1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, 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 unto him at Gibeon. |
3 And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. |
4 And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: |
5 Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. |
6 But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, 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 people: |
8 And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? |
9 And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil. |
10 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, 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 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 thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day. |
14 And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold. |
15 And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. |
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 present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife. |
17 And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether, |
18 and Baalath, and Tadmor 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 children of Israel, |
21 Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day. |
22 But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: 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 unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo. |
25 And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the LORD, and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the house. |
26 And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom. |
27 And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. |
28 And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon. |
8 The chief men of Israel called together, Ki1 8:1-2.
The ark fixt in the most holy place, Ki1 8:3-9.
God takes possession of it by a cloud, Ki1 8:10-12.
Solomon tells the people the occasion of their meeting, Ki1 8:13-21.
The prayer of dedication, Ki1 8:22-53.
He dismisses the assembly with a blessing and an exhortation, Ki1 8:54-61.
Offers abundance of sacrifices, Ki1 8:62-66.
8:63 Offered - Not all in one day, but in the seven, or it may be in the fourteen days, mentioned ver. Ki1 8:65.
8:64 Middle of the court - Of the priests court, in which the great altar was. This he consecrated as he did the great altar, by sacrifices;but with this difference, that he consecrated that for perpetual use: butthis only for the present occasion, being warranted to do so both by thenecessity of it for God's service, and for the present solemn work, forwhich the brazen altar was not sufficient; and by the direction of God'sspirit, wherewith Solomon was endowed, as being a prophet, as well as aking. Here therefore he suddenly reared up divers altars, which, afterthis solemnity were demolished.
8:65 Seven - Seven for the dedication of the temple, or altar; and the other seven for the feast of tabernacles. And it seems to be expressed inthis manner, to intimate, that these fourteen days of rejoicing, were notaltogether, but that there was some interval between them, which indeed wasnecessary, because the day of atonement was on the tenth day of this month,Lev 23:27. And because these fourteen days ended on the twenty - secondday, Ch2 7:10, it may seem most probable, that the feast of thededication was kept before the tenth day: and the feast of tabernacles somedays after it.
8:66 He sent - Solomon having joined with the people in the solemn assembly, which was kept on the eighth day; in the close of that day tookhis solemn farewell, and dismissed them with his blessing; and the nextmorning when the heads and elders with divers of the people came to taketheir leave of the king, he sent them away.
9 God in a vision answers Solomon's prayer, Ki1 9:1-9.
The mutual presents of Solomon and Hiram, Ki1 9:10-14.
His workmen and buildings, Ki1 9:15-24.
His devotion, Ki1 9:25.
His navy, Ki1 9:26-28.
9:3 For ever - As long as the Mosaic dispensation lasts; whereas hitherto my worship has been successively in several places. Eyes - Mywatchful and gracious providence. Heart - My tender affection.Shall be there - Shall be towards this place and people.
9:5 Then - Upon that condition; for my promise to David was conditional.
9:8 High - Glorious and renowned. Astonished - At its unexpected and wonderful ruin. Hiss - By way of contempt and derision.
9:11 Galilee - Or, near the land of Galilee, bordering upon it; in those parts which were near, and adjoining to Hiram's dominions: withthe cities, understand the territories belonging to them. These cities,though they were within those large bounds which God fixed to the land ofpromise, Gen 15:18 Ki1 9, Jos 1:4, yet were not within those parts whichwere distributed by lot in Joshua's time. It is probable they were notinhabited by Israelites, but by Canaanites, or other Heathens;who being subdued, and extirpated by David or Solomon, those citiesbecame a part of their dominions; and afterwards were reckoned a part ofGalilee, as Josephus notes.
9:13 Cabul - That is, of dirt, as most interpret it. Because, though the land was very good, yet being a thick and stiff clay, andtherefore requiring great pains to manure it, it was very unsuitable tothe disposition of the Tyrians, who were delicate, and lazy, andluxurious, and wholly given to merchandise. And on his returning them,there is no doubt but Solomon gave him an equivalent more to his taste.
9:14 Sent - And this seems to be here added, both to declare the quantity of the gold sent, which had been only named before, ver. Ki1 9:11,and as the reason why he resented Solomon's action, because so greata sum required a better recompense.
9:15 Raised - Both the levy of men; of which, chap.Ki1 5:13, and the levy of money upon his people and subjects. He raised this levy, bothto pay what he owed to Hiram, and to build the works following.
9:21 Those - He used them as bondmen, and imposed bodily labours upon them. But why did not Solomon destroy them as God had commanded, whennow it was fully in his power to do so? The command of destroying them,Deu 7:2, did chiefly, if not only, concern that generation ofCanaanites, who lived in, or, near the time of the Israelitesentering into Canaan. And that command seems not to be absolute, butconditional, and with some exception for those who should submit andembrace the true religion, as may be gathered both from Jos 11:19,and from the history of the Gibeonites. For if God's command had beenabsolute, the oaths of Joshua, and of the princes, could not haveobliged them, nor dispensed with such a command.
9:25 Three times - That is, at the three solemn feasts: and undoubtedly at all other appointed times.
9:26 Made - Not now, but in the beginning of his reign.
9:27 Knowledge of the sea - For which the Tyrians were famous.He sent also ships to join with Solomon's, not from Tyre, the cityof Phoenicia; but from an island in the Red - sea, called Tyre,because it was a colony of the Tyrians, as Strabo notes.
9:28 Ophir - A place famous for the plenty and fineness of the gold there. It is agreed, that it was a part of the East - Indies, probablyCeylon, which though very remote from us, yet was far nearer theRed - sea, from whence they might easily sail to it in those ancienttimes, because they might (according to the manner of those first ages)sail all along near the coast, though the voyage was thereby more tedious,which was the reason why three years were spent in it. And here, andhere only were to be had all the commodities which Solomon fetched fromOphir, chap.Ki1 10:22.Fetched - In all there came to the king four hundred and fifty talents,whereof it seems thirty talents were allowed to Hiram and his men, andso there were only four hundred and twenty that came clear into the king'streasury.