1 Kings 9

1 Kings 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 1 Kings 9:11 , all that is contained between 1 Kings 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 ( 2 Chronicles 7:12 ). The strain of it corresponds to this view, for it consists of direct answers to his solemn inaugural prayer ( 1 Kings 9:3 is in answer to 1 Kings 8:29 , 1 Kings 9:4 1 Kings 9:5 is in answer to 1 Kings 8:25 1 Kings 8:26 , 9:6-9 to 1 Kings 8:33-46 ; see also Deuteronomy 29:22-24 ).

8, 9. 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 ( 1 Kings 9:6 ).

1 Kings 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 ( 1 Kings 7:1 , 2 Chronicles 8:1 ). This verse is only a recapitulation of 1 Kings 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 ( Genesis 15:18 , Joshua 1:4 ), they had never been conquered till then, and were inhabited by Canaanite heathens ( Judges 4:2-13 , 2 Kings 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 ( 1 Kings 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 ( 2 Chronicles 8:2 ).