1 - 9 Answer From the LORD
1 Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all that Solomon desired to do, 2 that the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 4 As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you [and] will keep My statutes and My ordinances, 5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 “But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore the LORD has brought all this adversity on them.’”
When Solomon has finished building (verse 1), the LORD appears to him again (verse 2). It will be the twenty-fourth year of his government. He has been building for twenty years (verse 10). He has built the temple in seven years, which he began in the fourth year of his reign, and then he has built his house in thirteen years. He is here in the second part of his government and the decline of his government has already begun. The freshness of the beginning is no longer there. Things have come into Solomon’s life that will lead him to a fall.
The LORD appears for the second time to Solomon. He previously appeared to him at Gibeon, now He appears to him, as it seems, in Jerusalem. At His first appearance He told Solomon to ask what he wanted. Now, after so many years of prosperity, He lets him know what his responsibility is.
The LORD returns to his prayer from the eleventh year of his reign, the prayer at the dedication of the temple. Now, thirteen years later, the answer comes. The LORD first says to him that He has heard his prayer and supplication. It is a great encouragement for everyone who prays and supplicates to know that God hears prayer. The LORD reminds Solomon that He consecrated the temple by establishing His Name there forever (cf. Deu 12:11a). Solomon also asked if the eyes of the LORD will always be focused on it (1Kgs 8:29). The answer of the LORD goes further. He says that His eyes and His heart will always be there.
Then He reminds Solomon of his responsibility. The throne of Solomon will be established when he stays in the ways of the LORD. There is an “if” in verse 4 and verse 6, both for Solomon and for the whole people. That is the side of responsibility. God warns them to keep His commandments and not to follow any other gods. If they do not listen, He must cut them off from the land, and His temple He will cast out of His sight so that it becomes a mockery (Deu 28:37,45,63).
All who will see the destroyed temple will ask why (Deu 29:23-26). The answer is: because the people have left the LORD. How about the promises, then, is God’s business and not the business of an unfaithful people.
The words that Solomon prayed for the people in view of their deviation now come to him personally. What one proclaims oneself, returns to one’s own head. That should not change the preaching, but keep the preacher. It comes down to the fact that someone must be what he preaches. All the kings after him have experienced that. It also applies to us, because the kingdom is also entrusted to us.
10 - 14 Cities for Hiram
10 It came about at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king’s house 11 (Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold according to all his desire), then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 So Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they did not please him. 13 He said, “What are these cities which you have given me, my brother?” So they were called the land of Cabul to this day. 14 And Hiram sent to the king 120 talents of gold.
After Solomon has finished the two houses he has built, he gives twenty cities to Hiram king of Tyre. Possibly Solomon borrowed gold and gave twenty cities as security. With this he made God’s inheritance smaller. They are cities in the promised land and Hiram cannot appreciate them. It seems that Hiram returned the cities, probably because Solomon paid his debt (2Chr 8:2).
Hiram did help with the building of the temple, but he has no interest in it, nor in the cities that Solomon gave him. He even despises the cities, which is evident from the name he gives to them. “Kabul” literally means ’as good as nothing’. Someone can be at work for the people of God, the church, by working on a certain work, but still have no interest for it. There is then a participation, but there is no relation, there is no taste of the heavenly land.
15 - 24 The Buildings of Solomon
15 Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon levied to build the house of the LORD, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 [For] Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it [as] a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the lower Beth-horon 18 and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land [of Judah], 19 and all the storage cities which Solomon had, even the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and all that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule. 20 [As for] all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel, 21 their descendants who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel were unable to destroy utterly, from them Solomon levied forced laborers, even to this day. 22 But Solomon did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen. 23 These [were] the chief officers who [were] over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people doing the work. 24 As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the city of David to her house which [Solomon] had built for her, then he built the Millo.
Solomon has built a lot. He strengthens cities and builds new ones. Everything he desires to build (verses 1,19), he builds. This building spirit goes further than just building the temple and his palace. These are buildings that are according to God’s will. The desire to build other buildings does not have to be wrong at first. It seems, however, that he has gone too far in his building-lust and that in the end it does not give him any peace (Ecc 2:4-11). It may be that we already have a warning here that his heart is no longer completely focused on the LORD. Thus we too can begin in the Spirit, but end in the flesh (Gal 3:3).
His lust to build also means an enormous burden for the people who have to contribute to this in the form of taxes, under which they sigh (1Kgs 12:4). This will not happen when the Lord Jesus reigns in Zion, for He says: “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Mt 11:30).
What Pharaoh does (verse 16), the Israelites should have done. Wherever Solomon builds, he encounters remaining Canaanites. The time of extermination is over; it should have happened under Joshua and in the time that followed. It can also be the same in the church. The time for action may be over and the only thing that sometimes remains is to bear the consequences.
But Solomon does make the enemies slaves of the Israelites. This does not apply to the children of God’s people. They are men of war to fight for the LORD, and servants to serve the LORD. The number and function of the chief officers is given.
Verse 24 points back to a previous event (1Kgs 3:1) and rectifies what happened there. With the departure of Pharaoh’s daughter from the city of David, there is room for the building of the Millo, which is done by Solomon. The Millo is a fortress near Jerusalem.
25 The Offerings of Solomon
25 Now three times in a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to the LORD, burning incense with them [on the altar] which [was] before the LORD. So he finished the house.
This verse also points back to 1 Kings 3 and rectifies what happened there, though under the LORD’s tolerance, not in the right way (1Kgs 3:2-4). As prescribed Solomon offers three times a year: “the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths” (2Chr 8:13). He offers not on the golden altar, but on the bronze altar, not in the temple, but before the temple.
The last part of the verse – “so he finished the house” – means that by bringing the sacrifices before the LORD he does full justice to the house. The house is finished with a view to bring sacrifices. That may appeal to us. The church is a spiritual house to bring spiritual sacrifices (1Pet 2:5). If we do that, together with others, we do full justice to the house .
26 - 28 The Fleet of Solomon
26 King Solomon also built a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 And Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon. 28 They went to Ophir and took four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought [it] to King Solomon.
Hiram also helped Solomon with the building of ships and delivered crew familiar with the sea. The ships are only mentioned here as means of transport for gold, which is taken from Ofir.
There are two other places in Scripture of which the names are linked to gold: Havilah (Gen 2:11) and Sheba (Psa 72:15; 1Kgs 10:10; Isa 60:6; Eze 27:22). Havilah reminds us of paradise and Sheba determines us at the time of the realm of peace. Through the gold that Solomon gets from Ophir, the idea arises that the early days of Solomon can be compared to the glory of paradise and that of the empire of peace.