brought [it] to king Solomon.