2 Chronicles 8:2

_THAT THE CITIES WHICH HURAM HAD RESTORED TO SOLOMON, SOLOMON BUILT THEM, AND CAUSED THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TO DWELL THERE._ Cities which Huram had restored ... Solomon built them ... These cities lay in the northwest of Galilee, and, though included within the limits of the promised land, had never been conquered. The right of occupying them Solomon granted to Huram, who, after consideration, refused them as unsuitable to the commercial habits of his subjects (see the notes at 1 Kings 9:11). Solomon having wrested them from the possession of the Canaanite inhabitants, repaired them and filled them with a colony of Hebrews....

Verse 2 Chronicles 8:2. _THE CITIES WHICH HURAM HAD RESTORED_] 1 Kings 9:11....

THE CITIES WHICH HURAM HAD RESTORED TO SOLOMON - These cities had not been mentioned previously by the writer of Chronicles, who, however, seems to assume that the fact of their having been given by Hiram to Solomon is known to his readers. See 1 Kings 9:11....

EXPOSITION This interesting historical chapter may very well be described as by Professor Dr. James G. Murphy, in his 'Bible-Class Handbook,' "The Acts of Solomon," or at any rate, some of the miscellaneous acts, for which time was found now that the "two houses" were out of hand. 2 CHRONICLES 8:1 (parallel, 1 Kings 9:10).—TwEnty YEARS, WHEREIN SOLOMON HAD BUILT THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, AND HIS OWN HOUSE. The description is intended to be, what it is, chronologically exact. Four years of Solomon had passed when he began the Lord's house, seven were spent in building it, thirteen in finishing and furnishing it, and in building, finishing, and furnishing the king's house—in all twenty-four years....

THAT THE CITIES WHICH HURAM HAD RESTORED TO SOLOMON,.... Which Solomon first gave to him, but he not liking them, returned them to him, 1 Kings 9:12, SOLOMON BUILT THEM; or rebuilt them, being very much out of repair, which might be one reason of Huram's not accepting them: AND CAUSED THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TO DWELL THERE; they being inhabited by others, the remains of the Canaanitcs perhaps; see 2 Chronicles 8:7....

5. SOLOMON'S PROSPERITY AND ACTIVITIES CHAPTER 8 _ 1. The fortifications of cities (2 Chronicles 8:1)_ 2. The subjection of the strangers (2 Chronicles 8:7) 3. The removal of the daughter of Pharaoh (2 Chronicles 8:11) 4. The perfected service (2 Chronicles 8:12) 5. The expedition to Ophir (2 Chronicles 8:17) The activities of the King included the fortification of certain cities. (See...

SOLOMON'S VARIOUS RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR UNDERTAKINGS (see notes on 1 Kings 9:10). A striking difference occurs between 2 and 1 Kings 9:11; here Hiram gives Solomon an unspecified number of cities, whereas in the historical account Solomon gives Hiram twenty cities. The discrepancy is not difficult to account for; in the Chronicler's days when, with the lapse of time, the popular conception had greatly increased the wealth and power of Solomon, it was not thought credible that such a monarch could really have ceded Israelite cities to a heathen in lieu of payment. This is not to say that the Chronicler deliberately falsified history; the sources from which he compiled his record were various, and upon these the influence of tradition is not likely to have been without effect; moreover, the authority of the

RESTORED. given. Evidently these had been previously given by Solomon as pledges or "security" (1 Kings 9:10). CHILDREN. sons....

_the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon_,] R.V. THE CITIES WHICH HURAM HAD GIVEN TO SOLOMON. According to 1 Kings 9:12-13 it was Solomon who gave _Huram_cities. Huram however was not pleased with them (_ibid._), and from this fact the English translators of 1611 concluded that Huram rejected them and "restored" them. Probably however Kin. and Chron. follow different traditions with regard to these border cities, and no reconciliation is possible. _built them_ i.e. fortified them....

WHICH HURAM HAD RESTORED— _Had left._ See 1 Kings 9:13....