1 Kings 9:1-28
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 pleaseda him not.
13 And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabulb 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 Bethhoron 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 Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shorec 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.
1 Kings 9:2. The Lord appeared to Solomon the second time. This seems to be in answer to the prayer offered up in the temple.
1 Kings 9:13. Cabul, vile, argillaceous, arenaceous. These twenty towns lay nearest to Tyre; and it was difficult for Solomon to give him any other district, because the Hebrews would not be separated from David's house. Solomon laid a heavy tax on the people to pay Hiram the hundred and twenty talents.
1 Kings 9:15. Millo was a strong castle, or fortress on the highest part of Zion. David having taken the city, built it as a strong place; but Solomon it would seem rebuilt it as the citadel of Jerusalem. Here Joash retreated from the conspiracy, and was slain. 2 Kings 12:20. Hazor, a city of Naphtali, once a chief city of the Canaanites. Solomon now made it a grand fortress. Joshua 11:10; Joshua 19:32. Megiddo, a city of Ephraim, where the good Josiah received his wound. Gezer. There were two cities of this name; one in the tribe of Ephraim. Joshua 21:21. But the Gezer which Pharaoh took was a seaport, and inhabited by the exiled Canaanites. It is probable they had provoked the Egyptian monarch by a series of depredations at sea, to fit out this expedition against the city.
1 Kings 9:18. Tadmor, which Jerome renders Palmyra. According to Josephus it was two days journey from Lower Syria, and one from the Euphrates. Lib. 8. c. 2. This was an ancient and well-watered city. The Romans, accounting it the extremity of their empire, made it free. Pliny, book 5. ch. 25. It was the capital of Queen Zenobia, when she held in some sort the empire of the east. The ruins are still very majestic.
1 Kings 9:28. Ophir. אופירה ophirah: o being privative, as in orphan, without father. Orgild, Saxon, unfined; fric, cold; a feminine, that is, Africa, or a country without cold. We may however rest assured that fleets circumnavigated all Africa. The Hebrew mostly gives the original name to every city and country, which is otherwise with common historians. Thebes, for instance, the great and ancient city of Egypt, is everywhere called On or On-ammon in the sacred scriptures. It is called Diospolis by the Greeks, and Hecatompylos by Pliny. The case is similar with regard to Ophir, so often mentioned in the old testament. In Genesis 10:29, we find that Ophir and Havilah were sons of Joktan, and that their first land was from Meshi to Sephar, a mount of the east. Solomon's fleet sailed from Ezion-geber to the East Indies, and principally to the island of Taprobana, now called Ceylon, which was their place of rendezvous, after collecting all the commercial treasures of the east. In this island, and on the adjacent coasts alone, they could find the spices and precious stones mentioned in the tenth chapter.
REFLECTIONS.
We have now traced Solomon from the most hopeful infancy to the highest scale of grandeur, wealth and dominion, that any prince before his time had ever enjoyed. What proof that God, to a reformed and obedient people, is ever faithful to his covenant, and all its promises. But the pinnacle of prosperity is a giddy situation: it was in this that David once forgot himself, and sinned against the Lord. It was in this situation that Solomon erred, even more than his father. What then have not those families to fear who by commerce and speculation have suddenly risen to the enjoyment of villas, carriages, and a luxurious style of living? Let them tremble, lest they and their children, placed by their sins out of the covenant protection of the Lord, should suddenly experience reverses of fortune, and the heavy strokes of his afflicting rod: and if arrested by the heavy hand of death, where would their souls find a refuge?
The Lord who appeared to Solomon, and qualified him for the cares of government, now appeared the second time to save him in the hour of danger from prosperity. This was after twenty years, when he had finished his various palaces, and when he had reigned twenty four years; and consequently, when he was about to enjoy a little repose from the more active labours of life. The Lord reminded him of the family covenant, that there should not fail of David's line a man on the throne of Israel, for God is ever mindful of his word.
The Lord, as is invariably the case, reminded Solomon that the covenant had conditions, viz. if he would walk as his father David did, with integrity and uprightness of heart, and not turn aside to idolatry: and consequently, on derogation, he would forfeit all its protection. And so in fact it was; all was forfeited to his family by his sin, only the Lord in compassion to David spared him two of the tribes. How solemn, how sanctifying is this thought! Solomon is farther reminded that his family covenant was a branch of Israel's covenant. “If you shall at all turn from following me 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.” This is in substance the same as the Lord's covenant on Sinai, and before the people entered the land. Deuteronomy 28:29. And as we have seen in Solomon all the blessings of this covenant poured on Israel, so in the last chapter of the Chronicles we shall see all its curses inflicted on an apostate people.
This private token of God's favour to the king, produced for awhile a good effect on his mind. Three times a year he celebrated the grand festivals to the Lord; and he thought nothing too much to do, or too much to give to the Author of all good. Happy, infinitely happy for him and for his people, had he persevered.
We cannot but remark farther, the dignity with which the scriptures address the greatest of kings. With God there is no respect of persons: he requires of Solomon the same obedience as of a private character. One would have thought, if any abatement could be made in the more rigorous requisitions of the precepts, it should have been in favour of so great a king. Let us then learn wisdom, never to be partakers of other men's sins. Let us never palliate crimes by calling them the indiscretions of youth, nor excuse the want of religion by saying, he is a man of business. The whole earth is not sufficient to furnish an apology for the neglect of salvation; because it is our first business to seek the Lord while he may be found.