1 Kings 9:27

_AND HIRAM SENT IN THE NAVY HIS SERVANTS, SHIPMEN THAT HAD KNOWLEDGE OF THE SEA, WITH THE SERVANTS OF SOLOMON._ NO JFB COMMENTARY ON THIS VERSE....

15-28 Here is a further account of Solomon's greatness. He began at the right end, for he built God's house first, and finished that before he began his own; then God blessed him, and he prospered in all his other buildings. Let piety begin, and profit follow; leave pleasure to the last. Whatever pains we take for the glory of God, and to profit others, we are likely to have the advantage. Canaan, the holy land, the glory of all lands, had no gold in it; which shows that the best produce is that which is for the present support of life, our own and others; such things did Canaan produce. Solomon got much by his merchandise, and yet has directed us to a better trade, within reach of the poorest. Wisdom is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold, Proverbs 3:14....

SHIPMEN - See 1 Kings 5:6 note. With respect to the acquaintance of the Phoenicians with this particular sea, it may be observed that they are not unlikely to have had trading settlements there, as they had in the Persian Gulf, even at this early period. The commerce with Ophir was probably an established trade, previously either in their hands or in those of the Egyptians, when Solomon determined to have a share in it. The Egyptians had navigated the other arm of the Red Sea, and perhaps its lower parts, from a much more ancient period....

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 HIRAM SENT IN HIS NAVY HIS SERVANTS,.... And, according to 2 Chronicles 8:18, ships also but how he could send them from Tyre, which lay in the Mediterranean sea, to the above ports in the Red sea, without going a great way round, is not easy to conceive. Perhaps, as Gussetins conjectures c, Hiram had a port in the Red sea for building and sending out ships, for the sake of his eastern navigation, and from thence he sent them to Solomon's ports in the same sea; but if what R. Japhet d observes is true, that the Red sea is mixed with the sea of Joppa by means of the river Rhinocurura, as is remarked by a learned man e and who approves of the observation, and thinks it does not deserve the censure Dr. Lightfoot f passes on it. If this, I say, can be supported, the difficulty is removed: so Abarbinel asserts g, that a branch of the Nile flows into the Red sea: and another, passing

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

SOLOMON'S DEALINGS WITH HIRAM. THE LEVY. The source of this section seems to be the Acts of Solomon (see above). After Solomon had completed his buildings he was obliged to give Hiram cities in Galilee (1 Kings 9:11). The Chronicler, regarding this as unworthy of the great king, makes Hiram give the cities to Solomon (2 Chronicles 8:2). Galilee (pp. 28- 30) is mentioned in Joshua 20:7; Joshua 21:32; 1 Chronicles 6:76, and in 2 Kings 15:29, nearly always

_that had knowledge of the sea_ For which knowledge in ancient times the Phœnicians were the most famous people....

B. SOLOMON'S NAVY 9:26-28 TRANSLATION (26) And King Solomon made a fleet of Ezion-geber which is beside Eloth upon the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. (27) And Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, skilled sailors, along with the servants of Solomon. (28) And they went to Ophir, and brought from there four hundred twenty talents of gold, and brought unto King Solomon. COMMENTS The allusion to Solomon's navy is probably inserted at this point because it was to the voyage of this fleet that the king was indebted for the gold with which he financed his various building projects. Next to the Temple, the construction of this fleet was probably the greatest accomplishment of Solomon's reign.[265] The king built his ships at Ezion-geber located on the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba (1 Kings 9:26). The earlier subjugation of Edom in the reign of David ...

GOD'S RESPONSE TO SOLOMON'S PRAYER. SOLOMON AND HIRAM 1. When.. finished] The Temple does not seem to have been dedicated until all the king's buildings were completed, the Temple and Palace being probably included within a single wall and regarded as a unity. In 1 Kings 9:3 is contained the divine response to the prayer offered by Solomon at the dedication festival....