This appearance is fixed by 1 Kings 9:1 to Solomon’s twenty-fourth year, the year in which he completed his palace 1 Kings 6:37; 1 Kings 7:1. The fact seems to be that, though the temple was finished in Solomon’s eleventh year, the dedication did not take place until his twenty-fourth year. The orde... [ Continue Reading ]
The answer given by God to Solomon’s prayer is reported more fully in 2 Chronicles 7:12. When God puts His Name in the temple He does it, in intention, “forever.” He will not arbitrarily withdraw it; there it will remain “forever,” so far as God is concerned. But the people may by unfaithfulness dr... [ Continue Reading ]
See 1 Kings 3:14. Solomon’s subsequent fall lends to these repeated warnings a special interest.... [ Continue Reading ]
AT ALL TURN - Rather, “If ye shall wholly turn from following Me.” (See 2 Chronicles 7:19.) The Israelites were not to be cut off, except for an entire defection.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Hebrew text runs - “And this house shall be high: every one,” etc. The meaning appears to be, “This house shall be high” (i. e., conspicuous) “in its ruin as in its glory.” AND SHALL HISS - In contempt. This expression first appears in the time of Hezekiah 2 Chronicles 29:8; Micah 6:16. It is e... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
By the spirit, if not by the letter, of the Law, Solomon had no right to give away these cities, or any part of the inheritance of Israel Leviticus 25:13. But the exigences of a worldly policy caused the requirements of the Law to be set aside.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY PLEASED HIM NOT - It is a reasonable conjecture that, when a question arose with respect to a cession of land, Hiram had cast his eyes on the bay or harbour of Acco, or Ptolemais, and was therefore the more disappointed when he received an inland tract of mountain territory.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cabul is said to be a Phoenician word, and signified “displeasing” (see margin). There is some reason to believe that the cities thus despised by Hiram were restored to Solomon 2 Chronicles 8:2, and that Solomon rebuilt them and colonized them with Israelites.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIRAM SENT SIXSCORE TALENTS OF GOLD - Apparently, to show that, although disappointed, he was not offended. The sum sent was very large - above a million and a quarter of our money, according to one estimate of the weight of the Hebrew gold talent; or about 720,000 according to the estimate adopted... [ Continue Reading ]
LEVY - See the marginal reference note. MILLO - See 2 Samuel 5:9 note. The Septuagint commonly render the word ἡ ἄκρα _hē_ _akra_, “the citadel,” and it may possibly have been the fortress on Mount Zion connected with the Maccabean struggles (1 Macc. 4:41; 13:49-52). Its exact site has not been... [ Continue Reading ]
BETH-HORON THE NETHER - See the marginal reference note.... [ Continue Reading ]
TADMOR - The Hebrew text here has, as written, Tamor (or Tamar), and as read, Tadmor. That the latter place, or Palmyra, was meant appears, first, from the distinct statement of Chronicles 2 Chronicles 8:4 that Solomon built Tadmor, and the improbability that the fact would be omitted in Kings; seco... [ Continue Reading ]
“The cities of store” contained provisions stored up for the troops (compare 2 Chronicles 32:28). They seem to have been chiefly in the north - in Hamath 2 Chronicles 8:4 and Naphtali 2 Chronicles 16:4. On the “cities for his chariots,” see 1 Kings 10:26 note. By “that which Solomon desired to buil... [ Continue Reading ]
See 1 Kings 5:15 note.... [ Continue Reading ]
Comparing this with 1 Kings 5:13, it would seem that a modified service of forced labor for one-third of each year was not regarded as reducing those who were subject to it to the condition of bondmen.... [ Continue Reading ]
FIVE HUNDRED AND FIFTY - See 1 Kings 5:16 note.... [ Continue Reading ]
Compare the marginal reference. Solomon was not satisfied that Pharaoh’s daughter should remain in the palace of David, which was on Mount Zion, in the immediate vicinity of the temple, because he regarded the whole vicinity of the temple as made holy by the presence of the ark of God. His own palac... [ Continue Reading ]
THREE TIMES - i. e., (see the marginal reference) the three solemn Feasts - the Feast of unleavened bread, the Feast of weeks, and the Feast of tabernacles. DID SOLOMON OFFER ... AND HE BURNT INCENSE - Not with his own hand, but by his priests 1Ki 8:6; 2 Chronicles 5:7. In sacred, as in ordinary, h... [ Continue Reading ]
On Ezion-geber and Eloth, see the notes to marginal references. As the entire tract about Elath (Akaba) is destitute of trees, it is conjectured that the wood of which Solomon built his fleet was cut in Lebanon, floated to Gaza by sea, and thence conveyed across to Ezion-geber, at the head of the E... [ Continue Reading ]
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 estab... [ Continue Reading ]
On Ophir, see the marginal reference note. Among the various opinions three predominate; all moderns, except a very few, being in favor of Arabia, India, or Eastern Africa. Arabia’s claims are supported by the greatest number.... [ Continue Reading ]