1 Kings 9:25 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.

And Hiram sent in his navy his servants,.... And, according to Ch2 8:18, ships also but how he could send them from Tyre, which lay in the Mediterranean sea, to the above ports in the Red sea, without going a great way round, is not easy to conceive. Perhaps, as Gussetins conjectures (c), Hiram had a port in the Red sea for building and sending out ships, for the sake of his eastern navigation, and from thence he sent them to Solomon's ports in the same sea; but if what R. Japhet (d) observes is true, that the Red sea is mixed with the sea of Joppa by means of the river Rhinocurura, as is remarked by a learned man (e) and who approves of the observation, and thinks it does not deserve the censure Dr. Lightfoot (f) passes on it. If this, I say, can be supported, the difficulty is removed: so Abarbinel asserts (g), that a branch of the Nile flows into the Red sea: and another, passing through Alexandria, runs into the Mediterranean sea. This is the first navy of ships we read of; in the construction of which, as well as in the art of navigation, the Tyrians no doubt were greatly assisting to Solomon's servants, and which appears by what follows; and they are said (h) to be the first that made use of ships; and the invention of ships of burden, or merchant ships, such as these were, is by Pliny (i) ascribed to Hippus the Tyrian: and the Tyrians were famous for merchandise, which they could not carry on with foreign nations without shipping; see Isa 23:8, the servants Hiram sent in Solomon's navy were shipmen that had knowledge of the sea; of sea coasts and ports, of the manner of guiding and managing ships at sea, and of the whole art of navigation, so far as then known, for which the Tyrians were famous; see Eze 27:3, with the servants of Solomon; to instruct and assist them in naval affairs, they not having been used thereunto. (c) Ebr. Comment p. 628. (d) In Aben Ezra in Jon. ii. 5. (e) Texelii Phoenix, l. 3. c. 6. p. 243, 244. (f) Miscellanies, c. 18. vol. 1. p. 1002, 1003. (g) Apud Manasseh, Spes Israelis, sect. 2. p. 20. (h) "Prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyros", Catullus. (i) Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 56.

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.

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.

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."