Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 8:11

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

11 (= 1Ki 9:24). The House of Pharaoh’s Daughter

11. for he said, My wife, etc.] These words are an addition of the Chronicler. In 1Ki 3:1 it is said simply that Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter into the city of David until his own house was finished.

My wife shall not dwell ] Render, No wife of mine shall dwell.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Of Pharaoh – Here again the writer of Chronicles assumes in his reader a knowledge of the facts recorded in the marginal references

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

2Ch 8:11

And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh.

Solomon and Pharaohs daughter

We are to see in Solomons action the working of a tender conscience; even though he may be appeasing his conscience by some trick or ceremony, yet he is showing us the working of the moral nature within the kingly breast. Yet there is a point to be noted here which is common to human experience: why should Solomon have married the daughter of Pharaoh? Why should he have, in the first instance, placed himself in so vital a relation to heathenism? Are there not men who first plunge into great mistakes, and then seek to rectify their position by zealous care about comparatively trifling details? Do not men make money by base means, and then zealously betake themselves to book-keeping, as if they would not spend money except in approved directions? Are there not those who have steeped their hearts in iniquity, and yet have washed their hands with soap and nitre? We are to beware of the creation of a false or a partial conscience, that makes up for sins of a larger kind by ostentatious devotion at the altar of detail and ceremony and petty ritual. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Solomons marriage

Consider Solomons marriage with an Egyptian princess–

I. As a matter of policy. It sprang from–

1. A desire to counteract the influence of Hadad (1Ki 11:14-20).

2. The wish to obtain support for his new dynasty and recognition from one of older fame and greater power.

3. Anxiety to strengthen himself by foreign alliances.

II. As a source of moral perplexity. What must be done with her? Solomon felt that a broad distinction must be made between the worship of Jehovah and idolatry.

III. As the beginning of trouble. The policy advantageous at first, but ultimately proved hollow and impolitic. The reign which began so gloriously ended in gross darkness and fetish worship. (J. Wolfendale.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 11. The daughter of Pharaoh] “And Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, Solomon brought up from the city of David to the palace which he had built for her.” – T.

Because the places are holy] Is not this a proof that he considered his wife to be a heathen, and not proper to dwell in a place which had been sanctified? Solomon had not yet departed from the true God.

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

Not because every place where once the ark came was thereby consecrated to God, and night not after the ark was gone be put to any common use; for then both the house of Obed-edom and all other places where the ark either rested or passed were made holy thereby, and unlawful for men to dwell in; but either,

1. Because she was a woman, and attended by many other women, who besides the common pollutions of all, are subject to many and frequent ceremonial pollutions peculiar to their sex, and either she, or at least many of her followers, might be heathens at this time; and therefore he thought it indecent that such persons should come as it were in Gods stead, and succeed him in the place where he had dwelt. Or,

2. He speaks not of the time when the ark was gone, but whilst it was there; and these words contain a reason not of the more remote words, why he now brought her up thither, but of the words immediately preceding, why

he built this house

for her; because the ark was now in the house of David, which therefore, ought to be kept pure and free from the very danger and appearance of pollution.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

11. Solomon brought up the daughterof Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had builtfor herOn his marriage with the Egyptian princess at thebeginning of his reign, he assigned her a temporary abode in the cityof David, that is, Jerusalem, until a suitable palace for his wifehad been erected. While that palace was in progress, he himselflodged in the palace of David, but he did not allow her to occupy it,because he felt that she being a heathen proselyte, and havingbrought from her own country an establishment of heathenmaid-servants, there would have been an impropriety in her beingdomiciled in a mansion which was or had been hallowed by thereception of the ark. It seems she was received on her arrival intohis mother’s abode (Son 3:4;Son 8:2).

2Ch8:15-18. SOLOMON’SFESTIVAL SACRIFICES.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

[See comments on 2Ch 8:6].

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The remark that Solomon caused Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married (1Ki 3:1), to remove from the city of David into the house which he had built her, i.e., into that part of his newly-built palace which was appointed for the queen, is introduced here, as in 1Ki 9:24, because it belongs to the history of Solomon’s buildings, although in the Chronicle it comes in very abruptly, the author not having mentioned Solomon’s marriage to the daughter of Pharaoh (1Ki 3:1). The reason given for this change of residence on the part of the Egyptian princess is, that Solomon could not allow her, an Egyptian, to dwell in the palace of King David, which had been sanctified by the reception of the ark, and consequently assigned to her a dwelling in the city of David until he should have finished the building of his palace, in which she might dwell along with him. is, as neuter, used instead of the singular; cf. Ew. 318, b. See also on 1Ki 3:1 and 1Ki 9:24.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(11) And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh.See 1Ki. 9:24, which is much briefer than the present notice. The chronicler has not mentioned this princess before (comp. 1Ki. 3:1; 1Ki. 9:16), and mentions her here only in connection with Solomons buildings. (See Note on 2Ch. 12:2.) Solomons Egyptian consort was probably a princess of the XXII. Bnbastite Dynasty, founded by Shishak, which was of Semitic origin.

For he said.The motive here assigned is wanting in the other text, and is characteristic of the chronicler both in thought and language; though it is too much to say with Thenius that the princess could not have lived anywhere else than in the old palace of David, until the new one was built. 1Ki. 3:1 says only that Solomon brought her into the city of David.

King of Israel.In contrast with the Egyptian origin of the princess.

Because the places are holy.For a holy thing is that unto which, &c. (The plural pronoun hmmh, they, is equivalent to a neuter-sing, in the usage of the chronicler.)

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

Solomon’s Worship and Navigation

v. 11. And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the City of David unto the house that he had built for her, a special building of his palace for his chief wife; for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, because the places are holy whereunto the ark of the Lord hath come. She had lived in some part of the lower city since her marriage to Solomon, because the king deemed it improper for a former heathen, particularly with servants who were still heathen, to live on the premises where the Tabernacle of David had once stood, which had been hallowed by the presence of the Ark of the Covenant. In a similar manner we set our churches apart from ordinary use, preferably solely for the administration of the means of grace.

v. 12. Then Solomon, through the priests ordained for that ministry, offered burnt offerings unto the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had built before the porch, just east of the great entrance portico leading to the Sanctuary,

v. 13. even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, above all, the great festivals, three times in the year, even in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles, for all of which the sacrifices were exactly prescribed in the books of Moses.

v. 14. And he appointed, according to the order of David, his father, 2Ch 24:25-26, the courses of the priests to their service, their divisions and the sequence of their ministry having been established by David in solemn assembly, and the Levites to their charges, 1Ch 25:1, to praise and minister before the priests, by assisting them in the various tasks of the Temple, as the duty of every day required; the porters also by their courses at every gate, 1Ch 9:7; 1Ch 26:1; for so had David, the man of God, commanded.

v. 15. And they departed not from the commandment of the king, that is, of David, unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, in regulating the courses and fixing the tasks, or concerning the treasures, in applying the available precious metals and votive gifts to the construction and adornment of the Temple.

v. 16. Now, all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, and until it was finished, this including the entire fitting up and arrangement of the Temple for divine worship. So the house of the Lord was perfected, made ready in all its parts for the consecrated use for which it was intended.

v. 17. Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, at the head of the Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea, and to Eloth, another port on the same gulf, at the sea side in the land of Edom. Solomon was shrewd enough to see that his country needed more commercial enterprises if it was to become powerful among the nations.

v. 18. And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea, seasoned and experienced mariners; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, the location of which is unknown, though it is generally placed on the southeastern coast of Africa, and took thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold (almost $9,000,000), and brought them to King Solomon. That was the regular load of his navy. But all this wealth is as nothing beside the heavenly and eternal glory which the Second Solomon, Jesus Christ, gives to those who are faithful to Him to the end.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

There is a great outline of character given here of Solomon. In all his pursuits of pleasure he still retained a veneration for holy things.

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

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

Ver. 11. For he said, My wife shall not dwell. ] Or, He had said so, sc., before he built a house for her: and while the ark was yet in the city of David.

Because the places are holy. ] And she not yet too holy, but retaining some of her Egyptian profanenesses: vel propter multiplices huius sexus immunditles legales. Solomon had, against the law of God, married this and other strange wives, for political ends no doubt, and as hoping that by his wisdom he should reclaim them, or at least rule them. He did so at first, as we see in this instance. For we may not think that Solomon did this out of superstition, – as the monks at this day pare and sweep the rooms of their monasteries wherein women have been, as if they were unclean creatures, – but out of the reverential fear of God, and a religious respect to the ark. Howbeit afterwards, overcome by the importunities of his strange wives, he yielded to them shamefully. Watch, therefore, and beware.

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

the daughter of Pharaoh. Taking it for granted that we know she was Solomon’s wife.

for he said. The reason is complementary to 1Ki 9:24.

holy. See note on Exo 3:5.

the ark. See note on 1Ch 13:3. Exo 25:22.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

2Ch 8:11

2Ch 8:11

THE REMOVAL OF PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER FROM THE HOLY PLACES

“And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house he had built for her; and he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of Jehovah hath come.”

Solomon had married the daughter of Pharaoh quite early in his reign (1Ki 3:1), and the action mentioned here evidently took place at an early time in Solomon’s reign when he still retained some sensitivity to the implications of the Word of God. “This daughter of Pharaoh was the daughter of Hor-Psibkhannu, the last Pharaoh of the weak Twenty-First Dynasty. Her idolatries eventually led to the apostasy of Israel (1Ki 11:1 ff)

E.M. Zerr:

2Ch 8:11. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. (1Ki 11:3.) But a man will normally love only one woman in the way a husband should love his wife. The one whom Solomon thus loved was the daughter of Pharaoh. She is the heroine of the Song of Solomon. While he was engaged in the work of the two great buildings, he hept his beloved wife in Mount Zion, the most highly esteemed spot in Jerusalem. This was to be temporary, however, until he had the place prepared where she was to have her permanent residence. (1Ki 3:1; 1Ki 7:8.) That was in connection with one of the buildings that were built in the vicinity of Mount Moriah, in the eastern part of Jerusalem and thus different from Mount Zion which was in the south part of the city. On this subject see my comments on 2Ch 3:1-2. Since Pharaoh’s daughter was an alien, Solomon did not consider it proper for her to reside in the most sacred spot in the city, the spot that was connected so affectionately with the memory of his father, and also the special regard for the Lord. It is strange that he would be so concerned for the dignity of God’s institutions when the residence of his wife was under consideration, and yet was led to accept her as his wife, contrary to the will of God. It is another instance that shows the predominance of the flesh over the spirit.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

brought up: 1Ki 3:1, 1Ki 7:8, 1Ki 9:24

holy: Heb. holiness, Exo 3:5, Exo 29:43, Eze 21:2, 2Pe 1:18

Reciprocal: Exo 25:10 – an ark 1Ch 4:18 – Bithiah 2Ch 35:3 – Put Ecc 2:4 – I builded

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge