1 Kings 9

Solomon again meets God

1 Now once Solomon finished building the LORD's temple, the royal palace, and everything else he wanted to accomplish,

2 the LORD appeared to him a second time in the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

3 The LORD said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your cry to me. I have set apart this temple that you built, to put my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

4 As for you, if you walk before me just as your father David did, with complete dedication and honesty, and if you do all that I have commanded, and keep my regulations and case laws,

5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, just as I promised your father David, ‘You will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.'

6 However, if you or your sons turn away from following me and don't observe the commands and regulations that I gave you, and go to serve other gods, and worship them,

7 then I will remove Israel from the land I gave them and I will reject the temple that I dedicated for my name. Israel will become a joke, insulted by everyone.

8 Everyone who passes by this temple, so lofty now, will be shocked and will whistle, wondering, Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and this temple?

9 The answer will come: Because they deserted the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt's land. They embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them. That is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them."

Solomon’s buildings and prosperity

10 It took twenty years for Solomon to build the two structures, the LORD's temple and the royal palace.

11 King Hiram of Tyre gave Solomon all the cedar, pinewood, and gold that he wanted. Then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the region of Galilee.

12 Hiram went from Tyre to inspect the towns Solomon had given him. They didn't seem adequate in his view.

13 So Hiram remarked, "My brother, are these towns you've given me good for anything?" The cities are thus called the land of Cabul to this very day.

14 But Hiram sent the king one hundred twenty gold kikkars, nevertheless.

15 This is the story of the labor gang that King Solomon put together to build the LORD's temple and his own palace, as well as the stepped structure, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer: (

16 Pharaoh, Egypt's king, had attacked and captured Gezer, setting it on fire. He killed the Canaanites who lived in the city and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.)

17 Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth-horon,

18 Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness (within the land),

19 along with all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, as well as the cities used for storing chariots and cavalry and whatever he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his kingdom.

20 Any non-Israelite people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—

21 that is, the descendants of such people who were still in the land because the Israelites weren't able to wipe them out—Solomon forced into the labor gangs that are still in existence today.

22 However, Solomon didn't force the Israelites to work as slaves; instead, they became warriors, his servants, his leaders, his officers, and those in charge of his chariots and cavalry.

23 These were the chief officers over Solomon's work: five hundred fifty had charge of the people who did the work.

24 When Pharaoh's daughter went up from David's City to the palace he had built for her, Solomon built the stepped structure.

25 Three times a year Solomon would offer entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices on the altar that he had built for the LORD. Along with this he would burn incense to the LORD. In this way, he completed the temple.

26 King Solomon built a fleet near Eloth in Ezion-geber, on the coast of the Reed Sea in the land of Edom.

27 Hiram sent his expert sailors on the fleet along with Solomon's workers.

28 They went to Ophir for four hundred twenty kikkars of gold, which they brought back to King Solomon.

1 Kings 9 Commentary

Chapter 9

God's answer to Solomon. (1-9) The presents of Solomon and Hiram. (10-14) Solomon's buildings, His trade. (15-28)

Verses 1-9 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.

Verses 10-14 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.

Verses 15-28 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, ( Proverbs 3:14 ) .

Footnotes

• [a]. Or will become high; OL, Syr, Tg will become a ruin
• [b]. Heb uncertain
• [c]. Traditionally Red Sea

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 9

This chapter relates a second vision Solomon had at Gibeon, in which he received an answer to his prayer in the preceding chapter, 1Ki 9:1-9 that passed between him and Hiram king of Tyre, 1Ki 9:10-14, the places that Solomon built or repaired, 1Ki 9:15-19, the Canaanitish people that became bondmen to him, and the officers he had among the children of Israel, 1Ki 9:20-23 the removal of Pharaoh's daughter to the house built for her, 1Ki 9:24. Solomon's attention to religious services, 1Ki 9:25 and the navy of ships he employed, which brought him in great riches, 1Ki 9:26-28.