2 Chronicles 8

Chapter context

What is happening in 2 Chronicles 8?

templereformprayerjudgment

2 Chronicles 8 belongs to the early movement of the book, especially the section often described as Solomon and the temple. Second Chronicles recounts Solomon’s temple, the Judahite kings, reform movements, the fall of Jerusalem, and Cyrus’s decree of return. Read this chapter with the wider themes of temple, reform, and prayer in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house, ² That the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. ³ And Solomon went to Hamathzobah, and prevailed against it. ⁴ And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. ⁵ Also he built Bethhoron the upper, and Bethhoron the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars; ⁶ And Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion. ⁷ As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel, ⁸ But of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day. ⁹ But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and horsemen. ¹⁰ And these were the chief of king Solomon’s officers, even two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people. ¹¹ And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come. ¹² Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the LORD on the altar of the LORD, which he had built before the porch, ¹³ Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. ¹⁴ And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required: the porters also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded. ¹⁵ And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures. ¹⁶ Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was perfected. ¹⁷ Then went Solomon to Eziongeber, and to Eloth, at the sea side in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

Study helps

Glossary

Hamath-zobah Place v. 3: Biblical region. Modern identification: Hama.
Hamath Place v. 4: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Hama.
Tadmor Place v. 4: Palm, a city built by Solomon “in the wilderness” ( 2 Chr. 8:4 ). Modern identification: Palmyra.
Lower Beth-horon Place v. 5: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Beit Ur al Tahta.
Upper Beth-horon Place v. 5: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Beit Ur al Fauqa.
Baalath Place v. 6: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Al Maghar.
Jerusalem Place v. 6: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Jerusalem.
Lebanon Place v. 6: Biblical region. Modern identification: Jezzine.
Amorites People v. 7: 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. 7: Villagers; dwellers in the open country, the Canaanitish nation inhabiting the fertile regions south and south-west of Carmel.
Ark Object v. 11: Noah’s ark, a building of gopher-wood, and covered with pitch, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high.
City People v. 11: 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).
City of David Place v. 11: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: City of David.
David Person v. 11, 14: 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 .
Edom Place v. 17: Biblical region. Modern identification: Buseira.
Elath Place v. 17: 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. 17: 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. 17: Biblical body of water. Modern identification: Gulf of Aqaba.
Ophir Place v. 18: Biblical island. Modern identification: southwestern Arabia.