1 Kings 9:21

21 but they had descendants who were still in the land. Solomon drafted them for slave labor. (They are still [slaves] today.)

1 Kings 9:21 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 9:21

Their children that were left after them in the land
The posterity of those left unsubdued in the times of Joshua:

whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy;
in later times, though now it is thought by some it was not for want of power, but because they had made a covenant with them, as the Gibeonites did, and therefore they could not, because it would have been a breach of covenant to have destroyed them; see ( 2 Chronicles 8:8 ) ,

upon these did Solomon levy a tribute of bond service unto this day;
not a tribute of money, which being poor they were not able to pay, but of service, and which being once laid on was continued, and even to the time of the writing of this book.

1 Kings 9:21 In-Context

19 all the storage cities that he owned. He also built cities for his chariots, cities for his war horses, and whatever [else] he wanted to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or the entire territory that he governed.

20 The Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites had been left [in the land] because the Israelites had not been able to claim them for God by destroying them. They were not Israelites,

21 but they had descendants who were still in the land. Solomon drafted them for slave labor. (They are still [slaves] today.)

22 But Solomon didn't make any of the Israelites slaves. Instead, they were soldiers, officials, officers, generals, and commanders of his chariot and cavalry units.

23 These were the officers in charge of Solomon's projects: 550 foremen for the people who did the work.