1 Kings 9:21

21 Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bond-service to this day.

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 And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

20 [And] all the people [that were] left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who [were] not of the children of Israel,

21 Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bond-service to this day.

22 But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bond-men: but they [were] men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen.

23 These [were] the chief of the officers that [were] over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, who bore rule over the people that wrought in the work.