Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 9:1
And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do,
Ch. 1Ki 9:1-9. God’s second appearance unto Solomon (2Ch 7:11-22)
1. when Solomon had finished ] We read (1Ki 6:38) that Solomon was seven years in building the Temple, and in 1Ki 7:1 that he was thirteen years building his own house. We find also below (in 1Ki 9:9) that these periods were not reckoned concurrently, but that the whole period was twenty years. Hence arises a difficulty with regard to this second appearance of God to the king. From the words of God’s message “I have heard thy prayer &c.” (1Ki 9:3) it is plain that this second vision was an answer to the dedication prayer. Was then the dedication of the Temple, though the structure was completed in seven years, delayed until all the rest of Solomon’s works were ended? Or was the answer of God delayed through the thirteen years that elapsed between the finishing of the Temple and the finishing of the king’s house? We can hardly accept the latter supposition as possible. It appears far more likely that the dedication was delayed. And this may have been necessary because of the amount of time which Hiram would need for casting the metal-work, the greater part of which was for things that were unconnected with the actual Temple-building. This work from its nature could be undertaken only by persons specially skilled, of whom the number would be limited, and in consequence of this the work might be spread over a long time.
all Solomon’s desire ] The noun implies something by which special store was set, a special fancy. It seems to indicate that the king had gone to much nicety in his building schemes. The LXX. gives , perhaps in the sense of ‘careful carrying out of any plan’. In 2Ch 7:11, it is said ‘he prosperously effected all that came into his heart to make.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
CHAPTER IX
The Lord appears a second time to Solomon, and assures him that
he had heard his prayer; and that he would establish his
worship for ever in that temple, and him and his successors on
the throne of Israel, provided he and they would keep his
statutes and judgments, 1-5;
but if they should transgress and forsake the Lord, then they
should be cast off, the temple itself abandoned, and their
enemies permitted to prevail over them, 6-9.
Solomon having finished the temple and the king’s house, about
which he was employed twenty years, and having received
assistance from Hiram king of Tyre, he gave him in return
twenty cities in Galilee, with which he was not pleased, 10-14.
Solomon’s levies, buildings, and the persons employed, 15-23.
Pharaoh’s daughter comes to the city of David, 24.
He sacrifices thrice a year at the temple, 25.
Solomon’s navy, and the gold they brought from Ophir, 26-28.
NOTES ON CHAP. IX
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
1. And it came to pass, when Solomonhad finished the building of the houseThis first verse isconnected with 1Ki 9:11, allthat is contained between 1Ki9:2-10 being parenthetical.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord,…. Which was done in seven years, 1Ki 6:38.
and the king’s house; his own palace, which was finished in thirteen years, 1Ki 7:1,
and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do; all his other buildings, the house for Pharaoh’s daughter, the house of the forest of Lebanon, and may include his vineyards, gardens, orchards, and pools of water, made for his pleasure, Ec 2:4 in which he succeeded and prospered, 2Ch 7:11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Answer of the Lord to Solomon’s Dedicatory Prayer (cf. 2Ch 7:11-22). – 1Ki 9:1, 1Ki 9:2. When Solomon had finished the building of the temple, and of his palace, and of all that he had a desire to build, the Lord appeared to him the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon, i.e., by night in a dream (see 1Ki 3:5), to promise him that his prayer should be answered. For the point of time, see at 1Ki 8:1. , all Solomon’s desire or pleasures, is paraphrased thus in the Chronicles: , “all that came into his mind,” and, in accordance with the context, is very properly restricted to these two principal buildings by the clause, “in the house of Jehovah and in his own house.”
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| God’s Answer to Solomon. | B. C. 1001. |
1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do, 2 That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. 3 And the LORD 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 for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. 4 And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: 5 Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. 6 But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: 7 Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: 8 And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? 9 And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil.
God had given a real answer to Solomon’s prayer, and tokens of his acceptance of it, immediately, by the fire from heaven which consumed the sacrifices (as we find 2 Chron. vii. 1); but here we have a more express and distinct answer to it. Observe,
I. In what way God gave him this answer. He appeared to him, as he had done at Gibeon, in the beginning of his reign, in a dream or vision, v. 2. The comparing of it with that intimates that it was the very night after he had finished the solemnities of his festival, for so that was, 2Ch 1:6; 2Ch 1:7. And then v. 1, speaking of Solomon’s finishing all his buildings, which was not till many years after the dedication of the temple, must be read thus, Solomon finished (as it is 2 Chron. vii. 11), and v. 2 must be read, and the Lord had appeared.
II. The purport of this answer. 1. He assures him of his special presence in the temple he had built, in answer to the prayer he had made (v. 3): I have hallowed this house. Solomon had dedicated it, but it was God’s prerogative to hallow it–to sanctify or consecrate it. Men cannot make a place holy, yet what we, in sincerity, devote to God, we may hope he will graciously accept as his; and his eyes and his heart shall be upon it. Apply it to persons, the living temples. Those whom God hallows or sanctifies, whom he sets apart for himself, have his eye, his heart, his love and care, and this perpetually. 2. He shows him that he and his people were for the future upon their good behaviour. Let them not be secure now, as if they might live as they please now that they have the temple of the Lord among them, Jer. vii. 4. No, this house was designed to protect them in their allegiance to God, but not in their rebellion or disobedience. God deals plainly with us, sets before us good and evil, the blessing and the curse, and lets us know what we must trust to. God here tells Solomon, (1.) That the establishment of his kingdom depended upon the constancy of his obedience (1Ki 9:4; 1Ki 9:5): “If thou wilt walk before me as David did, who left thee a good example and encouragement enough to follow it (and advantage thou wilt be accountable for if thou do not improve it), if thou wilt walk as he did, in integrity of heart and uprightness” (for that is the main matter–no religion without sincerity), “then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom, and not otherwise,” for on that condition the promise was made, Ps. cxxxii. 12. If we perform our part of the covenant, God will not fail to perform his; if we improve the grace God has given us, he will confirm us to the end. Let not the children of godly parents expect the entail of the blessing, unless they tread in the steps of those that have gone before them to heaven, and keep up the virtue and piety of their ancestors. (2.) That the ruin of his kingdom would be the certain consequence of his or his children’s apostasy from God (v. 6): “But know thou, and let thy family and kingdom know it, and be admonished by it, that if you shall altogether turn from following me” (so it is thought it should be read), “if you forsake my service, desert my altar, and go and serve other gods” (for that was the covenant-breaking sin), “if you or your children break off from me, this house will not save you. But, [1.] Israel, though a holy nation, will be cut off (v. 7), by one judgment after another, till they become a proverb and a by-word, and the most despicable people under the sun, though now the most honourable.” This supposes the destruction of the royal family, though it is not particularly threatened; the king is, of course, undone, if the kingdom be. [2.] “The temple, though a holy house, which God himself has hallowed for his name, shall be abandoned and laid desolate (1Ki 9:8; 1Ki 9:9): This house which is high.” They prided themselves in the stateliness and magnificence of the structure, but let them know that it is not so high as to be out of the reach of God’s judgments, if they vilify it so as to exchange it for groves and idol-temples, and yet, at the same time, magnify it so as to think it will secure the favour of God to them though they ever so much corrupt themselves. This house which is high. Those that now pass by it are astonished at the bulk and beauty of it; the richness, contrivance, and workmanship, are admired by all spectators, and it is called a stupendous fabric; but, if you forsake God, its height will make its fall the more amazing, and those that pass by will be as much astonished at its ruins, while the guilty, self-convicted, self-condemned, Israelites, will be forced to acknowledge, with shame, that they themselves were the ruin of it; for when it shall be asked, Why hath the Lord done thus to his house? they cannot but answer, It was because they forsook the Lord their God. See Deu 29:24; Deu 29:25. Their sin will be read in their punishment. They deserted the temple, and therefore God deserted it; they profaned it with their sins and laid it common, and therefore God profaned it with his judgments and laid it waste. God gave Solomon fair warning of this, now that he had newly built and dedicated it, that he and his people might not be high-minded, but fear.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
First Kings – Chapter 9 AND Second Chronicles – Chapter 7, 8
God’s Second Appearance, 1Ki 9:1-9 AND 2Ch 7:11-22
The parallel accounts in Kings and Chronicles differ somewhat more than do accounts in other places, but describe the same event and times. This occurrence was after Solomon had completed all his building projects to his own satisfaction. It was then the Lord again came to Solomon by night in a dream, as He had done in the early years of his reign, when He promised the young king wisdom surpassing all others. This second appearance was doubtless intended to assure Solomon that the Lord approved of his building and organization for the worship of Israel. At the same time it was given as an encouragement to continue the things of David his father which had brought the blessings of the Lord in David’s reign. Finally it served to warn Solomon that he not fall into disobedient ways which would cause forfeiture of the blessings the Lord promised.
In regard to His assurance, the Lord told Solomon He had heard the prayer and supplication he had made on the occasion of the temple’s dedication. God had hallowed the house, or made it holy to Him, that it should always be called by His name. There sacrifices should be made to Him according to His statutes, and in Israel’s doing His eyes and heart would be upon it always. The Chronicles account particularizes, with a passage in verses 13, 14, which is among the best known of the Old Testament. If by disobedience the Lord must chastise the land by drought, insect infestation, or pestilence, Israel may humble themselves and return to Him, seeking His mercy. He promised to hear them on those occasions and to heal their land. This promise is still applicable to the Lord’s people everywhere.
The admonition of Solomon follows the assurance and encouragement. Solomon should take his father’s example and stay close to the Lord in his walk. If he would do this the Lord reiterates His previous promise to continue his children on David’s throne, and the kingdom would be established for ever. Strict warning is sounded for the contrary behavior. Should his descendants, however, turn away from following the Lord and refuse to keep God’s commandments and statutes the promises will fail. The plural “ye” in verses 6 (Kings) and 19 (Chronicles) show that the people of Israel are involved in this warning against apostasy.
In those times of apostasy, when God’s people have gone after pagan gods, He will cut them off from their land. Then this “high” house, the magnificent temple, will be a heap of ruins. People passing by will be astonished and hiss (cluck their tongues against their teeth, or whistle) at the magnanimity of its destruction. They will ask, “Why has the Lord done this to His house and land?” And others will reply that they have forsaken their God, who delivered them from Egypt and gave them the land, and they have turned to false gods and worshipped and served them.
Solomon and Israel failed to heed the Lord’s admonition, and it happened to them as they were warned in this appearance of the Lord (2Ch 29:8). There is like danger for God’s people today who turn away from serving Him (Rom 11:21).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
SOLOMON AND THE SACRED TEMPLE
1 Kings 1-11.
IN previous discussions, we have called attention to the chronology of the Old Testament, and have shown that the Books are correctly placed from the standpoint of history. Certainly the Books of the Kings belong where found in the Sacred Canon. David has held the field of view in the Books of Samuel, and I Kings opens with a record of his age, infirmity and approaching death.
The Books of Biblical history make up, for the most part, an unbroken series. The events reported as attending the kings death are at once natural, in keeping with the times and customs of that far-off century. The scramble between the sons as to succession in office and the inheritance of riches and honor, are easily believable because they belong to every century, and abate not. The methods of Adonijah, amounting to merely a repetition of Absoloms abortive attempt, reveal the mental inability and moral and political incapacity of that ambitious boy. His neglect to take Nathan, the Prophet, into counsel, or to seek advice from Benaiah and other mighty men, or even regard his brother Solomons claims, reveal the fact that he knew himself to be indulging a political plot that could succeed only in shadows and secrecy.
The opening chapter makes clear the fact that the Prophet of God is a capital statesman, for it was Nathan who brought this whole matter to the attention of Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon; and through her, reached the king and settled the question, and seated Bathshebas son on the throne.
An interesting study is excited by those verses in this same first chapter which reveal two things; first, that the dying man is far more interested in things eternal than in things temporal (1kings 1:29); more deeply concerned in permanent Israel than in his own passing throne (1 Kings 1:30); more alive to the moral and spiritual interests of his country than to its material and political supremacy; and in proportion to that interest, anxious to be succeeded in office by the one man to whom he could intrust both Gods people and Gods truth (1Ki 2:2 fol.).
With this introduction, we come naturally to three themes that compass somewhat clearly the chapters of our text: Solomons Succession to the Throne; Solomons Greatest Single Achievement; The Secrets of Solomons Signal Failure.
SOLOMONS SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE
Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly (1Ki 2:12).
In coming to this office, he came as his fathers favorite. In the establishment of Israel, Isaac desired the line through Esau, and Rebecca contrived to secure it through her favorite, Jacob; but in this instance, father and mother agree as to the son who shall stand in the fathers stead. It is not at all likely that this choice was wholly a result of the certain influence exerted over the king by the beautiful Bathsheba. That impulse was doubtless present, but the controlling sentiment of the matter rested upon a firmer foundation. A father knows his own children. He knows their weaknesses and their strength; their abilities and their disabilities; their traits of dependableness and their habits of deceit. As between Adonijah and Solomon, David did not need to debate. From the days when as infants they lay in his arms until now, he had studied them, and doubtless often with this very hour in view; and his judgment was already made and had been communicated to both Bathsheba and the Prophet. It is difficult for children to imagine that their parents understand them, properly estimate them, justly judge them; but practically every family furnishes a positive proof that the best judges of character are the very people who have sought to control conduct and direct endeavor. The after history of Solomon is not all the Christian reader could wish. Had David lived on for two-score more years, feeble, infirm, having surrendered the reigns of rule into Solomons hands, he would have seen much come to pass that would have grieved his aged soul; but in spite of all that, he still would have gone to his grave, convinced beyond debate that Adonijah would have fallen shorter still, and Israels interests suffered more deeply in his hands.
These facts are the basis of a second reason why the rulership went to Solomon.
He was the Lords chosen. Men easily make mistakes in judging their fellows. Fathers even fall short in truly estimating the worth or worthlessness of their own, but God, who looketh on the heart rather than on the outward appearance, and who knows what is in man, as against what man imagines and announces himself to be, makes no such mistake. With the discernment of an infinite wisdom, Jehovah saw in Solomon mental traits, moral convictions, spiritual aspirations, that led Him, as He was led in the case of David, the father, to elect this man from among many sons.
The reaction in my mind, on reading the first chapters of I Kings, was a revolt. In my haste I came near questioning the wisdom of God to set such a man as Solomon on the throne, or to lend His approval to his methods of government. That grew out of the slaughters recorded in chapter 2. My soul sickened when he sent his servant Benaiah to slay his brother, and he fell upon him that he died (1Ki 2:25); when Joab was taken from the horns of the altar and slain without mercy (1Ki 2:30-34); when Shimei perished at Benaiahs hands and by the kings command (1Ki 2:39-41), I confess I came to the phrase, And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon, with a sickening sense, asking myself, Can one cement the foundations of a true throne with the blood of his brothers, and be under a Divine benediction?
But I am glad for further study. Our judgments are often immature; our speech is often hasty, and when we take issue with the Divine will, our way is always mistaken. I had overlooked for the time that each of these men had not only courted death, but practically compelled it, and had compelled it by the violation of the Law of the Lord. For instance, the one of them to whom the readers sympathy goes out most quickly is Joab, the warrior, the man who had once favored David and fought for him; but alas, when one reviews the history of Joab, he consents to the justice of his fate. How many he had slain, and with what perfidy he had performed these slaughters! Guile had been his brutal instrument. He took Abner aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died (2Sa 3:27). He concealed his sword while whispering in Amasas ear and yet ripped him until his bowels fell to the ground (2Sa 20:10). The Law of the Lord was, If a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from Mine altar, that he may die (Exo 21:14); and the Law of the Lord is living still and Solomons servant is merely executing the same.
Slaughter is horrible; battle and death wound and offend our spirits; but battle and death and slaughter are not, when all are combined, the undermining factors of civilization, the fiends of successful rebellion against all moral worth, that disregard of Divine law and disobedience to the same, surely effect. It is important, I grant you, that men shall live their natural days, but far more important is it that the law of God shall live. In the last analysis, death is the natural incident of disobedience, so that the brutal features of Solomons reign are features intended to end the shedding of blood. It was a war against war; it was a just judgment against unjust judgments; it was a capital punishment of most capital crimes.
Solomon also became the choice of the people.
And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.
And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them (1Ki 1:39-40).
It is a great sequence when the public acclaims the will of the Lord. The government chosen of God and clearly accepted by the people has magnificent promise, and holds momentous prospects. It is fairly evident from the whole text that Solomon had those personal traits that rendered Absalom popular in his daythe traits of physical beauty and prowess; but in Solomons case, intellectual acumen and even a certain spiritual power added to his acceptance with the people. It may be true that the designing politician easily deceives the public and often experiences undeserved popularity; but few uninspired sentences are more true than Abraham Lincolns, You cannot fool all the people all of the time.
We are not enamored of the notion of the old Latin proverb, Vox populi, vox Dei, for it is a rule that has more exceptions than applications! But on the other hand, the final judgment of man is compelled to conform to the judgment of God, for what God sees and understands by His infinite wisdom becomes increasingly evident by the action that makes history; and sooner or later the voice of the people will second the voice of God.
Victory ought to be comparatively easy for a young man entering upon an important office with the backing of a kingly father, an infinite Lord and the will of the people. At many points Solomon witnessed success; his rule was long continued; his material prosperity became the amazement of the age; his political powers rapidly increased, while his mental and spiritual perceptions were the envy of kings and queens.
I think, however, it is well to dwell upon
SOLOMONS GREATEST SINGLE ACHIEVEMENT
This was not his alliance with Pharaoh, nor his marriage into the kings house, nor the political supremacy to which he attained, nor the luxurious living in which he indulged himself, nor the splendors of his court! On the other hand, it was the creation of the temple of God. That achievement is as easily linked up, however, with some facts of his mental and spiritual existence as it is with his political and religious supremacy.
He laid for lifes fabric a true foundation. When God appeared to him in Gibeon in a dream at night, and said, Ask what I shall give thee (1Ki 3:5), the answer revealed the soul of the youth. Give * * Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad (1Ki 3:9). A prayer like that could result only in the Divine favor; yea, even in the Divine affection. So far as the record goes, the boy Solomon had been a beautiful lad, his life clean, his conduct upright, his character above reproach; and now to have such a prayer emanate from his lips invites both human and Divine love. We are compelled to think that the principles which compel Gods love are not wholly different from those which control human affection. When the rich young ruler, white-souled, intellectually accomplished, spiritually enthusiastic, fell at the feet of Jesus to inquire what good thing he could do to inherit eternal life, Christ looked upon him to love him. It may be true that by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God; but it is not true that God disregards the deeds of the Law, looks with contempt or indifference upon high human conduct, takes no vital concern in beautiful character. The whole Scripture seems to clearly intimate that upright conduct linked with spiritual expression is lovely in the sight of God.
Neither the Bible nor Spirit-instructed men imagine, with the author of a certain University textbook, that the human intellect is merely a brute mind greatly developed, nor do they hold with another author, compulsory upon students study in some institutions, that the soul is accounted for by the development of the social in brute life.
On the contrary, the Bible teaches that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, including intellect and spirit, his reasoning powers and his capability of receiving revelation.
If Solomon lived now and was a student in certain departments of the University, they would be teaching him that the only possible way of having wisdom is to evolve the ape intellectuality to a higher plane; but suffering the misfortune of living and dying before Darwins day, the great soul of the worlds wisest man knew no better than to look upward instead of downward for such acquisition, and pray, Give * * Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad (1Ki 3:9).
There are some of us who are perfectly willing to be regarded as belonged to Mediaeval times, if Mediaevalism takes the Scripture against the speculation of man and looks above for true wisdom instead of back, beneath, or below. If I could have my personal choice for every child born into my home, concerning the whole matter of education, I would rather have him or her begin the real battle of life begging for such a blessing and believing that God is capable of granting it, than to have him made familiar with all the sophistries and speculations of those modern text-books that turn men to believing that they are a big improvement on brute ancestors, and boasting the same. One thing is fairly clear, namely, that men who believe God and build life according to the laws of His Book, are the simple men of the centuries to which they belong, and become the inspiring examples to children born of later days.
He built not for self alone, but he remembered God. It is not difficult to believe, if one follows the personal history of this potentate, that his steps are determined by definite objectives. When all Israel had come under his sway, he appointed twelve officers, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision (1Ki 4:7). In other words, he was a man who organized government and who organized finances, and witnessed the fruits of his organization in both fields by bringing the entire people to subjection and creating a palace of such splendor and attendants as the world has seldom seen. Forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen (1Ki 4:26), sound almost as extravagant as the years of Methuselahs life, and yet there is far less doubt of the latter than of the former. That he was not a mere indolent, daddled in the lap of a daily luxury wrung from unwilling taxpayers, is everywhere apparent. He was a man among men, a prince among thinkers, a king among courtiers. His fame was in all the nations. He spake 3,000 proverbs; he wrote 1,005 songs; he made all nature to contribute in illustration, and he compelled admiration from all the kings of the earth (1Ki 4:29-34). His banqueting halls assembled the worlds elite, his wisdom astonished the worlds wise.
His alliance with King Hiram, however, was made, not that he might further extend his kingly power, nor that he might exercise a wider world influence, but in the interest of A TEMPLE OF GOD. In the realms of Hiram were the cedars of Lebanon coveted for that sanctuary. In the able-bodied men of his own kingdom were the thousands he proposed to set at the task. He laid upon these competent builders a tax of time, tithing every three months, and builders in wood and stone wrought together that the temple might rise. And what a temple it was!
That sanctuary, glorious as is this description, requires many another line to do it justice. 2 Chronicles 3, 4 tells of the same great subject. The tabernacle was the prophecy of it, and the New Jerusalem to be let down from Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, is the final substance of which this was the symbol. It arose without sound of a hammer; it excelled all the sanctuaries that the world had ever seen or has yet seen; its appointments were the most expensive and yet intended in every case to turn the mind to God, to teach the heart to pray, the feet to walk in the path of the just, and the tongue to sing.
There are some extravagances that are justified. It pays to put great sacrifice into the proper education of your child, for when the preparation days are over, life is to follow; and it pays to put thousands of dollars into a sanctuary, because when the men who sacrificed to erect it sleep in the dust, the sanctuary will live and pour upon the world streams of sacred influence.
There is, however, in the first verse of the 7th chapter a significant remark, But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. In other words, while he built for himself, he at the same time and on a vaster scale, built for God. There are people who think when they build for themselves that is all they can do. Gods house must wait until mine is finished! Divinely sacred obligations must be delayed until the domestic and secular are discharged. God cannot receive a gift until the grocer is fully paid. How strangely men reason! How quickly they forget revelation. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness?. It would be an interesting thing to investigate history to find whether Israel was impoverished by the erection of the Temple, or whether she was not enriched instead, to discover whether those were days of financial reverses or the one period of Israels material prosperity.
The reign of Solomon remains forever glorious and stands as a symbol of all material success. Sacrifices for the sanctuary do not impoverishthey enrich; they do not bleedthey bless! The only man who suffers when the sanctuary is going up is the man who withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.
But an equally significant thing is found in another statement from this Scripture.
Solomon knew that an elegant Temple was inadequate without God. One no sooner reads, So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the Lord (1Ki 7:51), than he finds the same king exercising some of the wisdom that had come in answer to his prayer. That wisdom voiced itself in the decision to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. That ark of the covenant represented the Divine Presence and the expression of the Divine favor. Until it came into the Temple, the Temple itself, with all its splendid proportions and appointments, was destitute of spiritual power. There is no advantage resident in an elegant house called a church of God. There are many fanes that are cold, ceremonious, spiritually dead. In all their splendid precincts there is not the sound of an angels wing, nor the sense of a spiritual presence. The most pathetic sight in the world is the stately sanctuary out of which God has gone, or into which He has never come.
I have seen, in the Old World, cathedrals that were merely show-houses open to the eyes of American visitors; but few folk ever gathered in their spacious halls, and even those who came had not sufficient spiritual life to start one sleepy rivulet of praise, and the consequence was that a vested choir of boys were salaried to provide a substitute. They are elegant sarcophagi, enshrining the dead forms of a former faith; and we rehearse all of this to remind those who worship in this house of God and by whose splendid and heroic sacrifices these buildings are rising at this city centerhouses better adapted to Divine worship than any I have ever seen besidethat they could and would become mausoleums and empty ones at that, if out of them we lost God, or into them we failed to bring the ark of the covenant with its Shekinah glory, symbol of the Presence of God, and its typical content, Aarons rod that budded, sign of life coming out of death; the pot of manna, type of the bread from Heaven, and the tables of the Law, a faithful transcription of the Divine Word.
I say it solemnly and with the profoundest conviction that these buildings will mean to us and to our children and to our city and country and to the world, exactly as much as may be measured by the Divine presence in them, and the emanation of the Word of God from them. They are not an end in themselves, but a medium instead; and the medium of a message Divine. If God be here, and here His Word be preached and believed and practised, then the untold ages will unfold the influences of this sanctuary and the nations of the world will feel it.
SOLOMONS SECRETS OF SIGNAL FAILURE
The Bible is unique in that it as faithfully presents the secrets of failure as it does those of achievement. Its photographic effects reveal blemishes as surely as beauty, and make as evident the sins of men as they make clear the sanctity of God. Through these same chapters there runs an undertone, a minor key, a note set to sobs, and Solomon is the subject of this as well.
He started wrong by a compromise of his convictions. Life is a composite! Conduct is paradoxical! Character itself is unnatural compromise! The good and bad mix together. Successes and failures are sometimes so interwoven that the lesser is not seen in the light of the greater.
In the 3rd chapter we read, And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaohs daughter (1Ki 3:1). That is a significant step. Its original objective may have been political, but politics and morals cannot be divorced; life and religion cannot be separated. We are told that Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, but there must be added, only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places (1Ki 3:3). How significant! An unholy alliance results in disloyalty to the Divinest, and in partial departure from the plain Word of God. Thereby a question is raised, Which of these elements will conquer at last? As Joseph Parker says: There may be but a semi-colon between that one path of life and the other in the verbal record of the two, and yet that semi-colon is finally swelled to an infinity of distance and only time will tell which triumphed the statutes of the Lord or the incense of idolatry. When one leaves the incense of idolatry for the statutes of the Lord, he faces away from the morning twilight to a perfect day; but when one leaves the statutes of the Lord for the incense in high places, he is faced from the evening twilight toward utter and increasing darkness.
There is a wonderful psychology in one of Davids prayers, Who can understand his errors? cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression (Psa 19:12-13). There is no doubt whatever that that very utterance describes the intimate and progressive relation between a mere error in judgment or thought, and that final sin described as the great transgression or the iniquity unpardonable.
A second secret of his failure was pride in culture and possessions. His wisdom went on exhibit (1Ki 4:34). The kings and queens of the earth came to Jerusalem (1 Kings 10), not merely to study and admire the material possessions of King Solomon, but to sit under his scintillating genius, give audience to his matchless moral maxims known as proverbs and applaud his superior and almost unnumbered songs. The most insidious temptations of modern times take those two identical forms, the exhibit of wisdom on the one side, and of wealth on the other. It is a serious question now which pride is the more arrogant, that of culture or of wealth. Through the first, men reject God and set themselves above the stars. Through the second, men neglect God and degrade themselves below demons.
Criticism is easy and men can be found who pass unsparing censure upon Solomon, but when we see the millions going down before one or the other of these temptations, why should we be surprised that Solomons feet slid under the shove of both?
Education is a great thing, but when education brings a man to be wise above what is written, it converts him into a cultured fool.
Material wealth has its advantages, but when riches result in luxuries that pander only to lust, then indeed they prove themselves the root of all evil.
I shall not stop now to elaborate on the dedication of the Temple, to remark upon the prayers made in the place, and the promises of God uttered for its good. The service of dedication, in which we now engage together, affords us further opportunity for such study.
But I want to conclude by calling your attention to the contents of the 11th chapter. It might be named The Eclipse of Solomons Sun!
Through unholy alliances he lost out with God. The chapter not only records his love of many strange women, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, Hittites, etc., but as one author has said, lays emphasis upon the fact that they were strange women, not in the ordinary sense of scarlet, but in the Bible sense, strangers to God and His Word. The alliance was not so much a personal one, with wives and concubines, as it was an irreligious one with false systems.
The Lord had warned the Children of Israel concerning the nations about, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods; and yet it is written, Solomon clave unto these in love; and again, his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel. No wonder it was said, And the Lord was angry with Solomon, nor yet further theatened concerning his kingdom, I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.
Whatever the alliance is that turns one from God and His Word, that is unholy, and in the end, destined to destroy.
The 11th chapter of I Kings is pathetic in that it records the down-going of Solomon. He not only worshipped at false shrines but even consented to construct the same (1Ki 11:7). To turn from God is eventually to turn against God. To admit a false shrine into your life is to cease from worship at the true one, and who will tell the final result? With Solomon the foundations crumbled. His religion wrong, his kingdom rent; his religion wrong, his friends turned to enemies, and his lovers sought his life, and when the day broke that personal, political, fraternal and domestic disaster swept over his soul, wave upon wave, it was the same day in which he must prepare to meet his God, for the record concludes, And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead (1Ki 11:43).
It will forever remain a question as to what that sleep meant for the soul of the matchless man. Theologians will always dispute whether he was saved or lost and whether he went to his grave in calm confidence or with cringing and justifiable fear.
But human judgment is inadequate, superficial, even censorious. How blessed the circumstance that Divine judgment is after another manner! If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Personally, I believe that Solomon was a saved man, whose weaknesses, incidental to the flesh, never wholly eclipsed his faith in God, and whose disloyal acts were Divinely judged, and sentence executed even while he lived, whose soul was saved; yet so as by fire, and many of whose works were burned even before his very eyes. The pathos of his death is not in the danger that for him to be dead is to be in hell. It is in the failure to so fight the battle of life as to come to a victorious close, to a triumphant entry, to the shout of a Paul, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day (2Ti 4:7-8).
It is worth an eternal contest against the adversary and his multiplied forms of temptation, to be able to come to the last hour as Dwight L. Moody met the last enemy, when, silencing his daughters prayers, he said, No, no, Emma; dont ask that. The earth is receding; the heavens are opening; God is calling. I am going!
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
SEVERAL IMPERIAL TRANSACTIONS
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
Chapter divides itself into two sections: 1Ki. 9:1-9, Gods answer, of promise and warning, to Solomons prayer; 1Ki. 9:10-27, transactions between Solomon and Hiram, with a record of Solomons levy of labourers, his officers and servants, his navy and foreign trade.
1Ki. 9:1. It came to pass, &c.i.e., at the end of twenty years (1Ki. 9:10), for 1Ki. 9:1 begins a narrative which 1Ki. 9:2 interrupts; 1Ki. 9:2-9 being a parenthesis. Solomons desire, (1Ch. 7:11), All that came into Solomons heart. Thenius suggests pleasure buildings as in distinction from public works. But 1Ki. 9:19 explains his desire as having reference to Jerusalem, Lebanon, and all the land of his dominionprobably aqueducts, &c.
1Ki. 9:2. That the Lord appeared, &c.Rather, for the Lord appeared, as interposing this section, which continues till 1Ki. 9:10 resumes the narrative. The second time as, &c.In Gibeon, during the night after his sacrifices (chap 1Ki. 3:5); in this instance, during the night following the dedication prayer and sacrificial offerings; and again in a dream.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki. 9:1-2
THE PRIVILEGE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF DIVINE MANIFESTATION TO MAN
At two important eras in the career of Solomon, Jehovah appeared to him. The first appearance was at Gibeon, at the outset of his kingly career, when the Lord gave him not only what he asked for, but also riches, dignity, and fame: the second occurred some years after, when Solomon had completed all his great works, and stood at the highest pinnacle of his external and imperial grandeur. Each appearance had its own peculiar significance and worth. The one afforded the opportunity and power to advance on a pathway of unexampled greatness and authority; the other was fraught with warning as to the danger of apostasy and decline, and that at a time when he had reached the very summit of success. Favoured, indeed, is the man whose life is divinely guided in its beginning, prospered in its progress, and cautioned and guarded in its mid-career. To fall, after being thus divinely fenced, is a saddening proof of the fickleness of human promises, of base ingratitude, of gross criminality. Every revelation of God to man is a distinguished privilege and a grave responsibility.
I. That Divine manifestation to man is an act of gracious condescension. In all ages man has eagerly longed for revelations of the Divine. Heathen authors speak of the appearance of gods on the earth, and of the exaltation of heroic men to the dignity of deity; the former in the incarnations of the Eastern world, the latter in the apotheoses of the Western. Though these are but poetic fancies, they indicate the strong aspirations of the human heart after God. Sin has broken the union that once existed between God and man, and created a moral gulf which man is wholly unable to cross. But the infinite mercy of God has followed man in all his wanderings, met him more than half way, and bridged the otherwise impassable chasm. The yearnings of humanity have been satisfied by Divine manifestations. The revelations of Jehovah in Israel were preliminary and prophetic of the great revelation in which He was Himself to appear in the person of His Son, and thus restore the harmony between God and man that had been disturbed by sin. Sin was the reason for the incarnation: the needs of humanity were met by the gracious condescension of God.
II. That Divine manifestation to man often occurs at a critical juncture in his individual history. Solomon was now at the height of his famein the full tide of prosperity. Temptations unlike any he had had before assailed him, and he was, perhaps, less prepared to resist them. There was no one around him who had the courage or the ability to warn him of his dangers. At this crisis, Jehovah appeared to him a second time, and, while encouraging him in the pathway of integrity, cautioned him as to the consequences of disobedience. How deep and untiring is the interest God takes in His children. His manifestations are the most timely, and His words fraught with profound significance. The extremity of the individual life has been the opportunity for Divine interference; the crisis has been successfully passed, and the destiny changed. The Divine manifestations are unmistakable. A poor Arabian of the Desert was one day asked how he came to be assured that there was a God. In the same way, said he, that I am able to tell by the print impressed on the sand whether it was a man or a beast that had passed this way. The manifestation of the God-Man was at a critical period in the worlds history; and who shall estimate the influence of that manifestation on the destinies of the human race!
III. That Divine manifestation to man involves a solemn responsibility.
1. Because it is made to one who can apprehend and appreciate its significance. It is not a display to insensate and unthinking matter. However gorgeous might be the revelation in its external aspect, there is nothing in star, or flower, or tree to catch and respond to its meaning; they robe themselves in the glory, while all unconscious of the truth it unfolds. But the revelation to man is to one gifted with intelligence and formed in the Divine image. If we think of God, we think of Him after our image; and we do not think incorrectly. And as God has ever thought of and willed Himself, so has He ever lovingly willed man, in order to impart Himself to him. Thus having affinity with the Divine nature, man is competent to understand the meaning and appreciate the value of Divine manifestations.
2. Because it is made to one who is capable of carrying out the Divine behests. Man has capacity for accomplishing great things. Vast, indeed, is his power for good or for evil. Marvellous are the productions of human genius. Solomon had just exemplified what one man could do, when divinely aided, in building up an empire which was the wonder of succeeding ages. Man is exalted to the highest dignity when he becomes a medium for carrying out Divine ideas and purposes.
3. Because it is made to one who may abuse the blessings it confers. The will of man is free, and that which may be the instrument of the greatest good may become a power for propagating terrible mischief. The noble may become ignoble, the refined base, the honoured contemptible. Few great men exercise the questionable caution of a certain celebrated musical composer who spent the last forty years of his life in almost complete idleness, saying, An additional success would add nothing to my fame; a failure would injure it. I have no need of the one, and I do not choose to expose myself to the other. Mayhap, it would have been well for some lives if they had terminated when, to all appearance, they had reached the highest point of moral goodness, rather than be prolonged to present such pitiful examples of degeneracy and sin.
LESSONS:
1. God honours man by His manifestations.
2. The most blessed manifestation is that which is made to the heart. 3 Every manifestation of God is a prelude and motive to loftier enterprise and toil.
4. To disregard Divine manifestation is to incur unutterable calamity.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki. 9:1-2. The second appearance of Jehovah to Solomon.
1. The point of time at which it occurred: after the completion of the great works of the kingdom.
2. The object of the appearance: promise and warning.
The appearance with which Solomon was favoured after the completion of his many grand edifices, as the text clearly and positively says, is expressly placed in relation to and contrasted with that which he had in the beginning of his reign at Gibeon (1Ki. 3:5). He had succeeded in all that he had undertaken. Not only did he himself stand at the summit of fortune, but his people had never before reached such a great and prosperous state, being blessed with peace and quiet without, and with prosperity and comfort within. Then came the second appearance, which contained, with the remembrance of the prayer answered at the dedication of the Temple and the promise of blessing in the future, a threatening and warning very wholesome, and even necessary now, for Solomon himself, who, though hitherto loyal and faithful to the Lord, was open to the temptation to fall away, as the after-history shows. It was also needed by that ever-restless, fickle people which, in the enjoyment of the greatest happiness, were in danger of forgetting their Lord and God, and of relapsing into the idolatrous worship which was more agreeable to the flesh.Lange.
This was a great engagement upon Solomon to cleave close to that God who had appeared unto him twice (1Ki. 11:9). See an analogical appearance to all that love Him (Joh. 14:21); and be instructed, lest Gods soul depart from us (Jer. 6:8), for our evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God (Heb. 3:12).Trapp.
The danger of transitions in life.
1. Every period in life has its special dangers.
2. The greatest danger is present when in a state of transition from one period into another.
3. In every such transition special help and wisdom should be sought.
4. It is an unspeakable boon to be conscious at such times of the Divine presence and guidance.
5. To ignore the lessons of such periods is to invite disaster and ruin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
II. THE REVELATION TO SOLOMON 9:19
TRANSLATION
(1) And it came to pass when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD, and the house of the king, and all Solomons desire which he had desired to do, (2) that the LORD appeared unto Solomon a second time as He appeared unto him in Gibeon. (3) And the LORD said unto him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication which you have made before Me. I have sanctified this house which you have built, to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart shall always be there. (4) But as for you, if you continue to walk before Me as David your father walked with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all which I have commanded you, and My statutes and My judgments you continue to keep, (5) then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever as I spoke unto David your father, saying, A man shall not be cut off to you from upon the throne of Israel. (6) If you surely turn, you and your sons, from after Me and do not keep My commandments, My statutes which I have set before you, and you go and serve other gods, and worship them, (7) then I will cut off Israel from upon the face of the kind which I gave to them, and the house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast away from before Me, and Israel shall become a byword and a taunt among all peoples. (8) And this house shall be high, all passing by it shall be astonished and hiss and say, Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house? (9) And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God who brought their fathers from the land of Egypt, and they seized other gods, and bowed down to them, and served them; therefore, the LORD brought upon them all this calamity.
COMMENTS
After Solomon had completed his building projects (1Ki. 9:1) the Lord appeared to him a second time as He had appeared unto him in the dream at Gibeon (1Ki. 9:2). Solomon had received a message from the Lord during the course of the Temple building, but that message had probably come through the lips of a prophet (cf. 1Ki. 6:11). In this divine communication there is constant and unmistakable reference to the dedicatory prayer of Solomon which was recorded in the previous chapter. In fact, this second dream appearance of the Lord must be regarded as Gods answer to that earlier prayer. Now if the dedication of the Temple took place immediately following the completion of that structure, and the second dream appearance followed the completion of the palace complex, then it would appear that at least thirteen years elapsed between Solomons dedicatory prayer and the answer to it (cf. 1Ki. 9:10).[242] Solomon was now at the height of his prosperity. With his building projects completed his heart was puffed up with pride. His love for the Lord was waning and he had already begun that spiritual decline which eventually led to idolatry. The divine warning served to remind him of that wonderful prayer and youthful devotion which he was in danger of forgetting.
[242] Slotki (SBB, p. 70) suggests that the prayer and supplication to which God alludes in 1Ki. 9:3 is not the dedicatory prayer, but some similar and unrecorded prayer offered by Solomon several years later.
The divine message to Solomon is given in greater detail in Chronicles (2Ch. 7:12-22). As far as the present account is concerned, God assured Solomon that he had heard his dedicatory prayer which had been made several years before and, as a consequence of that prayer, had sanctified the Temple. Probably the Lord is alluding to that manifestation described in 1Ki. 8:11 where the cloud of divine glory settled upon the house. Solomon had offered the house to God and God had put His name there, i.e., he accepted it as His own special dwelling forever. Solomon had asked that Gods eye might be upon the house; God now assured him that His heart would be there as well as His eyes (1Ki. 9:3). But if Solomon was to continue to enjoy divine favor he must continue to walk in the ways of his father David. The integrity of David consisted of his steadfast loyalty to the true God, his allegiance to the truth. Solomon prayed that Davids dynasty might be established over Israel forever just as God had promised his father (1Ki. 8:26); God reminded Solomon that the promise to David was conditional. Only if Solomon kept all the commandments of the Lord (1Ki. 9:4) would Davids dynasty be established (1Ki. 9:5).
The warnings against unfaithfulness in 1Ki. 9:6-9 are stern and uncompromising. If Solomon or any of his children turned from following the Lord and failed to keep His commandments (1Ki. 9:6), then God would deprive the nation of the land He had given it, and He would utterly reject the Temple He had so recently acknowledged. The condition of Israel would become so deplorable that people would allude to Israel when they wished to use an apt illustration of folly and unfaithfulness (1Ki. 9:7). A byword and a taunt is an expression found in Deu. 28:37 expressive of extraordinary calamity. The fate of Israel would be an example and admonition to others, a figure for disaster. The house of God would be high[243] in that day, i.e., it would be a conspicuous example of the fate which befalls an unfaithful people. The Temple stood upon a high mountain so that its ruins could not fail to attract the attention of all who went past. Those who observed the ruins of that once sacred spot would hiss or whistle in derision and perhaps astonishment, and ask one another why the Lord would have treated the land of the Temple in this manner (1Ki. 9:8). The answer would come back from those close to the scene that Israel had forsaken the God that had formed their nation and had brought them out of Egypt (1Ki. 9:9).
[243] Another possible rendering though it be high, everyone passing by shall be astonished.. ..s
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) And it came to pass.The obvious prim facie meaning of this verse would land us in much difficulty. By 1Ki. 6:38; 1Ki. 7:1, we find that, while the Temple was built in seven years, the erection of the palace and the other buildings occupied thirteen years; and from 1Ki. 5:10 and 2Ch. 8:1 it appears that these works were successive, and therefore that the completion of the palace could not have taken place till thirteen years after the completion of the Temple. Hence we should have to conclude, either that the dedication was postponed for thirteen years, till all the buildings were finishedwhich is in itself infinitely improbable, and contradicts the express declaration of Josephusor that a similar period intervened between Solomons prayer and the Divine answer to it, which is even more preposterous. The variation in 2Ch. 7:11 probably suggests the true key to the difficulty: viz., that the notice in this verse is merely a summary of the history of 1 Kings 6-8, which records the whole of the building works of Solomon, and is not intended to fix the date of the vision of 1Ki. 9:2-9.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE LORD’S SECOND APPEARANCE TO SOLOMON, 1Ki 9:1-9.
Whether this appearance of the Lord to Solomon followed immediately after the dedication of the temple, or not until after the completion of his palace and all his great works, is a matter of dispute. Some hold that it took place the night after the day of dedication, but the text seems clearly to place it after he had finished all his works. The revelation seems, indeed, like an answer to the prayer of dedication which Solomon had just offered; and we would naturally suppose it to have been given immediately after the dedication. But is this sufficient reason to reject the obvious meaning of the text? Jehovah did immediately answer the prayer and bless the worship by sending down fire to consume the sacrifices; and often may he have come to Solomon by the Word of the Lord, (1Ki 6:11,) both while the temple was building and after it was finished. But this second and peculiarly significant appearance, bearing particular resemblance to the first appearance at Gibeon, (1Ki 3:4-15,) may well have occurred at a later period of his reign, after the completion of all his great works, and the attainment of all his proudest fame, for the purpose of confirming him in the truth, and warning and guarding him against apostasy, to which he was now, by reason of his extended power and glory, more than ever exposed. We need not wonder that the Lord’s words in the revelation refer directly to a prayer uttered years before, for the prayers of the saints are ever fresh to his mind; and Solomon never uttered another prayer more impressive, or more important and memorable to himself, than that uttered at the feast of dedication. The sacred writer records this Divine communication here, not because it followed immediately after the prayer of Solomon, but because, though given long after, it had so much reference to that prayer.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. All Solomon’s desire All that he desired in the way of buildings, not only at Jerusalem, but throughout his whole realm. Compare 1Ki 9:19 and 2Ch 8:6.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Solomon’s Dream Concerning YHWH’s Hallowing Of His House In Which YHWH Warns That By Itself The House Means Nothing. Its Continued Hallowing Will Depend On A Full Response By The House Of David To The Davidic Covenant And Thus Subsequently to the Mosaic Covenant ( 1Ki 9:1-10 ).
The importance of this passage, which provides us with YHWH’s response to Solomon’s dedication, is brought out by an inclusio formed by 1Ki 9:1; 1Ki 9:10, stressing the connection of the words with Solomon’s successful completion of YHWH’s House and the King’s Palace Complex, which it is once again emphasised took up twenty years to build, taking us some way into the second half of his reign.
In it YHWH declares that He has hallowed (separated off totally to Himself) the House to put His Name there for ever, so that His eyes and heart would be there perpetually. In other words He has accepted it as taking the place of the Tabernacle and the Sacred Tent, where His Name had previously been (2Sa 6:2 and context). From then on there would be a sense in which His personal presence would ever be there as expressed through His eye and heart. But it was conditional. For if the house of David, and the people, failed to walk in the ways of David, the House would simply be cast out of His sight and become a place to be hissed at. The House in itself meant nothing apart from the loving and obedient response of the people.
The idea of the House being ‘hallowed’ is typically Mosaic (although not Deuteronomic). In Exo 29:42-44 YHWH speaks of ‘the door of the Tent of Meeting before YHWH, where I will meet with you, to speak there to you, and there I will meet with the children of Israel, and it will be hallowed by my glory, and I will hallow the Tent of Meeting, and the altar. Aaron also and his sons will I hallow to minister to me in the priest’s office. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. And they will know that I am YHWH their God, Who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am YHWH their God.’
We note in the passage in Exodus the same emphasis as we find here on the hallowing of YHWH’s sanctuary; on YHWH’s dwelling with His people; and on them knowing that He is YHWH their God Who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Exo 29:42-44 was in mind in these words spoken to Solomon.
A further more indirect reference is found in Lev 21:23, where YHWH speaks of ‘hallowing — My sanctuaries’ (i.e. the whole sanctuary including the inner court). These two are the only previous references to the ‘hallowing of the Sanctuary’, an idea which is not found at all in Deuteronomy, where sanctifying is always by the people (Deu 5:12, of the Sabbath; Deu 15:19, of the firstborn; Deu 32:51, of Moses and Aaron failing to hallow God before the people), the concept which is found most regularly throughout the Law of Moses.
It will be noted in the chiasmus of the section that this dream concerning the ‘hallowing’ of the House parallels the passage where the Ark was brought into the Temple and the cloud of YHWH descended on it, thus hallowing it with His presence.
Analysis.
a
b And YHWH said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me. I have hallowed this house, which you have built, to put my name there for ever, and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually” (1Ki 9:3).
c “And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances” (1Ki 9:4).
d “Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel for ever, according as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel’.” (1Ki 9:5).
c “But if you shall turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them” (1Ki 9:6).
b “Then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them, and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples, and though this house is so high (or ‘this house shall be very high’), yet will every one who passes by it be astonished, and will hiss, and they will say, “Why has YHWH done thus to this land, and to this house?” “And they will answer, ‘Because they forsook YHWH their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them. Therefore has YHWH brought all this evil on them” (1Ki 9:7-9).
a And it came about at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of YHWH and the king’s house (1Ki 9:10).
Note that in ‘a’ the emphasis is on the fact that this took place when both the Temple and the Palace Complex were complete, and in the parallel the same is emphasised. In ‘b’ YHWH declares that He has hallowed the House, so that His presence would be there, but in the parallel warns that the hallowing of the House is totally dependent on their faithfulness to Him so that if they are unfaithful it will be cut off and will become a place of hissing. In ‘c’ obedience in accordance with the ways of David is required, and in the parallel the possibility of the opposite is expressed. Centrally in ‘d’ the dynasty of David will be permanently established for ever.
1Ki 9:1-2
‘ And it came about, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of YHWH, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do, that YHWH appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.’
This point at which Solomon had completed his desire to build the Temple and the Palace Complex is to be the second major moment of his life, the first having been when YHWH spoke with him at Gibeon. This is in itself a reminder that in spite of his great wisdom he received few direct revelations from God, for this was only his second visitation in twenty years. In it God accepted the genuineness of his attempt to please Him and accepted his gesture, but on conditions. God was already aware, as Solomon was not, of the wayward tendencies in his life. If he was to enjoy the blessing promised to David, he must walk as David walked.
1Ki 9:3
‘ And YHWH said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me. I have hallowed this house, which you have built, to put my name there for ever, and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.” ’
YHWH began by declaring that He had heard Solomon’s prayer and supplication that he had made ‘before Him’ (in the Temple area). And as a result He had hallowed ‘this House’ just as He had previously hallowed the Tabernacle (Exo 29:42-44; Lev 21:23). ‘This House’ is then defined as that in which Solomon had intended to ‘put His Name’, that is, in which he would house the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH (2Sa 6:2). And YHWH’s response is that as a result His eyes and His heart would be there perpetually. This connects up with the cloud of YHWH which had descended on the House in 1Ki 8:10-11 once the Ark was brought into it, thus doubly hallowing the House, as similarly occurred in Exo 40:34-38.
“My eyes — will be there —.” Solomon’s prayer had been that the eyes of YHWH would be upon this House (1Ki 8:29; 1Ki 8:52), in order that He might hear His people’s intercession, especially as regards forgiveness. Thus YHWH was promising that His eye would be there so that He would ever be ready to regard their genuine cry, and if necessary forgive. But the eye was regularly seen as the instrument of judgment (Deu 19:13; Deu 19:21; Deu 25:12; 2Sa 22:28; Psa 11:4; Psa 66:7). Thus it includes the thought that the eyes of YHWH would watch over His people, both in order to ensure that they were fulfilling His requirements (Deu 13:18; 2Sa 22:28; Psa 11:4), and in order to demonstrate His continual compassion towards them (Gen 6:8; Deu 11:12; Deu 32:10; Psa 17:8; Psa 32:8; Psa 33:18; Psa 34:15).
“My heart will be there.” If they were willing to hear Him and serve Him His heart would perform His will towards them. The heart was the seat of mind, will and emotion, and YHWH’s heart represented His very self (Gen 6:6; Gen 8:21). He would be there ready to act on their behalf, both for good and for bad.
For the combination of ‘prayer and supplication’ see 1Ki 8:28; 1Ki 8:38; 1Ki 8:45 ; 1Ki 8:49; 1Ki 8:54; Psa 6:9; Psa 55:1; Psa 86:6; Psa 143:1. For the hallowing of His House see Exo 29:42-44; Lev 21:23. For man seen as putting YHWH’s Name somewhere see 2Sa 6:2 in context. There may be a hint in the phrasing of dissatisfaction with an unsought for situation. This was where Solomon had set His Name, not where YHWH had sought to set His Name (Deu 12:5), even though, as in the case of the kingship, He would align Himself with man’s genuine efforts and seal them as His own.
1Ki 9:4-5
“ And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel for ever, according as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel’.”
As so often in the Torah (Lev 26:3; Lev 26:14; Deu 28:1; Deu 28:15) contrasting choices are offered to Solomon. Here the call is to walk before YHWH as David walked, in both integrity of heart and in uprightness (compare the Davidic Psa 25:1), which would involve doing all that YHWH commanded and keeping His statutes, and His ordinances. The consequence would then be that YHWH would establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever, just as He had promised David (2Sa 7:13; 2Sa 7:16). This would fulfil His promise to David that, ‘there shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel’ (compare 1Ki 2:4; 1Ki 8:25).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Ki 9:15 And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.
1Ki 9:15
1Ki 9:21-22 Comments Solomon’s Tax – This type of tax is exactly what Jesus is talking about in Mat 17:25.
Mat 17:25, “He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Reign of King Solomon over a United Israel (970-930 B.C.) 1Ki 1:1 to 1Ki 11:43 records the story of the reign of King Solomon. The plot of this historical account of Solomon’s life takes a familiar structure as it discusses the establishment, prosperity and failure of his reign as king over Israel.
1. The Establishment of Solomon’ Reign 1Ki 1:1 to 1Ki 2:46
2. The Prosperity of Solomon’s Reign 1Ki 3:1 to 1Ki 10:29
3. The Failure of Solomon’s Reign 1Ki 11:1-40
4. Epilogue 1Ki 11:41-43
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Reign of King Solomon (His Prosperity) 1Ki 3:1 to 1Ki 10:29 gives us the story of Solomon’s reign as king over the united kingdom of Israel. The emphasis in this passage of Scripture is Solomon’s prosperity as a result of obeying God’s Word. In contrast, the final chapter of Solomon’s reign will end sadly with the story of Solomon falling away from God and how his kingdom grew weak and became divided as a result of his sins.
One of the reasons for Solomon’s prosperity can be seen in his willingness to give generously to the Lord. 1Ki 3:1-15 gives us the story of Solomon’s great sacrifice that he offered to God and how God responded to him in a dream and blessed him. As a new king he had a great need, which was to rule over his people with wisdom and discretion. In his need he came to God with an offering. It was Solomon’s offering of one thousand burnt offerings to the Lord that prompted God to give back to the king a gift. This great sacrifice opened the windows of heaven for Solomon that forever changed the effectiveness of his ministry, for God gave him great wisdom and wealth.
Then God came to Solomon a second time and promised to be with His people and bless the entire nation (1Ki 6:11-13). Although God blessed Solomon in his first divine encounter, the people were blesses during this second visitation. During these years God did not mind Solomon’s prosperity. In fact, it was God who had given him the power to gain this wealth. In fact during his second great sacrifice at the dedication of the Temple Solomon was able to offer sheep and oxen without number (1Ki 8:5). His first offering to God consisted of one thousand burnt offerings (1Ki 3:4). This time he offered twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep (1Ki 8:63). The Lord responded by visiting him again in a dream (1Ki 9:1-9). This time God promised to establish his royal lineage forever and to honour the Temple with His presence. Solomon continued to give (2Ch 8:12; 2Ch 9:12). As he gave he continued to prosper, and he built to his heart’s desire. In fact, he became the richest man on earth, receiving tribute from many kingdoms around him. Solomon made silver as common as stones (2Ch 9:27). In other words, he made the city look more and more like Heaven itself, whose streets are paved with gold.
There is a teaching in today’s churches that one should be specific to God in prayer with his particular need as he gave an offering. In other words, an act of giving should be accompanied with a request to God for a particular need. If someone wanted a Scriptural basis for speaking these blessing forth as they gave an offering, then this verse would certainly support such a teaching.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Lord’s Answer to Solomon’s Prayer
v. 1. And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, v. 2. that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon, v. 3. And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made before Me, v. 4. And if thou wilt walk before Me as David, thy father, walked, v. 5. then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel forever, as I promised to David, thy father, v. 6. But if ye shall at all turn from following Me, ye or your children, v. 7. then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them, v. 8. and at this house, which is high, v. 9. And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord, their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshiped them, and served them; therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THE ANSWER TO SOLOMON‘S PRAYER.This chapter opens with an account of God’s second appearance to Solomon. It must not be supposed, however, from the apparent close connexion of this relation with the preceding narrative, that it stands to it in equally close chronological order. It probably finds a place here because the historian has grouped together all the suitable materials in his possession which related to the temple. But see on 1Ki 9:1.
1Ki 9:1
And it came to pass when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king’s house [1Ki 7:1], and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do [By “desire” we are not to understand “pleasure buildings” (cf. 1Ki 7:10, 1Ki 7:19). The chronicler gives the true meaning: “all that came into Solomon’s heart.” It is, however, somewhat doubtful what works are comprehended under this term. 2Ch 7:11 limits it to the two great erections already described”all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house.” But it is by no means certain that our author intended the word to be thus restricted; it is quite possible, e.g; that some of the buildings mentioned below (2Ch 7:15-19) are to be included. But another question of much greater importance presents itself here. In the Divine communication of 2Ch 7:3-9 there is constant and unmistakeable reference to the prayer of dedication (see especially 2Ch 7:3); in fact, this message is the answer to that prayer. It has been held, consequently, that the answer must have followed, if not immediately, yet soon after the petitions were uttered; if so, the dedication must clearly have taken place, not on the completion of the temple (1Ki 6:38), but on the completion of the palace, etc.; in other words, the temple must have been finished fully thirteen years before it was consecrated and occupied. Rawlinson suggests that the delay was perhaps occasioned by the circumstance that the furniture of the temple was not till then ready; but 1Ki 6:38, Hebrews, seems to state distinctly that all the vessels and appointments of the sanctuary were finished at the date there given. Reasons have been given elsewhere (see note on 1Ki 8:1) in support of the position that the dedication possibly have been delayed for so long a period, especially after the strenuous efforts which had been made to hurry on the undertaking. Nor does the text, when carefully examined, really require this hypothesis; indeed, it suggests some reasons for thinking that a considerable period must have intervened between the prayer and the response. For the tone of this response is unmistakeably foreboding, if not minatory. Verses 6-9 contain a stern warning. But there was nothing, so far as we know, in the attitude of Solomon or of Israel at the time of the dedication to call for any such denunciation. At that time, as the prayer surely proves, Solomon’s heart was perfect with the Lord his God. But the response has unmistakeably the appearance of having been elicited by signs of defection. The wide difference, consequently, between the spirit of the prayer and the tone of the answer suggests that some time must have elapsed between them, and so far supports the view that the dedication was not delayed until the palace, etc; was completed. And it is also to be remembered that the prayer of dedication had not been without acknowledgment at the time. The excellent glory which filled and took possession of the house was itself a significant and sufficient response. No voice or vision could have said more plainly, “I have heard thy prayer, I have hallowed this house.” But when, some thirteen years laterabout the very time, that is, when he was at the height of his prosperity, and when, owing to the completion of his undertakings, we might fear lest his heart should be lifted up with pridewhen Solomon and his court began to decline in piety and to go after other gods, then this merciful message opportunely refers him to the prayer which he was in danger of forgetting, and warns him of the consequences of the apostasy to which he was tending.]
1Ki 9:2
That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time [see on 1Ki 6:11, and 1Ki 11:9; Solomon had received a message during the building of the temple], as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon [i.e; in a dream (1Ki 3:5) ].
1Ki 9:3
And the Lord said unto him [This message is given at greater length in 2Ch 7:12-22. 2Ch 7:13, 2Ch 7:14, e.g; contain a reference to that part of the prayer which related to drought and rain], I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication [These two words are found similarly united in Solomon’s prayer, verses 38, 45, 54], that thou hast made [Heb. supplicated] before me; I have hallowed this house which thou hast built [sc. by the manifestation described 1Ki 8:11. Cf. Exo 29:43 : “the tabernacle shall be sanctified” (same word) “by my glory.” In 2 Chronicles we read, “I have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice,” where, however, it is worth considering whether instead of the somewhat singular the original text may not have been , as in 1Ki 8:13] to put my name there [1Ki 8:29; cf. 1Ki 8:16, 1Ki 8:17, 1Ki 8:18, 1Ki 8:19; also Deu 12:11; Luk 11:12] forever [1Ki 8:13. As Solomon offered it, so God accepted it, in perpetuity. That the house was subsequently “left desolate” and destroyed (2Ki 25:9) was because of the national apostasy (1Ki 8:8, 1Ki 8:9) ], and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. [In 1Ki 8:29 Solomon asked that God’s “eyes may be open towards the house.” The answer is that not only His eyes shall be open, but eyes and heart shall be there [Eph 3:20; see Homiletics on 1Ki 3:5);the eye to watch, the heart to cherish it.]
1Ki 9:4
And [Heb. And thou, emphatic] if thou wilt walk before me as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart before me and in uprightness [cf. 1Ki 3:6, 1Ki 3:14; 1Ki 11:34. David was not perfect, as our author tells us elsewhere (1Ki 15:5; cf. 1Ki 1:6; 2Sa 24:10). His integrity consisted in his unvarying loyalty to the true God. Even when overcome by that fierce temptation (2Sa 11:1-27.) he never faltered in his allegiance to the truth. There was no coquetting with idolatrous practices; cf. Psa 18:20-24], to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments [the echo of David’s last words, 1Ki 2:3, 1Ki 2:4. It is probable, however, that the historian has only preserved the substance of the message. It is doubtful whether Solomon himself would remember the exact words]:
1Ki 9:5
Then I will establish [same word as in ch. 1Ki 2:4, where see note. Surely he would remember this word as it would recall his father’s charge to his mind] the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel forever [this is the answer to the prayer of 1Ki 8:26] as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. [2Sa 7:12, 2Sa 7:16; 1Ki 2:4; 1Ki 6:12; Psa 132:12. But the primary reference is to 1Ki 8:25; see Introduction, sect. III.]
1Ki 9:6
But if ye shall at all [rather altogether, or assuredly] turn from following me [The A.V. entirely misrepresents the force of the Hebraism, If to turn, ye shall turn, which must mean complete, not partial, apostasy. Cf. 2Ch 7:19, and 2Sa 7:14, 2Sa 7:15], ye or your children [as the promises of God are to us and our children (Act 2:39), so are His threatenings], and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I [LXX. ; Qui facit per allure, etc.] have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them [Exo 20:5; Deu 5:9; Deu 13:2]:
1Ki 9:7
Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them [Cf. Deu 4:26, Deu 4:27; and for the fulfilment see 2Ki 25:11, 2Ki 25:21;] and this house which I have hallowed for my name [Jer 7:14] will I cast out of my sight [same expression, 2Ki 24:20]; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people [the exact words of Deu 28:37. Similar words in Isa 14:4; Mic 6:16. Much the same punishment is denounced in Le 26:14-38, and Deu 4:45, 63]:
1Ki 9:8
And at this house, which is high [Heb; And this house shall be high, . Our translators were probably influenced by 2Ch 7:21, the text of which is which would seem to be an emendation, designed to clear up the difficulty rather than an accidental variation of the text. But here the literal rendering is probably the truer, the meaning being “this house shall be conspicuous, as an example”so the Vulg. domus haec erit in exemplum. The LXX. accords with the Hebrew text, , but the Syriac and Arabic read, “this house shall be destroyed.” Keil sees in the words an allusion implicite to Deu 26:19, and Deu 28:1, where God promises to make Israel , and says “the blessing will be turned into a curse.” The temple should indeed be “high,” should be what Israel would have been, but it shall be as a warning, etc.; but this connexion is somewhat far fetched and artificial. Thenius would read for, . “ruins,” after Mic 3:12; Jer 26:18; Psa 79:1; but it is hardly right to resort to conjectures, unsupported by a single version or MS; so long as any sufficient meaning can be extracted from the words as they stand, and no one can deny that “high” may surely signify “conspicuous.” Cf. Mat 11:23], every one that passeth by it shall be astonished. [ primarily means to be dumb with astonishment, Gesen; Thessalonians 3. p. 1435] and shall hiss [, like “hiss,” is an onomatopoetic word. It does not denote the hissing of terror (Bhr) but of derision; of. Jer 19:8; Jer 49:17; Job 27:23; Lam 2:15, Lam 2:16. Rawlinson aptly remarks, as bearing on the authorship of the Kings, that this is a familiar word in Jeremiah (see 1Ki 18:16; 25:9; 29:18; 50:13; 51:37, in addition to the passages cited above), and that the other prophets rarely use it. The fact that much of this charge is in Jeremiah’s style, confirms the view taken above (note on verse 4), that the ipsissima verba of the dream are not preserved to us. The author indeed could hardly do more than preserve its leading ideas, which he would naturally present in his own dress]; and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land and to this house? [Similar words Deu 29:24, Deu 29:25; Jer 22:8.]
1Ki 9:9
And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt [Based on Deu 29:25. Solomon in his prayer referred repeatedly to this great deliverance, Deu 29:16, Deu 29:21, 51, 53], and have taken hold upon other gods and have worshipped them and served them; therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.
HOMILETICS
1Ki 9:1-9
The Second Appearance to Solomon.
“Behold the goodness and severity of God” (Rom 11:22). To Solomon goodness, to Israel severity.
I. The GOODNESS OF GOD is manifested
1. In revealing Himself to Solomon. The greatest favour God can show us is to show us Himself; the greatest gift is to give us Himself.
“Give what Thou wilt, without Thee I am poor,
And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.”
“I will love him and will manifest myself unto him” (Joh 14:21). “I will come in to him and sup with him” (Rev 3:20). “We will make our abode with him” (Joh 14:23). There are no richer promises than these. Well may we exclaim, “O altitudo!“ (Rom 11:33.) “O why should heavenly God to men have such regard!”
Yes, the riches, honour, glory, etc; given to Solomon were of small account compared with the good thoughts and high aspirations bestowed upon him. Riches are such third-rate blessings that God bestows them indiscriminately on the evil and the good. But noble resolves and high purposes”courtliness and the desire of (true) fame, and love of truth, and all that makes a man”these He reserves for His children. Solomon’s riches and glory proved his ruin; the revelations he received were the true source of his greatness.
2. In warning Solomon. The very kindest thing a friend can do for us is to admonish us when we are going wrong. “Thou mayest be sure that he that will in private tell thee of thy faults is thy friend, for he adventureth thy dislike and doth hazard thy hatred” (Sir W. Raleigh). God showed this proof of love to Solomon. In the night watches, in the darkness and silence, away from the glamour and flattery of the court, the Divine voice was heard in his secret soul. And the plainness of the warning was a part of its mercifulness. The trumpet gave no uncertain sound (1Ki 9:5-8). God set before him that day “life and good, death and evil” (Deu 30:15). By one to whom such wisdom had been vouchsafed, warnings should have been unneeded. But they were neededand they were mercifully granted. The good Shepherd goes “o’er moor and fell, o’er crag and torrent” to bring back the straying sheep.
II. The SEVERITY OF GOD is exhibited –
1. In the punishment denounced against Israel. “Cut off;” “cast out of my sight;” “a proverb and a byword;” “shall be astonished and shall hiss”these are its terms. But observe:
(1) None of these things needed to have befallen them. God had no pleasure in the death or dispersion of His elect people. It was their own fault if they were cut off.
(2) These things were denounced inkindness to stay them in their sin and so to prevent their dispersion. These were the sanctions of that dispensation. “The law is not made for a righteous man, but,” etc. (1Ti 1:9).
(3) There was no disproportion or undue rigour in these penalties. What seems to us severity is really exact justice, or rather mercy, to the world. As Israel had been favoured above all peoples, so, in strict equity, should it be punished above all. “The glory, and the adoption, and the covenants,” etc. (Rom 9:4), could not appertain to them without bringing with them “many stripes” for the disobedient. Those exalted to heaven shall be brought down to hell (Mat 11:28). It was necessary for our admonition that the chosen people should not afford the world the spectacle of a nation sinning unpunished (1Co 10:11).
2. In the punishment inflicted. For how literally have these words been fulfilled! What an evidence of the truth of God the history of Israel supplies! This, at any rate, is no vaticinium ex eventu. “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luk 4:21). “A proverb and a byword”eighteen centuries at least testify to the truth of these words. “Cast out of my sight;” let the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem (see Joshua, B.J. 5. ch. 10-13, Jos 6:1-27. passim. “Never” he says, “did any other city suffer such miseries”) explain to us these words. And there is not a country of Europe, there is hardly a city, in which the history of the Jew is not traced in blood, written within and without in” mourning and lamentation and woe.” Claudius expelled them from Borne (Act 18:2); our Edward I. drove them out of Guienne and England. “Ivanhoe” gives some idea of their treatment in this country; but a romance could not record a tithe of the horrors of which Clifford’s Tower in York or the Jews’ house in Lincoln could tell. And yet it is allowed that they have always been treated more tenderly in England than in the rest of Europe. But even here, and down to the present day, the word “Jew” is too often a name of hate. In Servia, in Moldavia and Wallachia, they are still the objects of fierce, persecution and.not always unmerited obloquy. Even the “Anti-Semitic League, now being organized in Germany, is a part of the “severity” of God, a proof of the “sure word of prophecy.” In Jerusalem, again, the metropolis of their race, they are accounted the filth and offscouring of all things. At the Greek Easter the refrain is often heard in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, “O Jews, O Jews, your feast is a feast of apes.” What a commentary, too, is the Jews’ “place of wailing” on this scripture I The “holy and beautiful house” a desolation, the temple precincts trodden under foot of the Gentiles I Conqueror after conqueror, pilgrim after pilgrim, has asked the question, “Wherefore hath the Lord done thus?” etc; while the “ever extending miles of gravestones and the ever lengthening pavement of tombs and sepulchres” answer, “Because they have forsaken the Lord their God,” etc. (1Ki 9:9; Jer 22:8, Jer 22:9).
“Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast,
When will ye fly away and be at rest?
The wild dove hath its nest, the fox its cave,
Mankind their countryIsrael but the grave.”
Application. Rom 2:21. In the history of the Israelitish nation we may see the principle of God’s dealing with individual souls But we may also read in it a warning for the Christian Church (Rev 2:5).
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE
1Ki 9:1-9
The Reviewed Covenant.
This Divine manifestation was probably similar in form to that with which Solomon was favoured at the beginning of his reign, of which it is said, “In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night “(1Ki 3:1-28 :50). We have no means of judging as to the precise time of this occurrence; but the close connection of thought between what God here says to Solomon and the prayer at the dedication (seen most clearly in 2Ch 7:14, 2Ch 7:15) leads us to suppose that it took place immediately after that event. It illustrates:
I. THE FIDELITY OF GOD AND THE BLESSED RESULTS THAT ATTEND IT. God’s faithfulness is seen
(1) in the answering of the prayer“I have heard thy prayer,” etc. The vision was itself an instant and very gracious Divine response. All true prayer is heard. No pure breath of supplication, the incense of the heart, ever ascends to Heaven in yam. God does not disappoint the hopes and longings He has Himself awakened. As the vapours that rise from land and sea sooner or later return again, distilling in the silent dew, descending in fruitful showers upon the earthnot one fluid particle is lostso every cry of filial faith that goes up to the great Father of all comes back in due time in some form of heavenly benediction. And more, the answer is often far larger and richer than our expectations. He “doeth exceeding abundantly,” etc. (Eph 3:20). Solomon had prayed “That thine eyes may be open towards this house.” God answers, “Mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.” The very heart of God dwells where His suppliant people are. This anthropopathic mode of speech is a gracious Divine accommodation to our human wants and weaknesses. God condescends to us that we may the better rise to Him. It is the necessarily imperfect yet most welcome expression of a sublime reality that we could not otherwise know. God has a tender “heart” towards us as well as an observant “eye.” And wherever we seek Him with all our hearts there His heart responds to the throbbing of oursa sympathetic personal Presence, meeting our approach, pitying our necessities, giving love for love. Note, too, the constancy of this grace”forever.” “perpetually.” “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Wherever He records His name there He “dwells.” When He blesses, when He gives or forgives, it is “forever.” If the grace is cancelled, if the benediction is withdrawn, the fault is ours, not His. “Though we believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2Ti 2:18).
(2) In the repetition of the promise, “If thou wilt walk before me,” etc. (1Ki 9:4, 1Ki 9:5). The promise is reiterated as a sacred and inviolable engagement which God on His part will never break. “The sure mercies of David.” All Divine promises are sure. We have but to place ourselves in the line of their fulfilment and all is well with us. They are steadfast as the ordinances of heaven and earth. Natural laws are God’s promises in the material realm. Obedience to them is the sure path to physical well being. Are His counsels in the moral and spiritual sphere likely to be less steadfast and reliable? Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the promises of His grace can never fail. “They stand fast forever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness” (Psa 111:8).
II. THE INFIDELITY OF MAN AND THE FATAL CONSEQUENCES THAT FOLLOW IT. “But if ye shall at all turn from following me,” etc. Here is a solemn note of warning, the presage of that guilty apostasy by which the Jewish people became in after years the most signal example to men and nations of the waywardness of human nature and the retributive justice of God. We are reminded that the faithfulness of God has a dark as well as a bright side to it. As the cloud that guided the march of the Israelites out of Egypt was light to them, but a source of blinding confusion and miserable discomfiture to their adversaries, so this and every other attribute of God bears a different aspect towards us according to the relation in which we stand to it, the side on which we place ourselves. Be true to Him, and every perfection of His being is a joy to you, a guide, a glory, a defence; forsake Him, and they become at once ministers of vengeance. Even His love, in its infinite rectitude and purity, dooms you to the penalty from which there can be no escape. Whether in the physical or the spiritual realms, one feature of the very beneficence of God’s laws is that they must avenge themselves. Learn here
(1) that all human loss and misery spring from forsaking God. “If ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children,” then shall all these woes come upon you. All sin is a departure from the living God. “My people have committed two evils, they have forsaken me,” etc. (Jer 2:13). Adam cast off his allegiance to God when He listened to the voice of the tempter. Idolatry in its deepest root has this meaning (see Rom 1:21-28). Every sinful life is a more or less intentional and deliberate renunciation of God, and its natural results are shame, and degradation, and death. The course of the prodigal in Christ’s parable is a picture of the hopeless destitution of every soul that forsakes its home in God. “They that are far from thee shall perish” (Psa 73:27).
(2) That according to the height of privilege so is the depth of the condemnation when that privilege is abused. The very height of the “hallowed house” shall make the ruin the more conspicuous and the more terrible. There is no heavier judgment that God pronounces upon men than when He says, “I will curse thy blessings.” The best things are capable of the worst abuse. And when the highest sanctities of life are violated they become the worst grounds of reproach and sources of bitterness. The greater the elevation, the deeper and more dreadful the fall. “Thou Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven,” etc. (Luk 10:15).
(3) That one inevitable penalty of transgression is contempt and scorn. “Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people.” “He that passeth by shall be astonished and shall hiss.” “When the salt has lost its savour it is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men” (Mat 5:13). The wicked may be in honour now, but the time is coming when they “shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt.”W.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
F.Various matters connected with the accounts of Solomons architectural works
(1Ki 9:1-28.)
1And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord [Jehovah], and the kings house, and all Solomons desire which he was pleased to do, 2that the Lord [Jehovah] appeared to Solomon the second timeras he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. 3And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto him, I have heard, thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me:1 I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there forever;and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. 4And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutesand my judgments; 5then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel forever, as I promised [spake] to2 David thy father, saying, There shall not fail6thee a man upon the throne of Israel. But if ye shall at all [altogether3] turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statues which I4 have set before you, but go and serve other gods, andworship them; 7then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my8sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: and at5 this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, andto this house? 9And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord [Jehovah] their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the Lord [Jehovah] brought upon them all this evil.6
10And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the11two houses, the house of the Lord [Jehovah], and the kings house, (Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar-trees and fir-trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twentycities in the land of Galilee. 12And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the citieswhich Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not. 13And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them theland of Cabul7 unto this day. 14And Hiram sent to the king six-score talents of gold.
158And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the Lord [Jehovah], and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of16Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites17that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomonswife. And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether, 18and Baalath, andTadmor9 in the wilderness, in the land, 19and all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and10 that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his20dominion. And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel, 21their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bond-serviceunto this day.11 22But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and23rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen. These were the chief of the officers that were over Solomons work, five hundred and fifty, which bare rule over the people that wrought in the work.
24But Pharaohs daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo.
25And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings upon the altar which he built unto the Lord [Jehovah], and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the Lord [Jehovah]. So he finished the house.
26And king Solomon made a navy of ships12 in Ezion-geber, which is besideEloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom. 27And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servantsof Solomon. 28And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four13 hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
Exegetical and Critical
1Ki 9:1-2. And it came to pass when Solomon had finished, &c. Cf. 2Ch 7:11-22. Solomon built, besides the temple and the palace, a number of other buildings, of which mention is made in 1Ki 9:15; 1Ki 9:19. Chron. says: all that he desired to build, for All which he was pleased to do; cannot, therefore, mean, as Thenius thinks, pleasure-buildings, as distinguished from necessary and useful ones, but rather from the words of 1Ki 9:19, in all the lands of his dominions, must signify public works which he had undertaken for the benefit of the latter, as for instance (according to Ewald), aqueducts, reservoirs, &c. It is very distinctly stated here, that the divine appearance of 1Ki 9:2 took place after the completion of the temple and palace, as well as several other buildings. But because the divine address. 1Ki 9:3 sq., refers to the prayer at the temple-dedication, some have concluded, as we have already mentioned in our remarks on 1Ki 8:1, that the appearance immediately followed the dedication; and that the latter, accordingly, occurred thirteen years after the completion of the temple. But there is no reason whatsoever for such a conclusion. The dedication had been performed in a spirit and manner that could have given no cause for such a sharp warning and severe threatening as are found in 1Ki 9:6-9; and yet this threatening seems to be the principal thing in the divine discourse. It is very possible that it was occasioned by circumstances of a later date. The meaning in this case would be: I have indeed heard thy prayer at the dedication of the temple, and will do that for which thou hast besought me; but take warning. If ye turn away from me I will destroy Israel, &c. In like manner Seb. Schmidt: quod Deus distulerit hanc apparitionem usque ad tempus, quo Salomonis peccatum appropinquabat, ut non diu antequam fieret eum serio moneret. If this view be rejected we must think, with Keil (in the Commentary of 1846), that the writer wished to say all that he had to remark concerning Solomons different buildings, in the same place in our chapter, and that he made the transition-formula, 1Ki 9:1, at the same time the heading of the following section, in which not only is the divine appearance mentioned, but an account also is given of Solomons undertakings after he had finished all the buildings.
1Ki 9:3-9. And the Lord said unto him, &c. We may conclude from the words: as at Gibeon, that it took place, as then, in a dream (1Ki 3:5). I have hallowed this house my, &c., i. e., I have appointed it by my glory (1Ki 8:10-11; Exo 29:43 : ) to be the place where I reveal my holiness (cf. Histor. and Ethic. 2, on chap, 6.). The parallel passage in 2Ch 7:12, says: I have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice; which means that, as Jehovah was known and honored as the Holy One, through sacrifice, so sacrifice was also His appointed means of atonement and sanctification for the sacrificer. The house was essentially a place of sanctification. Our author evidently left out what the Chron. adds in 1Ki 9:13-14, because it is partly contained in 1Ki 9:3. For 1Ki 9:4-5 see on 1Ki 2:4; 1Ki 8:25. When David is here, as in 1Ki 3:14, held up to Solomon as a model in keeping Jehovahs commandments, it is not because David never broke a divine law, or never sinned, but because he kept inviolate the first and chief commandment upon which the existence of Israel depended (Exo 20:2-5); because in every situation in which he was placed, in prosperity and adversity; amongst his compatriots or in banishment among the heathen, he remained loyal to Jehovah, and never discovered the slightest leaning to idolatry. The threat, 1Ki 9:6-9, is the same as in Lev 26:14; Deu 8:19; Deu 28:15; Deu 28:37; Jos 23:16, and is therefore not one that was made for the first time after the captivity, as some have said. Thenius rightly remarks that the style and living force of the address are proofs that we have an ancient utterance before us here. , 1Ki 9:7, is a proverb which every one has in his mouth, a proverb of universal truth; every one will adduce Israel as a terrible example, and will mock them (Isa 14:4; Mic 2:4). Thenius and Bertheau, by reference to Mic 3:12; Jer 26:18; Psa 79:1, read instead of , in 1Ki 9:8, , i.e., ruins, and this certainly facilitates the translation of the word very much. But no MS. nor old translation reads it thus; and Chron. says expressly: this house which is high (2Ch 7:21); we must, therefore, adhere to the text-reading. It cannot, however, be translated: and this house, exalted as it may be, whosoever passes by the same, shall, &c. (De Wette, von Meyer, and others), but only as Keil has it: this house shall stand high, i.e. stand high in its destruction, a conspicuous example, a warning to all passers by. The Vulgate translates, moreover, directly: et domus hc erit in exemplum; but the Sept., more in the sense of the Chronicles: , . But we must supply what is understood, namely, that the house is destroyed. Keil thinks there is an allusion to Deu 24:19; Deu 28:1, in . 1Ki 9:8-9 mean that what was threatened in the law in Deu 29:23-26, shall be fulfilled, does not denote a scornful hissing, but, as the connection with requires, a hissing of terror. Cf. Jer 19:8; Jer 49:17.
1Ki 9:10. And it came to pass at the end of twenty years. In 1Ki 9:2-9 the author has given an account which concerns the temple, the most important of all Solomons buildings. From 1Ki 9:10 on, he gives further information respecting them; how Solomon was enabled to undertake his many and, in part, expensive buildings; that is to say, through his treaty with Hiram, 1Ki 9:11-14; and also by the levy which he raised, 1Ki 9:15-25; and finally by the voyage to Ophir, which brought him gold, 1Ki 9:26-28 (Keil).The seven years of the temple-building (1Ki 6:38), and the thirteen years of the palace-building (1Ki 7:1), are included in the twenty years of 1Ki 9:10. There is no historical connection between the section 1Ki 9:10-14, and that in 1Ki 9:1-9. The heading in 1Ki 9:1 is therefore repeated on account of the following collective remarks on the different buildings.
1Ki 9:11-14. Now Hiram the king of Tyre, &c. The section in 1Ki 9:11-14 is easily seen to be an excerpt, which has gaps not to be filled with perfect certainty. According to 1Ki 5:1-6, Solomon had made a compact with Hiram, by the terms of which he was to indemnify him by the delivery of certain natural productions; no allusion is made here to any further recompense in the way of territory, nor to any payment of gold which Solomon had obtained from Hiram. It is plain, therefore, that the twenty cities were an equivalent for the 120 talents of gold mentioned in 1Ki 9:14. Probably Hiram had at first agreed to the proposition; but upon a closer inspection he was not pleased with these towns, though he had to abide by his agreement. This is the only explanation of the fact that no answer from Solomon to the question in 1Ki 9:13 is recorded. As we may conclude, from the account of their joint enterprise in 1Ki 9:26 sq., that the friendly relations of the two kings continued, it is probable that Solomon satisfied him in some other way.
The land is not the later province of Galilee in its whole extent, but only the northern part of it, originally belonging to Naphthali; it was called , district or country of the heathen (Isaiah 8:23; 1Ma 5:15). Solomon fixed upon it as an equivalent because it bordered on the territory of Tyre, and, as its name shows, was not so much inhabited by Israelites as by heathens (cf. 2Sa 24:7).The is not, as in 1Ki 20:32, an expression of intimacy, but is a princes title (1Ma 10:18; 1Ma 11:30). The designation , which Hiram gave the land of the twenty cities, is also given to a place or district in the tribe of Asher (Jos 19:17), and is derived from , vincire, to chain, to close; thus describing the district as closed (but not pawned, as some allege), by virtue of its geographical position. This is much more natural than the explanation, according to which is from , i.e, sicut id, quod evanuit tanquam nihil (Maurer, Gesenius), or formed by and = (Thenius), and meaning As nothing. How could Hiram give the district a permanent name, which contained rather a mockery of himself than of the land? The assertion of Josephus (Antiq. 8, 5, 3), that means in Phnician, is utterly without foundation. We have no need to seek the reason of the name in Hirams exclamation: What cities are these, &c.; the second sentence of 1Ki 9:13 is quite independent of the first. In order to reconcile the conflicting assertion in 2Ch 8:2 (that Hiram gave cities to Solomon, who peopled them with Israelites), with the passage under consideration, it is generally supposed that Solomon had, in the first place, given up twenty cities to Hiram, but as they did not please Hiram, took them back again (Keil). But cannot, in itself, mean to give back, and our passage also, which is the fullest, would in this case be quite silent about what it intends to state, namely, that Hiram had received an equivalent. Our passage cannot, at any rate, be disproved by the short, abrupt assertion of Chron. The question may be asked, too, if these cities were the same as in Kings. Perhaps later tradition, which Chron. follows, changed the circumstances so, because people could not believe that Solomon should have given up Israelitish land to Tyre, contrary to the law, Lev 25:23 (cf. Bertheau on 2Ch 8:1).
1Ki 9:15-19. And this is the reason of the levy, which, &c. It was chiefly through Hirams aid that Solomon was enabled to undertake his buildings, but it was also a great assistance to him that he could use the Canaanites that were left in the land to perform this tribute labor. It seems from Jdg 9:6 and 2Ki 12:21, that does not mean merely a wall of earth (filling up), but a building () or a collection of buildings that serve to fortify a place, i.e., fortifications, rampart, citadel. David had made such for Zion (2Sa 5:9), and Solomon renewed it, cf. 1Ki 11:27; 2Ch 32:5. It can only have been where Zion rises highest, and consequently most needs fortification (Thenius). The walls of Jerusalem do not here mean the walls of Zion, the upper city, but those of the lower city (see on 1Ki 3:1), so that the temple mountain was included. Hazoc, a town in the tribe of Naphthali, formerly a Canaanitish royal city, was not far from the northern frontier of Palestine, and was therefore built, i.e., fortified by Solomon, Jos 19:36; 2Ki 15:29. Megiddo (cf. on 1Ki 4:12) lay in an important military position, for it formed an entrance to the plain of Jezreel and the Jordan (meadows) valley, thus being the way from the sea-coast to central and north Palestine. Gezer, also once a Canaanitish royal city, between Beth-horon and the Mediterranean sea; it lay in the southerly portion of the tribe of Ephraim (Jos 16:3). What Hazor was to the north and Megiddo to the central part of Palestine, Gezer and the lower Beth-horon were to the south; an army could much more easily penetrate to the capital from those places, than from the mountains of Judah (cf. Thenius on the place). 1Ki 9:16 is a parenthesis, and tells how Gezer came into Solomons possession. Probably, it was the capital of a district that extended to the coast, into which Pharaoh entered from the sea. The great importance of the situation of this place made its possession very valuable to Solomon. Whether the town was built again immediately after it was destroyed, or not until Solomons time, is uncertain; at any rate, he fortified it. Baalath is a town in the tribe of Dan (Jos 19:44), according to Josephus (Antiq.viii. 6, 1), not far from Beth-horon and Gezer; it has been wrongly asserted to be identical with Baal-gad at Hermon (Jos 11:17), because the directly following is = to according to 2Ch 8:4, and the later denotes the large and rich city of Palmyra, situated between Damascus and the Euphrates (Keil). But the connection of with Baalath, Gezer, and Beth-horon indisputably denotes a southern city, especially as the more northern fortresses, Hazor and Megiddo, were named before. is also named as a southern place in Eze 47:19; Eze 48:28. The addition in the wilderness, in the land, can only mean, in the wilderness that lay in Palestine, which is the wilderness of Judah; it is therefore unwarrantable to add , i.e., Syria, after as some have done. Thus Thamar was the most southern fortress, and commanded the passes which led to the most frequented routes from Edom to Jerusalem (Thenius). A fortified city was very necessary and important in this very place, and it is inexplicable that Solomon should have left the south without any fortress, and yet have fortified the distant city of Palmyra, beyond the confines of Palestine. As in all doubtful cases, so here the statement of the books of the Kings merits the preference over that of the Chron., which has given occasion to the kri. Besides, occurs nowhere else, and it is much more probable that has been changed into the famous than the reverse. The account of the fortresses that protected the land is followed (1Ki 9:19) by an account of the buildings required for storage of victuals and materials of war. The cities of store were not dpts of merchandise (Ewald), but magazines of produce of the soil reserved for times of need (2Ch 17:12; 2Ch 32:28). For the cities for chariots and horsemen see 1Ki 10:26.
1Ki 9:20-23. And all the people that were left, &c. 1Ki 9:20 refers back to 1Ki 9:15, and after it has been stated for what purpose Solomon, raised the levy, it now informs us whom it included. Upon , i.e., slave-service, see 1Ki 5:13. , 1Ki 9:22, means chiefly, officials of the war-department; chief officers of the army; and royal adjutants and life-guardsmen. Gesenius, De Wette, and others translate the latter: chariot warriors, or chariot-driver, because there were always three of them standing in one chariot; this, however, does not admit of proof, and , as the Sept. usually renders it, does not mean chariot warriors. In every place where the word occurs in our books (2Ki 7:2; 2Ki 17:19; 2Ki 15:25; 2Ki 9:25) it denotes the royal staff; in 2Ki 10:25, the and are the kings body-guard; and in 2Sa 23:8 (1Ch 10:11) still less is there reference to chariot warriors. The old glossaries explain , . The reason of the name cannot be given with certitude. For the 550 superintendents of the work see above on 1Ki 5:16.
1Ki 9:24. But Pharaohs daughter came up. The two facts recorded in 1Ki 9:24-25 are by no means irrelevant and disconnected, as they appear; but plainly refer back to 1Ki 3:1-4. They mean that the wants which were felt in the beginning of Solomons reign ceased with the completion of all the buildings (1Ki 9:1; 1Ki 9:10); the kings consort took possession of the part of the royal palace that was for her use; and Solomon no longer sacrificed on the heights, but always in the temple he had built., 1Ki 9:24, is here the same as in Gen 27:30; Jdg 7:19. It does not follow, because Solomon built Millo immediately after his consort repaired to her dwelling, that the former was to be a protection to the harem (Thenius), for there is no proof that the house of Pharaohs daughter was the harem, and Millo was evidently intended to protect the upper city.
1Ki 9:25. And three times in a year did Solomon offer, that is, on the three chief festivals, when the whole people assembled at the sanctuary (Exo 23:17; Exo 34:23). These were not ordinary sacrifices, but were especially solemn official ones, which the king, as head of the theocracy, offered. The words have been very differently understood. Stier translates like 5. Meyer, and he burnt of it what was fitting, which is wrong, because that was before Jehovah never means, what was fitting. Maurers interpretation is very far-fetched: et adolebat apud eum (sc. Jova) id, quod coram Jova erat (sc. suffimentum). Ewald renders it: he burnt incense alone there, where one stands before Jahve, i.e., in the holy place. But what does burning incense alone mean? Thenius asserts to be a false insertion, and translates: he brought with him (i.e., himself) offerings of incense before the Lord (i. e., upon the altar of incense in the sanctuary). is supposed to mean: he, without the mediation of another, so that we have here an evidence that Solomon, at least, exercised in person the functions of the high-priest. But we cannot so easily throw out of the text; and never means: he himself in his own person; so that the supposed evidence falls to the ground. Finally, Keil translates, because is not prter. but infinabsol.: and, indeed, setting fire to (the sacrifice) at the (altar), which was before the Lord; but always means to burn incense when it stands as here, without an object; besides, the sentence evidently means more than the immediately preceding one, which speaks of burnt-offerings, in the case of which burning is of course implied. It is certainly true that here, as well as immediately after in 1Ki 9:26, and so often elsewhere, means with, by, and the suffix must be referred to the preceding ; but it is incorrect to make the clause which was before Jehovah, mean the altar of incense which was so described in Lev 16:12; Lev 16:18, and thus to conclude that Solomon burnt incense in the sanctuary. As 2Ch 26:16 shows, the priests alone might do this, even in later times; the kings were strictly prohibited. If an exception had been made in the case of Solomon, it could not have been noticed only casually and vaguely. That clause by no means exclusively indicates the altar of incense, but, as 1Ki 8:64 shows, the brazen altar, too, and this it is which is meant here. According to Num 15:1-12 a meat-offering was offered with every burnt and peace offering; and for the former incense was essential, according to Lev 2:1-2, which was wholly burnt (1Ki 9:16). Incense, therefore, was not only offered on the altar of incense in the sanctuary, but also on the altar of burnt-offering, and in Psa 141:2 is synonymous with . This passage, then, says nothing remarkable respecting Solomon, but only that he presented his meat-offering three times a year, as well as his burnt and peace offering. The parallel passage of Chron. therefore does not mention the latter expressly, and only says: Then Solomon offered burnt-offerings unto the Lord on the altar of the Lord, which he had built before the porch three times in the year (2Ch 8:12-13). The concluding sentence does not mean: thus the house was finished (Luther), for this was not done by sacrifice and incense, neither does mean finished, but, to make perfect, whole. The house Solomon had built only became all it was designed to be, i.e., , a house of sacrifice (2Ch 7:12), a central sanctuary, in that he presented now all the offerings on the festivals which were appointed to be celebrated by the whole people (Lev 23:14; Deu 26:16); cf. 2Ch 8:16. Bttcher: he brought the temple, as Gods house and place of prayer, to its full meaning.
1Ki 9:26-28. And king Solomon made a navy of ships. This is told here because Solomon received through these ships the large amount of gold which he required, partly for his splendid buildings, and partly to carry on his expensive works. Ezion-geber, a sea-port of Edom, situated on the Elanitic arm of the Arabian gulf, Num 33:35; Deu 2:8. Elath is the modern Akabah on the eastern bay of the same gulf, and was incorporated with the Israelitish kingdom by David, 2Sa 8:14. Both cities were of the highest importance in a commercial view (cf. Winer, R.-W.-B. I., s. 313, 361). The Phnician sailors were accounted the most skilful, and were known even in distant lands (Winer II., s. 406).
Upon the fleet which sailed from Ezion-geber Chron. gives (1Ki 8:18): and Hiram sent him by the hands of his servants, ships; and as there was no way of conveyance by land, nor means of shipping from Africa, this must only mean (as Keil remarks) that Hiram gave the ships for this voyage (to Ophir), i.e., he ordered his people at Ezion-geber to build them, and sent all the requisite material not forthcoming at that place. For the situation of Ophir see on 1Ki 10:22. Instead of 420 talents of gold, Chron. gives 450; this is, no doubt, only a change of the ciphers (20) and (50).
Historical and Ethical
1. This section now before us closes the account of Solomons buildings, which account embraces the largest portion of the history of this reign. Never would the narrative have dwelt so long upon them, had all these building-undertakings stood outside of all relation to the theocratic kingdom. None of all the kings of Israel built so much as Solomon, who is described for that reason, in the history of Israel, as the king of peace, the peace-prince. His buildings were no pleasure and luxury structures, but were designed to further the greatness, power, and splendor of the kingdom, while at the same time they gave evidence thereof. First he built the house of Jehovah, which formed the heart and centre of the whole theocracy; then the palace, i.e., the house, which was to shed glory on the second power in Israel, the kingdom which was then reaching its highest summit (Ewald); then he fortified the house by Millo, and surrounded Jerusalem, the capital, with walls; furthermore he made fortresses and store-cities throughout the whole country, in north, middle, and south Palestine; and, finally, he himself began ship-building, so as to bring his kingdom into communication with rich and distant countries. All this, however, he conducted so as to cause no injury to his own kingdom, but rather so as to bring it to a height of prosperity that it never before or afterwards attained. The time of the and with that of the building in its widest sense, came on ; his building enterprises were the natural result of the stage of development at which the kingdom was; he built to build up the kingdom, thus fulfilling his mission in the history of the theocracy.
2. The appearance with which Solomon was favored after the completion of his many grand edifices, as the text clearly and positively says (see Exegetical upon 1Ki 9:1 sq.), is expressly placed in relation to and contrasted with that which he had in the beginning of his reign, at Gibeon (1Ki 3:5). The Lord had given him not only what he had asked for, but also riches, dignity, and fame. He had succeeded in all that he had undertaken; not only did he himself stand at the summit of fortune, but his people had never before reached such a great and prosperous state, being blessed with peace and quiet without, and with prosperity and comfort within (1Ki 4:20; 1Ki 5:4 sq.; 1Ki 8:66). Then came the second appearing, which contained with the remembrance of the prayer answered at the dedication of the temple, and the promise of blessing in the future, a threatening and warning very wholesome, and even necessary now for Solomon himself, who, though hitherto loyal and faithful to the Lord, was open to the temptation to fall away, as the after-history shows, and whose heart the searcher of hearts knew better than he did himself (cf. 1Ki 8:39). But it was also needed (the discourse ceases to concern Solomon alone after 1Ki 9:6) by that everrestless, fickle people which in the enjoyment of the greatest happiness were in danger of forgetting their Lord and God, and of relapsing into the idolatrous worship which was more agreeable to the flesh. Hence it appears, too, that the words in 1Ki 9:6-9 are the chief part of the divine discourse, and not an addition invented by the author of these books, after the destruction of the temple, as Ewald and Eisenlohr assert.
3. The divine threatening was literally fulfilled. No people in the world ever became such a proverb. Singular as it stands in the world-history in its election, it is equally so in its rejection and ruin. It has remained, to the present day, the living witness of the saving love and grace of God on the one hand, and, on the other, of holiness, truth, and retributive justice. By its story it preaches to all nations the eternal truth which the prophet Azariah proclaimed to king Asa: If ye forsake him, He will forsake you (2Ch 15:2). When, in consequence of their complete departure from God, the temple built by Solomon was destroyed, Israel ceased to be an independent kingdom, and the people were banished; and when, after the second temple was built, they rejected Davids great Son, their promised, true, and eternal king, in Whom all nations of the earth were to be blessed, this temple was destroyed never to be rebuilt, and the people were scattered through all the world, ceasing forever to be an independent kingdom and nation, everywhere despised, reviled, and persecuted.
4. The various building-enterprises of Solomon, as well as the arrangements more or less connected with them, were practical evidence that the Lord had given him in unusual measure the wisdom for ruling and skill in affairs which he had implored in the beginning of his reign (1Ki 3:7-9). He knew how to procure the material, in part costly, which was requisite for his buildings, as well also the requisite architects and builders, by a compact (favorable to himself) with his Tyrian neighbor; and repaid him for the quantity of gold he supplied him with without heaping oppressive debts on his people, but by surrendering a district of little value near the Tyrian frontier, and almost altogether inhabited by strangers to Israel. He made use of the descendants of the subjugated Canaanites who were left in the land, to execute those public works which were designed to protect the country and further its material prosperity; thus sparing his own people, who, like every other free people, had no slavish work, but performed only military service. He built a separate palace for his consort, Pharaohs daughter, and by this means secured the favor of his powerful neighbors, the Egyptians. That the temple he had built might become and remain the central place of worship, and thus a bond of unity and communion for the entire people, he himself, as head and representative of the theocracy, offered solemn sacrifices on the three great yearly festivals, when all the tribes met. In order not only to meet the expenses of his many and costly buildings, but also to teach commerce to his people, who had hitherto almost entirely lived by agriculture, he managed to engage the sea-faring and skilled Phnicians to build a common fleet, which opened the way to other seas and lands for them, and was the source of great riches to his own kingdom.
Homiletical and Practical
1Ki 9:1-9. The second appearance of Jehovah to Solomon: (a) the point of time at which it occurred, 1Ki 9:1-2 (see Histor. and Ethic); (b) the object which it had, 1Ki 9:3-9 (Promise and warning).In the divine address to Solomon the goodness and the severity of God are shown (Rom 11:22): his goodness in the establishment of His promises (1Ki 9:3-5), his severity in the chastisement of backsliding (1Ki 9:6-9).
1Ki 9:3, Wrt. Summ.: A most powerful thing is a devout, humble, and believing prayer, for thereby man beseeches God to grant him his desire (Joh 16:23).To every house where the name of God is truly honored applies the divine saying: Mine eyes and my heart shall dwell there forever.
1Ki 9:6-9. Because men endure uninterrupted prosperity with much greater difficulty than they do crosses and afflictions, therefore, when they are at the summit of their wishes, and their hearts desire, it is most necessary that the grave importance of God and of eternity should be held up before them, so that they may not fall into security, and forget to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling; for what availeth it a man, &c. (Mat 16:26). He who thinketh he standeth, let him take heed lest he fall (1Co 10:12).The more abundantly God displays his mercy and love towards an individual or towards a nation, so much the more fearful will be the righteous sentence if the riches of His mercy are despised.In happy and prosperous days forget not that the Lord tells us: Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.How many men, how many families, how many nations blessed in every respect, have come to a fearful and shameful end! Askest thou: Wherefore is this? the only reply is: Because they have forsaken the Lord their God; for what a man sows that shall he also reap.Let him who will not recognize a divine justice turn to the twice-destroyed temple of Jerusalem, and to the world-scattered people who have become a by-word amongst all nations.
1Ki 9:10-14. The demeanor of Solomon and Hiram towards each other (a) Friends and neighbors should be of one mind, and mutually ready to help each other. (b) Let not him who has kindly aided thee with his substance be long awaiting the proofs of thy gratitude, and render to him more rather than less even if he need it not. (c) Regard not so much the gift which thou receivest as the disposition of the giver, remembering always: it is more blessed to give than to receive.From the heathen Hiram many Christians may learn, even where real cause for dissatisfaction and just claims exist, to state the disproportion between gifts and recompenses with friendly words, and in a kindly manner.Friends, who through long years have aided each other, must not be estranged, even when one thinks himself injured by the other, but must strive to come to a thorough understanding and agreement.
1Ki 9:15-23. The plans and arrangements of Solomon for the benefit and protection of the land (a) First he built the house of the Lord, forth from which would come all salvation for Israel; then he built the store-houses for times of need and famine, and as protection against the enemies of the kingdom. A wise prince cares alike for the religious and spiritual, and for the material and temporal well-being of his people, and in times of peace does his utmost to provide against every danger which may assail the land, either from without or within. For this a nation can never be grateful enough, and should uphold him with readiness and might, instead of murmuring and complaining, as is often the case, (b) Solomons plan was, in his undertakings to spare his nation all servile labor, as far as possible. Therefore, for all compulsory service he employed the conquered enemy, who, as such, were slaves. A wise prince will never impose burdensome taxes or heavy labor upon his people, and reigns much more willingly over freemen than over slaves; but a good and loyal people does not make freedom a pretext for villany, and ever follows the kings call for arms when the defence of Father-land is concerned. For Israel can no more say with truthThe Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer (Psa 18:3), if all the nation does not aid in its defences and fortifications.In the kingdom of the true and eternal prince of peace bondage will cease, and all men shall obtain the freedom of the children of God.
1Ki 9:25. Solomon sets a good example before all the people; he not only builds the temple, but also frequents it regularly. It is as much the duty of the highest as of the lowest to hear the word of God, to pray, and to celebrate the Sacrament.
1Ki 9:26 sq. A wise government seeks not only to preserve existing prosperity, but also to discover new sources thereof.Many there are who travel over land and sea to seek gold, and to become rich, and forget that the Lord hath said: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich (Rev 3:18). Expeditions into far countries must serve not only to obtain gold and treasure, but also to carry thither the treasure which neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal (Mat 6:19 sq.)Commerce may become a rich blessing for a nation, but a greedy thirst for gold often leads to extreme luxury and neglect of God, as is many times exemplified in the history of Israel.
Footnotes:
[1]1Ki 9:3.[The Sept. here insert, I have done to thee according to all thy prayer.
[2]1Ki 9:5.[Many MSS. replace the preposition by , and certainly, if the former is the true reading, it is used in the sense of the latter, as is frequently the case, cf. Gesenius, s. v. A. 4.
[3]1Ki 9:6.[The Heb. is here in the usual intensive form , which is preserved in all the versions, while the English expression implies the slightest dereliction instead of complete apostasy.
[4]1Ki 9:6.[The Sept. put Moses instead of the personal pronoun as the nominative.
[5]1Ki 9:8.[The words at and which are not in the Heb. The latter is given in the Heb. of 2Ch 7:21, and supplied here by the Chald. All the other versions give house in the nom. and omit the relative. The Syr., followed by the Arab., has this house shall be destroyed. Vulg. shall be for an example.
[6]1Ki 9:9. [According to the Sept. the time of this vision is determined as after the completion of the palace by the addition to this verse, Then Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David into his house which he had built for himself in these days.
[7]1Ki 9:13.[The Sept. say he called them coast, boundary, omitting the name Cabul altogether. They doubtless read = border for .
[8]1Ki 9:15.[1Ki 9:15-25 are transposed by the Vat. Sept. from their place here and inserted after 1Ki 10:22.
[9]1Ki 9:18.The kthib is decidedly to be preferred to the kri . [In connection with this and with the authors remarks on this name in the Exeg. Com. the following facts are to be borne in mind: the reading of the kri is found in many MSS. instead of the present kthib and in our printed editions a space is left in the text for the missing while the vowel points are those of Tadmor. All the versions, except the Sept., give either Tadmor or its equivalent Palmyra; the Sept. gives according to the Alex. , which shows that the was before them, or according to the Vat. in 1Ki 10:22 . Keil, who adopts this rendering, explains the words in the land (which the author considers an insuperable difficulty) by the remark of Tremellius in regno Salomonis et intra fines a Deo designates, connecting the word with built in 1Ki 9:17. The expression in 2Ch 8:4, is simply Tadmor in the wilderness; but the previous verse has recorded his successful attack upon Hamath-zobah, and it is thus implied that Tadmor was in that region.
[10]1Ki 9:19.[Many MSS., followed by the Chald. and Vulg., insert all.
[11]1Ki 9:21.[Until all the buildings were finished.
[12]1Ki 9:26.[The Sept., Chald., and Arab., both here and in 1Ki 9:27, have ship in the singular.
[13]1Ki 9:28.[The Vat, (not Alex.) Sept. reads a hundred and twenty, while 2Ch 8:18 has four hundred and fifty.F. G.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This chapter relates the gracious circumstance of the Lord’s second appearance to Solomon. An interview takes place between Solomon and Hiram. Solomon’s yearly sacrifices are also mentioned in the close of this chapter.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
(1) And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do, (2) That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. (3) And the LORD 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; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. (4) And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: (5) Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel forever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. (6) But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: (7) Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: (8) And at this house, which is high, everyone that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? (9) And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil.
What can be equally precious to a believing soul, as the intercourse which is kept up at a mercy seat? It was not enough, in the Lord’s esteem, that he condescended to answer Solomon and his people, on the great day of the dedication, by consuming the sacrifices they offered with fire, which was always considered, in the old church, the highest token of divine approbation; (see 2Ch 7:1-3 . This was the second visit of the Lord. And what was the purport of the visit, explained on gospel principles? Is it not, that the eyes and the heart of Jehovah, are forever looking with complacency and delight upon him whom this temple of Solomon represented? Oh! delightful thought! in Jesus his church is perpetually and everlastingly beheld and accepted. How sweetly the prophet describes it; Behold the man whose name is the Branch: he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory. Zec 6:12-13 . Reader! observe very particularly, the sin of covenant breaking, to which the Lord refers; going and serving other gods. This is strikingly contrasted with the conduct of David, who, amidst all his transgressions, never fell into idolatry. The Lord foreseeing the events which were to follow in the afterlife of Solomon, and the Babylonish captivity, for the apostacy of Israel, here most clearly pointed out the sure consequence. But let the Reader also observe, how gracious the provision for Israel’s recovery, by the sovereignty of his own grace, when chastisements should have taken place, and by virtue of his covenant engagements. This is more fully and circumstantially set forth in Psa 89 ; to which I beg the Reader to turn: Psa 89:28-35 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Solomon’s Prayer Answered
1Ki 9
WE have just studied that most wonderful prayer of ancient history, and have been charmed first with its spiritual music; then with its great intellectual conception; then with its appreciation of human necessities, and altogether with its fine, genial, kingly sympathy with all classes and conditions of men. Placing ourselves at this point of history, and listening to the noble supplication which the king poured out to the majesty of heaven, we say instinctively, Never man prayed like this man: nothing has been omitted from the desire of his love; this man is not only king but subject, student, historian, philosopher, statesman, saint: the whole register of the human mind seems to be covered by this king whilst he is bending before high heaven, and talking to the sovereign and Father of the universe about profound subjects and immediate human necessities. Now the prayer is done. We have seen Solomon rise from his knees, and unclasp his hands, and stretch them forth and bless the people; and thus opening a new page in the history of Israel, and thus representing the dawn of a new era, in which surely there could have been no rebellion, no unkindness, no alienation, no war, no sin.
The prayer is done. It is doubled by the Amen of all the people who listened to it Now what has become of that prayer? Can such eloquence be lost? Will even the wind itself care nothing for it or will it keep it as music, and breathe it upon the coming days, to tell them what did happen in the brightest hours of the Israelitish history? Do such events go for nothing? Do such prayers perish in the air? Lay the emphasis upon the word such. Do not speak merely of prayers, because that sacred word may be so coldly spoken as to be deprived of all spirit, fire, impulse, and vital meaning; but such prayer so complete in its range, so exquisite in its expression, so sympathetic in its whole spirit. If that can be lost, it is useless to talk about immortality; for this prayer is the soul, and if it be can lost burst into air and nothingness then immortality is but a phrase, and the hope of it a wild man’s dream. It is in vain to talk about the immortality of the soul if what the soul does be wholly mortal: if its noblest thoughts, its finest poetry, its loftiest aspirations, its sweetest charities all go for nothing: what a mockery to the soul itself that it shall keep beating and throbbing on while all the beating and throbbing must end in nothingness! We argue the immortality of the soul from what may be termed the necessary immortality of all goodness, brightness, music, vital affection, and sacrificial sympathy.
What became of the prayer? Read the third verse: “And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me.” The man who offered such a prayer was not likely to turn immediately to the practice of lying. There are some things we cannot believe. Who could think, after having heard the great prayer, that no sooner had the Amen died from the quivering lip than that same lip gave hospitality to falsehood, began to tell lies, and to bear iniquitous testimony in the face and hearing of the people? We have, then, this point to deal with, and it is not a light point. If we deny the prayer, we must not make the suppliant himself a liar. He thinks he was answered: he says he was answered; he gives the words of the answer. It is injustice, therefore, to treat all this as so much verbiage, or to charge a perverted imagination upon the man who uttered this prayer. If the prayer had not been before us it would have been easier to charge Solomon with a species of fanatical spiritual extravagance: but unfortunately for the hostile critic the prayer itself is here, open to intellectual and literary inquiry, as well as to spiritual and religious inquest; and our contention is that the man who could utter such a prayer could not turn round from the altar and say he had received what had never been bestowed upon him. We have personal testimony, therefore, in the instance of Solomon to the truthfulness of the doctrine that prayer is answered. Nor does the personal testimony lie in the remote region of ancient history alone. It is the testimony of men today. They feel by the warmth of the soul that the sun has not been far away; they feel by the enlargement and sweetening of charity that they have touched at least the hem of the Saviour’s garment; they know by the dissolving of the cloud, the clearing-up of the perplexity, and the new gladness in the soul, that some communication has come from heaven. This is our testimony and we abide by it; we live in it. If we had not this testimony we could not pray again, for our life is too precious to ourselves to be wasted in an eternal process of doing nothing. The answer of one prayer is the inspiration of another. Christians should be more positive and definite with regard to this matter of prayer. They should bear their testimony less hesitantly; nay, they should bear it more gratefully, not with any audacity or boasting, but with simplicity, and with a sense of what is due to him who has communicated to the heart assurances and comforts which have made that heart strong.
Was the answer worthy of God? We reply: It was a great answer, and, therefore, was by so much worthy of him who “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Solomon had desired in this prayer (see chap. 1Ki 8:52 ) “that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant.” Solomon desired that God’s eyes might be upon the temple. What does God reply? He says, “Mine eyes shall be there perpetually.” But that is simply covering the line of the prayer, and not extending that line by one point Then look again; for we must have omitted somewhat in our quotation “Mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually” ( 1Ki 9:3 ). Solomon asked for observation: God promised the presence of His heart: his love should glow in the place; his heart should be rendered available to the uses of the people. A sanctuary without a heart! what is it but a gilded sepulchre? What men want in the sanctuary is God’s heart that great love-presence, that holy love-inspiration, that peculiar sympathy which touches human life at every point, and fills the house with a sense of impartiality as if all might equally enjoy according to individual capacity the love and light and help which come from heaven. When we are called upon, then, to bear testimony to answered prayer, we must not allow ourselves to be limited by these terms. If God merely answered prayer, then in some sort would our minds be equal to God’s mind; for we had measured exactly the capacity and precisely the blessing required for the occasion. God never under-answers his people: it is a denial full of love, or an answer which surprises the receiver by its redundance of blessing.
Does the answer end with the third verse? Was the transaction so easy a great prayer and a generous reply without detail? The answer proceeds much further: it was a conditional reply. Hear these modifying and guarding words: “And if thou wilt walk before me” ( 1Ki 9:4 ); “But if ye shall at all turn from following me” ( 1Ki 9:6 ). This is sad; yet it gives one deepening confidence in the answer itself. Even from the modifications of the reply we may argue the solidity and significance of the answer. The very cautions may be so interpreted as to leave no doubt about the reality. Thus it is great life comes; thus it is that liberty is limited, and becomes, as we have ever seen in these studies, only liberty to obey. God’s promises are hinged upon explicit conditions. Ye have not because ye ask not, or because ye ask amiss. And the lightnings cannot run so quickly as God’s thoughts run, and as God’s judgments find their way upon the earth amongst the children of men; if, between offering the prayer and receiving the answer, we have had one contrary thought, one unholy impulse, or have done one unworthy deed, the message may be spoiled even in the course of its transmission from heaven, and may come down upon us like a dagger, or like a blast of fire, scorching the men it was intended to bless. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Did the matter end even there? God would surely terminate his communication with a caution rather than with a judgment? No: “Then will I cut off Israel.” (1Ki 9:7 .) It is like cutting off his right hand; but he will do it! Read the awful words in an appropriate tone “Then will I cut off Israel,” a tone full of reluctance, pathos, heartbreak. He would rather shut up the constellations, and turn back the sun; but he will do it! He cannot afford to do otherwise. The universe without righteousness is a contradiction in terms. There must be law at the head of things and the heart of things. Our security is in this very spirit of judgment. We tremble before it, and wonder why God cannot mitigate the severity of his judgment, forgetting that the severity of God is as the rock which underlies the soil on which the flowers bloom. Nor does the matter end here. The temple itself shall go for nothing when Israel turns away from God. We have seen the great pile great, not in dimensions, but in costliness and value rising course by course; we have seen cedar wood overlaid with gold; we have seen the hinges of the doors to be of gold, and the lamp, and the bowl, and the spoons, and the snuffers to be all of gold: we have seen the temple on Mount Moriah, a high place, seen from afar. God will love the temple whatever the people may do? No: “And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss” ( 1Ki 9:8 ). The house is nothing if the child be wrong. Home is “sweet home” no more when the hearts that make it are perverted and full of bitterness. Write Ichabod upon the house, for God hath forsaken his temple when the people who inhabit it have turned away from his commandments and followed inventions and impulses of their own. Think of the temple being hissed at; men wagging their heads as they pass by it, and calling it by contemptuous names, saying, “Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil” ( 1Ki 9:9 ). So it shall be with our professions. The very greatness of our services shall be the measure of the contempt which is poured upon us in the day of our unfaithfulness. Evil spirits will laugh and say, “Ha, ha! hast thou become one of us? Thou wast son of the morning, favourite of the stars, brightest of the Pleiades, hast thou left thy place and fallen down into our society?” To be mocked by our own prayers, to be taunted by our own professions, to be reminded of the days when our orthodoxy was without a speck, and then to be compelled to contrast our present selves, apostate and lost, with our former selves, when we held the key of heaven’s door and could pray the day long and receive replies from God, say, is there any torture keener, any anguish more exquisite, any hell so hot?
We have before us, then, the solemn lesson that it is possible to spoil our prayers by our disobedience. Whilst this is a solemn lesson, it is also one that is full of solid spiritual comfort. The universe is watched at both ends. There is no neglected spot in all the sanctuary; there is no corner consecrated to evil; the light smites every angle and fills the whole impartially. We cannot live upon public prayer, or Israel never could have died after the prayer of Solomon. That prayer was in itself a history, and seemed to fill up all that was needful once for all in the whole life of the people. But every man must pray for himself. It is good and profitable to hear the public prayer, to enjoy all the stimulus and comfort of Christian sympathy, and to know the confidence and warmth of spiritual masonry; but when the public prayer is said, each man must utter his own prayer, in his own way, according to his own pain and need; and God will communicate an answer to every suppliant. The heart knoweth its own bitterness. We cannot tell in open words and audible sounds all we want to say to God. Blessed be his name, he has been so condescending as to say, through Jesus Christ his Son, “When thou prayest” poor bruised heart, poor needy soul, in-eloquent man, short of words, but feeling deeply “When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret” just in thine own way, brokenly, lispingly, feebly, self-correctingly, advancing so far into a sentence, and then withdrawing to amend it or abolish it or replace it; but in the secret closet have it out between yourselves you and God and stop there till you get the answer.
We cannot live upon a prayer that is, an individual and specific prayer; but we are to live in the spirit of prayer. There is all the difference in the world between these two conditions. A prayer that is, a single and particular prayer may be an utterance once for all. Occasional prayer is not prayer. Perhaps we have not sufficiently considered that solid and vital doctrine. We cannot say to ourselves, Now we will at this particular time pray; and then allow a long time to elapse and probably pray again. That is not prayer at all. To neglect God, to have no commerce with heaven, until the darkness is intolerable, and the pain can no longer be borne, and the sense of loss creates a void in the life without width or depth that can be measured, and then to cry mightily for the divine pity, is not prayer; it has no relation to prayer; it must not be imported into the discussion of the utility or answerableness of prayer; it is a blot upon the religious imagination, and it is an irony in the exercise of the religious conscience. What then are we to do? We are to pray “without ceasing,” that is, we are not only to pray, but to be prayers, to live our supplications, to breathe them always not audibly, but in an undertone, in a secret whisper; we are to touch nothing with hands that have not first been lifted up to heaven. Then say whether prayer will not be answered! We have quarrels or controversies about the answers, when we ought to have had severe and unsparing inquest into the prayers themselves. Why contend about the reply, when we are not sure about the thing to which the reply was given? When we are in doubt about the answers given to prayer, let us change the point of doubt and fix it in our own prayers themselves, and say with profitable frankness to our own souls, The prayer was bad; the prayer was selfish; the prayer was not offered in the right name, the prayer was not baptised with the sacrificial blood of the Son of God; the prayer was an effort in words, it was not the sacrifice of a humble, meek, lowly, contrite heart. Fix the attention of men on that point, and the whole atmosphere of the controversy will be changed; and instead of wrangling in words, we shall be bowed down in self-accusation and self-judgment, and say, “We have not, because we have asked amiss.”
Prayer
Almighty God, thou dost answer the prayer of the heart, and put to rest the soul that would know thee through Jesus Christ thy Son the sweet rest of conscious pardon, the glad rest of celestial hope, whereby we overcome all the tumult of the present excited time and already enjoy the calm of thine own heavens. Thou hast great blessings to give. All thy blessings are great. When our need is large and acute, then how wondrous is thy reply to the desire of the soul! Thou art able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think. When we have beheld somewhat of thy glory, we exclaim with wonder and thankfulness, The half had not been told us! We thank God the half never can be told, nor any part of it: so large is the whole that any part of it is as nothing. Behold, to this high estate hast thou called us, to this inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. We bless thee for thy riches, O Christ; they are unsearchable riches. Thine is the wealth of eternity, thine the precious treasure of heaven; and out of thine abundant fulness thou dost give grace for grace, grace upon grace; and thou dost challenge us, so that we may bring an offering unto thine house and prove thee, that thou mayest open the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing until there shall not be room to receive it. We rejoice that we come to a king with our prayers. They are answered by the very fact of thy listening: when thou dost incline thine ear, thou dost also extend thine hand. What men need thou knowest. All the wordless questions of the heart thou understandest. What we would say if we could, thou dost know. All our wonder and doubt, all our shame and fear, all our trust and hope, behold, are not all these before thee in the clear daylight? and surely when we come thus in the name of Jesus, Name above every name, thou wilt grant us answers that will make us glad, thou wilt give us communications which will make us solemn and thankful. Thou knowest what each most needs, and no man can interpret his brother’s sorrow in all its depth and tenderness: the heart knoweth its own bitterness. We beseech thee, therefore, to read what we cannot speak, to interpret the mystery for which there are no words we dare pronounce aloud; and thus give us secret communications from heaven, blessed messages from the healing skies, sweet gospels from the uplifting cross: then we shall be rich, and strong, and young, and glad, triumphing even whilst fighting, and standing in heaven, even whilst praying upon the earth. We would see Jesus; we would behold the Lamb of God; we would have our vision fixed upon him who is the Saviour of the world, and would be able by the anointing of the Holy Spirit to read the mystery of his pain, the secret of his blood-shedding, the marvel of his sacrifice. Whilst we look upon the Dying One, may the earth reel, and rocks rend, and may veils which separate men be torn down, and may all this great darkness prepare for heaven’s morning. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXIX
DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE
1Ki 8:1-10:29
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
1Ki 9:1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do,
Ver. 1. And all Solomon’s desire.] The word signifieth such a desire as a young man hath after his mistress, or a bridegroom toward his bride; which showeth that Solomon took too much content in his buildings and furniture, passed over his affections too much unto them, and here began his fall. Licitis perimus omnes. See Ecc 2:2-10 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1 Kings
PROMISES AND THREATENINGS
1Ki 9:1 – 1Ki 9:9
The successful end of a great work is often the beginning of a great reaction. When the tension is slackened, the whole nature of the worker is relaxed, and the temptation to slothful self-indulgence is strong. God knows our frame, and mercifully times His manifestations to the moments of special need. So, when Solomon had finished his great task, ‘the Lord appeared the second time, as He had appeared at Gibeon.’ There had been no manifest token of approval during all the years of building the Temple, for none was needed; but now there was danger that the finished work might be followed by languor and indifference, and therefore once more God spoke words of stimulus, both promises and warnings.
A solemn alternative is set before the king, both parts of which are fitted to rouse his energy and inspire him to faithful obedience. The same alternatives are presented to each of us. In 1Ki 9:3 – 1Ki 9:5 God promises blessed results from clinging to Him and keeping His statutes; in 1Ki 9:6 – 1Ki 9:9 He mercifully threatens the tragic issues of departure. In applying these to ourselves we must remember that outward prosperity was attached to a devout life more closely in Israel than it is now. But, though the form of the blessings dependent on doing God’s will alters, the reality remains unaltered.
I. The promises to Solomon are preceded by the assurance that his prayer had been heard. The answer corresponds very beautifully to the petitions. God has ‘put His name’ in the Temple, as the descent of the Glory to rest between the cherubim visibly showed, and thus has fulfilled Solomon’s petition; but the answer surpasses the prayer in that the presence of ‘the Name’ is promised ‘for ever.’ Similarly, in Psa 132:1 – Psa 132:18 , the answer to the petition ‘Arise into Thy rest’ transcends the petition which it answers, and adds the same promise of perpetuity, ‘This is My rest for ever .’ Again, Solomon had prayed, ‘that Thine eyes may be open towards this house,’ and God answers with the expanded promise that not His eyes only, but His heart shall be there perpetually. He is ‘able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,’ and He delights to surprise us with over-answers to our prayers. We cannot widen our desires so far but that His gifts will stretch beyond them on every side.
But the promise of perpetual dwelling in the Temple is conditional, as appears in the latter part of God’s answer, though no condition is stated at first. The promises to Solomon individually are all contingent. The all-important ‘if’ at the beginning of 1Ki 9:4 governs the whole. The divine eulogium on David, which introduces these promises, suggests how mercifully God regards the imperfect lives of His servants. That merciful interpretation of conduct is removed by a whole universe from palliation of sin. It affords no ground for our thinking little of our inconsistencies. David’s crime was sternly rebuked and sorely punished, but still his life, in its main drift and outline, could be presented as a pattern, as being marked by integrity of heart and uprightness. The moon shines like a disc of silver, though its surface is pitted with extinct volcanoes.
We may note, too, the pregnant description in outline of the elements of a devout life, as here enjoined on Solomon. The first requisite is to walk before God; that is, to nourish a continual consciousness of His presence, and to regulate all actions and thoughts under the thrilling and purifying sense of being ‘ever in the great Taskmaster’s eye.’ Only we are not to think of Him as only a Taskmaster, but as a loving Friend and Helper. A child is happy in its little work or play when it knows that its father is looking on with sympathy. The sense of God’s eye being on us should ‘make a sunshine in a shady place,’ should lighten labour and sweeten care. It is at the root of practical obedience, as its place in this sequence shows; for there follow it, in 1Ki 9:4 , ‘integrity of heart and uprightness,’ on which again follow obedience to all God’s commandments.
First must come the clear recognition of God’s relation to us. That recognition will influence our relation to Him, bending hearts to love and wills to submit, and the whole inward being to cleave to Him. Thence, and only thence, will issue in the life the streams of practical obedience. It is vain to seek to produce righteous deeds unless our hearts are right, and it is as vain to labour at making our hearts right unless thoughts of what God is to us have purified them. Morality is rooted in religion. On the other hand, no knowledge of the truth about God is worth anything unless it touches the hidden man of the heart, and then passes outward to mould conduct. ‘Faith without works is dead.’ Correct theology and glowing emotions lack their consummation if they do not impel to holy and God-pleasing living.
The reward promised in 1Ki 9:5 is for Solomon alone. His throne is to be ‘established for ever.’ The duration intended by that expression is therefore not absolutely unlimited, but equivalent to ‘during thy lifetime.’ Solomon could only affect himself by his obedience. The continuance of the kingdom after him depended on his successors. His possession of the throne during his life was the beginning of the fulfilment of the promise to David referred to in 1Ki 9:5 , but it was only the beginning, and, like all God’s promises, it was contingent on obedience. We receive no outward kingdom if we are servants of God; but, in deepest truth, the righteous man is a king, ‘lord of himself, though not of lands.’ All creatures serve the soul that serves God, and all Christ’s brethren share in His royalty.
II. The second part of this divine utterance is addressed to the whole nation, as is marked by the ‘ye’ there compared with the ‘thou’ in 1Ki 9:4 , and it lays down for succeeding generations the conditions on which the new Temple, that stood glittering in the bright Eastern sunshine, should retain its pristine beauty. While the address to Solomon incited to obedience by painting its blessed consequences, that to the nation reaches the same end by the opposite path of darkly portraying the ruin that would be caused by departure from God. God draws by holding out a hand full of good things, and He no less lovingly drives by stretching out a hand armed with lightnings.
A plain declaration of the evils that dog disobedience is as loving as a bright vision of the good that attends on submission. The sternest threatenings of Scripture are spoken that they may never need to be executed. There is no more foolish misconception of Christianity than that which calls it harsh because it reveals that ‘the wages of sin is death.’ Note that the threatenings come second, not first. God’s heart is averse to smite. To lavish blessing is His delight, and judgment is ‘His work, His strange work,’ forced on Him by sin.
The special sin against which Israel was warned was that to which it was specially prone and tempted by its circumstances. When all the nations ‘worshipped stocks and stones,’ it was hard to ‘keep thy faith so pure’ as to have no share in the universal bewitchment. So the whole history of the people is one of lapses into idolatry and of chastisements leading to temporary amendment, until the long, sharp lesson of the Captivity eradicated the disposition to be as the nations around. No doubt, idolatry in its crudest forms is outgrown now in Western lands, but sense still craves material embodiment of the unseen, and still feels the pressure of the material and palpable. Hence the earthward direction of so many lives. Asthmatical patients often breathe more easily in the slums of a city than in pure mountain air, and sense-bound men find difficulty in respiration on the heights of a religion which minimises the appeal to sense.
The penalty attached to departure from God was the loss of the land. Israel kept it on a tenure like that of some of our English nobility, who hold their estates on condition of doing some service to the sovereign. Of course, that connection between serving God and national prosperity involved continual supernatural intervention, and cannot be applied entirely to national prosperity now; but it still remains true that moral and religious corruption saps the foundations of a people’s well-being, and, when carried far enough, destroys a people’s existence. The solemn threat of becoming ‘a proverb and a byword’ among all peoples is quoted, apparently from Deu 28:37 , and has been only too terribly fulfilled for weary centuries.
The promise in 1Ki 9:3 , that God’s eyes and heart should be perpetually on the Temple, has now the condition attached that Israel should cleave to the Lord. Otherwise it will be cast out of His sight, and be a mark for scorn and wonder. The vivid representation of a dialogue between passers-by is quoted from Deu 29:24 – Deu 29:26 , where it is spoken in reference to the nation. It carries the solemn thought that God’s name is made known among the heathen by the punishment of His unfaithful people, not less really, and sometimes more strikingly, than by the blessings bestowed on the obedient. If we will not magnify Him by joyous service, by rewarding which, with good He can magnify Himself, He will magnify Himself on us by retribution, the more severe as our blessings have been the greater. The lightning-scathed tree, standing white in the forest, witnesses to the power of the flash, as its leafy sisters in their green beauty proclaim the energy of the sunshine. Israel has, perhaps, been a more convincing witness for God, in its homeless centuries, than ever it was when at rest in the good land. ‘If God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
the Lord. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
First Kings chapter nine as we begin our study in the Word this evening.
At the beginning of Solomon’s reign, the Lord appeared unto him while he was in Gibeon, there offering sacrifices unto God. And the Lord basically said to Solomon, “Ask me whatever you want.”
So Solomon asked that the Lord would give him wisdom and understanding that he might govern over this glorious people of God. And God was pleased with the request that Solomon made. Because he didn’t ask for riches, or the life of his enemies, or for fame, the Lord said, “Because you have asked that you might just have wisdom and understanding, I’m going to give you what you have asked. But I’m going to give you even more than that. I’m going to give you honor and fame and riches and all in abundance.”
So as we get to the ninth chapter, we find the Lord appearing to Solomon the second time. Solomon has now completed the temple, which took him seven years to build and he has also completed his own palace, which took him thirteen years to build. So the twenty-year building project is over and the Lord now is appearing unto Solomon who has, of course, gained in fame and stature and notoriety through the world for his marvelous wisdom and the glories of the kingdom that he has established.
And so when he was finished the building,
The LORD came to him the second time, even as he appeared to him in Gibeon. And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, which you have made before me: and I have hallowed this house, which you have built, to put my name there for ever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually ( 1Ki 9:2-3 ).
Now the Lord is referring to the prayer of dedication of Solomon that we studied last week in the eighth chapter. After he finished the temple, he prayed this glorious prayer of dedication as he asked the Lord to keep His eye upon this house continually. And if the people would get into trouble, if there would be plagues in the land, if there would be a war, if they were taken captives, whatever, then as the people would pray and seek the Lord in this house, that the Lord would hear and answer and meet their needs.
And so the Lord answers Solomon concerning the prayer of dedication and He acknowledges the fact that He has heard his prayer.
And the Lord said,
If you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in the integrity of heart, and uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and you will keep my statutes and my judgments: Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David your father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel ( 1Ki 9:4-5 ).
Again I would like to point out the fact that it is a conditional promise. “If thou will walk before me as David your father did, then I will establish your throne forever.” It was a conditional promise of God, which they failed to keep the condition. Thus God was not obligated to keep the promise.
Now as I pointed out, the group known as British Israelites, those who tried to identify the Anglo-Saxon races as the ten lost tribes of Israel, they made a big point that God made a perpetual covenant with David that there would never cease one from his family sitting upon the throne. And it is their premise that the queen of England today is a direct descendant of David because God kept His promise. And that Jeremiah had slipped out of Israel at the time of the Babylonian captivity, took one of the princes to Egypt and then later went to England and established a colony there in England and that the Anglo-Saxon people are in reality a part of the ten lost tribes of Israel. And they have a lot of, you know, things that they go through to try to prove their points. But God’s promise to Solomon was a conditional promise. The conditions, which of course, Solomon failed to keep.
The Lord said,
But if [here again, if] ye shall turn from following me, or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among the people: And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they’ll say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and they have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them this evil ( 1Ki 9:6-9 ).
So the conditional promise; “if you’ll obey Me, if you’ll follow Me, then there’ll never cease one from your family sitting upon the throne. But if you or your children forsake Me, then Israel will be actually cut out of the land.” So because they did forsake the Lord, they were cut out of the land. And God kept His word that He gave to Solomon.
Now I would like to just point out one thing at this point, and that is, a lot of times there come warnings from the Lord to us by various means. And quite often when God speaks, we think, “Oh, that’s not necessary to talk to me about that, Lord, you know that’s one area where I just don’t have any problem.” But let me suggest whenever God speaks to you about any area of your life, you listen carefully because God doesn’t waste words. And if He talks to you about some issue in your life, you can be sure that’s the issue where you’re going to be facing problems down the road.
Now I’m sure that here is Solomon, he has just dedicated the temple, it’s been a very moving experience. They’ll had all kinds of sacrifices. Everybody is rejoicing and worshipping the Lord, praising Jehovah, and just, it’s a glorious time of worship and exultation. And now the Lord comes and Solomon is there and has prayed. And now the Lord is speaking and the Lord says, “Solomon, if you will follow Me and all, then I will establish your throne. But if you forsake Me and you start to worship other gods,” and I’m sure at this point Solomon is saying, “Oh, Lord, You don’t need to tell me about that. Oh, Lord, how could I ever do that?” You know. And yet it is the very thing. And all the way through the Scriptures, it is interesting how that the Lord always seems to warn people in those areas where they are going to be tested and tried further down the road.
So pay attention when God speaks to you no matter how remote it may seem at that minute that you would ever be tempted or have problems at that area. No matter how confident you may be in that particular area, if God starts to talk to you about some particular area of your life, you be careful and listen. The Bible says, “Take heed when you think you stand lest you fall” ( 1Co 10:12 ).
For you see, where I am confident, and I think, “Well, I’ve got that wired, I don’t have to worry about this area,” is an area where I’m prone to trust in myself. I’m prone to be self-reliant in those areas because I think, “Well, that’s something that I really am strong in that area. Paul said, “when I am strong, then I am weak” and “I will glory in my weaknesses, that the power of God might be revealed in me” ( 2Co 12:9 ). So usually Satan will not trip us up in our weak points because in those points, we know that we have to depend upon the Lord. It’s quite often a person falls in that area where he has great confidence. He feels very strong and very confident in this particular area. And that is the area where Satan so often trips us up. So listen when God talks to you no matter how it may seem unnecessary to you at the particular moment. The Lord knows what He’s talking about.
Now it came to pass after the time that he had built all of the house and so forth, Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished him with all of the cedar trees and with gold, according to all of his desire. And so Solomon gave to him twenty cities of the area of the upper Galilee and around the Sea of Galilee. He gave to as just sort of a gift twenty cities in that beautiful area of the Galilee, in the upper Galilee.
And Hiram came and looked at the cities; and he was displeased with them ( 1Ki 9:12 ).
Now I don’t understand why, it’s such a beautiful area, and yet Hiram was displeased with the cities that Solomon gave him.
He says, What are these cities that you have given to me, my brother? And he called them Cabul ( 1Ki 9:13 ).
Or displeasing, “Cabul”. It’s not pleasing.
So Hiram sent to the king sixty talents of gold. And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, the wall of Jerusalem, he built the cities of Hazor, Millo, Megiddo, Gezer ( 1Ki 9:14-15 ).
For his father-in-law actually to give him a present. Sent his troops up, captured Gezer and then gave it to Solomon as a present. And it tells of the cities that Solomon established and built. The cities to store all of his goods, the horses, the chariots, and all. Remember he had forty thousand horses.
And so he made slaves of all of the remnant of the people who lived in the land before the children of Israel came in. But of the Israelites, he did not make slaves. And so Solomon then built the Pharaoh’s daughter a special city. She evidently didn’t care too much for Jerusalem so he built a city for her, the city of Millo.
And three times in a year ( 1Ki 9:25 ).
That would be the great feast days.
Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built before the LORD. And Solomon made [developed] a navy [and he sort of based the navy down] in the area of Eloth ( 1Ki 9:25-26 ).
And the navy would head on down to Africa where they would collect gold and bring it back and Solomon made gold as just everything around Israel. It became just the golden capital of the world.
Silver, it says, was as common as rock. He didn’t really put much value into silver. He really had a thing for gold and so he gathered gold from all over and brought it into the land.
“
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Jehovah now appeared to Solomon for the second time, and declared that his prayer was heard and answered, but insisted that there were conditions for the people to fulfil. These conditions were clearly stated, and there were most solemn warnings of what would happen if they were broken.
As we read the story, we know the sad and terrible sequel. Notwithstanding all the divine faithfulness, the conditions were not kept either by king or people, and the penalty was the ultimate destruction of the Temple and the expulsion of the nation from its position and service.
How slow the human heart is to learn this lesson. It would seem to be a perpetual peril in the presence of which men fall, that of recognizing God’s faithfulness and rejoicing in it, while yet being unfaithful, so that defeat and disaster are the inevitable issues.
The material magnificence of the kingdom is set forth in the remainder of the chapter. Solomon’s present of cities to Hiram, his multiplication of cities throughout his own kingdom, and his creation of a commercial navy, are all chronicled. The elements of failure are to be traced throughout. Hiram was dissatisfied with the cities presented to him. The cities the king built became hotbeds of evil, and the ships introduced to the land things that had evil effect.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
a Searching Word to the Wise
1Ki 9:1-14
Gods second revelation of Himself to Solomon had a double object. In the first place, it assured the king that his prayer was heard and that the new building was accepted. It is always thus. When we yield ourselves to God, desiring to be His alone, He enters on possession, hallowing, infilling, and guaranteeing our security. In the second place, God laid down the conditions on which both king and people might be assured of permanent prosperity. We must be whole-hearted, not in the miles but in the steps of our daily walk. Obedience to the inner voice is essential. The child of God distinguishes his Fathers voice from every other sound and call, because it is definite and unvarying.
It was a pity that, after such loyal cooperation, Hiram was disappointed with his recompense. Happy are they who, as they work for God, look for no reward from their fellows, because they are the servants of a Master whose generous gifts do not need to be eked out by additions from any other quarter. Do right, because it is right, and not because you are looking for any gift or reward from human hands.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
5. Jehovah Appears unto Solomon and the Greatness of the King
CHAPTER 9
1. The second appearance of the LORD to Solomon (1Ki 9:1-9)
2. Transactions with Hiram (1Ki 9:10-14)
3. The levy of the king (1Ki 9:15-23)
4. Pharaohs daughter occupies the house (1Ki 9:24)
5. The kings offerings (1Ki 9:25)
6. Solomons navy (1Ki 9:26-28)
Jehovahs righteous government in the midst of His people Israel had now been established. This government was given and entrusted to Solomon the son of David, so that, in a sense, Solomon occupied the throne of the Lord. All depended upon the faithfulness of Solomon. Therefore the LORD appeared unto him the second time, not to say once more: Ask what I shall give thee, but to assure him that He would keep His promise made to David and if he would be faithful his throne would be established. Then He warns against disobedience. If he serves other gods, Israel was to be cut off from the land and the house would be forsaken. How all this came to pass, Solomons idolatry, disobedience, the subsequent shameful history of Israels apostasy, we shall soon have to follow. Then God used Nebuchadnezzar to carry out the judgment upon Jerusalem and the temple. Another son of David will receive some day the throne and the government will rest in His hands. In Him all will be accomplished which the prophets have spoken and which was foreshadowed in Solomon.
The transaction with Hiram is interesting. Besides furnishing Solomon with timber he also gave him gold; this amounted to 120 talents of gold. Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in Galilee. When he came to look at them, he was displeased with them and called them Cabul, which probably means as nothing. These cities may have been given to King Hiram for the gold Solomon had received from him. The cities were later restored to Solomon by Hiram, most likely after Solomon had paid back the gold Hiram had furnished.
The activity of the great King in building fortresses and cities is described in this chapter. Hazor became under him a stronghold in defence of Syria. The plain of Jezreel had for a protection Megiddo. Gezer and Baalath were other strongholds. Tadmor is Palmyra, called so by the Greeks and Romans, while it is called still today Tadmor. In this chapter (verse 18) the name is given in Hebrew as Tamar; in 2Ch 8:4 it is Tadmor. Tamor means palm tree, the same as Palmyra. Chronicles uses Tadmor because it was known by that name after the exile.
And Solomon had a fleet of ships, manned mostly by the experienced shipmen of King Hiram. Another fleet is mentioned in 10:22, a navy of Tharshish, which, with Hirams navy, sailed every three years to fetch gold, silver, ivory and apes and peacocks. Ophir has been variously located. Peru, the Molucca Islands, Armenia, Arabia and parts of Africa have been suggested. All these statements show the great prosperity of the kingdom.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
am 3013, bc 991
it came: 1Ki 6:37, 1Ki 6:38, 1Ki 7:1, 1Ki 7:51, 2Ch 7:11-22
the house: 2Ch 8:1-6, Ecc 2:4
all Solomon’s: 1Ki 9:11, 1Ki 9:19, Ecc 2:10, Ecc 6:9
Reciprocal: 1Ki 9:10 – at the end of twenty 1Ki 10:13 – all her desire 2Ch 2:1 – an house
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 9:1-2. And it came to pass when Solomon had finished, &c. Or rather, according to 2Ch 7:11, Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord, &c., and concluded all with the foregoing prayer, and the great festival which he kept. That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time That is, the second time in a dream or vision; the divine message, mentioned 1Ki 6:11, having been imparted unto him by some prophet or messenger sent from God on that errand. Accordingly this appearance, like the former at Gibeon, is said (2Ch 7:10) to have been made by night, and in all probability the very night after he had finished the solemnities of his festival, as the other had been. God had given a real answer to Solomons prayer, and tokens of his acceptance of it, immediately, by the fire from heaven which consumed the sacrifice, (2Ch 7:1,) but here we have a more express and distinct answer to it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 9:2. The Lord appeared to Solomon the second time. This seems to be in answer to the prayer offered up in the temple.
1Ki 9:13. Cabul, vile, argillaceous, arenaceous. These twenty towns lay nearest to Tyre; and it was difficult for Solomon to give him any other district, because the Hebrews would not be separated from Davids house. Solomon laid a heavy tax on the people to pay Hiram the hundred and twenty talents.
1Ki 9:15. Millo was a strong castle, or fortress on the highest part of Zion. David having taken the city, built it as a strong place; but Solomon it would seem rebuilt it as the citadel of Jerusalem. Here Joash retreated from the conspiracy, and was slain. 2Ki 12:20.Hazor, a city of Naphtali, once a chief city of the Canaanites. Solomon now made it a grand fortress. Jos 11:10; Jos 19:32-36.Megiddo, a city of Ephraim, where the good Josiah received his wound.Gezer. There were two cities of this name; one in the tribe of Ephraim. Jos 21:21. But the Gezer which Pharaoh took was a seaport, and inhabited by the exiled Canaanites. It is probable they had provoked the Egyptian monarch by a series of depredations at sea, to fit out this expedition against the city.
1Ki 9:18. Tadmor, which Jerome renders Palmyra. According to Josephus it was two days journey from Lower Syria, and one from the Euphrates. Lib. 8. c. 2. This was an ancient and well-watered city. The Romans, accounting it the extremity of their empire, made it free. Pliny, book 5. ch. 25. It was the capital of Queen Zenobia, when she held in some sort the empire of the east. The ruins are still very majestic.
1Ki 9:28. Ophir. ophirah: o being privative, as in orphan, without father. Orgild, Saxon, unfined; fric, cold; a feminine, that is, Africa, or a country without cold. We may however rest assured that fleets circumnavigated all Africa. The Hebrew mostly gives the original name to every city and country, which is otherwise with common historians. Thebes, for instance, the great and ancient city of Egypt, is everywhere called On or On-ammon in the sacred scriptures. It is called Diospolis by the Greeks, and Hecatompylos by Pliny. The case is similar with regard to Ophir, so often mentioned in the old testament. In Gen 10:29-30, we find that Ophir and Havilah were sons of Joktan, and that their first land was from Meshi to Sephar, a mount of the east. Solomons fleet sailed from Ezion-geber to the East Indies, and principally to the island of Taprobana, now called Ceylon, which was their place of rendezvous, after collecting all the commercial treasures of the east. In this island, and on the adjacent coasts alone, they could find the spices and precious stones mentioned in the tenth chapter.
REFLECTIONS.
We have now traced Solomon from the most hopeful infancy to the highest scale of grandeur, wealth and dominion, that any prince before his time had ever enjoyed. What proof that God, to a reformed and obedient people, is ever faithful to his covenant, and all its promises. But the pinnacle of prosperity is a giddy situation: it was in this that David once forgot himself, and sinned against the Lord. It was in this situation that Solomon erred, even more than his father. What then have not those families to fear who by commerce and speculation have suddenly risen to the enjoyment of villas, carriages, and a luxurious style of living? Let them tremble, lest they and their children, placed by their sins out of the covenant protection of the Lord, should suddenly experience reverses of fortune, and the heavy strokes of his afflicting rod: and if arrested by the heavy hand of death, where would their souls find a refuge?
The Lord who appeared to Solomon, and qualified him for the cares of government, now appeared the second time to save him in the hour of danger from prosperity. This was after twenty years, when he had finished his various palaces, and when he had reigned twenty four years; and consequently, when he was about to enjoy a little repose from the more active labours of life. The Lord reminded him of the family covenant, that there should not fail of Davids line a man on the throne of Israel, for God is ever mindful of his word.
The Lord, as is invariably the case, reminded Solomon that the covenant had conditions, viz. if he would walk as his father David did, with integrity and uprightness of heart, and not turn aside to idolatry: and consequently, on derogation, he would forfeit all its protection. And so in fact it was; all was forfeited to his family by his sin, only the Lord in compassion to David spared him two of the tribes. How solemn, how sanctifying is this thought! Solomon is farther reminded that his family covenant was a branch of Israels covenant. If you shall at all turn from following methen will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them: and this house which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight. This is in substance the same as the Lords covenant on Sinai, and before the people entered the land. Deu 28:29. And as we have seen in Solomon all the blessings of this covenant poured on Israel, so in the last chapter of the Chronicles we shall see all its curses inflicted on an apostate people.
This private token of Gods favour to the king, produced for awhile a good effect on his mind. Three times a year he celebrated the grand festivals to the Lord; and he thought nothing too much to do, or too much to give to the Author of all good. Happy, infinitely happy for him and for his people, had he persevered.
We cannot but remark farther, the dignity with which the scriptures address the greatest of kings. With God there is no respect of persons: he requires of Solomon the same obedience as of a private character. One would have thought, if any abatement could be made in the more rigorous requisitions of the precepts, it should have been in favour of so great a king. Let us then learn wisdom, never to be partakers of other mens sins. Let us never palliate crimes by calling them the indiscretions of youth, nor excuse the want of religion by saying, he is a man of business. The whole earth is not sufficient to furnish an apology for the neglect of salvation; because it is our first business to seek the Lord while he may be found.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 9:1-10. The first few verses are a continuation of 1 Kings 8, and are likewise cast in a thoroughly Deuteronomic mould. Yahweh again appeared to the king and assured him of His protection. In 1Ki 9:6 there is a sudden change from the singular thou and thee to the plural ye, as if Yahweh were addressing Israel, threatening, in case of disobedience, to destroy the Temple and make its ruins a warning of the punishment He inflicts on those who do not obey His laws. Thus the section about the Temple closes, and the rest of the chapter, devoted to the reign of Solomon, takes up the account in 1Ki 9:5, and deals with his public work, his splendour, his sin, and the adversaries whom Yahweh raised up against him.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
GOD APPEARING AGAIN TO SOLOMON
(vs.1-9)
The Lord had appeared to Solomon before he built the temple (ch.3:5), now at its completion the Lord appears again to him. There was a danger of Solomon’s being puffed up with pride because he was so greatly blessed as the king of the most illustrious nation on earth and had built the most magnificent building that has ever been built. Thus, the appearance of the Lord to him was necessary to give him a sober and subdued realization that he was only a servant of the God of Israel.
God assured Solomon that He had heard his prayer (v.3) and had consecrated the temple as His earthly dwelling, so that His eyes and His heart would be there perpetually. The significance of this consecration of the temple is tremendous. Jerusalem was established as the center of all God’s dealings on earth because the temple there is the dwelling of God. Though at the present time the temple is no longer standing, yet the Lord’s eyes remain there in perpetuity. He will eventually restore the temple.
The Lord’s promise to Solomon at this time is however conditional on Solomon’s walking before the Lord in integrity of heart, keeping God’s commandments, His statutes and judgments. If Solomon did so, then God would establish his kingdom over Israel forever, and he would not fail to have a descendant to sit on the throne of Israel.
If Solomon or his sons turned from God’s commandments, however, and descended to the level of worshiping false gods, God promised just as firmly that He would cut off Israel from the land He had given them and would bring the temple down to nothing, so that other nations would consider Israel with contempt, asking why the Lord had done such a thing to His people. The answer would be given them that Israel was guilty of forsaking the Lord after having been so greatly blessed by Him. Turning away to serve other gods, they brought such a calamity on themselves (vs.6-9).
These verses (6-9) are clearly prophetic of what would happen to Israel, to Jerusalem and the temple. For centuries now Israel has continued in a condition of disobedience to God and have forfeited all right to ever have a king descended from Solomon. In fact, though Solomon is in the official genealogy of Christ (Mat 1:6-7), yet Christ actually descended through Nathan, the son of David (1 Ki 3:31). Thus God’s promise to Israel stands, but apart from Solomon’s line, except that officially Christ is Messiah through Joseph, who was not actually His father. The wisdom of God is clearly and beautifully seen in considering the genealogy of Matthew which begins with Abraham and ends with Christ’s being the official son of Joseph; and comparing this with the genealogy in Luke which proceeds backward from Joseph to Adam. In this the genealogy is different, indicating that Joseph is only mentioned because he was the husband of Mary, the genealogy therefore being actually that of Mary.
GIFTS BETWEEN SOLOMON AND HIRAM
(vs.10-14)
Solomon finished building his houses in 20 years, and in appreciation of Hiram’s great help in furnishing lumber and gold for the temple, Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee (vs.10-11). These cities were not pleasing to Hiram., however (v.12), and he let Solomon know that they were less than pleasing, though he did not apparently refuse them, but only asked, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” (vs.11-12). He named them “Cabul” which means “good for nothing.”
Solomon certainly did not have God’s approval in giving away these cities, for the Lord had said before, “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me” (Lev 25:23). Solomon had no right to give away the least part of the land, for it did not belong to him: it belongs to God. Can we today give away any part of the inheritance God has given to believers “in heavenly places”? Primarily the inheritance belongs to the Lord Jesus, who graciously shares it with us (Eph 1:9-11). We have no liberty to dispense with any part of it.
Hiram’s displeasure with the cities illustrates the fact that unbelievers cannot understand nor appreciate the preciousness of the spiritual blessings with which believers are blessed “in heavenly places in Christ.” The religious world will use such truths from the Word of God in order to boast about their religious character, but they do not value them as vital and necessary for proper living.
Hiram however, being the head of a prosperous maritime nation, could afford to be generous, just as the United States has in past years been lavish in giving or lending to other nations. Hiram gave Solomon 120 talents of gold (v.14). Of course Solomon had paid well for all the help Israel had received from Hiram in their building program. But unbelievers do not want to appear under any obligation to believers, just as believers should not put themselves under obligation to unbelievers.
FURTHER ADMINISTRATIVE DEALINGS
(vs.15-28)
In verse 15 we are told of a labor force that Solomon raised for building the temple, his own house, the Millo (a citadel, possibly a tower in the fortifications of Jerusalem), the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. These were areas that evidently needed repair, for Gezer is specially mentioned as having been captured from the Canaanites by Pharaoh king of Egypt, giving the city as a dowry to his daughter, whom Solomon married (v.16). Added to Gezer were Lower Beth Horon, Baalath and Tadmore, spoken of as a storage cities for Solomon’s chariots, his cavalry and other branches of his wealthy administration (vs.17-18).
Israel had not expelled all the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites from the land, and those who were left Solomon conscripted as forced labor (vs.20-21). Thus he had full control of the country. When the Lord Jesus takes His kingdom, there will be those from the nations who will submit to Him in spite of not having genuine faith (Psa 18:43-45).
Israelites, on the other hand, were free men, not forced laborers (v.22), just as believers today serve the Lord in willing-hearted obedience, whether in conflict or whatever service. Some of Solomon’s servants were men of war, officers or captains, commanders of his chariots and of his cavalry. 550 others were officials over Solomon’s work.
Why was Solomon not satisfied to have his Egyptian wife come to stay with him in his house? Instead he built a house for her. The reason he gives for this is seen in 2Ch 8:11, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.” This was formally correct, for she was a foreigner, but it shows clearly that Solomon was not morally correct in marrying her, for they could not live a normal married life.
The Millo then is spoken of as being built. This was evidently a citadel, a tower in the fortifications of Jerusalem. Solomon fortified his kingdom against the possible attacks of enemies, but he had already entertained the enemy in his kingdom by marrying an Egyptian woman!
Solomon did not at first leave God out, in fact he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings three times a year and burned incense (v.25). It is sadly true that he gradually became more and more uncaring as regards the commandments of the Lord, for his great wisdom did not protect him from evil. Yet his kingdom prospered tremendously. He built a fleet of ships near Elath on the shores of the Red Sea that he might transport valuable goods from other countries to Israel (v.26). Hiram joined him in this project by sending experienced seamen, since Tyre was a prominent sea trading country. It was not a long distance to go to Ophir, in Saudi Arabia, where, at that time, there was much gold, though now, it is reported, no gold is to be fond there at all. Perhaps Solomon obtained all the gold that was there, the amount being 420 talents, which amounts to 55,000 pounds! Having such wealth, why did he tax the people so heavily? (1Ki 12:4).
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
D. The Fruits of Solomon’s Reign chs. 9-11
The writer next recorded what happened to Solomon and to Israel as a result of the king’s provision to exalt the reputation of Yahweh among His people. He narrated God’s covenant with Solomon (1Ki 9:1-9), further evidences of Yahweh’s blessing (1Ki 9:10-28), Solomon’s greatness (ch. 10), and Solomon’s apostasy (ch. 11).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. God’s covenant with Solomon 9:1-9
God responded to Solomon’s dedication of himself and his nation as He had responded to David (2 Samuel 7) and to Solomon earlier (ch. 3). He offered Solomon continued blessing for continued faithfulness.
First, God promised He would do what Solomon had petitioned in his dedicatory prayer (1Ki 8:22-53; 1Ki 9:3). Second, He said He would provide a continuous line of descendants from Solomon to sit on Israel’s throne if Solomon would continue to follow God faithfully. The alternative would have been cutting off Solomon’s descendants and replacing them with descendants from another branch of David’s family (cf. the fate of Eli’s house). God maintained Solomon’s line because, generally speaking, Solomon remained faithful to the Lord. Third, if Solomon, the subsequent kings, or the people abandoned the Lord’s covenant, He would do three things. He would remove the people from their land, abandon the temple, and make Israel a byword instead of a blessing. This, too, God did for Israel, because overall, Israel did not remain faithful.
"The rest of Kings will be preoccupied with the blessing which follows obedience and the curses enacted after any failure to obey. The reference point will be to God’s revealed word and the language is that of Deuteronomy." [Note: Wiseman, p. 125.]