_A.M. 3012. B.C. 992._ God in a vision answers Solomon's prayer, 1 Kings 9:1. The mutual presents of Solomon and Hiram, 1 Kings 9:10. His workmen and buildings, 1 Kings 9:15. His devotion, 1 Kings 9:25. His navy, 1 Kings 9:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And it came to pass when Solomon had finished_, &c. Or rather, according to 2 Chronicles 7:11, _Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord_, &c., and concluded all with the foregoing prayer, and the great festival which he kept. _That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time_ That is, the seco... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord said, I have heard thy prayer_ This shows that the first verse is to be understood as we have just stated: for otherwise we must suppose this appearance of God to Solomon to have taken place, and this answer to have been given to his prayer, eleven years after he had finished the house, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thou wilt walk before me_, &c. He shows him that he and his people were for the future _upon their good behaviour:_ Let them not be secure now, as if they might conduct themselves as they please, having _the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord among them, Jeremiah 7:4_. No: this house was... [ Continue Reading ]
_If you shall at all turn from following me_ Hebrew, _If in turning you turn from me;_ that is, if you _assuredly_, and _indeed_, or, as some understand it, _altogether turn from me;_ if you forsake my service, desert my altar, and go and serve other gods; (for that was the covenant-breaking sin;) i... [ Continue Reading ]
_And at this house, which is high_ Exalted in its privileges, and renowned for its riches and splendour, and the great resort of people to it. They gloried in the stateliness and magnificence of the structure; but God here lets them know it was not so high as to be out of the reach of his judgments,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee_ Or, _near the land of Galilee_, bordering upon it; in those parts which were near, and adjoining to, Hiram's dominions: with the cities, understand the territories belonging to them. These cities, though they were within those large bounds wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_This is the reason of the levy_, &c. That the raising of a great tribute upon the people, and employing so many men in his works, might not seem strange, the sacred writer here shows the cause of it; which was, his great and numerous buildings, suitable to the high dignity to which God had advanced... [ Continue Reading ]
For _Pharaoh had gone up and taken Gezer, &c., and slain the Canaanites_ For the Israelites did not dispossess the Canaanites, but they continued to dwell in Gezer in Joshua's time and after, Joshua 16:10; Judges 1:29. And, it seems, neither David nor Solomon expelled them, but only kept them under... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Beth-horon the nether_ The lower Beth-horon, which was in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:13. _Baalath_ A city in the tribe of Dan, Joshua 19:44. _And Tadmor in the wilderness_ The name of this city signifies _wonderful_, or _admirable_, and it was so named, probably, from the singularity of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_All the people that were left of the Amorites_ Who, it is likely, by this time were become proselytes to the Jewish religion, as the Gibeonites were, or at least renounced their idolatry. _Upon those did Solomon levy a tribute_ He used them as bond-men, and imposed bodily labours upon them. “But wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bond-men _ He spared them, and did not employ them in any servile labours about his public works, but put them into nobler offices, as it here follows. _They were men of war_ Which was accounted an honourable employment. _And his servants_ Officers in h... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pharaoh's daughter came up_, &c. In 2 Chronicles 8:11, we learn the reason why she did not continue in the house where David had dwelt; which was because it was a kind of holy place, where it was not fit she should remain, the ark of God having dwelt there.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings_ That is, at least three times, namely, at the three solemn feasts which God had commanded to be observed by till the people. Then he offered sacrifices suitable to those great mercies which were at these seasons commemorated, and to the great... [ Continue Reading ]
_King Solomon made a navy of ships_ Not now, in the order in which it is placed in the history, but in the beginning of his reign; as appears from this consideration, that the almug-trees, used in the work of the Lord's house, were brought in this navy from Ophir, (1Ki 10:11-12; 2 Chronicles 9:10,)... [ Continue Reading ]
_They came to Ophir_ A place famous for gold, which was found there in great plenty, and peculiarly fine. It is highly probable that this place was in India, but in what part of it is not easy to determine. Bochart thinks it was Taprobana, now called Ceylon, and shows that the account which the anci... [ Continue Reading ]