2 Chronicles 8:1-18

5. BUILDING, LABORERS AND SHIPS (2 Chronicles 8:1-18)

TEXT

2 Chronicles 8:1. And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of Jehovah, and his own house, 2. that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.

3. And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it. 4. And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. 5. Also he built Bethhoron the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars; 6. and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
7. As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, that were not of Israel; 8. of their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, of them did Solomon raise a levy of bond-servants unto this day. 9. But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen. 10. And these were the chief officers of king Solomon, even two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people.
11. And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her; for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of Jehovah hath come.
12. Then Solomon offered burnt-offerings unto Jehovah on the altar of Jehovah, which he had built before the porch, 13. even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.
14. And he appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the courses of the priest to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise, and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required; the doorkeepers also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded. 15. And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures.

16. Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of Jehovah, and until it was finished. So the house of Jehovah was completed.
17. Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom. 18. And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched from thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

PARAPHRASE

2 Chronicles 8:1. It was now twenty years since Solomon had become king, and the great building projects of the Lord's Temple and his royal palace were completed. 2. He now turned his energies to rebuilding the cities which King Hiram of Tyre had given to him, and he relocated some of the people of Israel into them.

3. It was at this time, too, that Solomon fought against the city of Hamath-zobah and conquered it. 4. He built Tadmor in the desert, and built cities in Hamath as supply centers. 5. He fortified the cities of upper Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon, both being supply centers, building their walls and installing barred gates. 6. He also built Baalath and other supply centers at this time, and constructed cities where his chariots and horses were kept. He built to his heart's desire in Jerusalem and Lebanon and throughout the entire realm.
7, 8. He began the practice that still continues of conscripting as slave laborers the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusitesthe descendants of those nations which the Israelis had not completely wiped out. 9. However, he didn-'t make slaves of any of the Israeli citizens, but used them as soldiers, officers, charioteers, and cavalry-men; 10. also, two hundred fifty of them were government officials who administered all public affairs.
11. Solomon now moved his wife (she was Pharaoh's daughter) from the City of David sector of Jerusalem to the new palace he had built for her. For he said, She must not live in King David's palace, for the Ark of the Lord was there and it is holy ground.
12. Then Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar he had built in front of the porch of the Temple. 13. The number of sacrifices differed from day to day in accordance with the instructions Moses had given; there were extra sacrifices on the Sabbaths, on new moon festivals and at the three annual festivalsthe Passover celebration, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Tabernacles.
14. In assigning the priests to their posts of duty he followed the organizational chart prepared by his father David; he also assigned the Levites to their work of praise and of helping the priests in each day's duties; and he assigned the gatekeepers to their gates. 15. Solomon did not deviate in any way from David's instructions concerning these matters and concerning the treasury personnel.
16. Thus Solomon successfully completed the construction of the Temple.
17, 18. Then he went to the seaport towns of Ezion-geber and Eloth, in Edom, to launch a fleet presented to him by King Hiram. These ships, with King Hiram's experienced crews working alongside Solomon's men, went to Ophir and brought back $13,000,000 worth of gold to him!

COMMENTARY

Solomon had spent seven years building the Temple and thirteen years building his own palaces. These palaces included the House of the Forest of Lebanon, a Porch of Pillars, his personal quarters, a Judgment Hall, a House for Pharaoh's Daughter (1 Kings 7:1-8). All of these buildings were wonderfully constructed, ornately furnished, and they were situated in proper relationship to the Temple.[52] According to 1 Kings 9:11-13, Solomon had given Hiram (Huram), king of Tyre, twenty cities in Galilee. These villages bordered the Phoenician country and were given to the Phoenicians as partial payment for their help in providing supplies for Solomon's building program. Hiram was not at all pleased with the transaction and showed his displeasure by calling these villages Cabul, which means good for nothing. Since the Phoenicians evidently did nothing with the villages, Solomon made some improvements which made the villages attractive to certain Israelites for settlement.

[52] Schultz, Samuel, J., The Old Testament Speaks, pp. 148, 149

Hamath-zobah is the same city mentioned in 2 Chronicles 7:8. There may have been some uprising in this vicinity which Solomon was able to put down. He most likely established garrisons of soldiers in that district. Tadmor was west of Damascus about one hundred and forty miles about equi-distant from the Orontes and Euphrates rivers. The garrisons at Tadmor helped secure the northern borders of the kingdom. The villages of Beth-horon were in the territory of Ephraim, not far from Jerusalem in a north-westerly direction. Baalath was a village in the tribe of Dan. Solomon built whatever he pleased in any of these places either by way of military fortification or for his own personal satisfaction.

There were in Solomon's kingdom remnants of the native inhabitants of Palestine. Five of the seven native nations are named in 2 Chronicles 8:7. Girgashites and Canaanites are the others who are not named. All of these people were supposed to be utterly dispossessed in Joshua's day and the period of conflict that followed. The Hebrews failed in this matter. Instead of annihilating these people, they subjected them to taskwork. The free-born children of Israel were the chief military leaders. From among these Solomon selected two hundred and fifty men who were to have very responsible military positions.

In his complex of costly palaces Solomon built a house especially for the daughter of Pharaoh. Before his palaces were completed he had occupied the quarters of his father, David. At this time he was able to move his queen into a palace more worthy of her dignity. In those months that followed the completion of the Temple Solomon was faithful in his service to Jehovah. He was careful to attend to the burnt offerings. By these he vowed his complete commitment to Jehovah. It is possible that he attended both morning and evening sacrifices at the altar. Special offerings were made on the sabbath day, to usher in a new month, and for the three great annual festivals. As long as the king was careful about these matters, he remained faithful to Jehovah. Solomon sought out carefully the appointments and schedule of service for the priests and Levites as these had been determined by David. He was faithful in administering this program. Once more, the chronicler emphasizes the fact that the house of Jehovah was completed when it functioned as a place of worship.
In Solomon's day Israel's wealth was greatly increased through the operation of two navies.[53] One of these, the Tarshish navy, was based at Tyre in Phoenicia. It was manned by Phoenician seamen and touched all of the main coastal cities on the whole perimeter of the Mediterranean as it went as far west as Spain (1 Kings 10:22). The Ophir navy, also manned by Phoenicians, used Ezion-geber and Eloth at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba as home ports (1 Kings 9:26-28). This navy moved through the entire length of the Red Sea touching the west coast of Arabia and the east coast of Africa. This navy visited ports in India and probably went as far east as China. Immense wealth was brought into Israel from these distant places. These navies also exported much merchandise from Israel. The four hundred and fifty talents of gold probably represents one deposit made upon the return of this Ophir navy. If the gold talent was worth thirty thousand dollars, this would amount to thirteen million five hundred thousand dollars.

[53] Grosverior, Melville, B., Everyday Life in Bible Times, pp. 246-248

Clarke, Adam. A Commentary and Critical Notes, Vol. II, p. 648