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When Solomon had finished the building of the LORD’s house, the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do,
Verse 1. Do, regarding those buildings. Paral. Menochius.
The LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
Verse 2. Gabaon; that is, “during the night.” 2 Chronicles 7:12. God had spoken to Solomon, by a prophet, while he was building the temple; (Calmet. 6:11. Bible.) unless that passage relate to the same time as that which is here recorded more in detail, and took place in the night, after Solomon had poured forth his most solemn prayer. Calmet.—Others think that God deferred answering his petition for thirteen years, till Solomon was on the point of falling off from the observance of piety, that so he might be restrained more effectually. Salien, A.Calmet. 1011.—Fire from heaven had sufficiently signified that his former request had been granted. Menochius.—The context shews that the admonition was not sent till the palace was finished, (verse 1 and 10.) in the 23rd year of Solomon. Salien.
The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.
As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances,
Verse 4. Simplicity of heart. That is, in the sincerity and integrity of a single heart, as opposite to all double-dealing and deceit. Challoner.—External worship alone will not be acceptable. Worthington.—“God is worshipped by faith, hope, and charity.” Saint Augustine Ench. iii.
then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man on the throne of Israel.’
But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,
Verse 6. But if. This threat had been denounced by Moses, (Deuteronomy 29:24) and was repeated by Jeremias, (22:8) when it was on the point of being put in execution. Menochius.
then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
Verse 7. Take away, by death or exile. Bible.—Sight. God is disposed to grant favours to those who approach his temples with piety. If they indulge their passions, he will suffer these holy places to be profaned, as a dreadful warning of his displeasure. The Jews enjoyed prosperity while they continued faithful. On their revolt, the ark was taken, the temple pillaged by Sesac, burnt by Nabuchodonosor, profaned by Antiochus, and destroyed by the Romans. Calmet.
Though this house is so high, yet everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss; and they will say, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land and to this house?’
Verse 8. Example. Hebrew “at this house, on high,” (or dedicated “to the most high;” Paral.) “every,” and so forth Bible.—It shall be treated with no more regard than the high places of idols. Calmet.—Though at present so much exalted, it shall be reduced to a heap of ruins, (Vatab.) and destroyed. Chal.
and they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them, and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this evil on them.’”
At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the LORD’s house and the king’s house
(now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and cypress trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
Verse 11. Galilee, the higher, which was nearer to the sea and the confines of Tyre; ( Menochius.) or rather the lower Galilee lay in this direction. Calmet.—This was not a part of the country allotted to Israel, (Joshua 19:27) but had been conquered: as Hiram gave the cities back, 2 Chronicles 8:2. Solomon caused them to be rebuilt, and peopled by the Israelites. Grot.—If they had formed a part of his dominions before, he would not have had to send a colony thither. Calmet.—Others think that he only ceded that country for a time to Hiram, till he should be indemnified. Abul. Tostat. Menochius. Tirinus. Worthington.—The country belonged to the Lord, (Leviticus 25:13) and could not be given away by the prince. In case it had been occupied by strangers, Solomon would have taken care that the Israelites should have the free exercise of their religion. But as Hiram rejected his offer, he would make him recompense by some other means; ( Calmet.) in ready money, verse 14. Joseph. Tirinus.
Hiram came out of Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they didn’t please him.
He said, “What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” He called them the land of Cabul to this day.
Verse 13. Brother. By this title the eastern kings addressed each other. Calmet. 20:32. 1 Maccabees 10:18 and 11:30. Solomon and Hiram always lived on good terms. Calmet.—Chabul: that is, dirty or displeasing. Challoner.—The latter signification is given by Josephus, from the Phœnician language. Bible.—The real meaning is uncertain. Some with the last mentioned author, place these cities in the vicinity of Tyre, south of Ptolemais, which is most probable; though S. Jerom says they were in the land of Basan, beyond the Jordan. Calmet.
“Cabul” sounds like Hebrew for “good-for-nothing”.
Hiram sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.
A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 120 talents is about 3.6 metric tons
This is the reason of the forced labor which King Solomon conscripted: to build the LORD’s house, his own house, Millo, Jerusalem’s wall, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
Verse 15. Offered, or paid back to Hiram, for what he had lent. Tirinus.—Hebrew “And this is the reason of the levy (or tribute) which king Solomon imposed, in order to build,” and so forth Bible.—We have seen that Adoniram was at the head of this department. Calmet. 5:14. The people bore these burdens with patience, till the works of Mello gave Jeroboam an occasion of stirring them up to rebellion. Calmet. 11:27. Mello was a palace, fortification, ( Calmet.) or bridge, erected in the vale, (Salien) from the palace to the temple, ( Menochius.) lying between Sion and the old Jerusalem. David had begun to build here, and Solomon perfected the works. Ezechias repaired the wall, 2 Chronicles 32:5. In this palace Joas was slain. 4 Kennicott. 12:20. Calmet.—Heser, or Asor. Joshua 15:23 and 19:36. Bible.—There was a town of this name in the tribe of Juda, and another in that of Nephthali.—Gazer had been taken by Josue, but the Chanaanites had again made themselves masters of it.
Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, taken Gezer, burned it with fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it for a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
Verse 16. Wife. This custom distinguished princes from common people, who paid a dowry to their intended bride. 2 Maccabees 1:14. Philadelphus gave hid daughter Bernice to Antiochus, of Syria, with an immense dowry, which caused her to be styled Phernophorus. The influence of these royal wives was more extensive than that of others of meaner birth, as we find in the daughter of Pharao, Jezabel, Athalia, and so forth Calmet.
Solomon built in the land Gezer, Beth Horon the lower,
Verse 17. Nether, in the tribe of Benjamin. 2 Paral. (8:5) adds, the upper, which was a town of Ephraim. Menochius.
Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness,
Verse 18. Baalath. There were several towns of this name. Joshua 19:44. Calmet.—Palmira. Hebrew Tamor, “a palm-tree.” Calmet.—But the d is preserved in the margin, as well as in some MSS. and in the ancient versions; and is read, Tadmor, in Chronicles. Kennicott.—Prot. have also, “Tadmor, in the wilderness, in the land.” Bible.—Le Clerc adds, “of Aram,” or Syria of Soba. 2 Chronicles 8:3, 4. Palmira, famous for its water and fertile soil, was the boundary of the Roman and Parthian empires, (Plin. verse 25.) surrounded on all sides by vast deserts, and built by Solomon for the advantage of travellers, a day’s journey from the Euphrates. Joseph. viii. 6.—Superb ruins are still to be seen, and various pagan inscriptions, in Greek. There are others in an unknown language, which might relate to the Jewish or Christian affairs. See Phil. Transac. Oct. 1695. Brun.—The city was destroyed by the emperor Aurelian. Calmet.
all the storage cities that Solomon had, the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
Verse 19. That … himself. Hebrew “of store;” or to keep his treasures. Bible.—Lit. “of indigence,” designed to counteract the effects of famine. Pharao obliged the Israelites to build such cities for him, (Exodus 1:11) which are called cities of tabernacles. The word miscenoth is here rendered, were not walled.—Chariots. See Calmet. 4:26. Calmet.—Libanus, the temple, (Saint Jerome Trad.) or the palace. Sa.—But these were both in Jerusalem. Bible.—Solomon built a great deal at the foot of Libanus, (Salien) as the defile was of great importance. We read of the tower of Libanus, Song of Songs 7:4. Travellers mention its ruins. Gabriel. Sionita. p. 6.
As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel—
their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able utterly to destroy—of them Solomon raised a levy of bondservants to this day.
Verse 21. Day. After the captivity, some were found who had perhaps come from Phœnicia. 1 Ezra 9:1. Solomon reduced the natives of the country to the most abject condition, forcing them to work like slaves. Joseph. 8:6.—Hebrew “upon those, Solomon imposed a tribute of bond-service, until this day.” Bible.—Esdras (1 Calmet. 2:58) calls them who returned from captivity, the children of the servants of Solomon, 392. Their fathers were probably styled proselytes; and were in number, 153,600. See 1 Chronicles 22:2 and 2 Chronicles 2:17. Calmet.
But of the children of Israel Solomon made no bondservants; but they were the men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.
Verse 22. Bondmen. Par. To serve in the king’s works; for they were warriors, and so forth The natural subjects performed the more honourable offices. Bible.—Strangers pay tribute. Matthew 17:24. Sesostris, king of Egypt, caused many temples to be erected after his expeditions, with this inscription: “No native laboured on them.” Diodorus i.
These were the five hundred fifty chief officers who were over Solomon’s work, who ruled over the people who labored in the work.
Verse 23. Officers of the crown. There were 250 over the army, (Paral.) or 3,300, (3,600, Par.) including those who presided over the proselytes. Calmet. 5:16. Calmet.—These are employed while the temple was building. Menochius.
But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of David’s city to her house which Solomon had built for her. Then he built Millo.
Verse 24. Mello, taking it from the public, and adorning it with the most beautiful structures, for the honour and convenience of his queen. Tirinus.
Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to the LORD three times per year, burning incense with them on the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the house.
Verse 25. Year, at the three great festivals, with peculiar solemnity, ( Calmet.) as well as holocausts every day, and on the sabbaths and new moons. 2 Paral. 8:13. See ib. 31:3. Calmet.—He established funds for all these victims. Menochius.
King Solomon made a fleet of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.
Verse 26. Fleet. Some ancient Latin editions have, ( Bible.) “a name,” or monument. Worthington.—Ailath, to the east. See Numbers 33:13.
Hiram sent in the fleet his servants, sailors who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.
Verse 27. Fleet, from Tyre, ( Calmet.) or from the island of the same name, in the Red Sea. Grotius.
They came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon.
Verse 28. Ophir, in the East Indies; ( Menochius.) an island called Taprobana, or Sumatra; (Salien) or a country near the heads of the Euphrates and Tigris. Calmet. Dissert.—The variety of opinions is astonishing. Huet fixes upon Sophola, on the eastern coast of Africa; and supposes that the fleet of Hiram might proceed down a canal, which seems to have been formerly opened for a communication between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Strabo i. 17. and ii. D.—The various commodities might be procured either in Africa, or, on the voyage, in other countries. Bible.—Twenty. Par. reads fifty. The letter c (20) and n (50) may easily have been mistaken. Huet.—The thirty talents might be the value of other parts of the cargo, or might be spent in repairs and wages. Calmet.—The sum here mentioned might be also refined gold. Menochius.
A talent is about 30 kilograms or 66 pounds or 965 Troy ounces, so 420 talents is about 12.6 metric tons