1 Kings 9 commentary

God warned Solomon, now he had newly built and dedicated the temple, that he and his people might not be high-minded, but fear. After all the services we can perform, we stand upon the same terms with the Lord as before. Nothing can purchase for us liberty to sin, nor would the true believer desire such a licence. He would rather be chastened of the Lord, than be allowed to go on with ease and prosperity in sin.

Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities. Hiram did not like them. If Solomon would gratify him, let it be in his own element, by becoming his partner in trade, as he did. See how the providence of God suits this earth to the various tempers of men, and the dispositions of men to the earth, and all for the good of mankind in general.

Here is a further account of Solomon's greatness. He began at the right end, for he built God's house first, and finished that before he began his own; then God blessed him, and he prospered in all his other buildings. Let piety begin, and profit follow; leave pleasure to the last. Whatever pains we take for the glory of God, and to profit others, we are likely to have the advantage. Canaan, the holy land, the glory of all lands, had no gold in it; which shows that the best produce is that which is for the present support of life, our own and others; such things did Canaan produce. Solomon got much by his merchandise, and yet has directed us to a better trade, within reach of the poorest. Wisdom is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold, Pr 3:14.

CHAPTER 9

1Ki 9:1-9. God's Covenant in a Second Vision with Solomon.

1. And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house--This first verse is connected with 1Ki 9:11, all that is contained between 1Ki 9:2-10 being parenthetical.

2. That--rather, "For."

the Lord appeared--This appearance was, like the former one at Gibeon, most probably made in a supernatural vision, and on the night immediately following the dedication of the temple (2Ch 7:12). The strain of it corresponds to this view, for it consists of direct answers to his solemn inaugural prayer (1Ki 9:3 is in answer to 1Ki 8:29; 1Ki 9:4, 5 is in answer to 1Ki 8:25, 26; 1Ki 9:6-9 to 1Ki 8:33-46; see also De 29:22-24).

8. this house, which is high--"high," either in point of situation, for it was built on a hill, and therefore conspicuous to every beholder; or "high" in respect to privilege, honor, and renown; or this "house of the Most High," notwithstanding all its beauty and magnificence, shall be destroyed, and remain in such a state of ruin and degradation as to be a striking monument of the just judgment of God. The record of this second vision, in which were rehearsed the conditions of God's covenant with Solomon and the consequences of breaking them, is inserted here as a proper introduction to the narrative about to be given of this king's commercial enterprises and ambitious desire for worldly glory; for this king, by encouraging an influx of foreign people and a taste for foreign luxuries, rapidly corrupted his own mind and that of this subjects, so that they turned from following God, they and their children (1Ki 9:6).

1Ki 9:10-23. The Mutual Presents of Solomon and Hiram.

10. at the end of twenty years--Seven and a half years were spent in building the temple, and twelve and a half or thirteen in the erection of his palace (1Ki 7:1; 2Ch 8:1). This verse is only a recapitulation of 1Ki 9:1, necessary to recover the thread of connection in the narrative.

11. Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee--According to Josephus, they were situated on the northwest of it, adjacent to Tyre. Though lying within the boundaries of the promised land (Ge 15:18; Jos 1:4), they had never been conquered till then, and were inhabited by Canaanite heathens (Jud 4:2-13; 2Ki 15:29). They were probably given to Hiram, whose dominions were small, as a remuneration for his important services in furnishing workmen, materials, and an immense quantity of wrought gold (1Ki 9:14) for the temple and other buildings [Michaelis]. The gold, however, as others think, may have been the amount of forfeits paid to Solomon by Hiram for not being able to answer the riddles and apothegms, with which, according to Josephus, in their private correspondence, the two sovereigns amused themselves. Hiram having refused these cities, probably on account of their inland situation making them unsuitable to his maritime and commercial people, Solomon satisfied his ally in some other way; and, taking these cities into his own hands, he first repaired their shattered walls, then filled them with a colony of Hebrews (2Ch 8:2).

15-24. this is the reason of the levy--A levy refers both to men and money, and the necessity for Solomon making it arose from the many gigantic works he undertook to erect.

Millo--part of the fort of Jerusalem on Mount Zion (2Sa 5:9; 1Ch 11:8), or a row of stone bastions around Mount Zion, Millo being the great corner tower of that fortified wall (1Ki 11:27; 2Ch 32:5).

the wall of Jerusalem--either repairing some breaches in it (1Ki 11:27), or extending it so as to enclose Mount Zion.

Hazor--fortified on account of its importance as a town in the northern boundary of the country.

Megiddo--(now Leijun)--Lying in the great caravan road between Egypt and Damascus, it was the key to the north of Palestine by the western lowlands, and therefore fortified.

Gezer--on the western confines of Ephraim, and, though a Levitical city, occupied by the Canaanites. Having fallen by right of conquest to the king of Egypt, who for some cause attacked it, it was given by him as a dowry to his daughter, and fortified by Solomon.

26. Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth--These were neighboring ports at the head of the eastern or Elanitic branch of the Red Sea. Tyrian ship carpenters and sailors were sent there for Solomon's vessels (see on 2Ch 8:17, 18).

Ezion-geber--that is, "the giant's backbone"; so called from a reef of rocks at the entrance of the harbor.

Eloth--Elim or Elath; that is, "the trees"; a grove of terebinths still exists at the head of the gulf.

28. Ophir--a general name, like the East or West Indies with us, for all the southern regions lying on the African, Arabian, or Indian seas, in so far as at that time known [Heeren].

gold, four hundred and twenty talents--(See on 2Ch 8:18). At 125 pounds Troy, or 1500 ounces to the talent, and about £4 to the ounce, this would make £2,604,000.

The Lord appeared to Solomon - The design of this appearance, which was in a dream, as that was at Gibeon, was to assure Solomon that God had accepted his service, and had taken that house for his dwelling-place, and would continue it, and establish him and his descendants upon the throne of Israel for ever, provided they served him with an upright heart; but, on the contrary, if they forsook him, he would abandon both them and his temple.

A proverb and a by - word among all people - And so they are to the present; the unbelieving Jews, the stubborn, stiff-necked Jews, are words still in common use. They forsook the Lord, rejected his Christ, and are cast off, their temple destroyed, and they scattered over the face of the earth.

Have taken hold upon other gods - When an indigent person claims the protection of a superior, he casts himself down before him, and lays hold of his feet; and this expression is frequently used when there is no prostration: I have taken hold of thy feet. When a person is called into the presence of the Burman monarch, he is said to go to the golden foot. - Ward's Customs.

At the end of twenty years - He employed seven years and a half in building the temple, and twelve years and a half in building the king's house; see 1Kgs 7:1; 2Chr 8:1.

Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities - It is very likely that Solomon did not give those cities to Hiram so that they should be annexed to his Tyrian dominions, but rather gave him the produce of them till the money was paid which he had advanced to Solomon for his buildings. It appears however that either Hiram did not accept them, or that having received the produce till he was paid, he then restored them to Solomon; for in the parallel place, 2Chr 8:2, it is said, The cities which Hiram had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. Some think that they were heathen cities which Solomon had conquered, and therefore had a right to give them if he pleased, as they were not any part of the land given by promise to the Israelites.

Called them the land of Cabul - Whether this epithet was given to this land by Hiram as a mark of disapprobation, or what is its proper meaning, the learned are not agreed. That there was a country of this name in the promised land in the time of Joshua, is evident enough from Jos 19:27, as it was one part of the boundary of the tribe of Asher; hence some interpret the word border or boundary, and so, the Septuagint understood it, for they have translated the Hebrew word ὁριον, which signifies the same. The margin gives another meaning.

Sixscore talents of gold - This was the sum which Hiram had lent, and in order to pay this Solomon had laid a tax upon his people, as we afterward learn. The whole is very darkly expressed.

This is the reason of the levy - That is, in order to pay Hiram the sixscore talents of gold which he had borrowed from him (Hiram not being willing to take the Galilean cities mentioned above; or, having taken them, soon restored them again) he was obliged to lay a tax upon the people; and that this was a grievous and oppressive tax we learn from 1Kgs 12:1-4, where the elders of Israel came to Rehoboam, complaining of their heavy state of taxation, and entreating that their yoke might be made lighter.

And Millo - This is supposed to have been a deep valley between Mount Sion and what was called the city of Jebus, which Solomon filled up, and it was built on, and became a sort of fortified place, and a place for public assemblies. - See Calmet.

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.

And Tadmor in the wilderness - This is almost universally allowed to be the same with the celebrated Palmyra, the ruins of which remain to the present day, and give us the highest idea of Solomon's splendor and magnificence. Palmyra stood upon a fertile plain surrounded by a barren desert, having the river Euphrates on the east. The ruins are well described by Messrs. Dawkes and Wood, of which they give fine representations. They are also well described in the ancient part of the Universal History, vol. i., p. 367-70. The description concludes thus: "The world never saw a more glorious city; the pride, it is likely, of ancient times, and the reproach of our own; a city not more remarkable for the state of her buildings and unwontedness of her situation than for the extraordinary personages who once flourished there, among whom the renowned Zenobia and the incomparable Longinus must for ever be remembered with admiration and regret."

And all the cities of store - Though, by the multitude and splendor of his buildings, Solomon must have added greatly to the magnificence of his reign; yet, however plenteous silver and gold were in his times, his subjects must have been greatly oppressed with the taxation necessary to defray such a vast public expenditure.

A tribute of bond-service - He made them do the most laborious part of the public works, the Israelites being generally exempt. When Sesostris, king of Egypt, returned from his wars, he caused temples to be built in all the cities of Egypt, but did not employ one Egyptian in the work, having built the whole by the hands of the captives which he had taken in his wars. Hence he caused this inscription to be placed upon each temple: - Ουδεις εγχωριος εις αυτα μεμοχθηκε.

No native has labored in these

Diodor. Sic. Bibl., lib. i., c. 56.

It appears that Solomon might with propriety have placed a similar inscription on most of his works.

Three times in a year did Solomon offer - These three times were:

1. The passover.

2. The feast of pentecost.

3. The feast of tabernacles.

A navy of ships - Literally, אני oni, a ship: in the parallel place, 2Chr 8:17, it is said that Hiram sent him אניות oniyoth, ships; but it does not appear that Solomon in this case built more than one ship, and this was manned principally by the Tyrians.

And they came to Ophir - No man knows certainly, to this day, where this Ophir was situated. There were two places of this name; one somewhere in India, beyond the Ganges, and another in Arabia, near the country of the Sabaeans, mentioned by Job, Job 22:24 : Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust; and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. And Job 28:16 : It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. Calmet places this country at the sources of the Euphrates and Tigris.

But there are several reasons to prove that this was not the Ophir of the Bible, which it seems was so situated as to require a voyage of three years long to go out, load, and return. Mr. Bruce has discussed this subject at great length; see his Travels, vol. ii., chap. iv., p. 354, etc. He endeavors to prove

1. That Ezion-geber is situated on the Elanitic branch of the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea.

2. That Tharshish is Moka, near to Melinda, in the Indian Ocean, in about three degrees south latitude.

3. That Ophir lies somewhere in the land of Sofala, or in the vicinity of the Zimbeze river, opposite the island of Madagascar, where there have been gold and silver mines in great abundance from the remotest antiquity. And he proves,

4. That no vessel could perform this voyage in less than Three years, because of the monsoons; that more time need not be employed, and that this is the precise time mentioned in 1Kgs 10:22.

5. That this is the country of the queen of Sheba, or Sabia, or Azeba, who on her visit to Solomon, brought him one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices and precious stones great store, 1Kgs 10:10. And that gold, ivory, silver, etc., are the natural productions of this country.

To illustrate and prove his positions he has given a map on a large scale, "showing the track of Solomon's fleet in their three years' voyage from the Elanitic Gulf to Ophir and Tharshish;" to which, and his description, I must refer the reader.

2 That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time , as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.

To wit, in a Dream or Vision: for that which is mentioned, Chap. 6. 11. seems to have been imparted unto him by some Prophet or Messenger sent from God, with that Errand. The time of this Revelation was, either 1. after all Solomon's Buildings, as the words, thus rendred plainly imply. And if it seem strange, that God should not Reveal this purpose and sentence of his concerning the Temple, till so many years after the finishing of it; it must be considered, 1. That as it is an act of God's singular Grace, when he doth thus Reveal himself to any person, so it is but meet he should chuse his own time for it. 2. That God had presently after the finishing of the Temple, at the Feast of the Dedication of it, sufficiently shewed his acceptance and approbation of it, by that Glorious Cloud, Chap. 8. 10, 11. and therefore this Revelation was not then necessary. 3. That God might chuse this as the fittest time for giving Solomon the following Admonition, when he perceived that his heart began to be lifted up in Pride, for his sumptuous and magnificent Buildings, &c. and that he was grown vain, and careless, and secure; and therefore most needed such an awakening Oracle. Or, 2. Presently after the Building of the Temple, as may be thought from the Matter of this Revelation, which seems best to suit with that time when it was newly Built, and when Solomon's Prayer here mentioned was newly made: for seeing the following words contain God's Answer to that Prayer, it seems improbable, that the Answer should come so many years after it. But then this second Verse, and the rest even to ver. 11. are to he inclosed with a Parenthesis; and the place must be thus rendred, ver. 2. For (so the Hebrew vau is oft rendred) the Lord appeared, or, had appeared to Solomon, &c. ver. 3. And the Lord had said unto him, &c. And this Parenthesis may seem to have a foundation in ver. 10. where the first Verse (in substance, though not in the very same words) is repeated, as is usual after long digressions; and then he compleats the Sentence ver. 11, &c. which till then had been suspended. Nor are such long Parenthesis without Example in Scripture; See my Latin Synopsis, on Rom. 5. 12, &c. Eph. 3. 1, &c. Revel. 22. 7.

Marginal references: Chap. 3. 5.

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 .

I have my Glorious Presence in the Cloud, and by my Acceptation of thy Sacrifices Sanctified it to my proper use and Service.

As long as the Mosaical Dispensation lasts; whereas hitherto my Name and Worship hath been successively in several places.

i. e. My watchful and gracious Providence.

My true and tender Affection.

Shall be towards this Place and People.

Upon condition of your Obedience; as it here follows.

Marginal references: Chap. 8. 29.

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:

Who, though he miscarried in some things, yet in the general course of his Life was Upright and Faithful towards me.

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.

Upon that condition; for my Promise to David was Conditional.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters] Sam. 7. 12. Chap. 2. 4. 1 Chro. 22. 10.

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:

Or rather, if ye shall wholly turn, &c. If you shall wilfully and obstinately depart from God, and violate his Laws, as the doubling of the Word implies. Whereby he also intimates, That he would not be so rigid and severe towards them, as to mark every thing that was amiss; but would bear with much, as he did in David, &c. onely that [illegible: 1+ letters]e would not endure a total defection from him.

Marginal references: 2 Sam. 7. 14.

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 by-word among all people:

I will not regard it, I will take away my Protection and gracious Presence from it.

Their Miseries shall be named Proverbially, to express extreme Calamities. See Deut. 28. 37.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters]er. 7. 15.

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?

i. e. Exalted in its Priviledges, Glorious, and Renowned. The Particle which is oft understood, and is here fitly supplied out of 2 Chron. 7. 21. where it is expressed.

At its unexpected and wonderful Ruine.

By way of Contempt, and Derision. See Ier. 19. 8. and 49. 17. and 50. 13.

Marginal references: Deut. 29. 24. [illegible: 1+ letters]er: 22. 8.

11 (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 twenty cities in the land of Galilee .

Or, near (as Beth oft signifies, as hath been proved before) the Land of Galilee bordering upon it; in those parts which were near, and adjoyning to Hiram's Dominions: with the Cities, understand the Lands and Territories belonging to them. Quest. How could Solomon give away any part of that Land wherein the People had a Right by a Divine Lot, and God had a Right, as being the onely Proprietary of it; upon which ground the total Alienation of it, or any part of it, was forbidden. Levit. 25. 23? Answ. 1. It is not said, that he gave them away wholly, and for ever; but he might Assign them to him onely for a time, until he was fully satisfied for his Debt. 2. If these Cities were possessed by Israelites, Solomon did not give him their particular Possessions, but onely his own Royalties over them, and all the Profits he received from them, which were very considerable, as may be gathered from that passage, Chap. 12. 4. 3. These Cities, though they were within those large bounds which God fixed to the Land of Promise, Gen. 15. 18. Ios. 1. 4. yet were not within those parts which were distributed by Lot in Ioshua's time; nor belonging to the Tribe of Asher, (as some suppose) as may be gathered both from Iosh. 19. ver. 27. where their border is said to go out onely to the Land of Cabul; to wit, exclusively: and ver. 30. where all their Cities are said to be but twenty and two; and from 2 Chron. 8. 2. where it is said of those Cities, when Hiram restored them, That Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. Which makes it more than probable, that these Cities were not Inhabited by Israelites, but by Canaanites, or other Heathens; who being Subdued, and Extirpated by David, or Solomon, those Cities became a part of their Dominion, and at their Disposal; and afterwards were reckon'd a part of Galilee, as Iosephus notes. And may be one reason, why he gave these, rather than other Cities, because they were in his power to give, when others were not.

12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they pleased him not .

He did not accept them for satisfaction, because the Cities were out of repair, as appears from ver. 13. and the Soyl not good in his Eyes, and therefore he refused them, 2 Chron. 8. 2. and expected, and doubtless had satisfaction some other way; as may be gathered from the following Story.

Marginal references: Heb. were not right in his eyes.

13 And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.

i. e. Of dirt, as most interpret it. Not that it was a barren Soyl, as some imagine; for they who describe those parts, commend them as Fruitful: nor would Solomon have made him so unworthy a return: but because it was not pleasant, nor agreeable to his, nor to his Peoples humour; because, though the Land was very good, yet being a thick and stiff Clay, and therefore requiring great pains to Manure and Improve it, it was very unsuitable to the disposition of the Tyrians, who were Delicate, and Lazy, and Luxurious, and wholly given to Merchandise.

Marginal references: That is, displeasing, or dirty.

14 And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.

Or rather, for Hiram had sent. And this seems to be here added, both to declare the quantity of the Gold sent, which had been onely named before, ver. 11. and as the reason why he resented Solomon's Action so ill, because so great a Sum required a better Recompence.

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 .

Both the Levy of Men; of which, Chap. 5. 13. and the Levy of Money upon his People and Subjects, which is sufficiently evident from many Scriptures. And this Sentence may look both backward, and forward. He raised this Levy, both to pay what he owed to Hiram, which is mentioned before; and to Build the Works here following.

It seems to have been an eminent, and large, and strong Fort or Castle in Ierusalem; as may be gathered from 1 King. 11. 27. 2 Chron. 32. 5.

In Napthali, See Iosh. 11. 10. and 19. 36.

In that part of the Tribe of Manasseh within Iordan: of which see Iosh. 17. 15.

In Ephraim, Iosh. 21. 21. It now was, and long had been in the possession of the Canaanites, Iosh. 16. 10. Iudg. 1. 29. and permitted so to be by David, and Solomon; either by neglect, or because they were busied in greater and more necessary Employments.

16 For Pharaoh king of Eggpt 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, Solomons wife.

Not now, but long before this time, and presently after the Marriage of his Daughter, as is most probable; and it is here mentioned onely as the occasion of Solomon's Building it. Possibly the Canaanites of this place had been guilty of some Hainous 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 therein for his Daughters advantage.

17 And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether ,

In Benjamin, Ios. 18. 13, 14. and Bethoron the upper, which is added 2 Chron. 8. 5. a City in the Tribe of Ephraim, Ios. 16. 5. possibly bordering upon Benjamin, and [illegible: 1+ letters]igh unto the lower Bethoron: which alone may be here mentioned, either, because it was the more famous place: or, be cause it needed more reparations.

18 And Baalath , and Tadmor , in the wilderness, in the land ,

In the Tribe of Dan, Ios▪ 19. 40, 44.

Supposed to be called Tamar, Ezek. 47. 19.

This Clause may belong either first, to all the places above-mentioned, which are here declared to be in the Land of Canaan. But so that Clause may seem superfluous; for none would easily think that he would Build much out of his own Land. Or rather, Secondly, To Tadmor, which otherwise, being in that Wilderness which was the border of the Land, might have been presumed to have been out of the Land.

19 And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his charets, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon , and in all the land of his dominion.

To lay up Arms and Ammunition for War, and Corn, or other Provisions, against a time of scarcity. See Exod. 1. 11.

Either in the Mountain of Lebanon, which being the Border of his Land, he might Build some Forts, or a Frontier City in it. Or, in the House of the Forest of Lebanon: of which see chap. 7. 2.

Marginal references: Heb. the desire of Solomon which he desired▪

21 Their 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-service unto this day.

He used them as Bond-men, and imposed Burdens and Bodily Labours upon them. See 2 Chron. 2. 18. Hence some think they are called Solomon's servants, Ezra 2. 55, 58. Quest. Why did not Solomon destroy them, as God had commanded, when now it was fully in his power to do so? Ans. First, The command of destroying them, Deut. 7. 2. did chiefly, if not onely, concern that Generation of Canaanites who lived in or near the time of the Israelites entring into Canaan. Secondly, That Command seems not to be Absolute and Universal, but conditional, and with some exception for those who should submit to them, and embrace the True Religion, as may be gathered both from Ios. 11. 19. and from the History of the Gibeonites, Ios. 9. whom Ioshua did not sin in sparing, when he had Sworn to do so; and Saul did sin in indeavouring to destroy them. But if Gods Command had been Absolute, the Oaths of Ioshua, and of the Princes, could not have obliged them, nor dispensed with such a Command.

Marginal references: Judg. 1. 21, 27, 29.

23 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.

Obj. They were onely 250 in 2 Chron. 8. 10. Ans. First, Those might be Officers of another sort; for they are not said to be over the work, as these are, but onely over the people. Secondly, The 250 were Israelites, who are therefore distinctly mentioned in that Book, where many things are more exactly noted than in the former; and the other 300 were strangers, who therefore are neglected in that more accurate account. Or, Thirdly, There was but 250 at one time, which is noted there, and 250 at another time, (for it is apparent they did their work by turns) and the other 50 either were Superior to all the rest; or rather, were a reserve to supply the place of any of the 500 when there was occasion, which might frequently happen. And so this was an act not unbecoming Solomon's Wisdom, to make provision for Emergencies.

25 ¶ And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt-offerings, and peace-offerings upon the altar which he built unto the LORD, and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the LORD: so he finished the house .

i. e. At the three Solemn Feasts. Which is not said exclusively, as is evident both from 2 Chron. 8. 13. and from the express and oft-repeated Commands of God to offer at other times, which it is absurd to think that Solomon, not yet fallen into sin, should so wickedly and scandalously neglect; but because then he did it more Solemnly, and more costlily, and more publickly: whereby it might be presumed, that he did so at all other appointed times.

Or, so he perfected the house, to wit, by applying it to the use for which it was made, in which the perfection of such things consists. Or, the house may be put Metonymically for the Work or Service of the House, as it is elsewhere commonly used for the things or persons in the House. Or, the words may be, and are rendred thus, After that (for so the Hebrew Vau oft signifies, as Isa. 37. 9, 36. Hos. 1. 11. Zech. 12. 2.) he finished the house; i. e. From the time of the finishing of the House, until this time, he continued to do so.

Marginal references: Heb. upon it.

26 ¶ And king Solomon made a navy of ships , in Ezion-Geber, which is beside Eloth n, on the shore of the red sea, in the land of Edom .

Not now in the order in which it is placed in the History, but in the beginning of his Reign; as appears, because the Almug-trees which he used in this Work, were brought in this Navy from Ophir, chap. 10, 11, 12. 2 Chron. 9. 10, 11. which was a three Years Voyage there, ver. 22. For Ophir and Tharsis were either the same place, or one near to another.

Which David brought under his Dominion, and Solomon kept it.

r Or, Elath, as it is called 2 King. 14. 22. See Deut. 2. 8. It is thought to be that famous Port on the Red Sea, which Ptolemy and Strabo call Elana.

Marginal references: 2 Chr. 8. 17.; Heb. lip.

27 And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, ship-men that had knowledge of the sea , with the servants of Solomon.

For which the Tyrians were famous. He sent also Ships to joyn with Solomon's, 2 Chron. 8. 18. not from Tyre, the famous City of Phoenicia, which was in the Midland Sea, from whence he could not Sail to the Red Sea, without fetching a vast compass; but from an Island in the Red-Sea, called Tyre, because it was a Colony of the Tyrians, as Strabo notes.

28 And they came to Ophir , and fet from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents , and brought it to king Solomon.

A place famous for the plenty and fineness of the Gold there; Of which see Gen. 2. 11, 12. Iob 22. 24. and 28. 16. Psal. 45. 9. Isa. 13. 12. It is manifest and agreed, that it was a part of the East-Indies, which though very remote from us, yet was far nearer to the Red-Sea, from whence they might easily Sail to it in these Ancient times, because they needed not to go far from the Coast to come to it, because they might (according to the manner of these first Ages) Sail all along near the Coast, though the Voyage was thereby more tedious, which was the reason why three Years were spent in it. And here, and here onely were to be had all the Commodities which Solomon fetched from Ophir, 1 King. 10. 22.

In all there came to the King 450 Talents, whereof it seems 30 Talents were allowed by Solomon to Hiram and his Men for the Voyage, and so there were onely 420 that came clearly into the King's Treasury.

1Ki 9:1-2

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. כּל־חשׁק, all Solomon’s desire or pleasures, is paraphrased thus in the Chronicles: לב על כּל־הבּא, “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.”

1Ki 9:3

The divine promise to Solomon, that his prayer should be answered, is closely connected with the substance of the prayer; but in our account we have only a brief summary, whereas in the Chronicles it is given more elaborately (vid., 2Ch 7:12-16). “I have sanctified this house which thou hast built, to put my name there.” For the expression, see Deu 12:11. The sanctifying consisted in the fact, that Jehovah put His name in the temple; i.e., that by filling the temple with the cloud which visibly displayed His presence, He consecrated it as the scene of the manifestation of His grace. To Solomon’s prayer, “May Thine eyes stand open over this house” (1Ki 8:29), the Lord replies, giving always more than we ask, “My eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.”

1Ki 9:4-9 1Ki 9:4, 1Ki 9:5 contain the special answer to 1Ki 8:25, 1Ki 8:26. - 1Ki 9:6-9 refer to the prayer for the turning away of the curse, to which the Lord replies: If ye and your children turn away from me, and do not keep my commandments, but worship other gods, this house will not protect you from the curses threatened in the law, but they will be fulfilled in all their terrible force upon you and upon this temple. This threat follows the Pentateuch exactly in the words in which it is expressed; 1Ki 9:7 being founded upon Deu 28:37, Deu 28:45, Deu 28:63, and the curse pronounced upon Israel in Deu 29:23-26 being transferred to the temple in 1Ki 9:8, 1Ki 9:9. -  פּני מעל שׁלּח, to dismiss, i.e., to reject from before my face. “This house will be עליון,” i.e., will stand high, or through its rejection will be a lofty example for all that pass by. The temple stood upon a high mountain, so that its ruins could not fail to attract the attention of all who went past. The expression עליון is selected with an implied allusion to Deu 26:19 and Deu 28:1. God there promises to make Israel עליון, high, exalted above all nations. This blessing will be turned into a curse. The temple, which was high and widely renowned, shall continue to be high, but in the opposite sense, as an example of the rejection of Israel from the presence of God.The conjecture of Böttcher, Thenius, and Bertheau, that עליון should be altered into עיּים, has no support in Mic 3:12; Jer 26:18, and Psa 79:1, and has all the ancient versions against it; for they all contain the Masoretic text, either in a verbal translation (lxx), or in a paraphrase, as for example the Chaldee, “the house that was high shall be destroyed;” the Syriac and Arabic, “this house will be destroyed;” and the Vulgate, domus haec erit in exemplum. - In 2Ch 7:21 the thought is somewhat varied by the alteration of יהיה into היה אשׁר. For it would never enter the mind of any sober critic to attribute this variation to a misinterpretation of our text. Still less can it be an unsuccessful attempt to explain or rectify our text, as Böttcher imagines, since the assertion of this critic, that עליון is only used to signify an exalted position, and never the exaltation of dignity or worth, is proved to be erroneous by Deu 26:19 and Deu 28:1.

The Means by which the Buildings were Erected. - In order that all which still remained to be said concerning Solomon’s buildings might be grouped together, different notices are introduced here, namely, as to his relation to Hiram, the erection of several fortresses, and the tributary labour, and also as to his maritime expeditions; and these heterogeneous materials are so arranged as to indicate the resources which enabled Solomon to erect so many and such magnificent buildings. These resources were: (1) his connection with king Hiram, who furnished him with building materials (1Ki 9:10-14); (2) the tributary labour which he raised in his kingdom (1Ki 9:15-25); (3) the maritime expedition to Ophir, which brought him great wealth (1Ki 9:26-28). But these notices are very condensed, and, as a comparison with the parallel account in 2 Chron 8 shows, are simply incomplete extracts from a more elaborate history. In the account of the tributary labour, the enumeration of the cities finished and fortified (1Ki 9:15-19) is interpolated; and the information concerning the support which was rendered to Solomon in the erection of his buildings by Hiram (1Ki 9:11-14), is merely supplementary to the account already given in 1Ki 9:5. 1Ki 9:24, 1Ki 9:25 point still more clearly to an earlier account, since they would be otherwise unintelligible. - In 2 Chron 8 the arrangement is a simpler one: the buildings are first of all enumerated in 2Ch 8:1-6, and the account of the tributary labour follows in 2Ch 8:7-11.

The notices concerning Solomon’s connection with Hiram are very imperfect; for 1Ki 9:14 does not furnish a conclusion either in form or substance. The notice in 2 Chron 8; 1:1-2:18 is still shorter, but it supplies an important addition to the account before us.

1Ki 9:10-14 1Ki 9:10, 1Ki 9:11 form one period. יתּן אז (then he gave) in 1Ki 9:11 introduces the apodosis to מק ויהי (and it came to pass, etc.) in 1Ki 9:10; and 1Ki 9:11 contains a circumstantial clause inserted as a parenthesis. Hiram had supported Solomon according to his desire with cedar wood and cypress wood, and with gold; and Solomon gave him in return, after his buildings were completed, twenty cities in the land of Galil. But these cities did not please Hiram. When he went out to see them, he said, “What kind of cities are these (מה in a contemptuous sense) which thou hast given me, my brother?” אחו as in 1Ki 20:32, 1 Macc. 10:18; 11:30, 2 Macc. 11:22, as a conventional expression used by princes in their intercourse with one another. “And he called the land Cabul unto this day;” i.e., it retained this name even to later times. The land of Galil is a part of the country which was afterwards known as Galilaea, namely, the northern portion of it, as is evident from the fact that in Jos 20:7; Jos 21:32, Kedes in the mountains of Naphtali, to the north-west of Lake Huleh, is distinguished from the kadesh in southern Palestine by the epithet בּגּליל. It is still more evident from 2Ki 15:29 and Isa 9:1 and Galil embraced the northern part of the tribe of Naphtali; whilst the expression used by Isaiah, הגּוים גּליל, also shows that this district was for the most part inhabited by heathen (i.e., non-Israelites). The twenty cities in Galil, which Solomon gave to Hiram, certainly belonged therefore to the cities of the Canaanites mentioned in 2Sa 24:7; that is to say, they were cities occupied chiefly by a heathen population, and in all probability they were in a very bad condition. Consequently they did not please Hiram, and he gave to the district the contemptuous name of the land of Cabul. Of the various interpretations given to the word Cabul (see Ges. Thes. p. 656), the one proposed by Hiller (Onomast. p. 435), and adopted by Reland, Ges., Maurer, and others, viz., that it is a contraction of כּהבּוּל, sicut id quod evanuit tanquam nihil, has the most to support it, since this is the meaning required by the context. At the same time it is possible, and even probable, that it had originally a different signification, and is derived from כּבל = חבל in the sense of to pawn, as Gesenius and Dietrich suppose. This is favoured by the occurrence of the name Cabul in Jos 19:27, where it is probably derivable from כּבל, to fetter, and signifies literally a fortress or castle; but in this instance it has no connection with the land of Cabul, since it is still preserved in the village of Cabul to the south-east of Acre (see the Comm. on Josh. l.c.). The “land of Cabul” would therefore mean the pawned land; and in the mouths of the people this would be twisted into “good for nothing.” In this case ויּקרא would have to be taken impersonally: “they called;” and the notice respecting this name would be simply an explanation of the way in which the people interpreted it. Hiram, however, did not retain this district, but gave it back to Solomon, who then completed the cities (2Ch 8:2).This simple method of reconciling the account before us with the apparently discrepant notice in the Chronicles, concerning which even Movers (die biblische Chronik, p. 159) observes, that the chronicler interpolated it from a second (?) source, is so natural, that it is difficult to conceive how Bertheau can object to it; since he admits that the accounts in the books of Kings and Chronicles are incomplete extracts from common and more elaborate sources.

The only way in which we can give to 1Ki 9:14 a meaning in harmony with the context, is by taking it as a supplementary explanation of וּבזּהב...נשּׂא...חירם in 1Ki 9:11, and so rendering ויּשׁלח as a pluperfect, as in 1Ki 7:13 : “Hiram had sent the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold.” If we reckon the value of gold as being ten times the worth of silver, a hundred and twenty talents of gold would be 3,141, 600 thalers (about £471,240: Tr.). This is no doubt to be regarded as a loan, which Solomon obtained from Hiram to enable him to complete his buildings. Although David may have collected together the requisite amount of precious metals for the building of the temple, and Solomon had also very considerable yearly revenues, derived partly from tribute paid by subjugated nations and partly from trade, his buildings were so extensive, inasmuch as he erected a large number of cities beside the temple and his splendid palace (1Ki 9:15-19), that his revenues might not suffice for the completion of these costly works; and therefore, since he would not apply the consecrated treasures of the temple to the erection of cities and palaces, he might find himself compelled to procure a loan from the wealthy king Hiram, which he probably intended to cover by ceding to him twenty cities on the border of the Phoenician territory. But as these cities did not please the king of Tyre and he gave them back to Solomon, the latter will no doubt have repaid the amount borrowed during the last twenty years of his reign.

1Ki 9:15 Solomon’s tribute service, and the building of the cities. (Cf. 2Ch 8:3-10.) The other means by which Solomon made it possible to erect so many buildings, was by compelling the remnants of the Canaanitish population that were still in the land to perform tributary labour. המּס דּבר יד, “this is the case with regard to the tribute.” For מס העלה compare 1Ki 5:13. To the announcement of the object which Solomon had in view in raising tributary labourers, namely, to build, etc., there is immediately appended a list of all the buildings completed by him (1Ki 9:15-19); and it is not till 1Ki 9:20 that we have more precise details concerning the tribute itself. Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, and the cities enumerated, are for the most part not new buildings, but simply fortifications, or the completion of buildings already in existence. David had already built the castle of Millo and the wall of Jerusalem (2Sa 5:9); so that Solomon’s building was in both cases merely fortifying more strongly. On Millo see the fuller remarks at 2Sa 5:9; and on the building of the wall, those at 1Ki 3:1 and 1Ki 11:27. As Solomon thereby closed the breach of the city of David according to 1Ki 11:27, he probably extended the city wall so as to enclose the temple mountain; and he may possibly have also surrounded the lower city with a wall, since David had only built a fortification round about the upper city upon Zion (see at 2Sa 5:9). - Hazor: an old royal city of the Canaanites above Lake Huleh, which has not yet been discovered (see at Jos 11:1). Megiddo, i.e., Lejun (see at 1Ki 4:12). Gezer: also an old Canaanitish royal city, which stood close to the Philistian frontier, probably on the site of the present village of el Kubab (see at Jos 10:33).

1Ki 9:16

This city had been taken and burned down by the king of Egypt; its Canaanitish inhabitants had been put to death; and the city itself had been given as a marriage portion to his daughter who was married to Solomon. Nothing is known concerning the occasion and object of Pharaoh’s warlike expedition against this city. The conjecture of Thenius, that the Canaanitish inhabitants of Gezer had drawn upon themselves the vengeance of Pharaoh, mentioned here, through a piratical raid upon the Egyptian coast, is open to this objection, that according to all accounts concerning its situation, Gezer was not situated near the sea-coast, but very far inland.

1Ki 9:17

This city Solomon built: i.e., he not only rebuilt it, but also fortified it. He did the same also to Lower Bethhoron, i.e., Beit-Ur Tachta, on the western slope of the mountains, four hours’ journey from Gibeon. According to 2Ch 8:5, Solomon also fortified Upper Bethhoron, which was separated by a deep wady from Lower Bethhoron, that lay to the west (see Comm. on Jos 10:10 and Jos 16:3). The two Bethhorons and Gezer were very important places for the protection of the mountainous country of Benjamin, Ephraim, and Judah against hostile invasions from the Philistian plain. The situation of Megiddo on the southern edge of the plain of Jezreel, through which the high road from the western coast to the Jordan ran, was equally important; and so also was Hazor as a border fortress against Syria in the northern part of the land.

1Ki 9:18

Solomon also built, i.e., fortified, Baalath and Tadmor in the desert. According to Jos 19:44, Baalath was a city of Dan, and therefore, as Josephus (Ant. viii. 6, 1) justly observes, was not far from Gezer; and consequently is not to be identified with either Baalgad or Baalbek in Coele-syria (Iken, ich. Rosenm.; cf. Robinson, Bibl. Res. p. 519). תמר (Chethîb) is either to be read תּמר, or according to Ewald (Gesch. iii. p. 344) תּמּר, palm, a palm-city. The Keri requires תּדמר (Tadmor, after 2Ch 8:4), a pronunciation which may possibly have simply arisen from Aramaean expansion, but which is still the name for the city current among the Arabs even in the present day (Arabic tadmur , locus palmarum ferax). The Greeks and Romans called it Palmyra. It was situated in what is certainly now a very desolate oasis of the Syrian desert, on the caravan road between Damascus and the Euphrates, - according to modern accounts, not more than seventeen hours’ journey from that river; and there are still magnificent ruins which attest the former glory of this wealthy and, under queen Zenobia, very powerful city (cf. Ritter, Erdk. xvii. 2, p. 1486ff., and E. Osiander in Herzog’s Cycl.). The correctness of this explanation of the name is placed beyond all doubt by the words “in the wilderness;” and consequently even Movers has given up his former opinion, viz., that it was the city of Thamar in southern Judah (Eze 47:19; Eze 48:28), which Thenius has since adopted, and has decided in favour of Palmyra, without being led astray by the attempt of Hitzig to explain the name from the Sanscrit (vid., Deutsche morgld. Ztschr. viii. p. 222ff.). The expression בּארץ appears superfluous, as all the cities named before were situated in the land or kingdom of Solomon, and Tadmor is sufficiently defined by בּמּדבּר (in the desert). The text is evidently faulty, and either the name of the land, namely Hamath (according to 2Ch 8:4), has dropped out, or בּארץ is to be taken in connection with what follows (according to the Cod. Al. of the lxx), and the cop. ו before כּל־ערי את must be erased and inserted before בּארץ (“and in the land of all the magazine-cities”).

1Ki 9:19-21

The “magazine-cities” (המּסכּנות ערי) were fortified cities, in which the produce of the land was collected, partly for provisioning the army, and partly for the support of the rural population in times of distress (2Ch 17:12; 2Ch 32:28), similar to those which Pharaoh had built in the land of Goshen (Exo 1:11). If they were situated on the great commercial roads, they may also have served for storing provisions for the necessities of travellers and their beasts of burden. The cities for the war-chariots (הרכב) and cavalry (הפּרשׁים) were probably in part identical with the magazine-cities, and situated in different parts of the kingdom. There were no doubt some of these upon Lebanon, as we may on the one hand infer from the general importance of the northern frontier to the security of the whole kingdom, and still more from the fact that Solomon had an opponent at Damascus in the person of Rezin (1Ki 11:24), who could easily stir up rebellion in the northern provinces, which had only just been incorporated by David into the kingdom; and as we may on the other hand clearly gather from 2Ch 16:4, according to which there were magazine-cities in the land of Naphtali. Finally, the words “and what Solomon had a desire to build” embrace all the rest of his buildings, which it would have occupied too much space to enumerate singly. That the words חשׁק את are not to be so pressed as to be made to denote simply “the buildings undertaking for pure pleasure,” like the works mentioned in Ecc 2:4., as Thenius and Bertheau suppose, is evident from a comparison of 1Ki 9:1, where all Solomon’s buildings except the temple and palace, and therefore the fortifications as well as others, are included in the expression “all his desire.” - Fuller particulars concerning the tributary workmen are given in 1Ki 9:20. The Canaanitish population that was left in the land were made use of for this purpose, - namely, the descendants of the Canaanites who had not been entirely exterminated by the Israelites. “Their children,” etc., supplies a more precise definition of the expression “all the people,” etc., in 1Ki 9:20.

1Ki 9:22-23

Solomon did not make Israelites into tributary slaves; but they were warriors, ministers, and civil and military officers. עבדים are the king’s servants; שׂרים, the heads of the military and civil service; שׁלשׁים, royal adjutants (see at 2Sa 23:8); וּפרשׁיו רכבּו שׂרי, captains over the royal war-chariots and cavalry. - For 1Ki 9:23 compare 1Ki 5:16.

1Ki 9:24-25 1Ki 9:24, 1Ki 9:25 contain two notices, with which the account of Solomon’s buildings is brought to a close. Both verses point back to 1Ki 3:1-4 (viz., 1Ki 9:24 to 1Ki 3:1, and 1Ki 9:25 to 1Ki 3:2-4), and show how the incongruities which existed at the commencement of Solomon’s reign were removed by his buildings. When Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter, he brought her into the city of David (1Ki 3:1), until he should have finished his palace and built her a house of her own within it. After this building was completed, he had her brought up from the city of David into it. עלה, came up, inasmuch as the palace stood upon the loftier summit of Zion. אך is to be connected with אז which follows, in the sense of only or just as: as soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had gone up into the house built for her, Solomon built Millo.Nothing certain can be gathered from this notice as to the situation of this castle. The remark made by Thenius, to the effect that it must have joined that portion of the palace in which the harem was, rests upon the assumption that Millo was evidently intended to shelter the harem, - an assumption which cannot be raised into a probability, to say nothing of a certainty. The building of Millo immediately after the entrance of Pharaoh’s daughter into the house erected for her, may have arisen from the fact that David (? Solomon - Tr.) could not undertake the fortification of Jerusalem by means of this castle till after his own palace was finished, because he had not the requisite labour at command for carrying on all these buildings at the same time.

1Ki 9:26-28 He sends ships to Ophir. - Solomon built a fleet (אני is collective, ships or fleet; the nom. unitatis is אניּה) at Eziongeber, near Eloth, on the coast of the Red Sea (ים־סוּף: see at Exo 10:19), in the land of Edom; and Hiram sent in the fleet “shipmen that had knowledge of the sea” along with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, whence they brought to king Solomon 420 talents of gold. Eziongeber, a harbour at the north-eastern end of the Elanitic Gulf, was probably the “large and beautiful town of Asziun” mentioned by Makrizi (see at Num 33:35), and situated on the great bay of Wady Emrag (see Rüppell, Reisen in Nubien, pp. 252-3). Eloth (lit., trees, a grove, probably so named from the large palm-grove in the neighbourhood), or Elath (Deu 2:8; 2Ki 14:22 : see at Gen 14:6), the Aila and Aelana of the Greeks and Romans, Arab. Aileh, was situated at the northern point of the (Elanitic) gulf, which took its name from the town; and in the time of the Fathers it was an important commercial town. It was not far from the small modern fortress of Akaba, where heaps of rubbish still show the spot on which it formerly stood (compare Rüppell, Nub. p. 248, with plates 6 and 7, and Robinson, Pal. i. p. 251ff.). - The corresponding text, 2Ch 8:17-18, differs in many respects from the account before us. The statement in the Chronicles, that Solomon went to Eziongeber and Elath, is but a very unimportant deviation; for the building of the fleet makes it a very probable thing in itself that Solomon should have visited on that account the two towns on the Elanitic Gulf, which were very near to one another, to make the requisite arrangements upon the spot for this important undertaking. There is apparently a far greater deviation in 1Ki 9:27, where, in the place of the statement that Hiram sent בּאני, in the (or a) fleet, his servants as sailors who had knowledge of the sea, the chronicler affirms that Hiram sent by his servants ships and men who had knowledge of the sea. For the only way in which Hiram could send ships to Eziongeber was either by land or (as Ritter, Erdk. xiv. p. 365, supposes) out of the Persian Gulf, supposing that the Tyrians had a fleet upon that sea at so early a date as this. The statement in the Chronicles receives an apparent confirmation from 1Ki 10:22, “The king had a Tarshish fleet upon the sea with the fleet of Hiram,” if indeed this passage also refers to the trade with Ophir, as is generally supposed; for then these words affirm that Hiram sent ships of his own to Ophir along with those of Solomon. We do not think it probable, however that the words “Hiram sent ships by his own men” are to be so pressed as to be taken to mean that he had whole ships, or ships taken to pieces, conveyed to Eziongeber either from Tyre or out of the Mediterranean Sea, although many cases might be cited from antiquity in support of this view.Thus, for example, according to Arriani exped. Alex. l. v. p. 329, and vii. p. 485 (ed. Blanc), Alexander the Great had ships transported from Phoenicia to the Euphrates, and out of the Indus into the Hydaspes, the ships being taken to pieces for the land transport (ἐτμήθησαν), and the pieces (τμήματα) afterwards joined together again. Plutarch relates (vita Anton. p. 948, ed. Frkf. 1620) that Cleopatra would have had her whole fleet carried across the isthmus which separates Egypt from the Red Sea, and have escaped by that means, had not the Arabs prevented the execution of her plan by burning the first ships that were drawn up on the land. According to Thucydides, bell. Pelop. iv. 8, the Peloponnesians conveyed sixty ships which lay at Corcyra across the Leucadian isthmus. Compare also Polyaeni strateg. v. 2, 6, and Ammian. Marcell. xxiv. 7, and from the middle ages the account of Makrizi in Burckhardt’s Reisen in Syrien, p. 331.

In all probability the words affirm nothing more than that Hiram supplied the ships for this voyage, that is to say, that he had them built at Eziongeber by his own men, and the requisite materials conveyed thither, so far as they were not to be obtained upon the spot. At any rate, Solomon was obliged to call the Tyrians to his help for the building of the ships, since the Israelites, who had hitherto carried in no maritime trade at all, were altogether inexperienced in shipbuilding. Moreover, the country round Eziongeber would hardly furnish wood adapted for the purpose, as there are only palms to be found there, whose spongy wood, however useful it may be for the inside of houses, cannot be applied to the building of ships. But if Hiram had ships built for Solomon by his own men and sent him sailors who were accustomed to the sea, he would certainly have some of his own ships engaged in this maritime trade; and this explains the statement in 1Ki 10:22.

The destination of the fleet was Ophir, whence the ships brought 420 or (according to the Chronicles) 450 talents of gold. The difference between 420 and 450 may be accounted for from the substitution of the numeral letter נ (50) for כ (20). The sum mentioned amounted to eleven or twelve million dollars (from £1,600,000 to £1,800,000 - Tr.), and the question arises, whether this is to be taken as the result of one voyage, or as the entire profits resulting from the expeditions to Ophir. The words admit of either interpretation, although they are more favourable to the latter than to the former, inasmuch as there is no allusion whatever to the fact that they brought this amount all at once or on every voyage. (See also at 1Ki 10:14, 1Ki 10:22.) The question as to the situation of Ophir has given rise to great dispute, and hitherto no certain conclusion has been arrived at; in fact, it is possible that there are no longer any means of deciding it. Some have endeavoured to prove that it was in southern Arabia, others that it was on the eastern coast of Africa, and others again that it was in Hither India.Compare the thorough examination of the different views concerning Ophir in C. Ritter’s Erdk. xiv. pp. 348-431, with the briefer collection made by Gesenius in his Thes. p. 141f. and in the Allgem. Encyclop. der Wissenschaft u. Künste, 3 Sect. Bd. 4, p. 201ff., and by Pressel, art. “Ophir,” in Herzog’s Cyclopaedia. - We need not dwell upon the different opinions held by the earlier writers. But among modern authors, Niebuhr, Gesenius, Rosenmüller, and Seetzen decide in favour of Arabia; Quatremère (Mémoire sur le pays d’Ophir in Mém. de l’Instit. roy. 1845, t. xv. P. ii. p. 350ff.) and Movers, who takes Ophir to be the name of an emporium on the eastern coast of Africa, in favour of Sofala; while Chr. Lassen (Indische Alterthumskunde, i. p. 537ff., ii. p. 552ff.) and C. Ritter are the principal supporters of India. On the other hand, Albr. Roscher (Ptolemäus und die Handelsstrassen in Central-Africa, Gotha 1857, p. 57ff.) has attempted to connect together all these views by assuming that the seamen of Hiram and Solomon fetched the gold of Western Africa from the island of Dahlak in the Red Sea, and having taken it to India to exchange, returned at the end of a three years’ voyage enriched with gold and the productions of India.

The decision is dependent upon a previous question, whether 1Ki 10:22, “The king had a Tarshish fleet upon the sea with the fleet of Hiram; once in three years came the Tarshish fleet, bringing gold, silver,” etc., also applies to the voyage to Ophir. The expression “Tarshish fleet;” the word בּיּם (“on the sea”), which naturally suggests that sea to which the Israelites applied the special epithet היּם, namely the Mediterranean; and lastly, the difference in the cargoes, - the ships from Ophir bringing gold and algummim wood (1Ki 9:28 and 1Ki 10:11), and the Tarshish fleet bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks (1Ki 10:22), - appear to favour the conclusion that the Tarshish fleet did not sail to Ophir, but upon the Mediterranean Sea to Tarshish, i.e., Tartessus in Spain; to which we may add the fact that תרשׁישׁ אני is reproduced in 2Ch 9:21 by תּרשׁישׁ הלכות אניּות, “ships going to Tarshish.” Nevertheless, however plausible these arguments may appear, after a renewed investigation of the subject I cannot regard them as having decisive weight: for (1) the expression “Tarshish fleet” is used in 1Ki 22:49 in connection with ships that were intended to go to Ophir; (2) בּיּם (upon the sea) might receive its more precise definition from what precedes; and (3) the difference in the cargoes reduces itself to this, that in addition to the gold, which was the chief production of Ophir, there are a few other articles of trade mentioned, so that the account in 1Ki 10:22 is more complete than that in 1Ki 9:28 and 1Ki 10:11. The statement concerning the Tarshish fleet in 1Ki 10:22 contains a passing remark, like that in 1Ki 10:11, from which we must infer that both passages treat in the same manner simply of the voyage to Ophir, and therefore that the term “Tarshish ships,” like our Indiamen (Indienfahrer), was applied to ships intended for long voyages. If, in addition to the ships sailing to Ophir, Solomon had also had a fleet upon the Mediterranean Sea which sailed with the Phoenicians to Tartessus, this would certainly have been mentioned here (1Ki 9:27-28) at the same time as the Ophir voyage. On all these grounds we can come to no other conclusion than that the expression in 2Ch 9:21, “ships going to Tarshish,” is simply a mistaken exposition of the term “Tarshish fleet,” - a mistake which may easily be explained from the fact, that at the time when the Chronicles were written, the voyages not only of the Israelites but also of the Tyrians both to Ophir and Tarshish had long since ceased, and even the geographical situation of these places was then unknown to the Jews (see my Introduction to the Old Test. p. 442, ed. 2).

The name Ophir occurs first of all in Gen 10:29 among the tribes of Southern Arabia, that were descended from Joktan, between Seba and Havilah, i.e., the Sabaeans and Chaulotaeans. Hence it appears most natural to look for the gold-land of Ophir in Southern Arabia. But as there is still a possibility that the Joktanide tribe of Ophir, or one branch of it, may subsequently have emigrated either to the eastern coast of Africa or even to Hither India, and therefore that the Solomonian Ophir may have been an Arabian colony outside Arabia, the situation of this gold country cannot be determined without further evidence from Gen 10:29 alone; but before arriving at an actual decision, we must first of all examine the arguments that may be adduced in support of each of the three countries named. Sofala in Eastern Africa, in the Mozambique Channel, has nothing in common with the name Ophir, but is the Arabic sufâlah (Heb. שׁפלה), i.e., lowland or sea-coast; and the old Portuguese accounts of the gold mines in the district of Fura there, as well as the pretended walls of the queen of Saba, have far too little evidence to support them, to have any bearing upon the question before us. The supposed connection between the name Ophir and the city of Σουπάρα mentioned by Ptolemaeus, or Οὔππαρα by Periplus (Geogr. min. i. p. 30), in the neighbourhood of Goa, or the shepherd tribe of Abhira, cannot be sustained. Σουπάρα or Sufâra (Edrisi) answers to the Sanscrit Supara, i.e., beautiful coast (cf. Lassen, Ind. Alterthk. i. p. 107); and Οὔππαρα in Periplus is not doubt simply a false reading for Σουπάρα, which has nothing in common with אופיר. And the shepherd tribe of Abhira can hardly come into consideration, because the country which they inhabited, to the south-east of the mouths of the Indus, has no gold. - Again, the hypothesis that India is intended derives just as little support from the circumstance that, with the exception of Gen 10:29, the lxx have always rendered אופיר either Σωφιρά or Σουφίρ, which is, according to the Coptic lexicographers, the name used by the Copts for India, and that Josephus (Ant. viii. 6, 4), who used the Old Test. in the Alexandrian version, has given India as the explanation of Ophir, as it does from this supposed resemblance in the names. For, according to the geographical ideas of the Alexandrians and later Greeks, India reached to Ethiopia, and Ethiopia to India, as Letronne has conclusively proved (see his Mémoire sur une mission arienne, etc., in Mém. de l’Instit. Acad. des Inscript. et Bell. Lettres, t. x. p. 220ff.).

Greater stress has been laid upon the duration of the voyages to Ophir, - namely, that the Tarshish fleet came once in three years, according to 1Ki 10:22, and brought gold, etc. But even Lassen, who follows Heeren, observes quite truly, that “this expression need not be understood as signifying that three whole years intervened between the departure and return, but simply that the fleet returned once in the course of three years.” Moreover, the stay in Ophir is to be reckoned in as part of the time occupied in the voyage; and that this is not to be estimated as a short one, is evident from the fact that, according to Homer, Odyss. xv. 454ff., a Phoenician merchantman lay for a whole year at one of the Cyclades before he had disposed of his wares of every description, in return for their articles of commerce, and filled his roomy vessel. If we add to this the slowness of the voyage, - considering that just as at the present day the Arabian coasters go but very slowly from port to port, so the combined fleet of Hiram and Solomon would not be able to proceed with any greater rapidity, inasmuch as the Tyrians were not better acquainted with the dangerous Arabian Sea than the modern Arabians are, and that the necessary provisions for a long voyage, especially the water for drinking, could not be taken on board all at once, but would have to be taken in at the different landing-places, and that on these occasions some trade would be done, - we can easily understand how a voyage from Eziongeber to the strait of Bab el Mandeb and the return might occupy more than a year,It is no proof to the contrary, that, according to the testimony of ancient writer, as collected by Movers (Phöniz. ii. 3, p. 190ff.), the Phoenicians sailed almost as rapidly as the modern merchant ships; for this evident simply applies to the voyages on the Mediterranean Sea with which they were familiar, and to the period when the Phoenician navigation had reached its fullest development, so that it has no bearing upon the time of Solomon and a voyage upon the Arabian Sea, with which the Phoenicians were hitherto quite unacquainted. - Again, the calculation made by Lassen (ii. pp. 590-1), according to which a voyage from Eziongeber to the mouth of the Indus could have been accomplished in a hundred days, is founded upon the assumption that the Phoenicians were already acquainted with the monsoon and knew what was the best time for the navigation of the Red Sea, - an assumption which can neither be proved nor shown to be probable. so that the time occupied in the voyage as given here cannot furnish any decisive proof that the fleet sailed beyond Southern Arabia to the East Indies.

And lastly, the same remarks apply to the goods brought from Ophir, which many regard as decisive evidence in favour of India. The principal article for which Ophir became so celebrated, viz., the gold, is not found either in Sufâra near Goa, or in the land of Abhira. Even if India be much richer in gold than was formerly supposed (cf. Lassen, ii. p. 592), the rich gold country lies to the north of Cashmir (see Lassen, ii. pp. 603-4). Moreover, not only is it impossible to conceive what goods the Phoenicians can have offered to the Indian merchants for their gold and the other articles named, since large sums of gold were sent to India every year in the Roman times to pay for the costly wares that were imported thence (see Roscher, pp. 53, 54); but it is still less possible to comprehend how the shepherd tribe of Abhira could have come into possession of so much gold as the Ophir fleet brought home. The conjecture of Ritter (Erdk. xiv. p. 399) and Lassen (ii. p. 592), that this tribe had come to the coast not very long before from some country of their own where gold abounded, and that as an uncultivated shepherd tribe they attached but very little value to the gold, so that they parted with it to the Phoenicians for their purple cloths, their works in brass and glass, and for other things, has far too little probability to appear at all admissible. If the Abhira did not know the value of the gold, they would not have brought it in such quantities out of their original home into these new settlements. We should therefore be obliged to assume that they were a trading people, and this would be at variance with all the known accounts concerning this tribe. - As a rule, the gold treasures of Hither Asia were principally obtained from Arabia in the most ancient times. If we leave Havilah (Gen 2:11) out of the account, because its position cannot be determined with certainty, the only other place specially referred to in the Old Testament besides Ophir as being celebrated as a gold country is Saba, in the south-western portion of Yemen. The Sabaeans bring gold, precious stones, and incense (Isa 60:6; Eze 27:22); and the queen of Saba presented Solomon with 120 talents of gold, with perfumes and with precious stones (1Ki 10:10). This agrees with the accounts of the classical writers, who describe Arabia as very rich in gold (cf. Strabo, xvi. 777f. and 784; Diod. Sic. ii. 50, iii. 44; also Bochart, Phaleg, l. ii. c. 27). These testimonies, which we have already given in part at Exo 38:31, are far too distinct to be set aside by the remark that there is no gold to be found in Arabia at the present time. For whilst, on the one hand, the wealth of Arabia in gold may be exhausted, just as Spain no longer yields any silver, on the other hand we know far too little of the interior of Southern Arabia to be able distinctly to maintain that there is no gold in existence there. - Silver, the other metal brought from Ophir, was also found in the land of the Nabataeans, according to Strabo, xvi. p. 784, although the wealth of the ancient world in silver was chiefly derived from Tarshish or Tartessus in Spain (cf. Movers, Phöniz. ii. 3, p. 36ff., where the different places are enumerated in which silver was found). - That precious stones were to be found in Arabia is evident from the passages cited above concerning the Sabaeans. - On the other hand, however, it has been supposed that the remaining articles of Ophir could only have been brought from the East Indies.

According to 1Ki 10:12, the Ophir ships brought a large quantity of אלמגּים עצי (almuggim wood: 2Ch 2:7, אלגּמּים). According to Kimchi (on 2Ch 2:7), the אלמוּג or אלגוּם is arbor rubri coloris, dicta lingua arabica albakam (Arabic ‛l - bqm), vulgo brasilica. This tree, according to Abulfadl (Celsius, Hierob. i. p. 176), is a native of India and Ethiopia; and it is still a question in dispute, whether we are to understand by this the Pterocarpus Santal., from which the true sandal-wood comes, and which is said to grow only in the East Indies on Malabar and Java, or the Caesalpinia Sappan L., a tree which grows in the East Indies, more especially in Ceylon, and also in different parts of Africa, the red wood of which is used in Europe chiefly for dyeing. Moreover the true explanation of the Hebrew name is still undiscovered. The derivation of it from the Sanscrit Valgu, i.e., pulcher (Lassen and Ritter), has been set aside by Gesenius as inappropriate, and mocha, mochâta, which is said to signify sandal-wood in Sanscrit, has been suggested instead. But no evidence has been adduced in its favour, nor is the word to be found in Wilson’s Sanscrit Lexicon. If, however, this derivation were correct, אל would be the Arabic article, and the introduction of this article in connection with the word mocha would be a proof that the sandal-wood, together with its name, came to the Hebrews through merchants who spoke Arabic. - The other articles from Ophir mentioned in 1Ki 10:22 are שׁגהבּים, ὀδόντες ἐλεφάντινοι (lxx), dentes elephantorum or ebur (Vulg.), דפיל ,).gluV( שׁן, elephants’ teeth (Targ.). But however certain the meaning of the word may thus appear, the justification of this meaning is quite as uncertain. In other cases ivory is designated by the simple term שׁן   (1Ki 10:18; 1Ki 22:39; Psa 45:9; Amo 3:15, etc.), whereas Ezekiel (Eze 27:15) calls the whole tusk קרנות שׁן, horns of the tooth. הבּים is said to signify elephants here; and according to Benary it is contracted from האבּים, the Sanscrit word ibha, elephant; according to Ewald, from הלבּים, from the Sanscrit Kalabha; and according to Hitzig, from נהבים = להבים, Libyi; or else שׁגהבּים is a false reading for והבנים שׁן, ivory and ebony, according to Eze 27:15 (see Ges. Thes. p. 1453). Of these four derivations the first two are decidedly wrong: the first, because ibha as a name for the elephant only occurs, according to Weber, in the later Indian writings, and is never used in the earlier writings in this sense (vid., Roediger, Addenda ad Ges. thes. p. 115); the second, because Kalabha does not signify the elephant, but catulum elephanti, before it possesses any teeth available for ivory. The third is a fancy which its originator himself has since given up and the fourth a conjecture, which is not raised to a probability even by the attempt of Böttcher to show that הבּים is a case of backward assimilation from הבנים, because the asyndeton הבּים שׁן between two couples connected by ו is without any analogy, and the passages adduced by Böttcher, viz., Deu 29:22; Jos 15:54., and Even Eze 27:33, are to be taken in quite a different way. -  The rendering of קפים by apes, and the connection of the name not only with the Sanscrit and Malabar kapi, but also with the Greek κῆπος and κῆβος, also κεῖβος, are much surer; but, on the other hand, the assumption that the Greeks, like the Semitic nations, received the word from the Indians along with the animals, is very improbable: for κῆπος in Greek does not denote the ape (πίθηκος) generally, but simply a species of long-tailed apes, the native land of which, according to the testimony of ancient writers, was Ethiopia,Compare Aristoteles, hist. animal. ii. 8: ἔστι δὲ ὁ μέν κῆβος πίθηκος ἔχων οὐράν. Strabo, xvii. p. 812: ἔστι δὲ ὁ κῆπος τὸ μέν πρόσωπον ἐοικὼς Σατύρῳ, τ ̓ ἄλλα δὲ κυνὸς καὶ ἄρκτου μεταξύ· γεννᾶται δ ̓ ἐν Αἰθιοπίᾳ. Plinius, h. n. viii. 19 (28): Iidem (the games of Pompey the Great) ostenderunt ex Aethiopia quas vocant κήπους, quarum pedes posteriores pedibus humanis et cruribus, priores manibus fuere similes. Solinus Polyh. says the same (Bochart, Hieroz. i. lib. iii. c. 31. and the Ethiopian apes are hardly likely to have sprung from India. - And lastly, even in the case of תּכּיּים, according to the ancient versions peacocks, the derivation from the Malabaric or Tamul tôgai or tôghai (cf. Roediger in Ges. Thes. p. 1502) is not placed beyond the reach of doubt.

If, in conclusion, we look through all the articles of commerce that were brought to Jerusalem from the Ophir voyages, apart from the gold and silver, which were not to be found in the land of Abhira, the ivory and ebony (supposing that we ought to read והבנים שׁן for שׁגהבּים) furnish no evidence in support of India, inasmuch as both of them could have been brought from Ethiopia, as even Lassen admits (ii. pp. 554). And even if the words Almuggim, Kophim, and Tucchijim really came from India along with the objects to which they belonged, it would by no means follow with certainty from this alone that Ophir was situated in India. - For since, for example, there are indisputable traces of very early commercial intercourse between India and Hither Asia and Africa, especially Southern Arabia and Ethiopia, reaching far beyond the time of Solomon, the seamen of Hiram and Solomon may have obtained these articles either in Arabia or on the Ethiopian coast. For even if the statements of Herodotus and Strabo, to the effect that the Phoenicians emigrated from the islands of the Erythraean Sea, Tylos (or Tyros?) and Arados, to the Phoenician coast, do not prove that the Phoenicians had already extended their commercial enterprise as far as India even before the twelfth century, as Lassen (ii. 597 and 584-5) supposes; if the Tyrians and Aradians, who were related to them by tribe, still continued to dwell upon the islands of the Persian Gulf, from which they could much more easily find the way to India by sea, - since the historical character of these statement has been disputed by Movers (Phönizier, ii. 1, p. 38ff.) on very weighty grounds; yet it is evident that there was a very early intercourse between East India and Africa, reaching far beyond all historical testimony, from the following well-established facts: that the Egyptians made use of indigo in the dyeing of their stuffs, and this could only have been brought to them from India; that muslins,which were likewise of Indian origin, are found among the material sin which the mummies are enveloped; and that in the graves of the kings of the eighteenth dynasty, who ceased to reign in the year 1476 b.c., there have been discovered vases of Chinese porcelain (cf. Lassen, ii. p. 596). And the intercourse between the southern coast of Arabia and Hither India may have been quite as old, if not older; so that Indian productions may have been brought to Hither Asia by the Sabaeans long before the time of Solomon (vid., Lassen, ii. pp. 593-4, and Movers, Phöniz. ii. 3, pp. 247,256). But the commercial intercourse between Arabia and the opposite coast of Ethiopia, by which African productions reached the trading inhabitants of Arabia, was unquestionably still older than the trade with India. If we weigh well all these points, there is no valid ground for looking outside Arabia for the situation of the Solomonian Ophir. But we shall no doubt be obliged to give up the hope of determining with any greater precision that particular part of the coast of Arabia in which Ophir was situated, inasmuch as hitherto neither the name Ophir nor the existence of gold-fields in Arabia has been established by modern accounts, and moreover the interior of the great Arabian peninsula is still for the most part a terra incognita.If the notice of Eupolemus contained in a fragment in Eusebius (praepar. ev. ix. 30), to the effect that David (a mistake for Solomon) sent miners to the island of Οὐρφῆ (for which Gesenius conjectures that we should read Οὐφρῆ or Οὐφήρ) in the Red Sea, which was rich in gold mines, and that they brought gold thence to Judaea, could be proved to be historical through any earlier testimony, Ophir would have been an island of the Erythraean Sea, either Dahlak inside Bab el Mandeb, or Diu Zokatara (the Sanscrit Dwipa Sukhatara, i.e., the happy island) by the present Cape Guardafui. But this notice is evidently simply a conjecture founded upon the Old Testament, having no historical value.

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, 2 Chron. i. 6, 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 (v. 4, 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 (v. 8, 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 Deut. xxix. 24, 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.

Solomon and Hiram. (b. c. 1001.)

10 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord , and the king's house, 11 (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 twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not. 13 And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day. 14 And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.

What agreement was made between Solomon and Hiram, when the building-work was to be begun, we read before, ch. v. Here we have an account of their fair and friendly parting when the work was done. 1. Hiram made good his bargain to the utmost. He had furnished Solomon with materials for his buildings, according to all his desire (v. 11), and with gold, v. 15. So far was he from envying Solomon's growing greatness and reputation, and being jealous of him, that he helped to magnify him. Solomon's power, with Solomon's wisdom, needs not be dreaded by any of his neighbours. God honours him; therefore Hiram will. 2. Solomon, no doubt, made good his bargain, and gave Hiram food for his household, as was agreed, ch. v. 9. But here we are told that, over and above that, he gave him twenty cities (small ones we may suppose, like those mentioned here, v. 19) in the land of Galilee, v. 11. It should seem, these were not allotted to any of the tribes of Israel (for the border of Asher came up to them, Josh. xix. 27, which intimates that it did not include them), but continued in the hands of the natives till Solomon made himself master of them, and then made a present of them to Hiram. It becomes those that are great and good to be generous. Hiram came to see these cities, and did not like them (v. 12): They pleased him not. He called the country the land of Cabul, a Phoenician word (says Josephus) which signifies displeasing, v. 13. He therefore returned them to Solomon (as we find, 2 Chron. viii. 2), who repaired them, and then caused the children of Israel to inhabit them, which intimates that before they did not; but, when Solomon received back what he had given, no doubt he honourably gave Hiram an equivalent in something else. But what shall we think of this? Did Solomon act meanly in giving Hiram what was not worth his acceptance? Or was Hiram humoursome and hard to please? I am willing to believe it was neither the one nor the other. The country was truly valuable, and so were the cities in it, but not agreeable to Hiram's genius. The Tyrians were merchants, trading men, that lived in fine houses, and became rich by navigation, but knew not how to value a country that was fit for corn and pasture (that was business that lay out of their way); and therefore Hiram desired Solomon to take them again, he knew not what to do with them, and, if he would please to gratify him, let it be in his own element, by becoming his partner in trade, as we find he did, v. 27. Hiram, who was used to the clean streets of Tyre, could by no means agree with the miry lanes in the land of Cabul, whereas the best lands have commonly the worst roads through them. See how the providence of God suits both the accommodation of this earth to the various dispositions of men and the dispositions of men to the various accommodations of the earth, and all for the good of mankind in general. Some take delight in husbandry, and wonder what pleasure sailors can take on a rough sea; others take as much delight in navigation, and wonder what pleasure husbandmen can take in a dirty country, like the land of Cabul. It is so in many other instances, in which we may observe the wisdom of him whose all souls are and all lands.

Solomon's Buildings; Solomon's Greatness. (b. c. 991.)

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.   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. 17 And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether, 18 And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, 19 And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 20 And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel, 21 Their 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 bondservice unto this day. 22 But 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, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen. 23 These were the chief of the officers that were over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, which bare rule over the people that wrought in the work. 24 But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo. 25 And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the Lord , and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the Lord . So he finished the house. 26 And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom. 27 And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

We have here a further account of Solomon's greatness.

I. His buildings. He raised a great levy both of men and money, because he projected a great deal of building, which would both employ many hands and put him to a vast expense, v. 15. And he was a wise builder, who sat down first, and counted the cost, and would not begin to build till he found himself able to finish. Perhaps there was some complaint of the heaviness of the taxes, which the historian excuses from the greatness of his undertakings. He raised it, not for war (as other princes), which would spend the blood of his subjects, but for building, which would require only their labour and purses. Perhaps David observed Solomon's genius to lie towards building, and foresaw he would have his head and hands full of it, when he penned that song of degrees for Solomon, which begins, Except the Lord build the house, those labour in vain that build it (Ps. cxxvii. 1), directing him to acknowledge God in all his ways, and, by prayer and faith in his providence, to take him along with him in all his designs of this kind. And Solomon verily began his work at the right end, for he built God's house first, and finished that before he began his own; and then God blessed him, and he prospered in all his other buildings. If we begin with God, he will go on with us. Let the first-fruits be his, and the after-fruits will the more comfortably be ours, Matt. vi. 33. Solomon built a church first and then he was enabled to build houses, and cities, and walls. Those consult not their own interest that defer to the last what they design for pious uses. The further order in Solomon's buildings is observable. God's house first for religion, then his own for his own convenience, then a house for his wife, to which she removed as soon as it was ready for her (v. 24), then Millo, the town-house or guild-hall, then the wall of Jerusalem, the royal city, then some cities of note and strength in the country, which were decayed and unfortified, Hazor, Megiddo, &c. As he rebuilt these at his own charge, the inhabitants would be not only his subjects, but his tenants, which would increase the revenues of the crown for the benefit of his successors. Among the rest, he built Gezer, which Pharaoh took out of the hands of the Canaanites, and made a present of to his daughter, Solomon's wife, v. 16. See how God maketh the earth to help the woman. Solomon was not himself a warlike prince, but the king of Egypt, who was, took cities for him to build. Then he built cities for convenience, for store, for his chariots, and for his horsemen, v. 19. And, lastly, he built for pleasure in Lebanon, for his hunting perhaps, or other diversions there. Let piety begin, and profit proceed, and leave pleasure to the last.

II. His workmen and servants. In doing such great works, he must needs employ abundance of workmen. The honour of great men is borrowed from their inferiors, who do that which they have the credit of. 1. Solomon employed those who remained of the conquered and devoted nations in all the slavish work, v. 20, 21. We may suppose that they renounced their idolatry and submitted to Solomon's government, so that he could not, in honour, utterly destroy them, and they were so poor that he could not levy money on them; therefore he served himself of their labour. Herein he observed God's law (Lev. xxv. 44, Thy bondmen shall be of the heathen), and fulfilled Noah's curse upon Canaan, A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren, Gen. ix. 25. 2. He employed Israelites in the more creditable services (v. 22, 23): Of them he made no bondmen, for they were God's freemen, but he made them soldiers and courtiers, and gave them offices, as he saw them qualified, among his chariots and horsemen, appointing some to support the service of the inferior labourers. Thus he preserved the dignity and liberty of Israel and honoured their relation to God as a kingdom of priests.

III. His piety and devotion (v. 25): Three times in a year he offered burnt-offerings extraordinary (namely, at the three yearly feasts, the passover, pentecost, and feast of tabernacles) in honour of the divine institution, besides what he offered at other times, both statedly and upon special occasions. With his sacrifices he burnt incense, not himself (that was king Uzziah's crime), but the priest for him, at his charge, and for his particular use. It is said, He offered on the altar which he himself built. He took care to build it, and then, 1. He himself made use of it. Many will assist the devotions of others that neglect their own. Solomon did not think his building an altar would excuse him from sacrificing, but rather engage him the more to it. 2. He himself had the benefit and comfort of it. Whatever pains we take, for the support of religion, to the glory of God and the edification of others, we ourselves are likely to have the advantage of it.

IV. His merchandise. He built a fleet of trading ships at Ezion-geber (v. 26), a port on the coast of the Red Sea, the furthest stage of the Israelites when they wandered in the wilderness, Num. xxxiii. 35. Probably that wilderness now began to be peopled by the Edomites, which it was not then. To them this port had belonged, but, David having subdued the Edomites, it now pertained to the crown of Judah. The fleet traded to Ophir in the East Indies, supposed to be that which is now called Ceylon. Gold was the commodity traded for, substantial wealth. It should seem, Solomon had before been Hiram's partner, or put a venture into his ships, which made him a rich return of 120 talents (v. 14), which encouraged him to build a fleet of his own. The success of others in any employment should quicken our industry; for in all labour there is profit. Solomon sent his own servants as factors, and merchants, and super-cargoes, but hired Tyrians for sailors, for they had knowledge of the sea, v. 27. Thus one nation needs another, Providence so ordering it that there may be mutual commerce and assistance; for not only as Christians, but as men, we are members one of another. The fleet brought home to Solomon 420 talents of gold, v. 28. Canaan, the holy land, the glory of all lands, had no gold in it, which teaches us that that part of the wealth of this world which is for hoarding and trading is not the best part of it, but that which is more immediately for the present support and comfort of life, our own and others'; such were the productions of Canaan. Solomon got much by his merchandise, but, it should seem, David got much more by his conquests. What were Solomon's 420 talents to David's 100,000 talents of gold? 1 Chron. xxii. 14; xxix. 4. Solomon got much by his merchandise, and yet has directed us to a better trade, within reach of the poorest, having assured us from his own experience of both that the merchandise of wisdom is better than the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold, Prov. iii. 14.