1 Kings 9:10

_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,_ At the end of twenty years. Seven and a half years were spent in building the temple (1 Kings 6:38), and twelve and a half years or thirteen years in the erection of his palace (1 Kings 7:1; 2 Chronicles 8:1). This verse is only a recapitulation of the first, necessary to recover the thread of connection in the narrative....

10-14 Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities. Hiram did not like them. If Solomon would gratify him, let it be in his own element, by becoming his partner in trade, as he did. See how the providence of God suits this earth to the various tempers of men, and the dispositions of men to the earth, and all for the good of mankind in general....

Verse 1 Kings 9:10. _AT THE END OF TWENTY YEARS_] He employed seven years and a half in building the temple, and twelve years and a half in building the king's house; see 1 Kings 7:1; 2 Chronicles 8:1....

The “twenty years” are to be counted from the fourth year of Solomon, the year when he commenced the building of the temple. They are made up of the seven years employed in the work of the temple 1 Kings 6:38, and the thirteen years during which Solomon was building his own house 1 Kings 7:1....

EXPOSITION SOLOMON'S BUILDINGS AND UNDERTAKINGS.—So far the historian has spoken exclusively of the two greatest works of Solomon's reign, the Temple and the Palace, and principally of the former. Even the message just related was, as we have seen, the response to the prayer offered when the temple was consecrated. But he now proceeds to mention other proofs of Solomon's greatness, and of the prosperity of his reign—doubtless because the glory of Israel then reached its climax, and the author would be tempted to linger over these details because of the dark contrast which his own time supplied—and this leads him to speak of the means by which all these enterprises were accomplished. The particulars here given are but fragmentary, and are grouped together in a somewhat irregular manner. It would seem as if both this account and that of the chronicler had been compiled from much more copio...

AND IT CAME TO PASS AT THE END OF TWENTY YEARS,.... From the time Solomon first began to build: when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord, and the king's house; the first was seven years in building, and the other thirteen; in all twenty....

5. JEHOVAH APPEARS UNTO SOLOMON AND THE GREATNESS OF THE KING CHAPTER 9 _ 1. The second appearance of the LORD to Solomon (1 Kings 9:1)_ 2. Transactions with Hiram (1 Kings 9:10) 3. The levy of the king (1 Kings 9:15) 4. Pharaoh's daughter occupies the house (1 Kings 9:24) 5. The king's offerings (1 Kings 9:25) 6. Solomon's navy (1 Kings 9:26) Jehovah's righteous government in the midst of His people Israel had

The first few verses are a continuation of 1 Kings 8, and are likewise cast in a thoroughly Deuteronomic mould. Yahweh again appeared to the king and assured him of His protection. In 1 Kings 9:6 there is a sudden change from the singular thou and thee to the plural ye, as if Yahweh were addressing Israel, threatening, in case of disobedience, to destroy the Temple and make its ruins a warning of the punishment He inflicts on those who do not obey His laws. Thus the section about the Temple closes, and the rest of the chapter, devoted to the reign of Solomon, takes up the account in 1 Kings 9:5, and deals with his public work, his splendour, his sin, and the adversaries whom Yahweh raised up against him....

TWENTY YEARS. Compare 1 Kings 7:1....

Solomon's gift to Hiram king of Tyre (Not in Chronicles) 10. _at the end of twenty years_ See 1 Kings 6:38 and 1 Kings 7:1....