Solomon’s Later Building Projects
8 At the end of twenty years during which Solomon had built the Lord’s temple and his own palace—
20 years later, after Solomon built God a house........
It took 7 years to build God's house and 13 years to finish Solomon's house.
2 Solomon had rebuilt the cities Hiram[a] gave him and settled Israelites there—
Solomon built rebuilt cities given to by king Hiram, and Israel lived there.
3 Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and seized it.
Hamath-zobah was a place of uncertain location in Aram or Ancient Israel. According to 2 Chronicles 8:3, it was conquered by Solomon and thus figured in his only military engagement alluded to in the Books of Chronicles. It is not referred to in the parallel or source passage in 1 Kings 9.Hamath and Zobah were likely adjoining kingdoms, whence the compound name "Hamath-Zobah", an idea supported by mention of wars between Hadadezer of Zobah and Toi of Hamath in 2 Samuel 8:9-10.
4 He built Tadmor in the wilderness along with all the storage cities that he built in Hamath.
He built a city named Tadmor in the wilderness, along with other cities he used as storage areas.
5 He built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon—fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars—
He continued building.
6 Baalath, all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, all the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and everything Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.
Solomon built everything he could think of; from storage to cavalry, whatever he thought he needed, he built it.
7 As for all the peoples who remained of the Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not from Israel— 8 their descendants who remained in the land after them, those the Israelites had not completely destroyed—Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is this way today.
Anyone who was not an Israelite was given jobs without pay.
9 But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to be slaves for his work; they were soldiers, commanders of his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.
Under Solomon's rule, Israelites were not slaves. This went against the laws God gave Moses. No one had the right to make men slaves.
10 These were King Solomon’s deputies: 250 who supervised the people.
11 Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh from the city of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the house[b] of King David of Israel because the places the ark of the Lord has come into are holy.”
Solomon married a woman from Egypt. He moved her into her own house away from the temple of God. He states to her that it was unholy to have her live in the house of the Lord. However, it is okay that she lives down the street. If it is wrong in the house of God, it is wrong everywhere. Moving sin around does not qualify it to become right.
Public Worship Established at the Temple
12 At that time Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the Lord’s altar he had made in front of the portico. 13 He followed the daily requirement for offerings according to the commandment of Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons, and the three annual appointed festivals: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Shelters.14 According to the ordinances of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests over their service, of the Levites over their responsibilities to offer praise and to minister before the priests following the daily requirement, and of the gatekeepers by their divisions concerning each temple gate, for this had been the command of David, the man of God. 15 They did not turn aside from the king’s command regarding the priests and the Levites concerning any matter or concerning the treasuries. 16 All of Solomon’s work was carried out from the day the foundation was laid for the Lord’s temple until it was finished. So the Lord’s temple was completed.
Solomon is now living a double life. He is doing what he wants to do, and then he is trying to follow Moses's directions for the priesthood.
Solomon’s Fleet
17 At that time Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the seashore in the land of Edom.
18 So Hiram[c] sent ships to him by his servants and crews of experienced seamen. They went with Solomon’s servants to Ophir, took from there seventeen tons[d] of gold, and delivered it to King Solomon.
Solomon, like many of us today, lives for God part-time. We obey God when we know he is present or in a particular place we think he is attending. We leave our churches and return to our routine way of life. We do not consider God until it's God's turn or when it is time to repeat the same weekly cycle.
We live our regular way of life, like Solomon, with no need for guidance.
Solomon married a woman without God's authorization, he started businesses without God's direction, and he had others working under his rule doing what he said without God's instructions. However, Solomon made sure when Feast Days came, he had every offering in order; again, in the same manner, we operate currently. This chapter summarizes what Solomon did and what we do with the option to change. God does not engage people in a run-down operation. Any well-managed company has rules that must be followed. God is the highest Supervisor known to earth and its inhabitants. God makes rules because he knows what is in the best interest of his company. His company is Us!
Many of us say, "God is still working on me." We like using this slogan when it is convenient for us. We must not deceive ourselves with this phrase. God's Word will not allow us to continue sinning and still be under his payroll. We do not change God's curriculum to fit our ungodly behaviors and sins. If we are going to say that we are holy, we must demonstrate it today. We do not have time for childish conversations and slogans. We must show that God can change people.
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