_GOD APPEARS TO SOLOMON. SOLOMON GIVES HIRAM TWENTY CITIES, WHICH DO NOT PLEASE HIM. HE BUILDS CITIES, DRIVES OUT THE AMORITES, AND SENDS SHIPS TO OPHIR, WHICH BRING FROM THENCE FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY TALENTS OF GOLD._ _Before Christ 991._... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THE LORD APPEARED TO SOLOMON— Lest this young prince's heart should be too much elated by this extraordinary grandeur, God was pleased to appear to himin a dream on the first night of the dedication, when he expressed his acceptance of that sumptuous edifice, and renewed his promises to him and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CALLED THEM THE LAND OF CABUL UNTO THIS DAY— Houbigant thinks that _Cabul_ is derived from an Arabic word, signifying _to defer the payment of a debt;_ perhaps because he had not given them to king Hiram before he had finished all his buildings. The Arabic word signifies also _to refuse, to b... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS IS THE REASON OF THE LEVY— _Therefore this was the reason of the levy_ or _tribute._ That is, the money which Solomon borrowed of Hiram, 1 Kings 9:14 was the reason of his raising the tribute upon his people. Houbigant. _AND MILLO_— See 2 Samuel 5:9. מלוא _Millo_ was a place in Jerusalem i... [ Continue Reading ]
AND TADMOR IN THE WILDERNESS, IN THE LAND— See 2 Chronicles 8:3. This Tadmor in the wilderness is generally supposed to be the same with the city of Palmyra, whose ruins are at present so extraordinary, and of which some valuable travellers of our nation have given us the most pleasing and accurate... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN LEBANON— That is, in the palace which was styled _of the forest of Lebanon,_ near Jerusalem; for Solomon built nothing in mount Lebanon, nor do we any where read that any part of that mountain was within his jurisdiction. Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY CAME TO OPHIR— Infinite are the conjectures of different writers concerning this land of Ophir. The authors of the Universal History have taken great pains to confute those opinions which appear less probable; and upon the whole their conclusion is, "that Ophir appears most likely to have b... [ Continue Reading ]