2 Chronicles 8:1-18

2 Chronicles: God desires loyal people

Solomon rules *Israel

2 Chronicles Chapter s 1 to 9

Ian Mackervoy

Chapter 8

What Solomon did – 2 Chronicles 8:1-18

v1 By the end of 20 years, Solomon had built the *LORD’s *temple. Also, he had built his own royal palace. v2 Solomon built again the towns that Hiram had given to him. And he sent *Israelites to live in these towns. v3 Then Solomon went to the town called Hamath Zobah. And he defeated it. v4 Also, Solomon built the town called Tadmor in the desert. And he built all the towns in Hamath as towns to store grain and supplies. v5 He built again Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon. He made them strong towns with walls, gates and bars in the gates. v6 Also, he built again the town called Baalath. He built other towns to keep supplies in. And he built towns where he kept his *chariots and his horses. He built all that he wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and in his entire *kingdom.

v7 There were people in *Israel who were not *Israelites. These were the people called Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. v8 They were *descendants of the people from those nations whom the *Israelites had not killed. Solomon forced them to be slave workers, as they are to this day. v9 But Solomon did not make slaves of the *Israelites. They were his soldiers and his officers. And they controlled his *chariots and his horsemen. v10 These men were the chief officers of King Solomon. There were 250 officers to direct the people.

v11 Solomon brought the king of Egypt’s daughter from David’s city. He took her to the palace that he had built for her. He said, ‘My wife shall not live in the palace of David, the king of *Israel. The places where the *LORD’s *ark has been are holy.’

v12 Then Solomon gave *sacrifices by fire to the *LORD. He *sacrificed them on the *altar that he had built for the *LORD in front of the *temple. v13 He gave *sacrifices each day as Moses had ordered. There were *sacrifices on the *Sabbath days, at the new moon and at the three special *feasts in the year. These special *feasts were the *feast of *unleavened bread, the *feast of weeks and the *feast of shelters. v14 As his father David had ordered, Solomon appointed the groups of priests for their work. He appointed the *Levites to do their work. They led the people to praise and they helped the priests. The priests and *Levites had tasks to do each day. Also, he appointed the *temple guards to guard the gates. This is what David, the man of God, had ordered. v15 The priests and *Levites did all that the king ordered. Also, they obeyed him in the control of the valuable things in the *temple.

v16 Solomon had done all the work on the *LORD’s *temple. He worked from the day that he laid its base. He worked until he had completed the task. So, he finished the *LORD’s *temple.

v17 Then Solomon went to the towns called Ezion Geber and Eloth. These towns were on the coast in the country called Edom. v18 And Hiram sent ships to him. Hiram’s own men were the captains because they knew the sea. They sailed with Solomon’s men to the region called Ophir. They brought back 450 *talents of gold from there. They delivered the gold to King Solomon.

Verses 1-2 Solomon had completed all this work in 20 years. This was the year 946 *BC. He had built the *temple and his royal palace. It took him about 7½ years to build the *temple. Then he took about 13 years to build his own house.

Solomon had given 20 towns to Hiram. These towns were in Galilee. Solomon may have given them to Hiram in payment of debts. These towns were in *Israel but *Israelites did not live in them. When Hiram came to see these towns, he was not happy with them (1 Kings 9:11-13). It seems that Solomon took back the towns from Hiram. Then Solomon improved the towns and he sent *Israelites to live in them.

Verse 3 Solomon was powerful and he had a large army. But there is a record of only one battle. He fought against the region called Hamath Zobah. This region was to the north of *Israel. Hamath and Zobah had been separate regions. The two regions had become one. King Tou of Hamath had been a friend of David. David defeated their enemy, who was the king of Zobah (1 Chronicles 18:9). It seems that the people in Hamath Zobah decided to oppose Solomon. So, he sent his army to bring that region under his control.

Verses 4-6 Tadmor was on the trade route between the sea and Babylon. It was about 125 miles (200 kilometres) to the north and east of Damascus city. Solomon built this town. Therefore, he had control of the trade that passed along this route. Many centuries later, Tadmor had a new name: Palmyra.

Solomon built the towns in the region called Hamath to store his goods.

The two Beth Horons were on the border between the areas of Ephraim and Benjamin. They were on a main road. It led to the port called Joppa. Therefore, from these towns, Solomon had control of the trade route.

Baalath was in the area that the *tribe of Dan originally received (Joshua 19:44). It is also called Kiriath Jearim (Joshua 15:9).

Verses 7-10 The people called Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites were in the country years before. They were there before the *Israelites came. Those people who remained after the *Israelites came became slave workers under Solomon. But he did not make any *Israelites into slaves.

Verse 11 Early in his rule, Solomon married a daughter of the king of Egypt. While Solomon built the *temple and his own palace, he kept this wife in Jerusalem. Then he built a palace for her and he took her there.

This wife brought her own maids and servants with her from Egypt. She and they probably did not *worship the *LORD. They had their own gods. Perhaps that is why Solomon kept them away from David’s palace and from the *LORD’s *temple. There is a tradition that gives her name as Bithiah. That name means ‘a daughter of the *LORD who *worships him’. So if the tradition is correct, this wife did *worship the *LORD. But we do know that many of Solomon’s later wives *worshipped false gods.

Verses 12-13 Solomon gave *sacrifices – in other words, he provided the animals. It was the priests’ duty to offer these *sacrifices to God. Solomon would not burn the *sacrifices on the *altar. He arranged for the *sacrifices that Moses had ordered.

There were the daily *sacrifices. The *Israelites had to *sacrifice a young sheep each morning. And they had to *sacrifice another young sheep each evening (Exodus 29:38).

Then there were the *sacrifices for the *Sabbaths and the new moon. The *Israelites had to *sacrifice two young sheep each *Sabbath day. The new moon was at the start of each month. On that occasion, they had to *sacrifice two *bulls, one male sheep and 7 young sheep (Numbers 28:9-15).

There were rules about the *sacrifices at the three special *feasts (Numbers 28:16–29:40).

Verses 14-15 David had arranged the priests and *Levites into 24 groups. There was always one group on duty (1 Chronicles Chapter s 23 to 25). Solomon did as his father had done. He appointed the priests and *Levites for their work. Also, he appointed the *temple guards as David had done.

David did this as the ‘man of God’. In all these affairs, he acted as the *LORD directed him.

The priests and *Levites obeyed all that the king ordered. The king here probably means David. He had told them the tasks that each group must do.

Verse 16 It took Solomon about 7 years to complete the *LORD’s *temple (1 Kings 6:37-38).

Verses 17-18 Ezion Geber and Eloth were ports at the north end of the gulf (bay) called the Gulf of Aqaba. The Gulf of Aqaba leads into the Red Sea. The nation called Tyre was famous because of its ships and its sailors. Hiram, who was the king of Tyre, sent ships and sailors to Solomon at these ports. At that time, there was no way to sail ships from Tyre to the Gulf of Aqaba. Therefore, we think that Hiram had ships already in that region. Or perhaps he sent materials by land to make ships at these ports. Or maybe he built ships at these ports. Also, Solomon built ships at Ezion Geber (1 Kings 9:26).

*Israelites sailed in the ships with Hiram’s sailors. They went to the region called Ophir. We do not know where Ophir was. But the sailors brought back to Solomon 450 *talents of gold.

Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
lord ~ someone with authority, such as the king.
temple ~ a special building for the *worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the *worship of the real God.
Jews ~ another name for the *Israelites.
chariot ~ a kind of cart that soldiers used to fight. Horses pulled it.
descendant ~ a future member of a family or of a nation.
ark ~ the ark of the LORD or the ark of God; the Bible also calls it the ark of God’s special promise. It was a wooden box with gold all over the outside and over the inside. It had two gold cherubim on the top. (see Exodus 25:10-22.) The *Israelites kept the ark in the most holy place, first in the LORD’s tent and then in the temple. The ark was a sign that God was with them (Exodus 25:22).
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
lord ~ someone with authority, such as the king.
cherubim ~ special angels. Images of these were in the most holy place where they were over the ark. Isaiah and Ezekiel saw cherubim when they saw God’s glory.
temple ~ a special building for the *worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the *worship of the real God.
angel ~ a servant who brings messages from heaven. God made angels to serve him and to take his messages.
glory ~ great honour and beauty.
Jews ~ another name for the *Israelites.
sacrifice ~ something that people give to God. If it was an animal, the priests would burn all or part of it on an *altar. That was to say thank you to God. People also offered sacrifices when they asked God to forgive their *sins. Jesus died as a sacrifice for our *sins. To sacrifice is to give a sacrifice.
Sabbath ~ The Sabbath was the 7th day of the week, that is, Saturday. God told the *Israelites to keep this day as a special day. He said that they must not work on that day. They should *worship God instead.'unleavened bread ~ people do not use yeast to make this kind of bread. (Yeast causes bread to rise as it bakes.)
Levite ~ a person who belongs to the tribe of Levi. They helped the priests.
tribe ~ The 12 families of the sons of Jacob became the 12 tribes of *Israel.
talent ~ equal to 75 pounds or 34 kilos in weight.
BC ~ years before Christ was born.
tribe ~ The 12 families of the sons of Jacob became the 12 tribes of *Israel.
bull ~ the male animal that mates with a cow.