Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 9:16

[For] Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it [for] a present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

16. For Pharaoh king of Egypt ] See above on 1Ki 3:1.

and taken Gezer ] This incursion was probably before Solomon had taken the king’s daughter to wife, though Josephus ( Ant. viii. 6, i) says ‘he gave it to his daughter who had been married to Solomon.’ Philippson ( die Israelitische Bibel) suggests that Solomon wishing to be rid of these Canaanites asked his father-in-law to undertake their extermination.

and given it for a present ] By ‘present’ here is meant ‘a wedding-portion.’ The noun implies ‘a gift on sending away’ and the verb is found Jos 12:9, where Ibzan the judge is said to have ‘sent abroad’ (i.e. apparently, portioned out in marriage) his thirty daughters and to have taken in thirty others from abroad as wives for his sons. Though it appears to have been the more usual custom in the East for a husband to make presents to his wife’s family, yet we find that Caleb (Jdg 1:15) gave lands with his daughter when she was married to Othniel.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 16. Pharaoh – had gone up, and taken Gezer] This city Joshua had taken from the Canaanites, Jos 10:33; Jos 12:12, and it was divided by lot to the tribe of Ephraim, and was intended to be one of the Levitical cities; but it appears that the Canaanites had retaken it, and kept possession till the days of Solomon, when his father-in-law, Pharaoh king of Egypt, retook it, and gave it to Solomon in dowry with his daughter.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Not now, but long before this time, and presently after the marriage of his daughter, as is most probable; and it is here mentioned only as the occasion of Solomons building it. Possibly the Canaanites of this place had been guilty of some heinous crime; and because Solomon thought not fit to destroy them himself, he desired Pharaoh to do it for him, or Pharaoh might offer his service herein for his daughters advantage.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire,…. Egypt lay lower than Canaan, and therefore Pharaoh is said to go up to it; what moved him to it is not certain; whether he went of himself provoked, or was moved to it by Solomon, who had married his daughter; however, so he did, and took the place, and burnt it:

and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city: for though it was given to the tribe of Ephraim, yet they could not drive the Canaanites out of it, who seem to have remained in it to this time; see

Jos 16:10

and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife; not as a dowry with her, but as a present to her; perhaps some time after marriage.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(16) A presentthat is, of course, a dowry, on her marriage with Solomon.

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

16. Pharaoh had taken Gezer The date and circumstances of this conquest are wrapped in perfect mystery.

Canaanites that dwelt in the city These had not been expelled in Joshua’s time. Jos 16:10.

A present unto his daughter “Though in the East husbands generally pay for their wives, yet dower is given in some cases. Sargon gave Cilicia as a dowry with his daughter when he married her to Ambris, king of Tubal. Antiochus Soter gave his claims on Macedonia as a dowry to his step-daughter Phila when she married Antigonus Gonatas. Coele-Syria and Palestine were promised as dowry to Ptolemy Epiphanes when he married Cleopatra, sister of Antiochus the Great.” Rawlinson.

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