1 Kings 9

Chapter context

What is happening in 1 Kings 9?

templewisdomidolatrydivision

1 Kings 9 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as temple building and royal splendor. First Kings tells of Solomon’s reign and temple, the split between north and south, and the rise of prophetic confrontation through Elijah. Read this chapter with the wider themes of temple, wisdom, and idolatry in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do, ² That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. ³ And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. ⁴ And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: ⁵ Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. ⁶ But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: ⁷ Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: ⁸ And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? ⁹ And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil. ¹⁰ And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, ¹¹ (Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹² And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not. ¹³ And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day. ¹⁴ And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold. ¹⁵ And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶ For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷ And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether, ¹⁸ And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, 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, which 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 bondservice unto this day. ²² But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: 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, which bare rule over the people that wrought in the work. ²⁴ But Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo. ²⁵ And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the LORD, and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the house. ²⁶ And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom. ²⁷ And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸ And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

Study helps

Glossary

Gibeon Place v. 2: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: El Jib.
David Person v. 4-5, 24: Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam. 17:25 .
Egypt Place v. 9, 16: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Galilee Place v. 11: Biblical region. Modern identification: Galilee.
Tyre Place v. 11-12: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tyre.
Cabul Place v. 13: How little! as nothing. (1. ) A town on the eastern border of Asher ( Josh. 19:27 ), probably one of the towns given by Solomon to Hiram; the modern Kabul, some 8 miles east of Accho, on the very borders of Galilee.
Gezer Place v. 15-17: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tel Gezer.
Hazor Place v. 15: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tel Hazor.
Jerusalem Place v. 15, 19: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Jerusalem.
Megiddo Place v. 15: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Tel Megiddo.
Millo Place v. 15, 24: Biblical fortification. Modern identification: Jerusalem.
City People v. 16, 24: The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain ( Gen. 4:17 ). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).
Lower Beth-horon Place v. 17: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Beit Ur al Tahta.
Baalath Place v. 18: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Al Maghar.
Tamar Place v. 18: Palm, a city built by Solomon “in the wilderness” ( 2 Chr. 8:4 ). Modern identification: En Hazeva.
Lebanon Place v. 19: Biblical region. Modern identification: Jezzine.
Amorites People v. 20: Highlanders, or hillmen, the name given to the descendants of one of the sons of Canaan ( Gen. 14:7 ), called Amurra or Amurri in the Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions.
Perizzites People v. 20: Villagers; dwellers in the open country, the Canaanitish nation inhabiting the fertile regions south and south-west of Carmel.
City of David Place v. 24: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: City of David.
Edom Place v. 26: Biblical region. Modern identification: Buseira.
Elath Place v. 26: Grove; trees, ( Deut. 2:8 ), also in plural form Eloth ( 1 Kings 9:26 , etc. ); called by the Greeks and Romans Elana; a city of Idumea, on the east, i. e., the Elanitic, gulf, or the Gulf of Akabah, of the Red Sea. Modern identification: Aqaba.
Ezion-geber Place v. 26: The giant’s backbone (so called from the head of a mountain which runs out into the sea), an ancient city and harbour at the north-east end of the Elanitic branch of the Red Sea. Modern identification: Jezirat Faraun.
Red Sea Place v. 26: Biblical body of water. Modern identification: Gulf of Aqaba.
Ophir Place v. 28: Biblical island. Modern identification: southwestern Arabia.