2 Chronicles 8

2Ch 8:1-6.

SOLOMON'S

BUILDINGS.

2. cities which Huram had restored . . . Solomon built

them, &c.--These cities lay in the northwest of Galilee. Though

included within the limits of the promised land, they had never been

conquered. The right of occupying them Solomon granted to Huram, who,

after consideration, refused them as unsuitable to the commercial

habits of his subjects (see on

1Ki 9:11).

Solomon, having wrested them from the possession of the Canaanite

inhabitants, repaired them and filled them with a colony of

Hebrews.

3-6. And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah--Hamath was on the

Orontes, in Cœle-Syria. Its king, Toi, had been the ally of

David; but from the combination, Hamath and Zobah, it would appear that

some revolution had taken place which led to the union of these two

petty kingdoms of Syria into one. For what cause the resentment of

Solomon was provoked against it, we are not informed, but he sent an

armed force which reduced it. He made himself master also of Tadmor,

the famous Palmyra in the same region. Various other cities along the

frontiers of his extended dominions he repaired and fitted up, either

to serve as store-places for the furtherance of his commercial

enterprises, or to secure his kingdom from foreign invasion (see on

2Ch 1:14;

1Ki 9:15).

2Ch 8:7-11.

THE

CANAANITES

MADE

TRIBUTARIES.

7. all the people that were left, &c.--The descendants of the

Canaanites who remained in the country were treated as war prisoners,

being obliged to "pay tribute or to serve as galley slaves"

(2Ch 2:18),

while the Israelites were employed in no works but such as were of an

honorable character.

10. two hundred and fifty that bare rule--(Compare

1Ki 9:23).

It is generally agreed that the text of one of these passages is

corrupt.

11. Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David

unto the house that he had built for her--On his marriage with the

Egyptian princess at the beginning of his reign, he assigned her a

temporary abode in the city of David, that is, Jerusalem, until a

suitable palace for his wife had been erected. While that palace was in

progress, he himself lodged in the palace of David, but he did not

allow her to occupy it, because he felt that she being a heathen

proselyte, and having brought from her own country an establishment of

heathen maid-servants, there would have been an impropriety in her

being domiciled in a mansion which was or had been hallowed by the

reception of the ark. It seems she was received on her arrival into his

mother's abode

(So 3:4; 8:2).

2Ch 8:15-18.

SOLOMON'S

FESTIVAL

SACRIFICES.

15. they departed not from the commandment of the king--that is, David,

in any of his ordinances, which by divine authority he established.

unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the

treasures--either in regulating the courses of the priests and Levites,

or in the destination of his accumulated treasures to the construction

and adornment of the temple.

17. Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth--These two maritime

ports were situated at the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, now called the

Gulf of Akaba. Eloth is seen in the modern Akaba, Ezion-geber in El

Gudyan [ROBINSON].

Solomon, determined to cultivate the arts of peace,

was sagacious enough to perceive that his kingdom could become great and

glorious only by encouraging a spirit of commercial enterprise among his

subjects; and, accordingly, with that in mind he made a contract with

Huram for ships and seamen to instruct his people in navigation.

18. Huram sent him . . . ships--either sent him

ship-men, able seamen, overland; or, taking the word "sent" in a

looser sense, supplied him, that is, built him

ships--namely, in docks at Eloth (compare

1Ki 9:26, 27).

This navy of Solomon was manned by Tyrians, for Solomon had no seamen

capable of performing distant expeditions. The Hebrew fishermen, whose

boats plied on the Sea of Tiberias or coasted the shores of the

Mediterranean, were not equal to the conducting of large vessels laden

with valuable cargoes on long voyages and through the wide and

unfrequented ocean.

four hundred and fifty talents of gold--(Compare

1Ki 9:28).

The text in one of these passages is corrupt.