1 Kings 9:21

21 their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Yisra'el were not able utterly to destroy, of them did Shlomo raise a levy of bondservants 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 store-cities that Shlomo had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and that which Shlomo desired to build for his pleasure in Yerushalayim, and in Levanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

20 As for all the people who were left of the Amori, the Hitti, the Perizzi, the Hivvi, and the Yevusi, who were not of the children of Yisra'el;

21 their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Yisra'el were not able utterly to destroy, of them did Shlomo raise a levy of bondservants to this day.

22 But of the children of Yisra'el did Shlomo make no bondservants; but they were the men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.

23 These were the chief officers who were over Shlomo's work, five hundred fifty, who bore rule over the people who labored in the work.