See note on 1Ki 9:10

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES

IN discussing the First Book of Chronicles we called attention to the fact that according to Usshers chronology, the two Books, not reckoning the table of genealogy, covered a space of 468 years of history; the First Book only 41 of these, and this second, 427. As to the authorship of these Books, Ezra is commonly accepted.

The analysis of any book is largely the presentation of a personal view. One man divides this Second Book of Chronicles into two portions: The Reign of Solomon, chapters 1 to 9, and The Kings of Judah, chapters 10 to 36.

Scofield in his reference Bible, says of this Book: It falls into eighteen divisions, by reigns, from Solomon to the captivities; records the division of the kingdom of David under Jeroboam and Rehoboam, and is marked by an ever growing apostasy, broken temporarily by reformations under Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah.

It is our purpose to follow neither of these divisions, however natural they may be, but to discuss the volume under three heads: Solomon and the Temple; Rehoboam and the Division, and the History of Judah.

SOLOMON AND THE TEMPLE

The Book opens with a declaration concerning the new king, And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly (2Ch 1:1).

The history that follows gives occasion to say several things concerning this marvelous man of immortal reputation:

First, Solomons kingship enjoyed an auspicious beginning. The man who ascends the throne under the favor of the Lord necessarily begins a reign of promise. If, as in Solomons case, he sensibly recognizes his responsibility and seeks wisdom from the only sufficient source, he adds greater certainty to his success. When, in addition to this, his objectives are high and God-honoring, the glory of his kingdom advances accordingly. Certainly, Solomons preparation to build the temple was not only a noble objective, but one in line with his kingly fathers purpose and prayers, and the great Heavenly Fathers will for him.

The interesting history here of gathering materials and appointing men for this marvelous construction is made more interesting still by the kings personal supervision and spiritual interest. It takes some courage to conduct war, and we believe it takes almost more courage and even a clearer sense of God, to build sanctuaries, make their appointments according to the Divine pleasure, and call the people to worship within the spacious rooms of the same. Yet, when you have read but five chapters of this Book, you find such a work complete, and are not in the least amazed or even surprised to read, The glory of the Lord had filled the house of God (2Ch 5:14).

It is doubtful whether any company of men have done more for the establishment of spirituality in the earth and for the strengthening of the souls of their fellows, than have those who brought sanctuaries into existence and led congregations of people to a genuine worship of the most high God.

The on-going of this Book reveals Solomons conscious dependence. When the altar was erected he stood by it with outstretched hands (2Ch 6:12). That is the attitude of prayer and possibly of adoration. When his lips parted to speak, he says,

O Lord God of Israel, there is no God tike Thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their hearts:

Thou which hast kept with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him; and spakest with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with Thine hand, as it is this day.

Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in My Law, as Thou hast walked before Me (2Ch 6:14-16).

Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let Thy Word be verified, which Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant David (2Ch 6:17).

Then follows an appeal that Gods eyes should be open upon their house day and night; that His ears should hearken to the prayers made in that place, and if sin were committed, that forgiveness should be granted, and if the people fail before the face of the enemy because of sin that they also should be pardoned; that if heaven be shut up on the same ground, upon repentance the dearth should end.

Then he concludes in a more personal petition to Him:

Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all Thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:

Then hear Thou from Heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive (2Ch 6:29-30).

These are only samples of the long petition that followed the dedicatory sermon. They wind up with a sentence like this: O Lord God, turn not away the face of Thine anointed: remember the mercies of David Thy servant (2Ch 6:42). It is a model prayer; it is the petition of a sincere soul; it is the cry of one who knows that the mercy and love of God are the only grounds of hope.

The further text records Solomons fame and death. That fame was based upon Solomons wisdom, accentuated doubtless by the magnificence of the temple, but made more honorable still in the extent of his organization, the luxury of his court and the wealth of his treasury.

Evidently, among the rulers of the earth, the queen of Sheba held conspicuous place, and when the fame of Solomon reached her, she came to prove him with her questions, and impress him with her own riches and glory. The difficult questions were satisfactorily answered, the temple was adequately shown, the table of the king groaned with its good meats, the apparel of the servants was profoundly impressive, and the queen said to the king,

It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:

Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.

Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, winch stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.

Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God (2Ch 9:5-8).

The compliment to the king is followed with a statement of Solomons annual income, the magnificence of his throne, the rich appointments of the palace, the extensive commercial importance of his kingdom, and the willing tributes of the earths lesser lords.

Then, as if the task of telling all was too great, we have this record,

Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the Prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?

And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead (2Ch 9:29-31).

It is a surprising end, and yet strangely true to human history. How many men spend all their days in preparing to live, and when the preparation seems almost complete, proceed to die? The last enemy is no respecter of persons. His bow is drawn against the great as well as the humble, the rich as well as the poor, the wise as well as the ignorant. Death respects neither thrones nor kings; he holds the key to the palace room, and even to the throne room. Kings may command their humbler fellows, and even counsel their equals; but where death calls, they also obey.

REHOBOAM AND THE DIVISION

The emptying of a throne is forever fraught with perils. The eternal and pertinent question is this, Who shall come after the king? The tenth chapter answered that concerning the throne of Israel. The answer was an ill omen! Rehoboams tyrannical spirit split the kingdom. When Jeroboam and all Israel came to him, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee (2Ch 10:4), they delicately referred to the increased taxation to which the luxurious court and the personal orgies of Solomon had given rise. They thought, as people commonly do, that the new rule would prove the peoples friend. Their hope was in vain.

The old men, former counselors of Solomon, advised kindness and compassion; but the young bloods, spoiled by their fellowship with royalty, counseled increased oppression; and under their influence he said,

My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions (2Ch 10:14).

It was enough. The war was on; and that war has never ended until this day, for Israel and Judah are not yet one. A man who divides brethren and sets them to battle, little understands the infinite reach of his mischief. The father of Modernism in America, when he fell asleep at a comparatively early age, little dreamed that he had set influences to work that would divide every denomination on the continent, destroy the fellowship of men who loved one another as twins are commonly supposed to love, wreck schools and churches by the thousand, and start a war that may easily exceed the famous Hundred Year War of history.

Israel and Judahblood brothersbecame the bitterest of enemies. For some reason Second Chronicles pays little attention to Israel, but proceeds to trace Judahs history to the year of Cyrus, king of Persia, or through a period of almost a half millennium. The family feud occasionally projects itself into the record, but for the most part, Israel is forgotten, and the doings of Judah are recorded in detail.

The explanation of this is found in the circumstance that Jeroboam rejected the worship of Jehovah (2Ch 11:14-15). When God is once put away, when Gods priest is disposed of, and His minister is heard no more, then degeneracy compels a declining record.

Unitarianism three quarters of a century ago denied the Lord. Its history has amounted to little; and if it were recorded, it would simply prove, as the Jeroboam movement, a breeding place of apostasy; and yet this record regards not one apostasy only, but two.

The man of many favors may forget God.

When Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him (2Ch 12:1).

What a sad commentary on the uncertainty and unstability of human nature! The explanation of Rehoboams failure has fitted thousands, yea millions of cases. He did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord (2Ch 12:14). Of all disappointments, none exceed thisto begin well and end badly; to give promise and create disappointment; to be the subject of Divine favor, and become the slave of Gods adversary.

THE HISTORY OF JUDAH

Chapters 11 to 36 contain the roster of kings. The fortunes of the country answer accurately and inevitably to the characters of their rulers. On the whole, the history is a down-grade. In that respect, it runs true to form. The doctrine of evolution may find an illustration in national life if it goes from the simple to the complex, but in so far as it contends for improvement, history fails to illustrate it. Degeneracy of nations has more often taken place than has social and moral progress.

The foundations of Judah were laid under David; the kingdoms glory appeared under Solomon. From that moment until this, one word expresses Judahs coursedecline.

Africa was once an advanced nation, now a heathen one; Italy once ruled the world, now she holds an inconspicuous place; Greece once represented the climax of physical and mental accomplishment, now she boasts neither. The reasons for decline are varied, but in Judah they were one the God who had made her great was too often forgotten, too willingly offended. When the nations neglect the source of their strength, weakness naturally ensues. Judahs strength was in the Lord, and when her kings forgot Him, despised His Word, entered into unholy alliances that were followed by the people, her fame declined, and her land fainted.

The mixed social condition manifested her sinfulness. We have a phrase, Like people, like priest. We can paraphrase that, Like princes, like people. The study of these kings results in no compliment to human nature. Some of them were utterly evil; most of them were a mixture of the good and bad; two or three of them were sound. Among the utterly evil ones, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Manasseh, Amon and Jehoiakin held first place. The ones that represent a mixture of good and bad were Jeroboam, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jehoiakim; while the truly good consisted of Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah. In all probability the reign of each of these good kings was profoundly affected and made spiritually fruitful by the ministry of Isaiah, the greatest preacher among Old Testament Prophets. It is perhaps a fact of history that no rulers have ever proven faithful to God without the stimulating and salutary influence of the Gospel ministry.

The judgments and mercies of Second Chronicles alike vindicate Jehovah. In this record wickedness does not go unpunished; and yet it is a marvelous revelation of Divine mercy.

There is never the least sign of penitence on the part of the ruler and the people without an immediate and generous response from Jehovah.

When Jehoshaphat declined in his loyalty and effected a sinful coalition with Ahab, judgment fell; but instantly upon his repentance, mercy was shown. Judgment is always and everywhere Gods strange work, the work in which He takes no pleasure. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze 33:11).

Mercy is His nature, His essential character, for to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Pro 28:13).

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL NOTES.] Solomons buildings (2Ch. 8:1-6); the tributaries (2Ch. 8:7-11); the festival worship (2Ch. 8:12-16); and the fleet of Solomon (2Ch. 8:17-18) (1Ki. 9:10-28).

Solomons buildings.2Ch. 8:1-6. Twenty years (cf. 1Ki. 6:38; 1Ki. 7:1; 1Ki. 9:10). Cities north-west of Galilee, the occupation of which was granted to Huram, who seems, after consideration, to have refused them as unsuitable to the commercial habits of his people and returned them to Solomon, who built (Heb. repaired) and filled them with a colony of Hebrews. Ham., a territory bordering on Zobah, identified in Jewish tradition with Helbon (Aleppo). Tadmor, the famous Palmyra (palm city), which became capital of a province (sent 80,000 men to join the Assyrian army), the splendid ruins of which remain to this day (a wall 11 miles in circumference). Store cities for provisions, situated on great trade roads to relieve travellers and beasts of burden. 2Ch. 8:5. Beth-horons, two cities in Ephraim, very ancient (Jos. 16:3-5; 1Ki. 9:27; 1Ch. 7:24). 2Ch. 8:6. Baal. belonged to Dan (1Ki. 9:18-19).

Solomons tributaries.2Ch. 8:7-10. Left, descendants of Canaanites in the country treated as war-prisoners, employed in vast building operations, and had to pay tribute. 2Ch. 8:9. Sons of Israelites not serfs, but soldiers and officers. 2Ch. 8:10. Chiefs of Israelites only given, 250 in number. 2Ch. 8:11. Daughter, writer assumes points of narrative in 1Ki. 3:1; 1Ki. 3:7-8, and further assigns motive for change of residence. Holy, sanctified by presence of the ark, and as she was an idolator, therefore could not permanently dwell in the city.

Solomons regulations of worship.2Ch. 8:12-16. An expansion and amplification of 1Ki. 9:23. They add several important particulars. No departure from the ordinances established by Divine authority by Moses or David in offering of sacrificesarrangements of priests and Levites (1Ch. 24:26)and in provision and management of all sacred things. 2Ch. 8:16. This verse sums up in brief the whole previous narrative on the subject of the temple, which began with ch. 2. Solomons work unto the day of foundation was the subject of that chapter; his work subsequently has been related in chapters 38. [Speak. Com.].

Solomons fleet and gold.2Ch. 8:17-18. Eloth (Elath) land of Greeks, north-east of the Gulf of Akaba. The writer of Kings tells us that the fleet of Solomon was built at Ezion-geber (the giants backbone, Num. 33:35-36), which is beside Eloth (1Ki. 9:26); and Ebon-geber alone is mentioned as the place where Jehoshaphat built his ships (2Ch. 20:36). Solomon, it appears by the present passage, visited both ports before determining at which he should establish his docks [Speak. Com.]. 2Ch. 8:18. Solomon made his navy by receiving ships as models, materials for building, carpenters, and seamen from Huram, who probably had ships lying in the ports of the Red Sea. His own servants went with the Phnicians on the voyage. Ophir, son of Jokton (Gen. 10:29), gave name to the land of Ophir, which was at least originally in the south of Arabia, though some look for it in India or Ceylon. The 450 talents of gold (in Kings, 420) may have been the result of many voyages to this land [Murphy].

HOMILETICS

SOLOMONS MILITARY ENTERPRISES.2Ch. 8:1-6

Chiefly in acquiring cities rebuilt and taken from the enemy. Solomon not satisfied to build Gods house, ambitious to gain cities and enlarge his kingdom. Lawful ambition desirableall interested in the welfare of the Christian Church will scheme for the good of the country.

I. Cities for stores (cf. 1Ki. 9:19). Centres, i.e., cities in which provisions for beasts, travellers, and troops (2Ch. 32:28). Chiefly north, in Hamath (2Ch. 8:4), and Naphtali (ch. 2Ch. 16:4). Solomon prudent in action and kind in planning for the necessities of his people.

II. Cities for colonisation. Solomon built (rebuilt) them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there (2Ch. 8:2). Cities out of repair, quitted by population, or never occupied by Israelites. Anxious to locate trade, promote industry, and for all to dwell in right place.

III. Cities for pleasure. Cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen; dwellings for pleasure as distinguished from fortresses and store-cities. I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. But pleasure is expensive, and demands costly sacrifices. He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man.

IV. Cities for defence. The cities of Bethhoron and Baalath were fortified. His kingdom exposed required defence. Surrounding enemies dangerous, especially in north; strong garrisons required, and a levy of men and money to support a gigantic military system. Hence danger from wars, taxation, and oppression. Suggested Lessons from Solomons Military Enterprises.

1. That those who attend to the spiritual will not neglect the temporal interests of a nation. Solomon built the temple, but patriotic enough to build cities. True religion ends not in ceremony, but in philanthropy. Those who build churches build hospitals. A libel to say that Christians who support missionary agencies neglect home.
2. That amidst the temporal enterprises of a nation great risks exist. Fortified cities needful, but indicate evils to be checked; incursions, insurrections, and subjugation. Hence
(1) Lessons of Prudence. Why fenced cities with walls, gates, and bars? Silent witnesses against the honesty of the society in which we live. Every bolt upon the door is a moral accusation; every time we turn the lock we mean that there is an enemy outside who may endeavour to violate the sanctity of the house [Dr. Parker].

(2) The Danger of Prosperity. Commercial intercourse with foreign nations, the assimilation of the Israelitish monarchy to corresponding institutions of surrounding kingdoms, though indispensable to certain elements of the Church and State of Judea, yet was fraught with danger to a people whose chief safeguard had hitherto been their exclusiveness, and whose highest mission was to keep their faith and manners distinct from the contagion of the world around them. The gigantic experiment of Solomon, though partially and prospectively successful, yet in a greater part and for the moment failed. As he is the representative of the splendours of the monarchy, so is he also the type and cause of its ruin [Stanley].

SOLOMONS STATESMANSHIP.2Ch. 8:7-10

Civil government a divine institution. Cannot exist without laws and adjustments. These require wisdom to express and enforce. The people have instinct to obey, but lack power to govern. Hence need of statesmen and rulers. Solomon a wise ruler.

I. In the tributary services rendered by the people.

1. Foreigners non-Israelites employed as serfs. Treated as prisoners of war, compelled to drudgery, hard labour, and to pay tribute (2Ch. 8:8). This a matter of policy and borrowed from Egyptian customs of employing lowest caste on public works.

2. Native Jews employed in superior labour. Not bondmen, but men of war, servants, princes, captains, rulers of chariots and of horsemen (1Ki. 9:22). Positions of honour and influence.

II. In the choice of officers to rule the people. Officers divided into two bodies. The lesser consisted of twelve chiefs corresponding to the twelve princes of the twelve tribes, who administered the kingdom under David. Hence their wisdom and experience would be profitable to direct. The larger body were officers chosen from Israelites to control task work, exacted from Canaanites. No way of accounting for discrepancies in number (cf. 1Ki. 5:16; 2Ch. 2:18, and 2Ch. 8:10 of this ch.) except by error of copyist, or to imagine with many, that 250 were on duty at once. Solomon desired the ablest men for the best work. Some fitted, born to rule, and others to serve.

III. In the appointment of all classes of the people to their proper sphere. Work for all and every one at work for which best adapted. Some to labour, others to think and direct. Not great men to do small work and weak men to fail in responsible work. Canaanites and Israelites all useful. This law of adaptation essential to success in family circles, church government, and national legislation. Thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.

SOLOMONS MARRIAGE.2Ch. 8:1

At beginning of his reign he married an Egyptian princess, assigned her a temporary abode in Jerusalem until a suitable place could be found.

I. As a matter of worldly policy. A startling act, for since Exodus no intercourse between two countries. Sprang from desire to counteract influence of Hadad, who was received with royal honours and formed alliances with king of Egypt (1Ki. 11:14-20); from wish to obtain support for his new dynasty and recognition from one of older fame and greater power; from anxiety to strengthen himself by foreign alliances. Besides the new queen brought with her a frontier city as a dowry. Gezer still possessed by remnant of Canaanites. Pharaoh had led his armies against it, and tranquillity of Israel threatened. But this worldly policy. Many marriages for inferior motives. Better look to bonds that unite families and thrones to God.

II. As a source of moral perplexity. What must be done with her? If she conformed with the Hebrew faith, yet as a foreigner she must dwell in a separate place, not near the ark, the symbol of Divine presence. The house of God, holy, must be free from personal and official pollution. This a matter of conscience to Solomon, who felt that Gods presence sanctified all localities; that a broad distinction must be made between Judaism and heathenism, between idolatry and the worship of Jehovah. When this distinction is ignored and worldly policy adopted, men plunge into temptations and find it difficult to rectify errors by punctilious morality and zealous care about trifles.

III. As the beginning of trouble. The policy advantageous at first, but ultimately proved hollow and impolitic. A revolution in Egypt changed its dynasty or its policy, and the court welcomed the fugitive Jeroboam in his efforts to secure kingly power. By seeking fresh alliances, giving way to lust for strange women, Solomon involved in worship of strange gods, &c. The reign which began so gloriously ended in gross darkness and fetish worship.

SOLOMONS RELIGIOUS SERVICE.2Ch. 8:12

Solomon not only built the temple, but worshipped in it. What use a temple without worship? The duty of high and low to meet for worship.

I. Remarkable for its conformity to Divine Law. According to the command of Moses. God the supreme object and his revealed will the rule of worship.

1. In its appointed seasons. Daily sacrifices. A certain rate every day. Every day will I bless thee. On the sabbaths. Weekly sacrifices; monthly on the new moons; and yearly at the three solemn feasts. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose.

2. In its customary method. As Moses commanded and David observed (2Ch. 8:14), care should be taken to observe divine order, but custom should never fetter spirit. Daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly, we should be free, thankful, and devout. The heart will observe its own order.

II. Remarkable for its systematic arrangements. Order is heavens first law.

1. Arrangements divinely appointed. Priests in their courses; Levites in their charges; porters at the gates, and persons to manage the treasures (cf. 1Ch. 26:20-23).

2. Arrangements scrupulously observed. By every person and in every particular. They departed not from the command of the king concerning any matter (2Ch. 8:15).

3. Arrangements completing the work. So the house of the Lord was perfected. This the finishing touch to erection and consecration. Something incomplete without real worship, reverent order and self-surrender. Sacrifice the essence and result of worship. I will freely sacrifice to thee.

One act that from a thankful heart proceeds,
Excels ten thousand mercenary deeds [Cowper].

SOLOMONS GREATEST WORK.2Ch. 8:16

This verse a brief summary, describing method and completion of Solomons greatest work. Temple work was prepared, i.e., contemplated and fixed, before built and completed.

I. It was wisely planned. Prudence displayed in collection and preparation of materials. The cost counted

1. Suggesting wise forethought. Every part of an undertaking should be well considered and weighed. Prepare thy work without and make it fit for thyself.

2. Providing against failure. What wrecks in all departments of human labour through want of forethought and preparation! This man began to build and was not able to finish.

II. It was nicely furnished. Not half done, nor slovenly done. Finished in furniture, style, and ceremonies. Perfected in harmony with Gods will. A thing of beauty and a joy for ever. Choose your lifes work. Collect materials and build for God. Begin well and in Gods strength finish. Never be

Like one who draws a model of a house,
Beyond his power to build it; who, half through,
Gives oer, and leaves his part-created cost
A naked subject to the weeping clouds,
And waste for churlish winters tyranny.

SOLOMONS FLEET.2Ch. 8:17-18

I. The method of its construction. Huram sent, supplied him, i.e., built him ships, viz., in docks at Eloth (cf. 1Ki. 9:26-27) [Jamieson]. Or Solomon made his fleet, by receiving model ships, materials, and carpenters from Huram. The probability is either that the Tyrians maintained at this period a fleet in the Red Sea, or that Hirams shipwrights constructed, at their masters expense, some ships on that sea, and then presented them to the Jewish monarch [Speak. Com.].

II. The voyages it undertook. Solomon monarch and merchant. Egyptians might have been rivals in southern maritime traffic, but their religion and exclusive principles unfavourable to sea voyages. They probably abstained from sending their own people abroad for commerce. Solomons fleet opened the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean, the far east and the far west. The extraordinary influence of these voyages on their own and on all future times was remarkable [see Stanleys Jew. Ch., vol. ii., p. 155].

III. The cargo it brought. Articles of commerce most abundant; almug, ivory, aloes, cassia, cinnamon, apes and peacocks, strange plants and animals, fragrant woods and brilliant metals, silver and gold. Gold of Ophir the most famous in the world. Men more precious than gold; wisdom more precious than the merchandise of silver. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

IV. The sailors who manned it. Hebrews had none capable of performing distant expeditions; were only fishermen, whose boats coasted on the shores of the Mediterranean, or plied on inward lakes. Tyrians manned the navy of Solomon, who excelled in nautical science (cf. 1Ki. 5:6; 1Ki. 9:27) When we consider that in the case of Solomon the commercial wealth of the entire community was concentrated in the hands of the government, that much of the trade was a monopoly, and that all was assisted or directed by the experience and energy of the Tyrians, the overwhelming riches of this eminent merchant-sovereign are, perhaps, not surprising.

HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

2Ch. 8:2. Caused Israel to dwell there. Principles of colonisation

1. A matter of necessity often. To provide for employment, surplus population; and
2. Should always be in the interests of humanity. Not for national glory, material prosperity, or destruction of uncivilised races. What remains of the colonies founded by ancient nations? Prosperity and duration only when God plants a people (America and the Pilgrim Fathers).

2Ch. 8:4-6. If some of the public works had the plea of utility, the fortifications of some cities for purposes of defence (Millo the suburb of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, the two Beth-horons); the foundation of others (Tadmor and Tiphsah) for purposes of commerce. These were simply the pomps of a selfish luxury; and the people, after the first dazzle was over, felt that they were so. Forty thousand horsemen made up the measure of his magnificence (1Ki. 4:26). As the treasury became empty taxes multiplied, and monopolies became more irksome. If, on the one hand, the division of the kingdom came as a penalty for Solomons apostasy from Jehovah, on the other, it was the Nemesis of a selfish passion for glory, itself the most terrible of all idolatries [Bib. Dict.].

2Ch. 8:14. David the man of God. A wonderful title. Only applied to Moses and a nameless prophet, besides David.

1. How gained;
2. What it implies in character and life.

2Ch. 8:12-18. Here we find

1. Solomon diligent in busines. Building and fortifying cities; engaging ships and trading to Ophir. Thus occupied usefully for his country, and employed many that would, perhaps, have otherwise been idle.
2. Solomon fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Carefully guarding the sanctity of Gods house, duly offering sacrifices at all appointed times, and seeing that priests and Levites performed the sacred duties devolving upon them. Here Solomon exhibited religion as it should be; the concerns of life not unfitting him for religion, nor religion unfitting him for the concerns of life [Ingram Cobbins Com.].

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 8

2Ch. 8:2. Cities. Some of these fortified places may have been necessary to keep in check the Canaanitish population, who were likely to fret under the forced labour which he exacted from them [Tuck]. Dwell there. The increase of a great number of citizens in prosperity is a necessary element to the security and even to the existence of a civilised people [Buret].

2Ch. 8:7-8. Pay tribute. A mercantile democracy may govern long and widely; a mercantile aristocracy cannot stand [Landor].

Cursd merchandise! where life is sold,
And avarice consents to starve for gold

[Rowe].

2Ch. 8:12-15. Burnt offerings. Before we ask what a man worships, we have to ask whether he worships at all [Ruskin]. Solomon was great in burnt offerings. Do not men sometimes make up in burnt offerings what they lack in moral consistency? Is not an ostentatious religion sometimes the best proof of internal decay? It ought not to be so. The hand and the heart should be one, the outward and the inward should correspond, the action should be the incarnation of the thought. We are not always to look upon the ceremonial action of the church as indicative of its real spirituality. Sometimes men make a great noise in order to conceal a courage that is giving way [Dr. Parker].

2Ch. 8:16. Prepared. When Bishop Heber read his beautiful poem, Palestine, in manuscript to Sir Walter Scott, his friend remarked that in speaking of the temple of Solomon he had forgotten to refer to the silence which prevailed during its erection. The poet immediately retired for a few minutes, and introduced the following beautiful lines:

No workmans steel, no ponderous axes wrung;
Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung.

This circumstance is remarkable as an indication of the method of preparation and of the deep sense which Solomon had of the sacredness of his work.

2Ch. 8:17-18. Ships. I am wonderfully delighted to see a body of men thriving in their own fortunes, and at the same time promoting the public stock; or, in other words, raising estates for their own families, by bringing into their country whatever is wanting, and carrying out of it whatever is superfluous. Nature seems to have taken a particular care to disseminate her blessings among the different regions of the world, with an eye to their mutual intercourse and traffic among mankind, that the nations of the several parts of the globe might have a kind of dependence upon one another, and be united together by their common interest [Addison].

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

5. BUILDING, LABORERS AND SHIPS (2Ch. 8:1-18)

TEXT

2Ch. 8:1. And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of Jehovah, and his own house, 2. that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.

3. And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it. 4. And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. 5. Also he built Bethhoron the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars; 6. and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
7. As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, that were not of Israel; 8. of their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, of them did Solomon raise a levy of bond-servants unto this day. 9. But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen. 10. And these were the chief officers of king Solomon, even two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people.
11. And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her; for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of Jehovah hath come.
12. Then Solomon offered burnt-offerings unto Jehovah on the altar of Jehovah, which he had built before the porch, 13. even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.
14. And he appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the courses of the priest to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise, and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required; the doorkeepers also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded. 15. And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures.

16. Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of Jehovah, and until it was finished. So the house of Jehovah was completed.
17. Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom. 18. And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched from thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

PARAPHRASE

2Ch. 8:1. It was now twenty years since Solomon had become king, and the great building projects of the Lords Temple and his royal palace were completed. 2. He now turned his energies to rebuilding the cities which King Hiram of Tyre had given to him, and he relocated some of the people of Israel into them.

3. It was at this time, too, that Solomon fought against the city of Hamath-zobah and conquered it. 4. He built Tadmor in the desert, and built cities in Hamath as supply centers. 5. He fortified the cities of upper Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon, both being supply centers, building their walls and installing barred gates. 6. He also built Baalath and other supply centers at this time, and constructed cities where his chariots and horses were kept. He built to his hearts desire in Jerusalem and Lebanon and throughout the entire realm.
7, 8. He began the practice that still continues of conscripting as slave laborers the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusitesthe descendants of those nations which the Israelis had not completely wiped out. 9. However, he didnt make slaves of any of the Israeli citizens, but used them as soldiers, officers, charioteers, and cavalry-men; 10. also, two hundred fifty of them were government officials who administered all public affairs.
11. Solomon now moved his wife (she was Pharaohs daughter) from the City of David sector of Jerusalem to the new palace he had built for her. For he said, She must not live in King Davids palace, for the Ark of the Lord was there and it is holy ground.
12. Then Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar he had built in front of the porch of the Temple. 13. The number of sacrifices differed from day to day in accordance with the instructions Moses had given; there were extra sacrifices on the Sabbaths, on new moon festivals and at the three annual festivalsthe Passover celebration, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Tabernacles.
14. In assigning the priests to their posts of duty he followed the organizational chart prepared by his father David; he also assigned the Levites to their work of praise and of helping the priests in each days duties; and he assigned the gatekeepers to their gates. 15. Solomon did not deviate in any way from Davids instructions concerning these matters and concerning the treasury personnel.
16. Thus Solomon successfully completed the construction of the Temple.
17, 18. Then he went to the seaport towns of Ezion-geber and Eloth, in Edom, to launch a fleet presented to him by King Hiram. These ships, with King Hirams experienced crews working alongside Solomons men, went to Ophir and brought back $13,000,000 worth of gold to him!

COMMENTARY

Solomon had spent seven years building the Temple and thirteen years building his own palaces. These palaces included the House of the Forest of Lebanon, a Porch of Pillars, his personal quarters, a Judgment Hall, a House for Pharaohs Daughter (1Ki. 7:1-8). All of these buildings were wonderfully constructed, ornately furnished, and they were situated in proper relationship to the Temple.[52] According to 1Ki. 9:11-13, Solomon had given Hiram (Huram), king of Tyre, twenty cities in Galilee. These villages bordered the Phoenician country and were given to the Phoenicians as partial payment for their help in providing supplies for Solomons building program. Hiram was not at all pleased with the transaction and showed his displeasure by calling these villages Cabul, which means good for nothing. Since the Phoenicians evidently did nothing with the villages, Solomon made some improvements which made the villages attractive to certain Israelites for settlement.

[52] Schultz, Samuel, J., The Old Testament Speaks, pp. 148, 149

Hamath-zobah is the same city mentioned in 2Ch. 7:8. There may have been some uprising in this vicinity which Solomon was able to put down. He most likely established garrisons of soldiers in that district. Tadmor was west of Damascus about one hundred and forty miles about equi-distant from the Orontes and Euphrates rivers. The garrisons at Tadmor helped secure the northern borders of the kingdom. The villages of Beth-horon were in the territory of Ephraim, not far from Jerusalem in a north-westerly direction. Baalath was a village in the tribe of Dan. Solomon built whatever he pleased in any of these places either by way of military fortification or for his own personal satisfaction.

There were in Solomons kingdom remnants of the native inhabitants of Palestine. Five of the seven native nations are named in 2Ch. 8:7. Girgashites and Canaanites are the others who are not named. All of these people were supposed to be utterly dispossessed in Joshuas day and the period of conflict that followed. The Hebrews failed in this matter. Instead of annihilating these people, they subjected them to taskwork. The free-born children of Israel were the chief military leaders. From among these Solomon selected two hundred and fifty men who were to have very responsible military positions.

In his complex of costly palaces Solomon built a house especially for the daughter of Pharaoh. Before his palaces were completed he had occupied the quarters of his father, David. At this time he was able to move his queen into a palace more worthy of her dignity. In those months that followed the completion of the Temple Solomon was faithful in his service to Jehovah. He was careful to attend to the burnt offerings. By these he vowed his complete commitment to Jehovah. It is possible that he attended both morning and evening sacrifices at the altar. Special offerings were made on the sabbath day, to usher in a new month, and for the three great annual festivals. As long as the king was careful about these matters, he remained faithful to Jehovah. Solomon sought out carefully the appointments and schedule of service for the priests and Levites as these had been determined by David. He was faithful in administering this program. Once more, the chronicler emphasizes the fact that the house of Jehovah was completed when it functioned as a place of worship.
In Solomons day Israels wealth was greatly increased through the operation of two navies.[53] One of these, the Tarshish navy, was based at Tyre in Phoenicia. It was manned by Phoenician seamen and touched all of the main coastal cities on the whole perimeter of the Mediterranean as it went as far west as Spain (1Ki. 10:22). The Ophir navy, also manned by Phoenicians, used Ezion-geber and Eloth at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba as home ports (1Ki. 9:26-28). This navy moved through the entire length of the Red Sea touching the west coast of Arabia and the east coast of Africa. This navy visited ports in India and probably went as far east as China. Immense wealth was brought into Israel from these distant places. These navies also exported much merchandise from Israel. The four hundred and fifty talents of gold probably represents one deposit made upon the return of this Ophir navy. If the gold talent was worth thirty thousand dollars, this would amount to thirteen million five hundred thousand dollars.

[53] Grosverior, Melville, B., Everyday Life in Bible Times, pp. 246-248

Clarke, Adam. A Commentary and Critical Notes, Vol. II, p. 648

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(1) And it came to pass.The verb is identical with 1Ki. 9:10, slightly abbreviated.

Wherein.When. The twenty years are reckoned from the fourth year of the reign (1Ki. 6:6), and include seven years during which the Temple was building, and thirteen during which the palace was built (1Ki. 6:38; 1Ki. 7:1).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Solomon’s Public Buildings and Serfs

v. 1. And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the Lord, the building of the Temple taking seven years, and his own house, whose erection took thirteen years,

v. 2. that the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, those in Northwestern Galilee, which had been granted to Huram by Solomon, but refused by the Phenician king as unsuitable for the purposes of his chief industries, 1Ki 9:11, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there, he colonized these cities with people of his own nation.

v. 3. And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, probably a confederacy of two Syrian kingdoms on, and east of, the Orontes, and prevailed against it, he overcame the forces of the confederacy whose rulers had in some way provoked his resentment.

v. 4. And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, later the famous Palmyra of Queen Zenobia, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath, the fortified towns along the northern frontier, either to further his commercial enterprises or to secure himself against an attack from the north.

v. 5. Also he built Beth-horon the Upper and Beth-horon the Nether, on the Philistine frontier, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars;

v. 6. and Baalath, in the same territory, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, some of which were situated in the rich grazing lands in the south, and the cities of the horsemen, where his cavalry was stationed, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon, where he is believed to have had a summer home, and throughout all the land of his dominion.

v. 7. As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel, descendants of the Canaanite nations that occupied the land before the conquest,

v. 8. but of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel, contrary to the original command of the Lord, consumed not, whom the Lord, therefore, left in the country as a perpetual snare to Israel, Jdg 2:1-3, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day, reduced them to the condition of serfs.

v. 9. But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work, they were not forced to perform menial tasks; but they were men of war and chief of his captains and captains of his chariots and horsemen, they held positions of honor in the army.

v. 10. And these were the chief of King Solomon’s officers, the overseers belonging to Israel only, even two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people. So Solomon showed himself a wise administrator in all the affairs of his kingdom, interested in the welfare and security of his people. His kingdom is a type of the kingdom of Christ with its spiritual, heavenly, eternal blessings.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

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.

2Ch 8:1

(parallel, 1Ki 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 housein all twenty-four years.

2Ch 8:2

The cities which Huram had restored to Solomon. 1Ki 9:11 explains the force of the word “restored” here, telling how it was Hiram had come by “twenty cities in the land of Galilee” by way of payment, or part payment, for the “cedar,” “fir,” and “gold” which he had given Solomon. It is evident that these cities were in need of repair; possibly they had not been previously in the occupation of the Israelites; if they had been, the transaction was scarcely legitimate on the part of Solomon (Le 25:12-33), and we may suppose they had become largely deserted when made over to Hiram. It would not, however, be necessary to suppose either that Solomon had given them because they were poor property in his eyes, or that Hiram, whose good will and generous disposition are elsewhere specially notified, had returned them as a thankless gift or as a bad payment, but for the language of 1Ki 9:12, 1Ki 9:13 (1Ki 9:1-28.), which distinctly tells us that when Hiram inspected them they did “not please him,” and that he named them “the land of Oabul”. The probability is that, as cities on the borderland, they were what had been at present unoccupied by Israelites, were all the likelier in bad repair, and, unvalued by Hiram, were, when put into good repair by Solomon, such that Solomon might justly cause the children of Israel to dwell in them.

2Ch 8:3

Hamath-zobah. Hamath was a place both of great geographical note and of great historical note from the time of the Exodus to that of Amos. The town, or city, is to be understood to be the Great Hamath (Amo 6:2). But the kingdom, or district, or county, was almost conterminous with Coele-Syria. Zobah, also a portion of Syria, amounted to a small kingdom, and is read of alike in Saul’s and in David’s times, as in Solomon’s time. It probably lay to the north-east of Hamath (1Sa 14:47; 2Sa 8:8, 2Sa 8:7, 2Sa 8:8, 2Sa 8:10; 2Sa 10:9, 2Sa 10:16, 2Sa 10:19; 1Ch 18:4; 1Ch 19:16). But Hamath-zobah of this verse was probably a place called Hamath, in the region of Zobah, in which also two other cities are mentioned, Berothai and Tibhath, or Betah (2Sa 8:8; 1Ch 18:8). These two kingdoms of Hamath and Zobah, contiguous as they were, seem as though they purposed to compliment one anotherZobah by naming one of its towns Hamath, and vice versa It is said that the Assyrian inscriptions show that they remained, after Solomon, distinct kingdoms.

2Ch 8:4

Tadmor in the wilderness. Tadmor, one with the classical Palmyra, lay in the desert of Syria, about half-way between the rivers Orontes and Euphrates, and distant from Damascus about a hundred and forty miles to its east-north-east. Stanley says, “Is it quite certain that ‘Tadmor’ and ‘Palmyra’ are words derived from the (palms)? A palm is in Hebrew tamar and in Greek phoenix.” Solomon was probably not the originator, but rather re-builder, of the place. Its fame was great under Zenobia, the Queen of Odenathus; she was taken captive by the Emperor Aurelian, a.d. 273, when the city was subdued. It is now little better than the haunt of a few Arabs Splendid ruins remain, specially of the great temple of the sun. The Hebrew text of 1Ki 9:18 has apparently Tamer, or Tamar, and it has been suggested by Movers on that passage that possibly a Tamar in the south, and that is found in the neighbourhood of some of the other places, such as Baalath, Beth-heron, and Gezer, all in the south (Eze 47:19; Eze 48:28; Eze 20:2), is intended. Our text, however, in the present place offers no choice, while that in Kings (compare Chethiv and Keri) is doubtful. And finally, our writer is here evidently in the neighbourhood of Hamath, which of course best suits Tadmor. Although there is an apparent disjointedness between this and the parallel, closer notice may rather bring confirmation of substantial agreement between them. For instance, the store cities here spoken of as belonging to Hamath (but not individually named here and not corresponding with those that are named in Kings) are accounted for by the words, “and in Lebanon,” in 1Ki 9:19.

2Ch 8:5

Beth-heron the upper Beth-heron the nether. The parallel mentions only the latter (1Ki 9:17). They were both in Ephraim (1Ch 7:24; Jos 10:10, Jos 10:11; Jos 16:1-6; Jos 18:13, Jos 18:14), but were assigned to the Kohathite Levites (Jos 21:22; 1Ch 6:68). The name means “the hollow place.” The upper Beth-heron was about four miles from Gibeon, and the lower about three miles further on. The Roman general Cestius Gallus was defeated here in the last Jewish war; Judas Maccabaeus conquered here (1 Maccabees 3:18-25). Other interesting references may be made to 1Sa 13:18; 1Ki 9:7; 2Ch 25:18.

2Ch 8:6

Baalath (parallel 1Ki 9:18). This place belonged to Dan (Jos 19:40-45). Nothing is known about it; some take it to be one with Baalah of Jos 15:9, Jos 15:10. Store cities chariot cities cities of the horsemen (see 2Ch 16:4; 2Ch 32:28; 1Ki 4:26; 1Ki 9:19). In the parallel some of the names of the places built, or rebuilt, or repaired by Solomon in this connection are given as “Mille and the wall of Jerusalem” (Millo’s foundations occupied the hollow at the south-west corner of the hill of the temple), “and Hazer and Megiddo and Gezer” (1Ki 9:15). All that Solomen desired to build; i.e. for purposes of personal enjoyment or ornament.

2Ch 8:7-10

These verses, corresponding very nearly exactly with the parallel (1Ki 9:20-23), betray how it was a thing never to be forgotten, if only as a fact, that the extermination of the old possessors of the land had not been entire; so that allusion to it is not omitted even by a post-Captivity compiler. The parallel charitably “whom the children of Israel were not able to destroy utterly,” where our text shows with exacter fidelity, whom the children of Israel consumed not. The parallel also uses the words, “levy a tribute of bond–service,” for our more ambiguous make to pay tribute (Jdg 3:1-7). In the words, until this day, the copyist, shall we say, too slavish, is again detected (2Ch 8:9). The “levy “in verse 21 of the parallel probably explains the suddenly mentioned similar language of its fifteenth verse, and again betrays the collected and copied nature of the historic material, the carefulness of sequence not being as observable in selection as might be desired. The distinction between the remnant of aliens and the people of Israel was manifestly that the menial and the laborious service was put on the former. Useful but familiar references to this whole subject are found in Jdg 1:21-36; Jdg 3:1-5; 1Ch 22:2; 1Ki 5:13-18. For our two hundred and fifty (which gives the number of overseers over Israelites only) the parallel reads, “five hundred and fifty.” It will be remembered that an analogous difference occurs between our 2Ch 2:18 and 1Ki 5:16. Whether it were the determining reason or not in these two places, it is very imaginable that it would be of less importance in the ages of the post-Captivity annalist to dwell on the minutiae of the different treatment of the aliens.

2Ch 8:11

(parallel, 1Ki 9:24).As the writer of Chronicles has not before alluded to the marriage and the circumstances of it involved in this verse, his account and assignment of Solomon’s motive for the removal of his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, is given something more specifically (see 1Ki 3:1; 1Ki 7:8). The valley of Tyropeum lay between the temple on the eastern hill and Solomon’s palace, which was on the western side of it. The name of this wife was probably Psusennes, last of the twenty-first dynasty.

2Ch 8:12, 2Ch 8:13

Parallel in compressed form 1Ki 9:25. After a certain rate every day; Hebrew, ; the probable meaning is, according to the fixed appointment of day after day (Exo 23:14; Exo 29:23, Exo 29:38; Num 28:3; Deu 16:16).

2Ch 8:14

The courses of the priests the Levites to their charges the porters also by their courses at every gate. (For the particulars of this verse, see, with the exposition to them, 1Ch 24:1 -35; 1Ch 25:1-7; 1Ch 26:1-32.; 1Ch 9:17-28.) David the man of God. This title occurs only once in 1Ch 23:14, where it is used of Moses; and six times in 2 Chronicles, viz. here to David; 2Ch 11:2, to Shemaiah; three times, 2Ch 25:7, 2Ch 25:9, to an unnamed prophet; and once again to Moses, 2Ch 30:16; the expression occurs much more frequently in Kings.

2Ch 8:15

Considering the last clause of the previous verse, the king probably designs David, not Solomon. The commandment concerning the treasures. (See, with the exposition, 1Ch 26:20-32. Comp. also our 2Ch 35:3-5.)

2Ch 8:16

Was prepared. This is the niph. of ; and occurs eight times in Chronicles, but in other conjugations forty-two times. The evident signification is, Thus was all the work of Solomon steadily ordered to the day of foundation of the house and on uninterruptedly till it was finished; i.e. there was no remitting of diligence and care from the beginning to the end of the grand undertaking. For of this the Chronicle-history has told us, first in 2Ch 2:1-18; and then in ch. 3-8.

2Ch 8:17

Ezion-geber Eloth. Parallel, 1Ki 9:26, which describes the former of these ports as “beside” the latter, “on the Red Sea,” i.e. at the extremity of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, called the Elanitic Gulf by Greeks and Romans, but now the Gulf of Akabah (Num 33:35-37; Deu 2:8; 2Sa 8:14; 1Ki 22:48; 2Ki 14:22; 2Ki 16:6; 2Ch 20:36, 2Ch 20:37). David’s conquest of Edom was the occasion of its coming into the possession of Israel.

2Ch 8:18

The first impression created on reading this verse no doubt would he that Hiram sent ships to Solomon, at Ezion-geber and Eloth. But it is almost impossible to see how he could do so. The parallel much helps us, by saying that “Solomon made a navy,” and Hiram assisted. by manning it with competent sailors; he “sent in the navy his servants,” etc. (1Ki 9:26, 1Ki 9:27). Some have suggested that the explanation is that Hiram gave materials, workmen, and models for Solomon’s ships, possibly having ships lying in the Red Sea. The parallel, however, meets all difficulties, and saves the necessity of going far for farfetched explanations. Ophir. This was the name of the son of Joktan (Gen 10:25-29), who, it is supposed, gave his name to the place or land in the south of Arabia. It is still quite an unsettled question, however, where Ophir was situated, though an Arabian situation is on every account the most probable (see Exposition 1Ch 29:4; and Dr. Smith’s ‘Bible Dictionary,’ 2:637-642). Our four hundred and fifty talents of gold reads in the parallel (1Ki 9:28) as “four hundred and twenty.”

HOMILETICS

2Ch 8:1-18

The formative influence of the Church.

In the exceeding abundance of suggestion of homiletic matter that characterizes Scripture, and even its historic books, there is naturally so much the less temptation to strain its sacred contents (which at all times serve their own purposes) by laying them under forced contributions to this particular service. It may be, therefore, perhaps best to say at once that this chapter does not proffer anything specially suitable for homiletics proper. None the less is it true that the chapter does exhibit certain points which look this way, and worthy of noticeas, e.g; once the central religious institution of the Church and nation has found its settled place and established form, many other things seem even predisposed to seek and to find their settlement too, their order, and their abiding strength. The building of cities regained or restored, and the rebuilding, repair, and fortification of othersstore cities and chariot cities and horsemen’s cities (2Ch 8:1-6, the language of the last of these verses reading, it will be noticed, specially emphatically); the assigning of the payment of tribute to the descendants of the original inhabitants (who, contrary to Divine direction, had not been thoroughly outrooted from the land) whose privileges there, as resident in and amid Israel, were cheaply bought by that tribute; the assigning of independence and posts of authority to others, of the people and officers of Israel itself (2Ch 8:7-10); the apparently growing spiritual perception of Solomon, in what might presumably be regarded as a somewhat critical step, the removing of his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, from an abode that was “sacred,” to one that was a palace indeed of palaces, but not sacred (2Ch 8:11); the full observance and reviving from Moses’ time and standpoint of all religious ritual and ceremony (but supremely of all which concerned the altar) for daily service and sacrifice, and sabbath and new moon service and sacrifice, and for those of the triple solemn feasts, to wit, of Unleavened Bread, of Weeks, and of Tabernacles, with the necessary courses of priests, Levites, musicians, and porters;all this came of the “perfecting of the house of the Lord” (2Ch 8:12-16), as though it were actually complementary to it. Does it not read, when all taken together, for the unsophisticated and devout mind, like some forecast of these two things, which we now, in the modern Church, so often say or hear said:

1. That the welfare of the diocese follows its bishop and its cathedral service, taking its tone and deriving no little of its health from them? This is abundantly conspicuous in the history of a newly carved out diocese.

2. And that, one thousand to fifteen hundred years ago, the formative influence of the Church over the nation was indisputable; that the Church made the nation far more than the nation the Church, conspicuously lending to it, nay, giving to it a strength of foundation, variety of elements, and those in especial that make for durableness? Nineteen centuries ago a theocracy, which may with most reverent intention be called comparatively mechanical, passed away. Let us hope, pray, and work that the centuries from then to the present hour may be but superseding it, with that founded on the new and better covenant.

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON

2Ch 8:1-6

Wise work.

David had done excellent work for his country by uniting all the tribes of Israel in a strong band of attachment to himself, and thus to one another; also in defeating and subjecting the neighbouring powers, and thus giving peace and tranquillity to the nation. Solomon, coming after him, seconded and sustained him, not by acting on the same lines, but by “a new departure.” We very often show the truest regard to those who have been before us by illustrating their spirit in a very different method from that which they adopted. Solomon, like the wise man he was, set about building. He “built the house of the Lord and his own house” (2Ch 8:1), taking time and building well. He then built cities, which were either strongholds or emporiums, serving useful purposes in war or in peace. He seems to have accomplished much by so doing.

I. WHAT SOLOMON ACHIEVED BY BUILDING.

1. He increased the security of his dominions. Those “fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars,” must have added considerably to the defensive power of Israel.

2. He took effectual means for the enrichment of the country. The “store cities ‘ would do much to promote communication and trade with other states, would increase his imports and exports.

3. He immortalized himself. He caused his name to be associated with many places that for long centuries remembered him as their founder, and with one city (Tadmar) that will never be forgotten.

4. He made a deep mark on the future. Some of these cities have absolutely perished; the ruins of one of them still remain. It is impossible to say how much his enterprise had to do, but it certainly had much, with the brilliance, the power, and the political and moral influence of Palmyra. The effects of this building went far beyond the satisfaction of the desire of his heart (2Ch 8:6); they reached to remote centuries, and told upon people that were afar off.

II. WHAT IS OPEN TO US TO ACCOMPLISH.

1. The structure it is possible we may raise. This may be a house in the sense of a family (see 2Sa 7:11); or it may be a house in the sense of a business establishment; or it may be a church, wherein God shall be worshipped and his Son exalted for many generations; or it may be a society which shall receive dud sustain many hundreds of human hearts. One thing there is we may all he building, and are indeed all bound to build with utmost carea human character; a character which shall be fair in its proportions, rich in its equipments, and strong in its defence against all assault.

2. The moral and spiritual materials with which, or of which, we should build. These are uprightness, truth, patience, courage, persistency.

3. The spirit in which we should work. This is the spirit of obedience, of resignation, of devotedness; so that we are not seeking our own personal aggrandizement, hut the honour of our Divine Lord.C.

2Ch 8:11

Doubtful marriage alliance.

There was more astuteness than wisdom in the alliance which Solomon effected between the daughter of Pharaoh and himself. It is probable that he congratulated himself greatly thereupon, and that at first it was a source of much gladness of heart to him. But the end did not justify his hope. The political alliance with Egypt, which it was intended to confirm, was very soon broken; in the very next reign the king of that country came up against Jerusalem (2Ch 12:9). And though the daughter of Pharaoh may herself have conformed, in part if not altogether, to the religion of Jehovah, it may be taken for granted that many of her retinue did not; that they brought up from Egypt idolatrous rites, superstitious practices, immoral usages. We gather from the text that Solomon himself felt that there was an unsuitableness and even an impropriety in having such a court in the rooms where David had prayed and sung, beneath the roof under which the ark of God had rested. If he felt thus, we may be sure that there was not a little about the new queen’s ways and those of her attendants to scandalize the simple faith and conscientious scruples of the people. And this was the beginning of that departure from the simplicity and purity of Hebrew faith and morals which ended in corruption and disaster (1Ki 11:31). This matrimonial alliance was not a fine piece of policy; it was a distinct mistake. Perhaps the king may have begun to think so when he found that, instead of gracing his father’s home, his new wife could not take her place there without profaning it. In such alliances as these it is well to remember

I. THAT APPARENT ADVANTAGES MAY EASILY BE OVERESTIMATED. To the one side or the other, to the husband or the wife, there may be the prospect of social standing, or of wealth, or of personal attraction; there may be the inducement of one or more of those favourable conditions which belong to the lower plane of life. But experience has proved again and again, in so many cases and with such startling and overwhelming power that all may see and know, that these worldly advantages are no security whatever against disappointment, against misery, against melancholy failure. Their worth and virtue only stretch a little way; they do not go to the heart of things; they only touch the outer fortifications, they cannot take the citadel.

II. THAT COMMON PRINCIPLES AND SPIRITUAL AFFINITIES are the true basis on which this alliance should be founded. It is a poor prospect indeed when the wife is felt to be morally unworthy to be mistress of the old home; when it has to be acknowledged that her principles and her practice will dishonour rather than adorn the rooms where the Bible has been accustomed to be read and the praises of Christ to be sung. Surely it is not from fellowship with her spirit and not from the influences which will flow from her life that a blessing will come to the heart and to the home. It is not the full hand but the pure soul that brings joy and gladness to the hearth. It is a common love for the common Lord, and the walking together along the same path of eternal life,it is this which has the promise of the future. The splendid palace which Solomon built for Pharaoh’s daughter may have been little more than a fine mausoleum for a hope that soon withered and died; the humblest roof that shelters two true, loving, holy hearts will be the home of a happiness which grows and deepens with passing years, with mutual service, and with united efforts to train and bless.C.

2Ch 8:12-16

Perfecting the sanctuary.

It was indeed a great thing to be able to write that “the house of the Lord was perfected” (2Ch 8:16). Much had to be done, however, before that could be written. It was necessary

I. THAT THE MATERIAL SHOULD SUBSERVE THE SPIRITUAL. Though the last stone had been carved and carried, and the last piece of furniture placed in its position, though the temple stood and shone before the eyes of Israel in all architectural completeness, yet was it not truly “finished” (2Ch 8:16) until it was made a right use of, until sacrifice smoked on its altar, until “Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord” (2Ch 8:12). No edifice or erection of any kind, no work of art, nothing that is visible and material, can be said to have attained its end as an instrument of worship until it has been the means and medium by which the soul of man ascends to the Spirit of God and makes its offering “unto the Lord.” Until that point is reached, it is as the sacrifice without the consuming fire; it is essentially imperfect. It is the wise, the true, the spiritual use we make of them that crowns and completes all instrumentalities in the service of God.

II. THAT METHOD BE EMPLOYED AS WELL AS INSPIRATION CALLED FORTH. “After a certain rate every day, according to the commandment” (2Ch 8:13); “according to the order” (2Ch 8:14). It is well, it is needful, to do everything to elicit zeal, to call forth spontaneous service; without this there is no life, and therefore no acceptance with Clod. But there must be method also. That Christian Church (or that Christian man) that thinks it (he) can dispense with regulation and order in its (his)devotion makes a serious mistake. The waters of a river are more essential than the banks; but the river would do very ill without theseit would soon be lost in diffusion. Piety that is not regulated is liable to be thus lost. Method is far lower down than inspiration, but it is an aid which the strongest and the worthiest can by no means afford to despise or to neglect.

III. THAT ATTENTION BE GIVEN TO THE HUMBLE AND MINUTE. Prevision was made for “the courses of the priests;” but the “porters also” were considered and cared for (2Ch 8:14). These humbler ministrants had a part to play, a service to render, as well as the higher officials, and their work was specified and recorded. And all arrangements were made “as the duty of every day required;” regard was had to hourly necessity, and no smallest service was overlooked. In the worship we render and in the work we do for so great a Lord as our God, for so gracious a Master as our Divine Friend and Saviour, there is nothing actually small. One post may be lower than another, one duty may be slighter than another; but everything we do for him “that loved us and gave himself for us” is redeemed from insignificance; and if we have the true spirit in us we shall leave nothing of any kind undone which will make the smallest contribution to the perfecting of his service; we shall give heed to the humble and the minute as well as to the lofty and the large.

IV. THAT OFFERING BE PRESENTED TO GOD AS WELL AS BLESSINGS ASKED OF HIM. The priests and the Levites were to “praise” as well as to “minister” (2Ch 8:14). They were to sing as well as to sacrifice to offer gratitude to God as well as to seek mercy and grace of him. And surely the service of the sanctuary will by no means be perfected until we bring to God the best we have to offer. We seek greatest things of him, let us bring greatest things to him; let us bring to his house and to himself our most reverent thought, our warmest gratitude, our meat serious and fixed resolution, our sweetest and purest song. Unto him that loved us we will yield the richest and worthiest offering our heart can render, our voice can raise.C.

HOMILIES BY T. WHITELAW

2Ch 8:1-6

Solomon’s building operations.

I. PALACE–BUILDING. Like Seti I; Rameses II; and other Pharaohs (Brugsch, ‘Egypt,’ etc; 2Ch 2:14), like Uruk, Kham-murabi, and other early Chaldean kings (‘Records of the Past,’ 1.8; 3.9), like ancient Oriental monarchs generally, Solomon was a great builder. The first twenty years of his reign were occupied in erecting “palaces,” or royal residences.

1. A house for Jehovah, the King of kings, i.e. the temple on Moriah, which required seven years for erection (1Ki 6:37, 88). In according precedence to the temple, Solomon acted both becomingly and rightly. In all undertakings, national, political, social, commercial, as well as individual and religious, not only should God’s glory be the governing aim (1Co 10:31). but God’s claims should receive the earliest recognition. God first and self second (not vice versa) is the true order, whatever the business in which man engages. “Honour the Lord with the firstfruits of thine increase” (Pro 3:9); “Seek first the kingdom of God and-his righteousness” (Mat 6:33). A recently published memoir furnishes the following illustration: “‘Before we began business.’ writes a Christian merchant of his deceased partner, ‘we had naturally to arrange articles of partnership. I remember with what earnestness he proposed that we should set aside a certain percentage of our profits for religious and benevolent purposes before any division was made among the partners. His wish was cordially assented to, but the generous purpose originated with him”.

2. A house for himself, Solomon, the King of Israel, the vicegerent and representative of Jehovah in the midst of the theocratic nation (1Ki 7:1, 1Ki 7:2). Though kings as well as other men may be sinfully prodigal in personal expenditure, in the mansions they dwell in, the luxury they revel in, and the pageantry they appear in, it is nevertheless not demanded by religion either that all should stand upon a level of equality in respect of” manner of life,” or that any should practise asceticism. Each station in society has a corresponding “fitness of living,” which Christianity allows, and prudence should attempt to discover and maintain. If beggars cannot live in palaces, kings are not expected to dwell in hovels.

3. A house for the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Solomon had espoused in the beginning of his reign (1Ki 7:8), and had hitherto lodged in the city of David (1Ki 3:1) until a permanent abode for her should be erected. This Pharaoh is supposed to have been Pashebensba II; the last of the Tanitic or twenty-first dynasty (Lenormant, Winer, Kleinert in Riehm’s ‘Handworterbuch’), though a claim has been advanced for an earlier potentate of that line, either Pashebensha I. or Pinetem II.. That he should have given his daughter to Solomon is not surprising when the weakness of the Tanitic dynasty is remembered, and receives confirmation from the fact that an earlier Pharaoh married his daughter Bithia to an ordinary Israelite (1Ch 4:18). As a dowry for his daughter, Gezer (Jos 12:22), an old Canaanitish town whose king, Horam, was slain by Joshua (Jos 10:33), without being itself destroyed, and whose inhabitants were not expelled, but only made tributary (Jos 16:10), was conquered by the Egyptian monarch and presented to Solomon. Sargon (of Assyria) tells us in one of his inscriptions that, having conquered the country of Cilicia with some difficulty, on account of its great natural strength, he made it over to Ambris, King of Tubal, who had married one of his daughters, as the princess’s dowry.. On first marrying the princess, Solomon lodged her in a separate house in the city of David, until this residence was ready for her reception in connection with his own palace (see homily on verse 11).

II. CITY–BUILDING. The subsequent years of Solomon’s reign were so employed.

1. Old cities repaired. (Verse 2.) In the north-west of Galilee, not far from Tyre. Either they were those Solomon offered to Hiram in payment for the building material, timber and gold, received from him (1Ki 9:10-14), and Hiram declined to accept (Keil), as either an insufficient recompense, being in his estimation mean and contemptible, whence he called them Cabul (Josephus, 8.5. 3), or as being unsuitable to the commercial habits of his subjects (Jamieson); or they were towns Hiram gave to Solomon in exchange for those he had obtained from Solomon (Jewish interpreters). That the Chronicler has transformed the statement in Kings, because it seemed to him inconceivable that Solomon should have parted with twenty cities standing on Israelitish soil (Bertheau), while a possible hypothesis, is not demonstrable. These towns Solomon, having first wrested them from the Canaanites, repaired and peopled with the children of Israel, to whom, in virtue of God’s promise, they really belonged.

2. New cities founded.

(1) Tadmor, or Tamar, “a palm tree” (1Ki 9:18). in the wilderness, identified with the rich and flourishing city of Palmyra, “the city of palms,” in the Syrian desert (Bertheau, Keil, Jamieson), distant “two days’ journey from the Upper Syria, and one day’s journey from Euphrates, and six long days’ journey from Babylon” (Josephus ‘Ant.’ 8. 6. 1), and still called by the Damascenes Tadmor; though Tamar, mentioned in Eze 47:19; Eze 48:28) as forming part of the southern boundary of Palestine, has been claimed as the Tadmor here alluded to (Thenius, Bahr, Schrader), on the ground that in 1Ki 9:17, 1Ki 9:18 the building of Tamar is associated with the building of Gezer, Beth-heron, and Baalath, and that Tamar is stated to have been in the wilderness in the land. But the first of these arguments is not conclusive, while the second has force only if Palestine, and not Hamath, is the land meant. (For a description of Tadmor or Palmyra, see Biblical Cyclopsedias.)

3. Existing cities fortified.

(1) Beth-heron, or “the house of the narrow way,” an old double town of Ephraim, said to have been built by Sheerah, a daughter or descendant of Ephraim (1Ch 7:24); but as the two Beth-herons, the present Beit-ur-el-Foka and Taehta (Robinson), the upper and the lower, situated in the tribe of Ephraim on the borders of Benjamin, existed in the days of Jos 9:1-27 :28), it is probable that Sheerah was “an heiress who had received these places as her inheritance, and caused them to be enlarged by her family” (Keil). Solomon transformed them into garrison cities, with walls, gates, and bars.

(2) Baalah, a town in the tribe of Dan (Jos 19:44), not far from Beth-heron and Gezer (Josephus), perhaps the modern village Bel‘ain (Conder). Though mentioned along with Tadmor, there is no ground for identifying it with Baal-bec or Heliopolis (Ritter and others). This also the king fortified to protect his kingdom against the Philistines.

4. Store cities, etc; erected.

(1) In Hamath-zobah, which Solomon conquered (Jos 9:3). This territory comprised the well-known town Hamath on the Orontes, ruled over by Ton, and the adjoining state of Zobah, whose king, Hadar-ezer, David smote when he went to establish his dominion by the river Euphrates (1Ch 18:3). Both kings appear to have been rendered tributary to the Israelitish throne as the result of that expedition, and their territories practically annexed to the Israel-itish dominions under the composite name employed by the Chronicler.

(2) In Palestine proper (Jos 9:6). These “store cities “were not so much deists of merchandise (Ewald, Jamieson) as magazines for victuals, laid up for the convenience of travellers and their beasts (Bertheau), perhaps also for materials of war to aid in the protection of the empire (Bahr). Along with these were chariot cities (cf. 2Ch 1:14), and cities for the horsemen, probably not different from the former (see 2Ch 9:25; 1Ki 10:26).

Learn:

1. Kings should be patterns to their subjects of religion and industry.

2. It is legitimate for princes to look well to the safety of their dominions.

3. The best defences for kingdoms are not muniments, but men.W.

2Ch 8:7-10

The subjects of Solomon.

I. NON–ISRAELITES.

1. Their nationalities. Descendants of five of the seven nations in the promised laud anterior to the conquest, remnants of which were left instead of being utterly consumed as enjoined by Moses (Deu 7:1).

(1) The Hittites, sons or descendants of Herb, the second son of Canaan (Gen 10:15), who in Abraham’s time dwelt in and around Hebron (Gen 26:34), in Moses’, along with the Amorites and Jebusites, occupied the mountains of Judah and Ephraim (Num 13:29), and in Solomon’s, resided north of Palestine (1Ki 9:20; 1Ki 10:29; 1Ki 11:1; 2Ki 7:6). Identified with the Cheta of the Egyptian monuments, and the Chatti of the cuneiform inscriptions, they have finally been discovered by Sayce and Brugsch (‘Egypt,’ etc; 1:338) to be a large and powerful nation “whose two chief seats were at Kadesh on the Orontes, and Carchemish on the Euphrates.” Ebers and Schrader doubt whether the northern belonged to the same family as the southern Hittites; but evidence tends to the conclusion that they did. “That the Hittites formed part of the Hykses forces, and that some of them, instead of entering Egypt, remained behind in Southern Canaan,” is confirmed by the statement of Manetho, that Jerusalem was founded by the Hyksos after their expulsion from Egypt, and by that of Ezekiel (Eze 16:3) that Jerusalem had a Hittite mother (Sayce). Traces of their existence have been left in two places in Palestinein Hattin, the old Caphar Hittai of the Talmud, above the Sea of Galilee; and in Kerr Hatta, north of Jerusalem.

(2) The Amorites. Mountaineers, as the name imports, found on both sides of the Jordan, from north to south of Palestine, though their principal habitat was the Judaean mountains (Gen 14:13, Gen 14:17, Gen 14:24; Num 13:30; Jos 10:5), they were among the most powerful of the ancient Canaanitish tribes. Mamre, an Amorite chieftain, with two brothers, was confederate with Abraham (Gen 14:13).

(3) The Perizzites. Either highlanders or dwellers in the hills and woods of Palestine (Josephus), or rustics living in the open country and in villages, as opposed to the Canaanites, who occupied walled towns (Kalisch)if they were not, rather, a tribe of wandering nomads whose origin is lost in obscurity (Keil)they were found by Abraham in the centre of Palestine (Gen 13:7), and by Joshua in Lower Galilee (Jos 17:15). A trace of them has been found in the present village of Ferasin, north-west of Sbechem.

(4) The Hivites. Translated “villager” (Gesenius), or “midlander” (Ewald), the one of which renderings is as good as the other, since both are conjectural, the Hivite is first heard of in the time of Jacob as a settler near Shechem (Gen 34:2), and afterwards in Joshua’s day further south at Gibeon (Jos 9:1, Jos 9:7), though Hermon, in the land of Mizpeh (Jos 11:3), and Mount Lebanon (Jdg 3:3) were probably their principal abodes.

(5) Jebusites. A primitive branch of the Canaanites, who held the country round Jerusalem as far down as the time of David (2Sa 5:6, 2Sa 5:7). At the period of the conquest their king was Adonibezek, or “Lord of righteousness” (Jos 10:1).

2. Their condition. Practically bond-servants, paying tribute to Solomon, they had no part in the civil commonwealth or religious theocracy of Israel. They illustrate the relation in which the world’s inhabitants stand to the Church. Those have no share in this; yet to this, against their will, they pay tribute and render important servicecompelled, not by Christians, but by the King of Christians, who maketh all things on earth subserve the Church according to the counsel of his will (Eph 1:11, Eph 1:22; Dan 7:14).

3. Their occupation. The working-class population of those days, the artisans and labourers, Solomon employed them in the construction of his temple, palaces, and cities, just as the Pharaohs of former times had employed the progenitors of his people in making bricks and erecting store cities in the land of Ham (Exo 1:11). It was the custom then and long after to subject prisoners of war and the populations of conquered territories to servile work. Thothmes III. of Egypt carried labourers captive to build the temple of his father Amon. The employment of foreign captives in such tasks was an ancient practice in Egypt (Brugsch, ‘Egypt,’ etc; 1.417). An inscription of Esarhaddon states that the custom prevailed in Assyria, he himself saying of his captives from foreign lands, “I caused crowds of them to work in fetters in making brick” (‘Records of the Past,’ 3.120). Not even Solomon, and far less the Pharaohs of Egypt or the kings of Assyria, were acquainted with the golden rule.

II. ISRAELITES.

1. Their ancestry. Descendants of the twelve tribes, whose heads were the sons of Israel, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, their ancestry was honoured as well as ancient.

2. Their industry. The warriors of the kingdom, they did the fighting needful for the empire’s protection and extension. Judged by the Christian standard, war is always an evil and often a sin; but in certain stages of civilization it appears to be inevitable, if neither necessary nor excusable.

3. Their dignity. From them were chosen the officers of the king’s army, the captains of his chariots and of his horsemen, the chiefs of his officers, and the superintendents of his workmen (1Ki 9:22).

LESSONS.

1. The sin of slavery.

2. The dignity of labour.

3. The nobility of free men.W.

2Ch 8:11

The consort of a king.

I. THE QUEEN‘S PERSON. The daughter of Pharaoh. As to which Pharaoh, see homily on 2Ch 8:1-6. If the Song of Solomon was an epithalamium in honour of his wedding with this lady, her personal attractions, after making allowances for the rhapsody peculiar to a lover and the luxuriance of fancy characteristic of an Oriental, must have been considerable (So Son 1:8, Son 1:10; Son 4:1-7; Son 7:1-9).

II. THE QUEEN‘S CHARACTER. A heathen. However charming externally, there is no reason why her inward graces may not have been attractive. Like Egyptian ladies of rank, she would probably be skilled in needlework, perhaps also in using the spindle and in weaving. But still she was not acquainted with the true religion, being a worshipper of the god Ra, and the other divinities that claimed the homage of her countrymen, rather than of Jehovah living and true God. Physical loveliness may be a precious gift of Heaven, and moral sweetness desirable in one who is to be a wife; but nothing can compensate for the absence of religion. “Favour is deceitful,” etc. (Pro 31:30).

III. THE QUEEN‘S WEDDING.

1. Celebrated early in the king‘s reign (1Ki 3:1), and doubtless with becoming splendour. It is not good for princes any more than for peasants to be alone, and “he that findeth a wife” (provided she be a woman that feareth the Lord) “findeth a good thing” (Pro 18:22).

2. Politically advantageous for the state, though this is questionable. Israel required no buttress, either from Egypt or Assyria, so long as she remained true to Jehovah (Isa 30:3; Jer 2:18; Jer 42:19). In any case, neither political expedience nor social convenience is a proper motive for contracting marriage, which should always be inspired by love between the parties (Eph 5:25-28).

3. Possibly against the Law of God. On the one hand, it is argued (Keil, Bahr)

(1) that the Mosaic statute (Exo 34:16; Deu 7:3) prohibited only marriage with Canaanitish women;

(2) that not prohibiting, it may be understood to have allowed, alliance with Egyptian maidens;

(3) that such marriages were contemplated by Moses as possible (Deu 23:7, Deu 23:8);

(4) that Pharaoh’s daughter may have become a proselyte to the Jewish religion; and

(5) that the marriage is nowhere in Scripture explicitly condemned.

On the other hand, it is contended (Adam Clarke)

(1) that the principle of the law which forbade marriage with a Canaanitish maiden applied equally to an Egyptian princess, inasmuch as both were foreign or outlandish women;

(2) that Pharaoh’s daughter is classed with the outlandish women who caused Solomon to sin (1Ki 11:1; Neh 13:26); and

(3) that there is no proof that Pharaoh’s daughter was a proselyte.

The affirmative, however, of this last assertion is supposed to be justified by the following considerations:

(1) That Solomon, at the commencement of his reign, would hardly have married Pharaoh’s daughter had she not been a proselyte, he being at the time a lover of Jehovah and an observer of his ways;

(2) that Pharaoh’s daughter is not named in ch. 11. among the king’s wives who seduced their husband into idolatry;

(3) that there is not a trace of Egyptian worship to be found in Israel during this reign; and

(4) that the Song of Solomon and the forty-fifth psalm would not have been composed in honour of her wedding, and far less admitted to the canon, had she been an idolatress.

But none of these is convincing.

(1) Solomon had already an Ammonite wifeNaamah, the mother of Rehoboam (cf. 1Ki 11:42 with 1Ki 14:21 and 2Ch 12:13): was she a proselyte?

(2) Ch. 11. is regarded by some as placing Pharaoh’s daughter among the outlandish women who caused Solomon to sin.

(3) Egyptian idolatry may have been practised in the queen’s house, though not in the land; and

(4) it is not certain that either the song or the psalm was written in honour of this lady. To these may be added

(5) that, had she been a proselyte, Solomon would not have needed to exclude her from the stronghold of Zion where the ark was, and

(6) that Pharaoh’s daughter was certainly an outlandish woman.

4. Extremely unadvised on Solomon‘s part, It led to his decline into idolatry, if not directly yet indirectly, by leading him to add more wives and concubines to his harem.

IV. THE QUEEN‘S RESIDENCE,

1. In a separate house in the city of David. On her wedding, Solomon did not bring her into his father’s palace where himself residedthough some hold he did (Bertheau)but lodged her in a temporary dwelling (Keil, Bahr), assigning as a reason that the rooms of the royal palace had been consecrated and rendered holy by the presence of the ark of Jehovah, and meaning thereby that to have introduced into them an Egyptian queen, even though a proselyte, with probably an establishment of heathen maids, would have been, to say the least, an impropriety. The fact that Solomon could not lodge his wife in his father’s house should have made him hesitate as to his marriage. That matrimonial alliance must be doubtful the contemplation of which leads one to apprehend the Divine displeasure, or which one sees to be incongruous with right religious feeling.

2. In a house contiguous to Solomon‘s palace. This house, specially prepared for her, not for a harem (Thenius), formed part of Solomon’s own dwelling (1Ki 7:8), being situated either behind (Winer) or above (Keil), or perhaps at the side of it.

LESSONS.

1. Marriage is honourable in all (Heb 13:4).

2. The duty of wedding only in the Lord (1Co 7:39).

3. The sin of polygamy.

4. The obligation of husbands to maintain their wives.W.

2Ch 8:12-16

The house of the Lord perfected.

I. THE SACRIFICES ARRANGED. (2Ch 8:12, 2Ch 8:13.)

1. The place on which these should henceforth be offered. “The altar of Jehovah before the porch.” Hitherto Solomon and others ,had presented burnt offerings before the tabernacle at Gibeon (2Ch 1:3) and elsewhere (2Sa 6:13). Henceforth these should be laid upon the brazen altar in the temple court. Solomon’s doing so at the close of the dedication service was a formal inauguration of the practice meant to be followed.

2. The times when these should be offered.

(1) Every dayin the morning and evening sacrifice. So God demands the devotions and spiritual sacrifices of his people at early morn and dewy eve.

(2) At special seasonson the sabbaths, the weekly sabbaths and those occurring in the midst of festivals, as on the great Day of Atonement (Le 16:31), and on the first and eighth days of the Feast of Ingathering (Lev 23:39); on the new moons (1Sa 20:5, 1Sa 20:18; 2Ki 4:23; Psa 81:3; Isa 1:13, Isa 1:14; Isa 66:1-24 :26); and on the solemn feasts three times a year, i.e. the Passover, on the fourteenth day of the first month; the Feast of Harvest, or of the Firstfruits, in the beginning of harvest; and the Feast of Ingathering, or the Feast of Tabernacles, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Exo 23:14-16; Lev 23:4-44). Other times might be chosen by the worshippper; these the worshipper was not at liberty to neglect. Under Christianity there is an irreducible minimum beneath which one cannot go in serving God and yet claim to be a disciple.

3. The measure according to which these should be offered. According to the daily rate prescribed by Moses (Exo 23:14; Le 23:37; Deu 16:16, Deu 16:17). Though Solomon had been honoured to erect a temple, he did not feel himself at liberty to propound a new ritual, and far less to institute a new religion. For him, as for all before and after, until the fulness of the times, Moses was the sole authority in doctrine and in worship. Since the fulness of the times, Christ, the greater than Moses, is; and will-worship (Col 2:23) is as little permissible under the new dispensation as it was under the old.

II. THE PRIESTLY COURSES APPOINTED. (2Ch 8:14.)

1. The pattern followed. The order of David (1Ch 24:1-31.). Whether, in thus arranging the priesthood, David acted under Divine direction or not, is not material. This detail could safely be left to sanctified prudence; and David, in effecting it, only showed his sagacity in knowing how to get a difficult work performed with ease and efficiency, as well as his regard for order and decorum in all things pertaining to the sanctuary. Solomon, in following David’s example instead of resorting to new experiments, approved himself wise.

2. The number of the courses. Twenty-four (1Ch 24:1-19). When these were arranged by David, twenty-four chief men were found who claimed descent from the house of Aaron. Of these, sixteen belonged to the sons of Eleazar, and eight to the sons of Ithamar. Consequently, these were selected as the heads of the several courses, their order of succession being determined by lotto avoid all ground of complaint on the score of favouritism, and to lend the sanction of Divine authority to the order so established (Pro 16:33). As this arrangement was made in David’s old age, and not after the Exile by another than David (De Wette, Herzfeld), it is probable that few important alterations required to be made.

3. The nature of their services. To conduct the sacrificial worship of the nation. The Christian Church has only one Priest, who, having once for all offered himself a Sacrifice for sin, and having passed within the veil with his own blood, there to appear in the presence of God for us, has been consecrated for evermore (Heb 7:28; Heb 9:11, Heb 9:12; Heb 10:10).

III. THE LEVITES INSTRUCTED. (2Ch 8:14.)

1. Their courses. Threethe Gershonites, the Kohathites, the Merarites, according to the three great families of the sons of Levi; the first two consisting of nine, and the third of six, the three of twenty-four fathers’ houses. Hence their courses were probably, like those of the priests’, twenty-four in number (Josephus, ‘Ant.,’ 7.14. 7).

2. Their charges. To praise and minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required. They were no longer needed to carry the tabernacle or any of its vessels for the service thereof, seeing that Jehovah had given rest unto his people, that they might dwell in Jerusalem for ever (1Ch 23:24-32; 1Ch 25:1-6).

IV. THE PORTERS STATIONED. (2Ch 8:14.)

1. Their courses. Twenty-four. At least twenty-four men are mentioned as keeping daily guard at the temple gates (1Ch 26:13-19); and these, it is conjectured, were the heads of twenty-four divisions.

2. Their stations. “At every gate.” Every day were planted at the east gate six men; at the north, four; at the south, four; at the storehouses in the vicinity of the south gate, two and two, i.e. four; at Parbar towards the west, six; in all, twenty-four at the different gates (1Ch 26:17, 1Ch 26:18).

3. Their work. To keep the gatesesteemed an honourable service, and called ministering in the house of the Lord (1Ch 26:12; cf. Psa 84:10).

LESSONS.

1. The necessity and beauty of order in Divine worship.

2. The diversity of offices and gifts in the Church of God.

3. The dignity of even the humblest service in connection with religion.W.

2Ch 8:17, 2Ch 8:18

The first merchant-ships.

I. To WHOM THEY BELONGED.

1. Solomonwho constructed a navy of ships (1Ki 9:26). The first mention of ship-building by the Israelites. An advance in civilization, it is doubtful whether this was in harmony with the calling of the Israelites as a theocratic people, whose business it was to keep themselves distinct from other nations.

2. Hiramwho sent the Israelitish monarch ships by the hands of his servants. Either Hiram sent to Eloth ship-carpenters, who built ships for Solomon (Bahr), or he built ships at Tyre, and sent them by the hands of sailors to join in Solomon’s expedition (Bertheau). If the latter, they must either have rounded the continent of Africa (Bertheau), or been carried by land transport across the Isthmus of Suez (Keil). The former would not have been impossible had the circumnavigation of Africa been at that time known. This, however, is doubtful, as Herodotus (4:42) mentions Pharaoh Necho of the twenty-sixth dynasty as the first to prove that Africa was entirely surrounded by water, with the exception of the small isthmus connecting it with Asia. This he did by sending Phoenician seamen in ships from the Arabian Gulf to seek their way to Egypt through the Pillars of Hercules and the Mediterranean Sea. Hence the latter method was more probably adopted for conveying Hiram’s ships to the Gulf of Arabiaa method of transporting vessels known to the ancients. Herodotus (vii. 24) states that, while Xerxes cut a passage through the Isthmus of Mount Athos, he need not have done so, since without difficulty he might have carried his ships across the land. Thucydides (2Ch 4:8) mentions that in this way the Peloponnesians conveyed eighty ships across the Leucadia-isthmus. (For additional examples, see Exposition.)

II. THE PORT WHENCE THEY SAILED.

1. Ezion-geber, a camping-station on the desert march of Israel (Num 33:35; Deu 2:8); afterwards the place where Jehoshaphat’s ships were wrecked (1Ki 22:48). When the town was built is unknown. Its name imports “the backbone of a man” (Gesenius); the Greeks called it Berenice (Josephus, ‘Ant.,’ 8.6. 4).

2. Near Eloth, the Ailane of Josephus, the Ailath of the Greeks, and the Elana of the Romans, the modern Akaba, on the eastern bay of the Gulf of Akabah. Whether Ezion-geber was also on the east side of the gulf or on the west is uncertain, as no trace of it now exists.

3. On the shore of the Red Sea. The Yam Suf was the eastern arm of the Arabian Gulf, or the Gulf of Akabah. At the present day navigation is perilous in the vicinity of Elath in consequence of the sharp and rocky coast and the easily excited storms.

4. In the land of Edom. Mount Seir, Edom, Idumaea, the Mount of Esau (Deu 2:5; Joe 3:19; Isa 24:5; Oba 1:21); in the Assyrian inscriptions, Udumu or Udumi; a desolate region extending from the head of the Elanitic Gulf to the foot of the Dead Sea, described by Robinson as “a rolling desert, the surface [of which] was in general loose gravel and stones, everywhere furrowed and torn with the beds of torrents now and then a lone shrub of the ghudah [being] almost the only trace of vegetation”.

III. THE SAILORS BY WHOM THEY WERE MANNED. Servants of Hiram, who had knowledge of the sea. The Phoenicians the earliest navigators of the ocean. An inscription of Queen Hatasu, of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, queen regnant first with Thothmes II. and afterwards with Thothmes III; has preserved a record of the construction by that royal lady of a navy on the Red Sea, and of a voyage of discovery to the land of Arabia in vessels manned by Phoenician seamen (Brugsch, ‘Egypt,’ 1:351, etc.; ‘Records of the Past,’ Rom 10:11, etc.).

IV. THE COUNTRY TO WHICH THEY STEERED. Ophir. By eminent authorities (Lassen, Ritter, Bertheau) located in India, this gold-producing region was probably in Arabia (Knobel, Keil, Ewald, Bahr)the land of Pun, to which the ships of Hatasu sailed for costly treasures.

V. THE CARGO WITH WHICH THEY RETURNED.

1. Gold. Whether the four hundred and fifty talents were the cargo of one voyage or of all the voyages cannot be determined. Reckoning a talent at 5475 sterling, the amount would be 2,463,750, or nearly two and a half millions. This precious metal was amongst the treasures fetched from the land of Pun by Hatasu’s fleet.

2. Precious stones. Learnt from a later statement (2Ch 9:10). These also were obtainable in the land of Pun.

3. Algum trees. (2Ch 9:10). What these were is unknown; probably they corresponded with the balsam-wood or “incense trees” brought from Pun by Hatasu’s ships. It was manifestly rare and costly, as Solomon made of it “terraces to the house of the Lord and the king’s palace, as well as harps and psalteries for singers;” “and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.” So said Hatasu’s scribes of her cargo. “Never has such a convoy [been made] like this one by any king since the creation of the world.”

Learn:

1. Man’s dominion over naturehe can affront the perils of the sea.

2. The advantages (from a secular point of view) of navigationin increasing the world’s wealth and comfort, in extending man’s knowledge and power, and in binding the nations into a mutually dependent and helpful brotherhood.

3. The dangers (from a spiritual point of view) of foreign exploration, in fostering the lust of conquest and possession, and in bringing God’s people into contact with heathen nations.W.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

c. The External Glory of Solomons Kingdom, and his End.Ch. 8, 9

. Solomons Building, serfs, Divine Worship, and Navigation: 2 Chronicles 8

2Ch 8:1 And after the course of twenty years, in which Solomon built the house 2of the Lord, and his own house. The cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built, and caused the sons of Israel to dwell in them.

3And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and subdued it. 4And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the cities of stores which he had built in 5Hamath. And he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars. 6And Baalath, and all the cities of stores that Solomon had, and all the chariot-cities and cities of the riders, and all the desire of Solomon which he desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

7All the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the8Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel. Of their sons who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel had not consumed, these Solomon levied for serfs unto this day. 9But of the sons of Israel1 Solomon made none to be servants for his work; but they were soldiers, and captains of his knights,2 and captains of his chariots and riders. 10And these were the chiefs of King Solomons officers,3 even two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people.

11And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh from the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel; for the places are holy into which the ark of God hath come.

12Then Solomon offered burnt-offerings unto the Lord on the altar of the13Lord, which he had built before the porch. And by a daily rule, each day he offered according to the command of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times a year, in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. 14And he appointed, after the order of David his father, the courses of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their charges, to praise and to minister before the priests by a daily rule each day, and the porters in their courses at every gate: for so was the command of David the man of God. 15And they departed not from the command4 of the king to the priests and 16Levites for all things and for the treasures. And all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, and until it was finished: the house of the Lord was complete.

17Then went Solomon to Eziongeber, and to Eloth, on the sea-side in theland of Edom. 18And Huram sent him by the hand of his servants, ships and servants knowing the sea; and they went with Solomons servants to Ophir, and fetched thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon.

EXEGETICAL

Preliminary Remark.Here brief notes and aphoristic accounts, mostly referring to the external occasions and events of the reign of Solomon, are put together, as in the parallel 1Ki 9:10-28, in such a way that they form as it were a gleaning to the report of the chief work of his reign, the building of the temple. The order is in both places the same: 1. The building or finishing of several cities; 2. The arrangement of the service for these buildings; 3. The report of the dwelling assigned to the daughter of the Egyptian king; 4. Regulations concerning sacrifice; 5. Navigation to Ophir. But the contents of these five paragraphs differ much from one another in the two narratives, especially the first relating to the building of the cities (2Ch 8:1-6; comp. 1Ki 9:10-19), where it is clear that we have extracts, not merely differing in the mode of selection from the same sources, and aiding to complete each other, but (with respect to one point at least) actually contradicting one another; see on 2Ch 8:1-2.

1. Solomons building of Cities: 2Ch 8:1-6.And after the course of twenty years, seven years during which the temple was built, and thirteen years during which the royal palace was built, 1Ki 6:38; 1Ki 7:1. With the same date the statement in 1Ki 9:10 opens.

2Ch 8:2. The cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built, completed and fortified (comp. 2Ch 8:4-5, and 1Ki 19:13).And earned the sons of Israel to dwell in them, transplanted Israelites as colonists into them; comp. 2Ki 17:6. 1Ki 9:10-13, deviating from the present statement, speaks rather of twenty Israelitish cities not far from Tyre (in Galil ) which Solomon ceded or pledged to the Phnician king, to indemnify him for the building materials and moneys received from him. These obviously contradictory statements it has been attempted to harmonize in two ways1. By the assumption that Solomon first ceded the twenty cities to Huram, who, however, because they were in bad condition, or were little worth to him (comp. 1Ki 9:12 : and they pleased him not; and 2Ch 8:13 : he called themcontemptuouslythe land of Cabul), restored them to him, whereupon Solomon built them up (Josephus, Antiq. viii. 5. 3; Seb. Schmidt, Starke, recently Keil); 2. By the assumption that Solomon gave Huram twenty Israelitish cities, for which the latter gave him twenty Phnician cities; and the author of 1 Kings speaks exclusively of the former gift, but the Chronist only of the latter (Kimchi and other Rabbis). The former of these two suppositions, for which there is some ground in 1Ki 9:12 f., is decidedly preferable. Yet there is much to say for the assumption of modern critics, that our passage contains a remodelling of the old statement in Kings in favour of Solomon; see Bhr on 1 Kings 9.

2Ch 8:3. And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and subdued it, prevailed over it ( ), as 2Ch 27:5; Dan 11:5). By Hamath-zobah is to be understood, not a city Hamath in the land of Zobah, but rather the land of Hamath not far from Zobah, the Syrian kingdom of Hamath bordering on Zobah; comp. 2Ch 8:4, from which it is clear that a district or kingdom, not a city, is meant, as in 1Ch 18:3, where (in the designation of Hadadezer as king of Zobah towards Hamath) inversely the situation of Zobah is determined by that of the neighbouring Hamath. For the designation of bordering, or being in the immediate neighbourhood, by the status constr., comp. the connection often occurring in Numbers and Joshua: the Jordan of Jericho for the Jordan by Jericho, Num 22:1; Num 26:3; Num 26:63; Num 31:12; Num 33:48; Num 35:1; Num 36:13, Jos 13:32, etc., and above, 1Ch 6:63 (which see). Moreover, the account of the subjugation of Hamath by Solomon is peculiar to our book. The fact, indeed, is presupposed in 2Ki 14:28, but is not directly mentioned by the author of the books of Kings.And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the cities . . . in Hamath, the latter obviously to protect the borders of this newly-conquered country against the hostile King Rezon of Zobah (and more lately of Damascus); see 1Ki 11:23 ff. Tadmor or Palmyra, for only this celebrated old city of the wilderness can be meant by the expressed addition , appears here connected with the kingdom of Hamath, or bordering on it, and made by Solomon to be a border fortress of it. This notice also, so far at least as Tadmor is concerned, is wanting in 1 Kings 9; for the Tammor named there, among other cities fortified by Solomon, 2Ch 8:18 (for which the Keri puts ), appears rather to be a place in South Palestine, perhaps identical with the Tamar mentioned Eze 47:19; Eze 48:28, the of the Onomasticon of Eusebius, and the present Kurnub; comp. Movers, Chron. p. 210; Hitzig, Gesch. p. 160; and Bhr on 1Ki 9:18. There is no sufficient reason to doubt the truth of the present statement of the Chronist regarding Palmyra; the whole old Oriental tradition (even the Arabic legends in Schultens, Index (geogr, s.v.) testifies to it.

2Ch 8:5. And he built Upper and Nether Beth-horon; comp. on 1Ch 7:24, and for the second accusative of the object , fenced cities, 2Ch 11:10; 2Ch 14:6.

2Ch 8:6. And Baalath, and all the cities of stores, cities for the collection of provisions, magazine-cities, as in 2Ch 8:4; comp. 2Ch 17:12; 2Ch 32:28, and Bhr on 1Ki 9:19. Moreover, of the places here mentioned, Upper Beth-horon is not named in 1Ki 9:15-18, but, on the contrary, the here wanting Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer (2Ch 8:15).

2. Arrangement of the Serfs: 2Ch 8:7-10; comp. 1Ki 9:20-23, where, however, as the superscription, 2Ch 8:15 : and this is the mode of the levy, shows, a closer connection of this section with the previous statements regarding the buildings (2Ch 8:15-18) subsists, whereas here the section appears to follow the preceding one, without any connecting link.

2Ch 8:8. Of their sons who were left after them in the land. be fore must apparently be taken as the partitive (some of their sons); but a hyperbaton may also be assumed: for (Keil).The is by no means to be expunged because it is wanting in 1Ki 9:21 (against Berth.).

2Ch 8:9. But of the sons of Israel Solomon made none. On the probable spuriousness of the before , and on the perhaps necessary alteration of the captains of his knights, into his captains and his knights, see Crit. Notes.

2Ch 8:10. And these were the chiefs of King Solomons officers. So according to the Keri, coinciding with 1Ki 9:23; the Kethib would give the sense: chiefs of the overseers. The number 250 is confirmed by the Sept. and Vulg. in our passage, whereas the same translators and Josephus, in the parallel 1Ki 9:23, present the higher number 550. The explanation of this difference see on 2Ch 2:17; in our passage only the Israelitish overseers or taskmasters, in 1Ki 9:23 the Canaanitish also, are counted.

3. The Change of the Dwelling-place of the Daughter of Pharaoh: 2Ch 8:11.The daughter of Pharaoh. This is most probably the daughter of Psusennes, the last king of the twenty-first (Tanitic) dynasty. In 1Ki 9:24 this notice is more easily introduced, as it is preceded by an account of the marriage of Solomon with this daughter of Pharaoh, 1Ki 3:1 f., which is wholly wanting in Chronicles.For he said, My wife shall not dwell. This reason for the removal of his wife is not found in 1Ki 9:24, yet, by its allusion to the special sanctifying of the house of David by the presence of the ark, it corresponds with the mode of thought characteristic of the Chronist.Are holy, the places into which the ark of the Lord came; has here in some sort a neuter significance; comp. Ew. 318, b. The statement, 1Ki 9:24 b, that at the time of this transference of the daughter of Pharaoh Solomon built Millo, is wholly wanting in our passage, as not sufficiently important for the tendency of our author.

4. Regulations concerning Sacrifice: 2Ch 8:12-16; comp. 1Ki 9:25, where the corresponding report appears in a considerably shorter form.Then Solomon offered burnt-offerings unto the Lord. Then, namely, after the building of the temple was completed, and the dedication finished.On the altar of the Lord, which he had built, on that which had been erected by him in the new sanctuary, no longer on that before the tabernacle in Gibeon, as formerly in the beginning of his reign, 2Ch 3:1.

2Ch 8:13. And by daily rule each day he offered, and in the matter of a day in the day to offer; the before is explicative, namely, and the before is the so-called essenti: consisting, namely, in the daily, in that which is appointed for every day, according to the law Lev 23:37. The infinitive stands in the later usage for the infin. absol. (Ew. 280, d); comp. for example, 1Ch 9:25; 1Ch 13:4; 1Ch 15:2.And on the solemn feasts, three times a year, on the three great festivals, which are then named in order.

2Ch 8:14. And he appointed, after the order of David his father, the courses of the priests; comp. 1Ch 24:25-26, and for the designation of David as the man of God, Neh 12:24.

2Ch 8:15. And they departed not from the command of the king. See the Crit. Note, and comp. for the second member, 1Ch 26:20-28.

2Ch 8:16. And all the work of Solomon was prepared. , as in 2Ch 29:25, 2Ch 35:10; 2Ch 35:16. What is meant here by is shown by the following , which may be taken either (with Kamph.) as genitive depending on , or (with Berth., Keil, etc.) as apposition to , unto this day, namely, the founding, etc. In the former case, which appears to us preferable, for the construction with perhaps Ezr 8:29 might be compared.The house of the Lord was complete, set up in all its parts, finished as a house of God. The notice, which is found literally the same in 1Ki 9:25, is meant to denote, not perhaps the building, but rather the fitting up and arrangement of the temple for divine worship, as brought to final completion. It cannot therefore be regarded (with Berth.) as the subscription to all that precedes from 1Ki 1:18, but closes only the present paragraph referring to worship, which forms a sort of appendix to the account of the temple building.

5. The Navigation to Ophir: 2Ch 8:17-18.Then went Solomon. Comp. 1Ki 9:26, where the reference to this trade with Ophir, otherwise agreeing pretty closely with our passage (2628), begins with the words: And Solomon made ships ( instead of the present ). By then our author transfers these nautical undertakings in general to the second half of the reign of Solomon, or the time after the building of the temple and the palace. For Ezion-geber and Eloth on the sea (1 Kings more exactly; Ezion-geber beside Eloth, and then, on the shore of the sea ), comp. the expositors on 1 Kings 9.

2Ch 8:18. And Huram sent him . . . ships. It is no more necessary to suppose a transport of ships ready made across the isthmus of Suez than a circumnavigation of Africa. The assumption of a supply of timber for ships, and of mariners, by the Phnician king, is quite sufficient; and with this (which is defended by Keil, Bahr, etc.) our passage appears to be not contradictory to 1Ki 9:27.And fetched thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold. According to 1Ki 9:28, the profit amounted only to 420 talents, a difference which may be explained either by assuming a change of the numeral into , or a fault of memory on the part of one of the two reporters (perhaps a round number chosen by the Chronist). Moreover, it appears to be not a single gain, but the sum total of the gold gained in the repeated voyages to Ophir that is here spoken of; comp. 2Ch 9:13.

Appendix.It is necessary to go somewhat fully into the question of the situation of Ophir, on account of the many scientific memoirs recently published on it, especially in geographical literature and travels (comp. our former brief remarks on Job 22:24, and those of Bhr on 1Ki 10:22).

1. As Ezion-geber on the Red Sea is quite definitely given, both in 2Ch 8:17 f. and 1Ki 9:26-28, as the starting-point of the voyages under Solomon to Ophir, and as Jehoshaphats later attempt to renew this trade, 1Ki 22:49, 2Ch 20:35, was made from the same port, all those conjectures concerning the site of Ophir are to be accounted null that place it anywhere west of Phnicia and Palestine, whether near the coast of the Mediterranean or any of its bays, or beyond the Mediterranean, in the region of the new world. This includesa. the opinions of Hardt, Calmet, Oldermann, of whom the first sought Ophir in Phnicia, the second in Armenia, and the third in Iberia; b. the different hypotheses referring to certain coasts, islands, or lands of America or Oceanica, as the opinion of Columbus that the Ophir of Solomon was rediscovered in the country of Haiti; that of the Spanish navigator Mendana, under Philip 2, who in 1567 designated a group of islands, abounding in gold, and inhabited by cannibals, east of New Guinea, which he took for Ophir by the name of Solomons Archipelago; that of Arias Montanus, Vatablus, Osiander, P. Fr. Pfeffelius, etc., who identified the gold regions of Peru and Mexico first with Parvaim (2Ch 3:6, Parvaim = Peruaim, double Peru, the two Perus), and then also with Ophir; that of the French engineer Ouffroy de Thoron (in an article in the Genevan journal Le Globe, 1869), who thinks that the name Ophir is rather to be found in the Japura, a branch of the Amazon, and in accordance with this, transfers Parvaim and Tarshish (2Ch 9:21) to Brazil; and the partly still more extravagant and uncritical fancies of Abb Brasseur de Bourbourg, George Brown, in his Palorama (German edit. Erl. 1867), etc. Comp. Ritter, Erdkunde, xiv. 353 ff.; Ausland 1872, No. 23, p. 532; Globus, vol. xvii. p. 382 f., and vol. xxi. p. 244; and Pressel, Art. Ophir in Herzogs Meal-Encycl. x. 656. From the notices of Parvaim (2Ch 3:6) and Tarshish (2Ch 9:21) in our book, not the least hint can be drawn in favour of a western Ophir, or of a western direction of the Ophir trade. For, with regard to Parvaim, the single and quite incidental mention of the gold of Parvaim leaves room for all possible conjectures concerning the import of the name,5 while yet an eastern situation for this gold country is in itself the most probable (see on 2Ch 3:6); and of all the conjectures regarding it, that of Knobel, in which he combines the name with Sepharvaim = Sephar, Gen 10:30, and places it in the Joktanide South Arabia, or Oman (Vlkertaf. p. 161), has most in its favour; see No. 5. With regard to the ships of Solomon sailing to Tarshish, as 2Ch 9:21 seems to affirm, this rests most probably on a misunderstanding of the phrase: ships of Tarshish (see on the passage); and, accordingly, the various hypotheses on the relation of Tarshish to Ophir which have been invented (as that of Michaelis, Spicileg. geogr. Hebr, i. 98 if.): that Hirams and Solomons fleets sailed beyond Tarshish, that is, beyond Spain, round Africa, as the Phnicians did 400 years later under Pharaoh Necho, but in the opposite direction, to Ophir in the East Indies; that of Weston in the Classic. Journ. 1821, Sept., p. 17 f., and of Keil in the Dorpat Contributions, 1833, ii. 240, and in his earlier Comm. on the Books of Kings, 1846, p. 311, according to which the Ophir voyages proceeded from Ezion-geber, and the Tarshish or Spanish voyages from Joppa; that of Seetzen, Ueber Ophir in Von Zachs Monatlicher Korrespondenz, xix. p. 331 ff., who, in 2Ch 9:21, finds a promontory Tarsis on the Karamanian coast of the Persian Gulf, which is mentioned in the old accounts concerning the Periplus of Nearchus, and endeavours to render probable his removal of Ophir to South Arabia),are wholly superfluous and groundless.

2. If the eastern situation of Ophir stand, we may take the name first as a general designation of all possible gold-yielding lands east of Palestine, and therefore as an equally indefinite and vague geographical notion with that of Kush in Hebrew antiquity, Scythia among the Greeks, India in the Middle Ages, or Tartary, the Levant, etc., in modern times. But it is against this indefinite and therefore very convenient assumption of Jos. Acosta, Heeren, Hartmann, Tychsen, and Zeune, that, according to all the notices in history of the voyages to Ophir, this must have been a definite country, or, in other words, that the end of this voyage should, no more than Ezion-geber its starting-point, be robbed of its concrete import, and generalized into the indefinite.
3. Among the gold-producing coasts east of Palestine, East India, in particular some province, coast, or island of East India, appears to have a specially high claim to identification with Ophir; for1. The name Ophir finds its most convenient meaning in Indian words or local names, whether we combine the form usual in the Sept. or (also , ), as well as the Coptic designation: Sophir, for India, with the Sanscr. Supra, fair coast (Lassen, Ind. Alterthumskunde, i. 107), and with . of Ptolemy = in the Peripl., or refer to the pastoral tribe of the Abhira, between the mouths of the Indus and the Gulf of Cambay. 2. Several of the commodities brought to Palestine from Ophir, namely, the peacocks, apes, and the almuggim or sandal-wood (see 2Ch 9:10; 2Ch 9:21, and comp. 1Ki 10:12; 1Ki 10:22), are specifically Indian products, that seem to have been brought only thence, and whose export from any non-Indian emporium is scarcely conceivable. 3. The names also of those imports seem capable of a specially easy explanation from the Indian language; comp. with , apes, the Sanscr. Kapi, with peacocks, the Sanscr. Cikhi., Malabar. toghei, with or the Sanscr. valgu (valgum). 4. The length of the voyage, which, according to 2Ch 9:21 (1Ki 9:22), required so much time, that only once in three years the fleet of Tarshish came and brought gold and other costly wares of Ophir, appears to indicate a country that was at least as far as East India from the northern point of the Red Sea. For these reasons, and partly also on account of some old traditions pointing to India, for instance, in Josephus, Antiq. viii. 6. 4, a number of eminent scholars since Bochart (Phaleg, ii. 27 ff.), W. Ouseley and Hadr. Reland (Dissert. miscel. No. IV., de Ophir), of the moderns, especially Lassen (Ind. Alterthumskunde), Ritter (Erdkunde, xiv. 346431), and Kiepert (in the Nationalzeitung 1872, No. xlvi.), have declared themselves for some coast of India as corresponding to the ancient Ophir.But several objections may be made to these arguments: To 1. That suitable coincidences of names or accordances with Ophir are presented in East Africa and Arabia as well as in those localities of India (see below); besides, neither the region of Sufara or Supara (near Goa), nor that of Abhira, south-east of the Delta of Indus, is gold-producing, or even specially near any gold district. To 2. That almug-wood, apes, and peacocks, if really exclusive products of India (what may be doubted with regard to the almug-wood from 2Ch 2:7, and cannot be asserted respecting the apes), might very well be brought, not directly from India, but from a port of Arabia, or even East-Africa, whither Indian or other ships had carried them. To 3. That the etyma of the names almuggim, kophim, and tukkiim are Indian, as above quoted, is by no means indubitably certain; for in almuggim, which does not much resemble the Sanscr. valgu, the Arabic article al– seems rather to be present. That is = the Malabar tghai may be doubted on strong philological grounds (see Rdiger in Gesen. Thes. p. 1502); and apes might be called, , from the Greek , , which, according to Aristot. Hist, animal, ii. 8, Strabo, Plin., etc., designates an thiopian species of ape. Moreover, the latest Egyptology has found the latter name (in the form kap, kaph, kafi) also on the primeval Egyptian monuments, which renders its Sanscrit origin altogether doubtful (see Dmichen, Die Flotte einer egyptischen Knigin, 1868; and comp. R. Rsler in the Ausland, 1872, p. 648). To 4. That no weight is to be attached to the length of the voyage, when we consider the slow method of the ancients, especially of the ancient sea voyages (comp. Odyss. xv. 454 ff.); and this argument might be urged as well in favour of the southern East Africa; even the defenders of the hypotheses implying still farther regions (see No. 1) might avail themselves of it.

4. If from all this the determination of the site of Ophir in East India seems doubtful and precarious, it fares little better with that which has been further urged in favour of the East African coast, especially Sofala, on the channel of Mozambique (about 20 south lat.). Following the steps of the Portuguese travellers of the 16th and 17th centuries, as de Barros, Juan dos Santos, Th. Lopez, Montesquieu, dAnville, J. Bruce, Robertson in the last century, and recently Quatremre (Mmoire sur le pays dOphir in the Mn . de lInstit. roy. 1845, torn, xv.ii. p. 350 sq.), Movers (Die Phnizier, ii. 3, 58 ff.), the British geographers R. Murchison and J. Crawfurd, and recently the eminent African traveller Karl Mauch, the geographer Petermann partly approving his views (see his Mittheilungen, etc., 1872, p. 4, p. 121 ff.), also the director of missions, Wangemann (Kreuzzeitung of 30th Jan. 1872), and an anonymous reporter in Ausland (1872, No. 10), have endeavoured to render probable the identity of Sofala or some neighbouring South African coast with Ophir. The chief grounds for this view are: 1.To the name Ophir appears to correspond, if not that of Sofala (which seems rather to lead to , lowland), yet that of a mountain Fura or Afura, with ancient, probably Phnician, ruins, of which the Portuguese were cognisant in the 16th and 17th centuries (see dos Santos, thiopia orientalis, Evora 1609), and which have been lately rediscovered by K. Mauch, and have been with great probability identified with the Zembabye or Zimbaoe of the Portuguese, the Agysymba of Ptolemy. 2. The wealth of East Africa in gold excels that of East India, especially the East Indian coast; and with regard, to the coast of Sofala and the ancient Agysymba or Zimbaoe, its wealth in gold dust and minerals is celebrated by antiquity. The situation of the mountain Fura with the ruins mentioned, dos Santos defines briefly as in the gold land (tracto do ouro). 3. The wealth also of East Africa in ivory (, 2Ch 9:21; 1Ki 10:22) was much greater than that of India; apes also and precious stones the East African emporia could certainly furnish in great abundance. 4. The report of Herodotus iv. 42 concerning the circumnavigation of Africa by Necho, proves that the Phnicians were wont to extend their voyages from the Red Sea far southward along the east coast of Africa. 5. The ruins lately discovered again by Mauch of the ancient Zimbaoe on the Fura or Afura mountains, with their rough cyclopean stone walls built without mortar, on an average fifteen feet thick and thirty feet high (see the particulars in Mauchs letters to the missionaries Grtzner and Merensky in Petermann as quoted, and in a recent letter of Mauch to the African traveller Ed. Mohr, published in the Weserzeitung, Dec. 1872), bear a very ancient stamp; the ornaments wrought on them point at least to a time before the Portuguese and the Arabs, and could apparently be derived only from the Phnicians or Jews, because numerous cedar beams, employed apparently for ceilings, are found in them, and also because one of the two discovered buildings presents, as Mauch asserts, an imitation of Solomons temple, a fortress and house of God at the same time (?). But none of these reasons is decisive; for in regard to1. The etymology Ophir = Afura, Fura, has about the same precarious value as the combination with the Sanscr. Abhira; Ofir or Ofar (Ofra; see No. 5) of South Arabia has at leas as good a claim to be taken for the biblical Ophir as that region of inner Africa first named by recent writers, which lies, moreover, 200 leagues landward from the coast of Sofala. To 2. Clear traces that the golden wealth of the region in question was known to the Phnicians or to the people before the Christian era are still wanting. To 3. Along with ivory, apes, etc., the often quoted classical passages of the Old Testament name also quite distinctly the non-African products, peacocks and (probably) sandal-wood, as imported by the traders of Solomon. To 4. The circumnavigation of Africa under Necho proves nothing for a much earlier period; it is described by Herodotus quite distinctly as something unheard of, quite new and isolated; and from Ptolemy and the old geographers it is evident that the east coast of Africa was known and accessible to the ancients only as far as Prasum promont., the present Cape Delgado, 1011 south lat., and not farther south. To 5. The existence of the ruins of Zimbaoe before the Portuguese and Arabs, the presence of cedar-wood (?), the supposed partial resemblance to the construction of Solomons temple, by no means prove its Phnician or ancient Israelitish origin; to establish this would require much more exact and extensive investigations than those carried on by Mauch in his flying visit of last year (comp. also Petermann as quoted, p. 125).

5. The greatest abundance of probabilities, but certainly nothing more definite or decisive than probabilities, lies with those learned investigators who seek Ophir somewhere in South Arabia, as the Arabian geographers Edrisi and Abulfeda, partly also Bochart, further Niebuhr, Seetzen (in 5. Zach as quoted), Volney, Gosselin, Vincent, Rosenmller, Gesenius, Ewald, Knobel (Vlkertafel, p. 190 f.), Hitzig (Gesch. Israels, p. 156 f.), Bhr, and Keil (on 1Ki 10:22), the English geographer C. Beke, the French traveller Jos. Halvy, Pressel also (Art. Ophir in Herzog as quoted), and Albr. Roscher (Ptolemus und die Handelsstrassen in Centralafrika, Gotha 1857), the latter two with the peculiar modification that they take an island near the coast of South Arabia, perhaps Dahlak in the Red Sea (so especially Roscher), or Socotora (so Pressel), for the proper Ophir, whence Solomons traders fetched the various products mentioned. If now the latter assumption, which rests on the report by Eupolemus, in Euseb. Prp. evang. ix. 30, of an island Urphe or Uphre (?) situated in the Erythran Sea, rich in gold mines, and already found by David, appears very precarious on account of the doubtful character of its voucher, yet the following arguments, that are scarcely to be invalidated, speak for South Arabia in general: 1. In Gen 10:29 occurs the name Ophir among the Joktanite tribes of South Arabia, and significantly indeed along with another tribe, that likewise bears the name of a gold land, Havilah (Gen 2:11). 2. The Arabian geographer Edrisi knew in the present Oman in the south-east of Arabia no less than three places whose names accord with Ophirare, indeed, essentially like in sound, namelya. Ofar, two days journey landwards from Sohar, the present Sur; b. Afir or Ghafir in El Ahsa; c. A Mount Ofir in Bahrein (see Edrisi in Jaubert, i. 147, 152 ff.). 3. Many biblical passages attest the great wealth in gold of South Arabia, with special reference to Saba, situated in the south-west, as the account of the queen of Sheba in 2 Chronicles 9. (1 Kings 10); Psa 72:15; Isa 60:6; Eze 27:22; likewise more generally, without special reference to the south-west, several classical authors, as Strabo,16. pp. 777, 784; Diodorus, 2:50, 3:44, etc. (comp. Bochart, Phaleg, ii. 27). 4. The passages of Scripture testify in part that Arabia was rich also in precious stones, especially Isaiah 60. and Ezekiel 27; and Strabo, as quoted, attests that it produced silver, at least in the country of the Nabatans. 5. The remaining products named in 2Ch 9:10; 2Ch 9:21, and 1Ki 10:12; 1Ki 10:22, which might come only from India, or only from Africa, as ivory, apes, peacocks, sandalwood, must be brought by Arabian and Indian traders to the marts of Arabia Felix, as well to the eastern (Oman, Ophir) as the western (Sheba) part of the south coast, and thence again exchanged into the Phnician and Hebrew fleets. The high antiquity, reaching far beyond the time of Solomon, of such a trade through South Arabia of Hither Asia, at least with India (therefore also with Africa, especially with thiopia and Upper Egypt), is attested in the surest and fullest manner; see Lassen, Ind. Alterthumskunde, ii. 593596; Movers, Phniz. ii. 3, pp. 247, 256. If accordingly we are to seek Ophir with the greatest probability in south-eastern Arabia, the present Oman, there is still much that is obscure in reference to its situation, its mines and metals, its ports, its relation to the neighbouring Saba. More exact investigations into the situation of the regions in question, which Moslem fanaticism has almost secluded from Europeans, and for the scientific exploration of which important contributions have been made only in recent times, by 5. Wrede, W. Munzinger, Joseph Halvy, and H. v. Maltzan, will alone yield authentic disclosures in this direction. Whether we are warranted in making so sharp a separation of the Ophir of Gen 10:29 as a country belonging to Arabia, and of that of the books of Kings and Chronicles as a region possibly far removed from Arabia, as the French Vivien de St. Martin declared to be necessary, against Jos. Halvy in a session of the Paris Geographical Society (comp. also F. v. Hellwald in the Ausland, 1872, No. 23, p. 536), appears doubtful. It is difficult to produce exegetical grounds for such a separation of the two Ophirs; the juxtaposition of that of Genesis besides a neighbouring Havilah, without doubt also a gold-producing district, appears to favour the opposite conclusion (see above, 1 [and Introd. 6]).

[To the note at the end of 6, Introd., may be added the following considerations: 1. It is obvious that the voyage to Ophir, 1Ki 9:28; 1Ki 10:11, 2Ch 8:18; 2Ch 9:10, in quest of gold, almug-trees, and precious stones, was distinct from that to Tarshish, 1Ki 10:22, 2Ch 9:21, for gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks, which was made in three years. 2. It is certain that the former, and most probable that the latter, voyage proceeded from Ezion-geber or Elath on the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, 1Ki 9:26; 1Ki 22:48; 2Ch 8:17; 2Ch 20:36. In this way the trade of Solomon did not interfere with that of Hiram his ally, which proceeded directly from the seaboard of Phnicia. 3. Ships going to Tarshish, which was the longer voyage, might visit Ophir by the way, 1Ki 22:48; 2Ch 20:36. As Tarshish was of the line of Javan, and belonged to the west, his country could only be reached from the Red Sea by doubling the Cape of Good Hope. This would account for the three years spent on the voyage. It would also favour the probability that Ophir was to be found on the coast of the Bed Sea, either in Arabia or Africa, or both. 4. There are traces in Scripture of the name of a country, especially if it be also the name of the tribe, travelling with the tribe. Thus Asshur, Havilah, Cush, Tarshish, and Ophir may have changed their centre in the course of ages. In particular, Ophir may have had settlements on the east and west of the Red Sea; and Tarshish may have ranged over the south as well as the north of the Straits of Gibraltar. Hence Solomons traders may have met with Tarshish even on the gold coast of Africa, especially as the coast of this country was particularly inviting to ancient mariners from its slight indentations. As all this is possible, if not probable, we are not warranted in assuming a contradiction, or even an inaccuracy, in the report of the writer of Chronicles.J. G. M.]

Footnotes:

[1] after must apparently be erased, as it is wanting in some mss., and likewise in 1Ki 9:22.

[2]For is perhaps to be read, as 1 Kings 9, , and his captains and his knights.

[3] Kethib; (comp 1Ch 18:13; 2Ch 17:2); Keri: (so 1Ki 9:23).

[4]For some mss. have , though the construction with by no means requires this change; comp. Ew. 282, a. As little is it necessary, on account of the sept. and Vulg., which have the plur. (, mandatis regis), to point .

[5]It has been attempted to identify Parvaim with Barbatia, or Parbatia, a town standing, according to Plin. H. N. iv. 32, on the Tigris (Castell. Lex. heptagl. 3062); to affirm it=Sepharvaim, 2Ki 17:24, on the one hand, and=Siphron, Num 34:8, on the other, and accordingly to refer it to the gold-bearing Chrysorrhoas in Syria (Harenberg, Brem., and Verd. Bibl. iv. 44); to explain the name as the same with Ophir, and identify the Parvaim-Ophir either wit Peru (Arias Mont., etc.; see above) or with Taprobane, now Ceylon (Bochart, Phaleg, ii. 2 Chronicles 27 : Hall. Allg. Welthistorie, iii. 413; and Starke, Synops. on 2Ch 3:6); or lastly, to explain the name from the Indian, and so compare either the Sanscr. prva, before eastern (Wilford in Asiat. Researches, viii. 2Ch 276: Gesen. Th. ii. 1125), or paru, mountain (Parvaim = ), as Hitzig on Dan 10:5, who, however, transfers this double mountain to South Arabia. Comp. also Leyrers (Art. Parvaim in Herzogs Real.-Encycl.) reference to the Paryadros range on the gold-bearing Phasis in Colchis, as well as the combination of Knobel preferred in the text.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

This chapter relates to us a further account of Solomon’s buildings. Having built the temple and his own house, he here is represented as building cities. The Gentiles are made tributaries. His yearly sacrifices.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The view here given of Solomon is similar to what is related of him, 1Ki 9 . To one of Solomon’s wisdom, one might have hoped to have heard more of his hours of meditation and prayer than of his building of cities! alas! what earthly affections are in our minds.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

2Ch 8

1. And it came to pass at the end of twenty years [the twenty years date from the commencement of the temple in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, seven years having been devoted to the construction of the temple, and thirteen to the building of the royal palace. (See 1Ki 6:37-38 : 1Ki 7:1 ; and 1Ki 9:10 )], wherein Solomon had built the house of the Lord, and his own house,

2. That the cities which Huram had restored [literally, which Huram gave] to Solomon [ 1Ki 9:11-13 ] Solomon built them [rather, rebuilt or repaired them. Their bad condition may have been one of the reasons why they were rejected by Hiram], and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.

3. And Solomon went [marched ( 2Sa 12:29 )] to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it.

4. And he built Tadmor in the wilderness [that is, Palmyra, in the wilderness, on the traders’ route between the coast and Thapsacus on the Euphrates. That Solomon was the founder of Palmyra is the tradition of the country to this day], and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath.

5. Also he built [fortified] Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars;

6. And Baalath, and all the store cities [according to 2Ch 32:28 , the store-cities were places for collecting stores of provisions; when they were situated on the great trade-roads they were no doubt intended to relieve the wants of travellers and their beasts of burden] that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion.

[It is worthy of note that in the above section no mention is made of the fortification of Jerusalem, and the building of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer, which last city had been taken by Pharaoh, and given by him to his daughter, Solomon’s wife (See 1Ki 9:15-16 )].

7. As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel,

8. But of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not [were not able to exterminate], them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day.

9. But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains [ Heb. captains of his knights; which appears to be incorrect. Read, “his captains and his knights” or “aides-de-camp,” as in Kings], and captains of his chariots and horsemen.

10. And these were the chief of king Solomon’s officers [” captains of the overseers,” or “prefects,” i.e., chief overseers, or inspectors of works], even two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people.

11. And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the Lord hath come. [See footnote, post, p. 229].

12. Then [after the consecration of the temple] Solomon offered [not once, but habitually; according to the prescriptions of the Mosaic law ( 2Ch 8:13 )] burnt offerings unto the Lord on the altar of the Lord, which he had built before the porch,

13. Even after a certain rate [the Hebrew is ambiguous; the meaning probably is “day after day “] every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses [see Exo 29:38 ; Num 28:3 , et seq. ], on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.

14. And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the priests [comp. 1Ch 24 ] to their service, and the Levites to their charges [see 1Ch 25:1-6 ], to praise and minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required: the porters [see 1Ch 26:1-19 ] also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God [this phrase, so common in Kings, is rare in Chronicles, and is applied only to Moses ( 1Ch 23:14 ), David, and one other prophet ( 2Ch 25:7-9 )] commanded.

15. And they departed not from the commandment of the king [David] unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures.

16. Now all the work of Solomon was prepared [rather, “thus was all the work of Solomon completed,” or “set in order,” as the same word is translated in 2Ch 29:35 ] unto the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, and until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was perfected.

[ The Speaker’s Commentary points out that this verse sums up in brief the whole previous narrative on the subject of the temple, which began with chap. 2. Solomon’s word ” unto the day of the foundation” was the subject of that chapter; his work subsequently has been related in chapters 3-8.]

17. Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, at the sea side in the land of Edom.

18. And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they [the servants, not the ships] went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty [in Kings “twenty,” one or other of the two texts has suffered from that corruption to which numbers are liable] talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

Solomon: Builder and Statesman

“And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the Lord, and his own house, that the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there” ( 2Ch 8:1-2 ).

SOLOMON was not content to build the house of the Lord alone. This is a remarkable circumstance, as illustrating the spirit which is created and sustained by all truly religious exercises. It would have been ambition enough for any man religiously uninspired to have erected one such edifice as the temple. Most men are contented to do one thing, and to rest their fame upon its peculiar excellence. Solomon having completed the house of the Lord, and his own house, began to build the cities which Huram had restored to him, and to cause the children of Israel to dwell there. A religion that ends only in ceremony building is little better than a superstition. No man can be zealously affected in the interests of the Church without having his whole philanthropic spirit enlarged and ennobled, so that he may become a builder of cities as well as a builder of churches. It must be remembered, on the other hand, that he who builds a synagogue really helps to build the town in which it is located. A synagogue or temple or church is not to be looked upon in its singularity, as if it were so many walls, with so many doors and windows; a church is a representative institution, through which should flow rivers that will fertilise all the districts of the city, rivers of knowledge, rivers of charity, rivers of brotherhood, rivers of cooperation, so that men should turn to the church, assured that every rational and healthy expectation would be satisfied by its provisions.

“And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it. And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars; And Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot-cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon and throughout all the land of his dominion” ( 2Ch 8:3-6 ).

Solomon, having completed for the time being the measure of building upon which his mind was set, went forth to war. It would seem as if in ancient days kings could not be satisfied to dwell at peace. Even Solomon, whose very name signifies peace, had in him the military spirit, characteristic of his race and time; it was in him indeed as the word of the living God; Solomon did not go forth to war for the sake of war; he believed he was obeying a divinely implanted instinct, or carrying out to the letter some divinely written law. Blessed be God, we have no such war to undertake. It does not follow therefore that our days are to be spent in indolence, or in the contemplation which exists without activity or beneficence. There is always an enemy to be fought; in our days a subtle lurking enemy, prowling in the darkness, crying loudly and defiantly even at noonday, pursuing the young, mocking the aged, taunting everything that is young and beautiful; by a thousand names is this enemy known, and in a thousand guises he walks forth; yet by whatsoever name known, or by whatsoever disguise concealed, he is the enemy of the Lord, and every Solomon who builds a temple for God should feel called upon to go forth and do away with this energetic and cruel giant: now his name is ignorance, now vice, now fashion, now drunkenness, now oppression, now selfishness; but though he may change his name, his nature he can never change, it is alien from God, it is without tenderness, without nobility, without love. The whole Church of the living God should go forth to war, and return not until the enemy is slain.

Having passed through another military period, Solomon began once more to build; he built Tadmor, and all the store cities; he built Beth-horon upper and lower, and fenced cities with walls, gates, and bars. A busy time it was in the reign of Solomon. But even all this building is not without its suggestion of corresponding evil. Why were the cities fenced? Why the gates? Why the bars? We have instances of the same kind in our own civilisation, silent witnesses against the honesty of the society in which we live. Every bolt upon the door is a moral accusation; every time we turn the lock we mean that there is an enemy outside who may endeavour to violate the sanctity of the house. We forget sometimes the moral suggestiveness even of our commonest institutions and plans of procedure. Every precaution that is taken for our preservation implies the presence of hostile elements in society. It would seem as if nature and society alike required us to protect ourselves against them. The mischievous fact is that men who most sedulously protect themselves against the irruptions of nature, or uncalculated tempests and fires, and the men who protect themselves against accident and mishap of every kind, often fail to defend themselves against the more tremendous dangers that threaten and assault the soul. A man may be prudent about the preservation of his house, and careless respecting the cultivation of his mind. Thou wicked and slothful servant, out of thine own mouth I condemn thee! If men would apply the same degree of common-sense to departments distinctively moral and spiritual that they apply to the general affairs of life, what religious solicitude would be developed, what a marvellous revival would characterise the action of the whole Church! But still the spiritual is underestimated; the unseen is undervalued; the distant conceals its magnitude: if our eyes could see things in their reality, and take in all their proportion and their colour, the whole basis of life would be changed, the whole action of life would be lifted to a new level.

Solomon may be taken in this instance as representing the great doctrine that men should seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and afterwards attend to minor matters, or even leave those minor matters to the adjustment of providence. Taking the chapter as a whole, it represents Solomon as first most anxious about the temple, giving himself wholly to its erection, occupying his thoughts night and day, turning everything to account in its relation to the temple; and then, having finished that marvellous structure, he was prepared to descend to other levels and do the commoner work which lay to his hand. Many persons leave the temple half-finished: what wonder if they go out to the war and return wounded and disabled? Our religious purposes are broken off: what wonder if our political ends pierce us and sting us by way of retribution? Seek first the kingdom of God, attend first to the building of the temple, apply the soul in the very dawn of the day to the highest religious concerns; then if the remainder of the day should prove a battlefield, the victory shall be on the side of holiness, or if it should prove to be a field calling to tillage, or ground inviting us to build, the eventide should see us contented because our labour has been honest and abundant.

“But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and horsemen” ( 2Ch 8:9 ).

The statesmanship of Solomon is as distinctly proved by this arrangement as by anything we have yet seen in his whole policy. Solomon knew that one man was not as good as another, however much democratic philosophy may have endeavoured to prove the contrary. One man is a genius, and another man is a slave, an imitator, a hewer of wood; very serviceable, and in fact indispensable, but not adorned with the very highest excellence and dignity of mind. Solomon made a distribution of classes, saying in effect, some men can do the drudgery, some men can dig and build, some can pull down and take away and prepare for the exertions of others: the higher class of men can think and direct, they are inspired with the genius of administration, they are men of powerful mind, of fertile resources in government and war; I must therefore make the best of the material at my disposal, not getting great men to do small work, or setting small men to fail in great work.

Adaptation is the secret of success: for want of knowing this how many men fail in life! There are employers who are making themselves little better than toilers, when they might by an expenditure of money apparently distinctly not economical, greatly assist the progress and solidity of their fortunes. A man may be industrious in a way which involves the absolute frittering and humiliation of his energies. We are to be careful not only to be industrious, but industrious about the right things and in the right proportion. A man might slave himself to death in cutting down wood or in throwing away stones, but if some other man of inferior mental faculty could be employed to do that work the superior man should turn his attention to other and nobler pursuits, and thus with apparently less expenditure of strength he might be doing immeasurably greater good. A thought may sometimes be more valuable than a victory in war. It is possible indeed that the victory might be dependent upon the thought, might be its result and expression. Until we understand the metaphysics of life in some practical way we shall mistake the range and the degree of industry proper to individuals. When we do get hold of the metaphysical idea of personal and social responsibility, we shall see that a man may be doing much who is apparently doing little or nothing, and that many a man may be doing quite an inconsiderable service who is apparently carrying all the world before him. There is more in this conception of society than may at first be obvious. Men are inexplicably prone to undervalue the spiritual and the intellectual; we say “inexplicably” because a moment’s consideration will show that action is only the embodiment of thought, and that he who can think best can most thoroughly start, inspire, and control the action of mankind. If the thinker is not to degrade himself to the level of a drudge, neither is the drudge to attempt to force his way to positions for which he is not qualified. Nothing is mean that is not meanly done. The Canaanites might be useful as the Israelites in their own way. With the eye of a statesman, with the inspiration of a genius, Solomon saw that he must distribute and classify men, and set each man to do what he was most fit for. We must have this arrangement even in the Church of Christ. Some men are doorkeepers and lamplighters by right of birth and election, for by many qualifications they are called to such useful offices: other men are qualified for the leading of public worship, and the direction of spiritual studies; the one class is not to decry or underrate the other, but all are to remember that there may be unity in diversity, and that without the diversity some portion of the most necessary work would be left undone.

“And these were the chief of king Solomon’s officers, even two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people” ( 2Ch 8:10 ).

Even Solomon could not do all the work himself. Society is so constituted that there must be grades of official relationship and responsibility. The greater the king, the abler must his ministers be; the larger the work, the more competently qualified must be all who are engaged it: little men may do for little work: little children may watch little gates: but the Church has undertaken to evangelise the whole world, to leave no language unsanctified, no clime unvisited, no heathenism unassailed; a Church with such a policy, animated by such a purpose, should be a great Church, and should call to its aid all that is strongest in intellect, all that is most penetrating in sagacity, all that is most inspiring in imagination, and all that is most unselfish in sacrifice. Yet, though the officers be many, the sovereign is one. It was not the throne that was divided; it was the work that was distributed. Herein is the perfection of society, that it shall find unity in variety, and variety in unity, and that the many shall revolve around the one, as smaller lights may revolve around a central sun. Nor must the sovereign around whom all the lights revolve be fickle, arbitrary, and so eccentric as to be beyond the lines of a rational calculation: he must represent the steadfastness of law, he must incarnate the continuity of the holiest thought; men must know where to find him on moral questions; how perplexed soever he may be in understanding, or in the handling of mechanical instruments and effects, men will know that his conscience always repeats the word of the living God, and always renews its purity and its judicial faculty by communion with the Most High.

“And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy whereunto the ark of the Lord hath come” ( 2Ch 8:11 ).

We may take this as an instance of punctilious morality. We are not able to understand all that was involved in the incident. We are evidently in the presence of conscience working under some eccentric law or suggestion. Yet here is a conscience, and by so much the action of Solomon is to be respected. He will not have any place or institution even ceremonially defiled. He will go back to precedents, he will consult the genius of history, he will preserve the consistency of the royal policy. Solomon felt that the ark of the Lord had sanctified every locality into which it had come, and that a broad distinction must always be maintained between heathenism and Judaism; between the idols of pagan lands, and the Spirit of the living God. In these matters Solomon’s wisdom was displayed as certainly as in the greater concerns of State and Church; we are to remember that at the beginning Solomon was endowed with the spirit of wisdom and of a sound mind. The Lord quickened his sagacity, gave him that marvellous insight which enabled him to penetrate into the interiors and cores which were hidden from the scrutiny of other men. We are therefore to give Solomon credit for being at once wise and conscientious; we are to see in his action the working of a tender conscience; even though he may be appeasing his conscience by some trick or ceremony, yet he is showing us the working of the moral nature within the kingly breast. Yet there is a point to be noted here which is common to human experience: why should Solomon have married the daughter of Pharaoh? Why should he have, in the first instance, placed himself in so vital a relation to heathenism? Are there not men who first plunge into great mistakes, and then seek to rectify their position by zealous care about comparatively trifling details? Do not men make money by base means, and then zealously betake themselves to bookkeeping, as if they would not spend money except in approved directions? Are there not those who have steeped their hearts in iniquity, and yet have washed their hands with soap and nitre? There is nothing more misleading than a conscience that does not rest upon a basis of reason. We are to beware of the creation of a false conscience, or a partial conscience, or a conscience that operates only in given directions, but that makes up for sins of a larger kind by ostentatious devotion at the altar of detail and ceremony and petty ritual.

“Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord on the altar of the Lord, which he had built before the porch, even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles” ( 2Ch 8:12-13 ).

Solomon was great in burnt offerings. Do not men sometimes make up in burnt offerings what they lack in moral consistency? Is not an ostentatious religion sometimes the best proof of internal decay? It ought not to be so. The hand and the heart should be one, the outward and the inward should correspond, the action should be the incarnation of the thought. We are not always to look upon the ceremonial action of the Church as indicative of its real spirituality. Sometimes men make a great noise in order that they may conceal a courage that is giving way. The poet represents the boy as whistling in the churchyard to keep his courage up. There may be men who speak loudly in order to drown the inward voice which is accusing them of cowardice. It is beautiful to look upon the Church engaged in much church-building, and in great strenuous endeavours against public sin; yet we must never forget that all this may possibly coexist with internal loss, decay, corruption. All action does not spring from life. Sometimes we try to make up by complex mechanism what is wanting in real vitality. Here, however, we must not fall into a spirit of angry criticism or thoughtless and wanton accusation, but remit the inquiry to every man’s conscience and to the conscience of every Church. Blessed is the day when the work of the Church is abundant because the spirit of the Church is holding high fellowship with God. Grand is the spectacle of a Church working because a Church is praying! When we are most frequently on our knees in communion with God we should be most frequently in the battlefield fighting openly under his banner, and proclaiming his name as the name of the King of nations. It is often easier to offer a burnt offering than to do some deed of moral heroism. It may be pleasanter to go to the altar in order to perform a religious ceremony, than to go up to an offended brother and fall down before him in token of brokenheartedness on account of wanton offence against his honour or his feeling. Here again we must come back upon the discipline of self-examination, and let every man stand or fall by the result of that penetrating scrutiny.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XXIX

DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE

1Ki 8:1-10:29 ; 2Ch 5:2-9:28

This discussion begins on page 178 of the Harmony, and relates to the dedication of the Temple. We have already shown that the building of the Temple was the greatest work of Solomon; that it made the greatest impression upon the world’s mind of any structure that had ever been erected in human history. The importance of the Temple was to insure a central place of worship, or of sacrifice, rather. The object of it was to bring about unity of faith, and national unity among the people. The idea comes from the following legislation by Moses: “When you shall obtain possession of the land and have become established, then you shall have one place in which to appear before the Lord.” In brief, the purposes of the Temple were these:

1. To provide a fixed habitation for Jehovah.

2. To provide a central place of worship where the tribes might assemble at the three great annual festivals and thus preserve the unity of the nation, Jehovah being the center of unity. In other words, as we explained on Leviticus, there must be: (a) A place to meet Jehovah on the throne of grace. (b) Sacrifices, or means of propitiation, (c) Priests, or Intermediaries between Jehovah and the people, (d) Times in which to approach him, that is, with daily, weekly, monthly, and annual offerings, (e) A ritual, telling how to approach him.

3. To prefigure the more glorious building, the church of our Lord. A magnificent building, with an imposing ritual, and with fixed times of gathering the whole nation together, would bring about this unity of faith and unity of national life. The building having been completed, Solomon now proposes publicly and formally to dedicate it to the service of God. God had told him when he commenced the building that he would inhabit the house built for him, and now Solomon proposes, by a very solemn national service, to consecrate this house to the Lord. I do not suppose that from any other one source, indeed from all other sources put together, we get the idea of dedication services so much as from this. The house could not be dedicated as soon as it was finished. It was several months from the time it was finished until it was dedicated. There had to be an appropriate time. It must be on the occasion of one of the great national feasts; so it was probably several months after the house was completed before the dedication services took place.

The first thing was to secure a great convocation of the people, and it is repeatedly stated that from Hamath on the north, or from the Euphrates River, unto the river of Egypt on the south, throughout the length and breadth of the land the princes, the rulers of the people, the representative men, were all commanded to be present. So it was a very great national convocation. The next step was to bring into this house all of the sacred things that survived from Moses’ time, and including those that had been prepared by David. So with great ceremony the old tent that Moses built, the brazen altar of burnt offerings, the table for the shewbread and the golden candlestick, were all brought and put in this Temple. Those of them no longer usable, for instance the tent, and a great many of the old-time utensils, were stored away and preserved as relics, including the brazen serpent Moses had made. We hear of that in a later reign and find out the last disposition of it. Then the ark itself was brought from the tent in which David had placed it, and it was put in its place in the most holy place. It was necessary to make a new lid for it, or mercy seat. A long time had elapsed, nearly 500 years, since it was made, and when they opened it there was found in it nothing but the two tables of stone upon which God had inscribed the decalogue. From the Pentateuch we know that other things had been put there. For instance, Aaron’s rod that budded, the pot of manna, and quite a number of things were put by the side of the ark, but when they brought that ark in that is all there was in it. Probably at the time it was captured by the Philistines come of these things were taken out.

The preliminary steps of the dedication were: (1) Placing in the treasury of the house all the things dedicated by David. (2) Placing all the sacred vessels and furniture in proper position. (3) The offering of multitudinous sacrifices. (4) The priests carrying into the most holy place the ark of the covenant. (5) As the priest issues from the most holy place, and the one hundred and twenty other priests standing east of the altar blow their trumpets, and the great Levite-choir bursts into a song of praise and thanksgiving, with cymbals and other instruments, saying, “For he is good; for his mercy endureth forever.” (6) Then the cloud, symbol of divine presence and glory, filled all the house.

So it had been when Moses finished the tabernacle, and so it was at Pentecost, after the Lord had built his church) that the Holy Spirit came down in consecrating, attesting power.

Now, having all the sacred things in place, Solomon had a platform of brass erected, about seven feet square, for himself, a kind of pulpit, so that he would be sufficiently lifted up above the people to be seen as well as heard, and we now note a singular fact, viz.: that Solomon acted as both king and high priest, a royal priest, a priest on a throne, and all through his life, he seems not only to perform the functions of the high priest, but he keeps the entire priesthood subject to his immediate control. Nothing is more evident in the study of his life than that the throne, in this case the civil power, kept the priesthood, the religious power, in subservience.

Solomon’s posture in this dedication was standing at the introduction, standing when he goes to pronounce the benediction, but in offering prayer, he kneels, and that is the first place in the Bible where kneeling for prayer is mentioned. You read in the Bible about standing to pray and sitting to pray, and here we have kneeling to pray, showing that the posture is not essential to the act. One can pray lying down, but kneeling is very reverential, and congregations should observe one form.

Standing up before the people, his opening address reverts to the fact of God’s promise to David that a son should succeed him, and that this son should build him a house, and God’s promise to live in the house when it was built. He then commences his prayer, and it is a very remarkable one. His first petition is that the Lord would accept and continually look toward this structure, really inhabit and be present in it. The other elements of the petition are clearly set forth in the text here. Look on page 180 of the Harmony. First, the position with reference to the making of an oath where there is an issue between neighbors, and the difficulty cannot be settled by outside testimony, then all oaths shall be made before God. A man, as in the presence of God, shall solemnly swear that what he says is the correct version of the case. That is called an appeal to the judgment of God. It was a favorite method of settling matters throughout the middle ages. For instance, a nobleman might testify about a case, another challenge his testimony, and they would agree to refer it to the arbitrament of God, as decided in battle, and the two knights would come out and fight in the presence of many witnesses with judges governing all the forms of it, and trusting to God that the right should triumph in that fight.

In Ivanhoe , you have an account of an appeal to the judgment of God in the fight between Ivanhoe and Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert in order to settle a charge against the Jewess, Rebecca. She appealed to the trial by combat and said let God say if she was a witch, as they charged, and so the case was fought out. Hundreds of instances are noticed in history, romance, and poetry of this appeal to God. Another method of appeal, mentioned also by Sir Walter Scott, is that when one was found to have died by violence, all of those whose circumstances made it possible that they might have participated in that murder were required to come up before the judge and with the murdered man’s body shrouded in a white sheet, put their finger on the dead man and swear that they had nothing to do with that murder, and the legend taught that if the real murderer did come and put his hand on the man, then blood would flow out from the wound and thus convict him. Now Solomon prayed that in any case of issue between two neighbors, where there were no means of settling it by outside testimony, and they come before God, that God would decide the case so as to justify the innocent and condemn the guilty.

His second petition is with reference to defeat in battle. This people is a glorious people. War will doubtless arise, and they that go out may be defeated. If they be defeated, he says it will be on account of their sins, and, convicted of sin by public defeat, if they there on that battlefield turn toward the Temple and pray God to forgive the sin, then Solomon asks that their national sin be forgiven.

He next considers the case of droughts. That whole country is subject to drought, and it is easy for all the sources of life to be dried up in severe drought. Drought in the Bible is represented as serving Jehovah; that it comes from him. Elijah prayed that it might not rain for three years and six months, and it didn’t rain, and he prayed that it might rain, and it rained. Now he says, “when a time of drought comes on this land on account of sin, if this people pray toward this Temple, asking God to open the windows of heaven and send rain upon the land, then hear thou in heaven and forgive the sin and send rain.” You notice how he is connecting the Temple with all the great vicissitudes of life.

Following that come famines and pestilences. Famines may result from wars, in destroying the products of the land, or they may result from plagues, as of locusts. Now, when a famine or a pestilence, or a contagious or epidemic disease, comes and the whole country was subject to them, as we would have here in this country, if there should come the Asiatic cholera, or the yellow fever then let the people pray, and his petition is that when these displays of divine wrath against the sins of men are made, that they will remember that here at Jerusalem in the Temple is a throne of grace unto which any man may come boldly in time of need and ask divine interposition and pardon. We will find numerous examples of all these in the history as we go on.

He then takes the case of a stranger. This is a beautiful thought. Some stranger from a foreign country, not one of the chosen people of Israel, may be in exile, banished from his own land, no light from heaven, seemingly, by the selection of Israel barred from the commonwealth of God, yet if this stranger comes to that Temple and lifts up his heart to God, then Solomon prays that the Lord will hear that stranger. That gets to be a very big item of the New Testament gospel. You remember Paul says to the Ephesians, “Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God.” In this prayer of Solomon is a forecast of the abrogation of the middle wall of partition between the Jew and the Gentile. All peoples, all races, tribes, tongues, and kindreds may come before the Lord. Paul enunciated it in Mars’ Hill when he said, “God made of one blood all nations of men that inhabit the face of the earth, and appointed their seasons and their boundaries with a view that they might seek after him and find him.” Now if a stranger comes to this house of God and honestly seeks a blessing from God, he may find it. That is a good thought. While our houses of worship are not temples, yet they ought to be places attractive to strangers. “Here the people of God are meeting and I am an outsider. Will I be welcome? Is there anything here for me? Will anyone speak a word of comfort or peace to my soul?”

When I was pastor of the First Church in Waco, two deacons had a special duty. Every Sunday morning, as soon as the bell tapped to call the Sunday school together for its final exercises, these two deacons arose and went down on the streets of Waco and spent the time till the opening song of the church service inviting strangers on the streets to come to church. One notable incident occurred. They brought a man in that way one day and he was converted. I think I never heard anything more touching than his relation of the fact that a very gentlemanly old man saw him on the street where he was wandering without money, no place to go, without a friend in the world, and asked him to come to church, which led to his salvation.

Solomon then takes up the case of battle. This is before the battle is joined. Is there such a thing as the decision of battle by the Almighty? Infidels adopt the theory of the French Marshal that God favors the heaviest battalions in the fight. But the battle is not always to the strong. Patrick Henry insisted upon that in his speech before the House of Burgesses. Solomon wanted that thought fixed in the very hearts of his people, that before they fought they should pray. At the great battle of Agincourt, when a very small English army was surrounded by an enormous French army, say 25,000 against 100,000, just before the fight the English army prayed that the French king says, “Are they prostrating themselves in homage to us already? Do they acknowledge their defeat?” One who knew them replied to the king, “No, sire. They are taking their case to their God, and they will fight the better for it when they get up off their knees.” One of the soldiers, in the English civil war, remarked to Prince Rupert that he feared Cromwell’s Ironsides when they knelt and prayed just before a fight and rose singing, “Let God arise and his enemies be scattered.” In the book of the Maccabees there is a marvelous illustration of this, when Judas Maccabaeus with 10,000 men defeated 100,000, having made a solemn appeal to the God of battles before the issue was joined.

It is related as an incident of colonial history that in the war between France and England, with the battlefield over in this country, that the French at a serious crisis dispatched a great fleet with 3,000 soldiers and 40,000 stands of arms to turn the scale, and as that armament approached this continent, the colonists felt that if it arrived safely they were lost, and so the preachers gathered the people for prayer that God might save them from this armament, and even as they prayed a storm came and scattered the fleet, wrecking many of the vessels, drowning most of the soldiers, and sinking most of their munitions of war.

The climax of Solomon’s prayer anticipates a time when his people, on account of very grievous sin, shall be carried into captivity, their city taken, and over there in a land of exile they should become slaves of a foreign power. In this dire disaster, if they should repent and remember and look back toward Jerusalem and to this house, then might the Lord forgive them there and restore them to their land. We see Daniel carrying out this thought, as every day he would open his window and look toward Jerusalem and pray, doing just what this prayer suggests. Against the royal edict he would turn toward the Temple and pray. In Dan 9:19 we find a famous prayer confessing the sins of the people and repeating the promise in the prophecy of Jeremiah that the seventy years of captivity is nearly out, and crying out, “Oh Lord, hear! Oh Lord, forgive,” and even while he is praying an angel comes, touches him and tells him that his prayer is heard and shows him that not only will they be restored at that time, but unveils the prophecy concerning the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem and the length of time to elapse between that event and the birth of the long-looked-for Messiah, as you will find in the conclusion of Dan 9 .

Having offered this great prayer, Solomon arose and pronounced the benediction. As soon as this prayer ended, confirmation came in a very remarkable way. Fire came down from heaven and burned up the sacrifices that had been placed upon the altar, and not only that, but God appears to Solomon as he had appeared to him at Gibeon, and uses this language, which Spurgeon makes the text of one of his great sermons: “And Jehovah said unto him) I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me! I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built to put my name there forever.” On the next page it says, “Now I have chosen and hallowed this house, that my name may be there forever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.” In another place he says, “My hands shall be there.” Now Spurgeon takes for a text: “My name shall be there, my eyes shall be there, my heart shall be there, my hands shall be there.” “Whoever comes to that place of worship, I see him. Whoever prays, I hear him. Whoever pleads, I love him and I save him by my hand.” Spurgeon makes a great sermon out of it, and I suggest it as a good text.

We note the permanent use of the Temple: “Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had built before the porch even as the duty of every day required.” That is the daily sacrifice, offering according to the commandment of Moses on the sabbaths, then there are the weekly sacrifices, and on the new moons, which are the monthly sacrifices; and then on the great feast days three times in the year. There you have the whole cycle of the sacrifices to be offered in the Temple. Moses provided for morning and evening sacrifices in the tabernacle. Perhaps you have read The Prince of the House of David by Ingraham, an Episcopalian preacher. He represents the young Jewish lady that came from Alexandria on a visit to Jerusalem as being waked up just as the dawn flushed the eastern sky; the silver trumpets began to blow, and as those trumpets were blown everybody rushed to the housetops, and while they were looking at the Temple a great white cloud of incense rose up over the Temple and ascended to heaven, representing the morning prayers of the people, and they on the housetops prostrated themselves at the time of the incense and offered their morning prayers. That occurred every evening also, and it could be seen by everybody in the city, the going up of that great cloud of incense. They could hear the sound of those trumpets calling to prayer morning and evening. Solomon provided according to the ritual of Moses and David that these daily sacrifices should never be neglected in that Temple, nor the sabbatical, or weekly, nor the monthly, nor the annual sacrifices in the times of the great feasts.

I will devote the rest of the chapter to the glory of Solomon. You will note these words: “And the King made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland for abundance. So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart, and they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.” Again, “And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought him presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him. Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.”

As a sample of the glory of Solomon, we have the visit of the Queen of Sheba, who came, as our Lord said, from the uttermost parts of the earth. Commentators are divided as to whether she was a queen over, that best watered and most fertile part of southern Arabia, or whether she was the Queen of Abyssinia just across the dividing water in Africa. Most modern commentators make her the queen of what is called “Arabia Felix,” but my own judgment is that she was the queen of Abyssinia. The tradition of her reign lingers there where recently King Menelik defeated the Italian armies, and where they still keep up certain forms of the Christian religion, whence also in New Testament times came the Ethiopian eunuch whom Philip led to Christ. By combining 1Ki 10:1-13 with Mat 12:42 you may make a great sermon with these heads: (1) She heard a rumor that there was a wise man who could answer any question. (2) She had hard questions knocking at the door of her heart, as every woman has. She determined, at any cost, to have these problems solved, so she makes this great journey, and when she gets there and he answers all of her questions and she sees his glory, his Temple, the way by which he went up into the Temple, the apparel of his servants, there was no more breath in her, that is, she fainted. You know some people are so finely strung that they will faint when looking at a great picture, or on being stirred by great music. From her words, “The half was not told me,” we get our hymn, “The half has never yet been told.”

My own sermon on Mat 12:42 had these heads: (1) There shall be a resurrection of the dead. (2) It will be a general resurrection, (3) followed by a general judgment, (4) whose determining principle shall be: Men are judged according to their light. We may close this discussion with a brief account of Solomon’s relations with other governments.

1. Phoenicia. He inherited from his father a most valuable alliance with Hiram, king of Tyre, whose fleets controlled the Mediterranean Sea.

2. Egypt. His marriage with Pharaoh’s daughter held the friendship of the ruling dynasty in Egypt.

3. Friendly alliance with the Queen of Sheba.

4. In David’s time the Hittite nation at Hamath paid tribute. Solomon conquered the country.

5. By intermarriage he secured friendly relations with many countries, as most of his marriages were political.

6. By commerce through the Mediterranean he held friendly relations with the nations on its shores as far as Spain.

7. By commerce with the archipelagoes of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, he held friendly relations with the Orient, and Africa.

8. By land-traffic he held friendly relations with Arabia, Mesopotamia, and the nations around the Caspian Sea.

QUESTIONS

1. What promise of Jehovah was made to Solomon when he commenced to build the Temple?

2. What command of Jehovah, through Moses, was fulfilled in the building of the Temple?

3. When then, in brief, were the purposes of the Temple?

4. What effect has this dedication on all subsequent dedications of buildings?

5. At what annual festival was the Temple dedicated?

6. What are the steps of offering the house, and how the divine acceptance signified?

7. What similar event occurred in Moses’ day, and what greater event in the New Testament day?

8. Describe the platform occupied by Solomon, and his posture in the several parts of the dedication.

9. In what double capacity does he act?

10. What were the salient points of his opening address?

11. The salient points of his prayer?

12. What evidence in later days that in accord with Solomon’s petition his people prayed toward Jerusalem?

13. In what signal way did confirmation come from heaven, that his prayer was answered?

14. Distinguish between the two manifestations of the glory of the Cloud, 2Ch 5:13 ; 2Ch 7:1-3 .

15. What says the text of the glory of Solomon, and the extent of his kingdom? (See 1Ki 4:20-25 ; 1Ki 10:18-25 .)

16. What our Lord’s reference to Solomon’s glory?

17. Recite the story of the Queen of Sheba. Where her country? What our Lord’s reference to it, and what the sermon outline on Mat 12:42 ?

18. What was Solomon’s relations to foreign nations?

19. When and why Jehovah’s second appearance to Solomon?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

2Ch 8:1 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house,

Ver. 1. At the end of twenty years. ] See 1Ki 9:19 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

2 Chronicles Chapter 8

So, the next chapter shows us Solomon after he had built all. Here we have the grand object of Solomon’s coming to the throne. It was this great type of the kingdom. “And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of Jehovah, and his own house, that the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and

caused the children of Israel to dwell there. And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it. And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates and bars; and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion. [As for] all the people [that were] left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which [were] not of Israel, [but] of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day.” 2Ch 8:1-8 .

Thus we have every kind of right exercised and the restoration of what had been wrong. “But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work.” A very remarkable statement. He made the Gentiles servants. The Jews will, then, be lords upon the earth, not slaves. The Gentiles will be obliged to take the place of the tail when Israel are at the head, according to the prophet And all this beautiful order we find carried out socially and in a family order, and religiously, throughout the chapter.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

twenty. The number of Expectancy and Waiting, 2Ch 21:1. Divine completeness (21) minus one (1). (App-10). Compare Gen 31:38, Gen 31:41. Jdg 4:3; Jdg 15:20; Jdg 16:31. 1Sa 7:2.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 8

Now it came to pass at the end of twenty years, that Solomon had built both the house of the LORD, and his own palace ( 2Ch 8:1 ),

He spent seven years building the house of the Lord and thirteen years building his own palace.

That the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, he then built them up, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there ( 2Ch 8:2 ).

And it gives you the names of some of the cities where he had his storehouses and he had built fortresses and some of the cities that he had fortified and all. And then in verse 2Ch 8:11 :

And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the palaces are holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come ( 2Ch 8:11 ).

So he realized that she wasn’t so pure or holy, and so he built another place for her so that she wouldn’t dwell in them. Now, he ought to know that that’s not the kind of a wife he should have if he has to build a separate place for her because she is not worthy to dwell in the places that were holy.

Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the LORD on the altar of the LORD, which he had built before the porch, even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the priests and all. And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures. Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed. And then went Solomon to Eziongeber, and to Eloth, at the sea side in the land of Edom. And he sent out ships to Ophir to gather gold ( 2Ch 8:12-18 ). “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

2Ch 8:1-6

2Ch 8:1-6

CONCLUDING SUMMARY OF SOLOMON’S REIGN;

REGARDING HIS EXTENSIVE BUILDING PROGRAM

“And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of Jehovah, and his own house, that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell in them. And Solomon went to Hamath-Zobah, and prevailed against it. And he built Tadmore in the wilderness, and all the store-cities which he built in Hamath. Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars; and Baalath, and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and the cities for the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.”

The 20th Century Christian, as a general rule, could have little or no interest in Solomon’s building program, which, in the matter of his huge horse business, to say nothing of anything else, was a violation of God’s word!

“And all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem … Lebanon … in all … his dominion” (2Ch 8:6). Again we have the Chronicler’s word that Solomon recognized no other limitation except his own undisciplined desires. (Read our comment under 2Ch 7:11.) The Chronicler has mercifully spared us the details concerning these multiple pleasure-houses Solomon built all over Palestine.

E.M. Zerr:

2Ch 8:1. Solomon was 20 years building the two houses. House of the Lord means the temple, and his own house was the palace for the king.

2Ch 8:2. Solomon offered some cities to Huram (Hiram) king of Tyre. They did not please him, and although he seemed to accept them at first, he would not keep them, so he returned them to Solomon. That is the meaning of restored to Solomon in this verse. These cities evidently were not very desirable, and that is the reason the king of Tyre objected to them. Solomon then improved them for occupancy by Israelites.

2Ch 8:3. Solomon never engaged in warfare, yet this verse says he prevailed against the city of Hamathzobah. That means his authority was such that he overcame all opposition and took possession.

2Ch 8:4-5. When cities already in existence are said to be built, it means they are improved and fortified.

2Ch 8:6. Store cities were those in which he kept his chariots and horses, and other valuable products that were brought in from Egypt and Ophir. They were kept in these cities that were rendered suitable for safety, and convenient for use when desired.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Here are recorded some of the doings of the king. He consolidated the internal strength of the nation by building cities. He organized the labor of the conquered peoples in his dominions. He set the Temple worship in order.

He enlarged his commercial activities.

It was during this period that he took Pharaoh’s daughter to the house he had built for her and gave his reason for doing so. “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the Ark of Jehovah hath come.” These were the words of compromise. Solomon’s marriage with the daughter of the king of Egypt was a purely political act, arising out of the affinity he had with her father (1Ki 3:1-28 :l). There can be no question that this affinity was wrong. God had delivered His people from Egypt, and there was never the slightest need, either military or economic, for it. It was a political seduction which persistently threatened the nation, and which more than once cost them dear. Having made the blunder and become affianced to this woman, Solomon sought to safeguard against the possible religious danger by building her house away from the city of David.

This compromise was a failure, as compromise invariably is. In 1Ki 11:1-8 we read that presently Solomon built places of idol worship in Jerusalem for “all his foreign wives.” Compromise is pathetic in that it always witnesses a conviction of what is the high and the true, and attempts to ensure its realization while yielding to the low and the false. It is evil, for its invariable issue is that the low and the false ultimately gain the ascendance and the high and the true are abandoned. To build a house for Pharaoh’s daughter outside the Holy City is to open its gates sooner or later to Pharaoh’s gods.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

5. Solomons Prosperity and Activities

CHAPTER 8

1. The fortifications of cities (2Ch 8:1-6)

2. The subjection of the strangers (2Ch 8:7-10)

3. The removal of the daughter of Pharaoh (2Ch 8:11)

4. The perfected service (2Ch 8:12-16)

5. The expedition to Ophir (2Ch 8:17-18)

The activities of the King included the fortification of certain cities. (See 1 Kings 9.) First the cities are mentioned which Huram restored to Solomon. These are the cities which Solomon had previously given to him for security. 1Ki 9:10-14 explains this statement which otherwise would be obscure. All the strangers, the Canaanites, dwelling in the land were put into subjection and had to pay tribute to Solomon. They were the servants. But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains and captains of his horsemen and chariots. it foreshadows the age in which all will be put in subjection under Him who will be King to rule in righteousness (Isa 32:1; Heb 2:8). Then His own people will serve Him, for they shall be willing in the day of His power (Psa 110:3). The only mention made of the daughter of Pharaoh in Chronicles is in this chapter (verse 11). He married her in the beginning of the reign. Her removal to the house Solomon had built for her now took place. On the typical meaning of Pharaohs daughter see 1Ki 3:1. The worship in the house was then carried on in a perfect way. At the appointed times all was done and all David, the man of God, had commanded was carried out (verse 14). There was no departure from the commandment of the king, so the house of the Lord was perfected. It foreshadows a perfect obedience and worship which the earth will see when the true King has come. Then, as it was in Solomons day, the Kings commandment will be the absolute rule for everything (verse 15).

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

at the end: 1Ki 9:10

Reciprocal: 1Ki 7:1 – thirteen years 1Ki 9:15 – to build Ecc 2:4 – I builded

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

A.M. 3012. B.C. 992.

Solomons buildings, 2Ch 8:1-6. His workmen and officers, 2Ch 8:7-10. He settles his wife, 2Ch 8:11. Fixes the method of the temple-service, 2Ch 8:12-16. His trade, 2Ch 8:17, 2Ch 8:18.

2Ch 8:2. The cities which Huram had restored Which Solomon gave to Hiram, but which, not being pleased with them, he restored to him again, 1Ki 9:12. Solomon built them That is, rebuilt them, and placed his own subjects in them.

2Ch 8:4. He built Tadmor For the explanation of this and the following verses, see notes on 1Ki 9:17-18, &c.

2Ch 8:11. Unto the house which he had built This house he had built for her, because the ark was now in the house of David, which therefore ought to be kept pure and free from every danger and appearance of pollution. For though Pharaohs daughter was proselyted to the Jewish religion, and had renounced idolatry, it is not likely that both she and all her servants had embraced the whole law of Moses; and therefore they might many ways defile a place made sacred by that symbol of the divine presence.

2Ch 8:14. So had David the man of God commanded David is here called the man of God, as Moses had been, because he was a prophet divinely inspired, and was both instructed and authorized of God to make these establishments. Hence his commands are represented as being the commands of God. And Solomon, though a wise and great man, and the builder of the temple, did not attempt to amend, alter, or add to, what the man of God had commanded in Gods name, but closely adhered to it, and used his authority to have it duly observed.

2Ch 8:15-16. They departed not from the commandment of the king He obeyed Gods commands enjoined by David, in Gods name, and by inspiration of Gods Spirit, and therefore all obeyed his orders. Now all the work of Solomon was prepared All the materials were procured, and in all points fitted and completed beforehand. So the house of God was perfected This is now said, because the service of the temple was now put into this good order. The work was the main matter, not the place: the temple was unfinished till all this was done.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

2Ch 8:4. Tadmor, Palmyra. 1Ki 9:18. This city rose to be capital of a province, which sent eighty thousand men to join the Assyrian army. Its ruins exhibit a wall eleven miles in circumference.

2Ch 8:11. My wife shall not dwell in the house of Davidbecause the places are holy. The Targum calls this princess Bithiah, daughter of Pharaoh. She was a heathen, and appears to have retained her superstitions. She wanted the heart of Ruth, to say, Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God! No idolatrous person, however exalted, could be suffered to dwell in the holy places.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

2Ch 8:1-18. Solomons Various Religious and Secular Undertakings (see notes on 1Ki 9:10-28).A striking difference occurs between 2 and 1Ki 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 Chroniclers 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 Book of Kings was not, in his day, what it became in later days, so that he naturally felt himself at liberty to correct this, or any other, source where he believed it to be erroneous. It must be remembered that what we understand by the authority of Scripture did not arise until the idea of a Canon had come into being after the Maccaban period, and that prior to this it was only the Pentateuch which was regarded as of binding authority.

2Ch 8:11. my wife . . . hath come: these words would truly have been strange in the mouth of Solomon, but the Chronicler had, as far as he could, to mitigate the effects of the extraordinary proceeding, as it appeared to the Jews of his day, of an Israelite king marrying the daughter of a king of Egypt.

2Ch 8:12-16. An expansion of 1Ki 9:25.

2Ch 8:14. the courses of the priests . . .: cf. 1 Chronicles 24 f.

2Ch 8:17 f. Cf. 1Ki 9:26-28.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

FURTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF SOLOMON

(vv.1-18)

After Solomon had completed the building of the temple and his own house, he rebuilt the cities that Hiram had given him and settled some of the children of Israel there (vv.1-2). Solomon also gave Hiram some cities, though Hiram was not pleased with them (1Ki 9:12-13). While we read of no wars in Solomon’s time because his reign symbolises that of the Lord Jesus in the age to come, yet verse 3 tells us that Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it, just as Christ will bring cities and nations into subjection to Him without bloodshed. Verses 5 and 6 speak of his building various cities, storage cities and fortified cities, some for his cavalry. Thus he was prepared for war, which is an important way of preserving peace. It is true that God had said that a king should not multiply horses (Deu 17:16), but Solomon is not reproved for this here, for again his actions serve as a picture of the future glory of Christ, rather than as exposing his own unfaithfulness, as is done in 1 Kings.

The Gentiles who had been left in the land, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jubusites, were put by Solomon under forced labour (vv.7-8). This reminds us that in the millennial age some Gentiles will be required to submit to the Lord Jews, even though unwillingly (Psa 18:43-45). Not so with the children of Israel, who will “be volunteers in the day of Your power” (Psa 110:3). Thus “Solomon did not make the children of Israel servants for his work,” that is, slaves. They were rather given higher positions such as men of war, captains of his officers, captains of his chariots and his cavalry. Others were chiefs of the officers who ruled over the people (vv.9-10). Thus, Solomon was a remarkable organiser, giving work to Israelites that they appreciated, and this becomes a faint picture of the wonderful organisation of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus in the millennium.

Solomon’s first wife was the daughter of Pharaoh king of Egypt. God had not forbidden a marriage with an Egyptian, though marriage with women of Canaan was clearly forbidden. Yet Solomon realised that his wife was not entitled to live in the house of David because the ark had been there and Egyptians had no proper relationship to the ark of God. So David built a house for his Egyptian wife (v.11). Chronicles does not mention his many other wives of Canaanitish origin, for Solomon’s marriage to these was disobedience to God, and Chronicles deals with God’s work of grace in Israel, not Solomon’s work of disobedience.

Solomon’s offerings to the Lord are then noted, the daily burnt offerings, offerings for the Sabbaths and New Moons and for the three particular feasts of the Lord which were to be attended by all the men of Israel, the Feast of Unleavened Bread (the Passover), the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of Tabernacles. The other three feasts are not mentioned, and whether they were kept at all we are not told. It may be that only that is mentioned which was commendable on the part of Solomon, while the rest is left without comment.

The divisions of the priests and Levites were appointed also, as David had done, and gatekeepers were stationed at each gate. These three characteristics of activity are of vital consequence for believers today.

Priesthood has to do with worship, which is too often neglected amongst God’s people while they use the word “worship” for any kind of Christian activity. But true worship is heart adoration of the Father and the Son and it is important that definite time should be taken for this most precious feature of Christian life. The Levites were servants, so this emphasises the service of obedient activity as to the Lord. Christians too often make service more important than worship so that, worship becomes practically side-tracked. But both are of great value in their place. The gatekeeper’s picture the genuine care that is so necessary in keeping out of the assembly what ought to be out and allowing in what ought to be in. This proper care has been ignored in the great majority of churches today, so as to have believers and unbelievers mixed together, and sinful practices not only tolerated but justified. If one seeks to be a true gatekeeper, he is accused of being intolerant, legal minded and unloving. But God appreciates the genuine care that His saints show for the true welfare of the Church of God and for the honour of His name.

The order that Solomon maintained therefore in the beginning of his reign is an example of the order that should always characterise the state of the Church of God. Verse 16 tells us, “Now all the work of Solomon was well ordered from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord until it was finished.” Are our lives well ordered? Are our assemblies well ordered? If so, it is a contrast to the great confusion that spreads everywhere in the world and in professing Christendom. In fact, today confusion is invading the testimony of many who have at one time been faithful servants of God. May the Lord preserve us by His grace.

Verse 17 speaks of Solomon going to the extreme south of the land to Ezion Geber and Elath on the gulf that leads to the Red Sea. Hiram sent him ships. It seems that they must have transported these overland to Ezion Geber, for from there the ships went to Ophir, which is evidently in Arabia, to bring 450 talents of gold to Solomon. The friendliness of Hiram toward Solomon is a lovely picture of the glad response of Gentiles to the Lord Jesus when He reigns in a coming day, such as is indicated in Isa 60:3, “The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” In fact, more than this, “Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. The multitude of camels shall cover your land, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord” (Isa 60:5-6). Solomon’s wealth was thus increased, so that his kingdom was the most magnificent of any that had been on earth, and since that time there has never been any like it.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

8:1 And it came to pass at the end of {a} twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house,

(a) Signifying that he was 20 years in building them.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

E. Solomon’s Successes chs. 8-9

This section of the text is similar to 1 Chronicles 18-21. Those chapters showed how God kept His promises to David that the Chronicler recorded in 1Ch 17:8-12. These chapters (8-9) show how God kept His promise to Solomon in 2Ch 1:12 and 2Ch 7:17-18.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. Solomon’s political success 8:1-11

God blessed Solomon by giving him good relations with King Hiram of Tyre (2Ch 8:1). Hiram evidently returned the cities Solomon had previously given to him (2Ch 8:2; cf. 1Ki 9:10-14). Then Solomon developed these towns. Solomon also captured more territory and fortified many cities.

"It seems safe to say that, following this action, Israel controlled more territory than at any other time in its history. In his day, Solomon was probably the most powerful and influential ruler in the Middle East." [Note: Leon J. Wood, Israel’s United Monarchy, p. 326.]

Moreover, he controlled the native Canaanite population (2Ch 8:8). 2Ch 8:3, which is very brief, is the only reference in Chronicles to Solomon’s military activity. Everywhere else his image is that of a peaceful king (1Ch 22:9).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)