1 Kings 9:21 Komentář

In this chapter we have, I. The answer which God, in a vision, gave to Solomon's prayer, and the terms he settled with him (Kg1 9:1-9). II. The interchanging of grateful kindnesses between Solomon and Hiram (Kg1 9:10-14). III. His workmen and buildings (Kg1 9:15-24). IV. His devotion (Kg1 9:25). V. His trading navy (Kg1 9:26-28).

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, Kg1 9:1 that passed between him and Hiram king of Tyre, Kg1 9:10, the places that Solomon built or repaired, Kg1 9:15, the Canaanitish people that became bondmen to him, and the officers he had among the children of Israel, Kg1 9:20 the removal of Pharaoh's daughter to the house built for her, Kg1 9:24. Solomon's attention to religious services, Kg1 9:25 and the navy of ships he employed, which brought him in great riches, Kg1 9:26.

These were the chief of the officers over Solomon's work,.... In building the above houses and cities: five hundred and fifty which bore rule over the people that wrought in the work; in Ch2 8:10 they are said to be but two hundred and fifty; now it may be observed, as is by the Jewish writers, that there were three sorts of those rulers; the lowest rank and order of them consisted of 3300, the next of three hundred which were over the 3300, and being numbered with them made 3600, Ch2 2:18 and the highest rank of them were two hundred and fifty, and the middlemost and highest being joined together, as they are here, made five hundred and fifty. Abarbinel reconciles the places thus, the two hundred and fifty were only over those that wrought in the temple; and the five hundred and fifty here were those that were over such that were employed in the various parts of the kingdom.

The Lord appears a second time to Solomon, and assures him that he had heard his prayer; and that he would establish his worship for ever in that temple, and him and his successors on the throne of Israel, provided he and they would keep his statutes and judgments, Kg1 9:1-5; but if they should transgress and forsake the Lord, then they should be cast off, the temple itself abandoned, and their enemies permitted to prevail over them, Kg1 9:6-9. Solomon having finished the temple and the king's house, about which he was employed twenty years, and having received assistance from Hiram king of Tyre, he gave him in return twenty cities in Galilee, with which he was not pleased, Kg1 9:10-14. Solomon's levies, buildings, and the persons employed, Kg1 9:15-23. Pharaoh's daughter comes to the city of David, Kg1 9:24. He sacrifices thrice a year at the temple, Kg1 9:25. Solomon's navy, and the gold they brought from Ophir, Kg1 9:26-28.

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.

GOD'S COVENANT IN A SECOND VISION WITH SOLOMON. (Kg1 9:1-9) And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house--This first verse is connected with Kg1 9:11, all that is contained between Kg1 9:2-10 being parenthetical.

The Answer of the Lord to Solomon's Dedicatory Prayer (cf. Ch2 7:11-22). - Kg1 9:1, Kg1 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 Kg1 3:5), to promise him that his prayer should be answered. For the point of time, see at Kg1 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."