1 Kings 9

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Dave Burnette's Commentary

1 Kings Chapter 9

Written By: God through Inspiration

Penned By: Jeremiah

Date Penned: (586 BC)

Overview: A History of the Kings of Israel and Judah (c 1-22)

Theme: The United Kingdom (c 1-11)

Message: God's Warning to Solomon (v 1-28)

1 Kings 9 Commentary

(9:2-9) God Appeared to Solomon - God appeared to Solomon a second time; the first had been at Gibeon (3:4-15). (For more on the conditions of God's great promise to David and his descendants, see the note on 2:3-4.)

(9:10-14) A Land For Hiram - Was Solomon being unfair to Hiram? It is not clear from these verses whether Solomon gave these cities to Hiram or they were collateral until he could repay Hiram for the gold he had borrowed. Second Chronicles 8:1-2 implies that the cities were returned to Solomon. In either case, Hiram probably preferred a piece of land on the coast more suitable for trade (the name he gave these cities, Cabul, sounds like the Hebrew word for "worthless"). In the end, Hiram was repaid many times over through his trade partnerships with Solomon (2 Chronicles 9:10, 21). Because Phenicia was on friendly terms with Israel and dependent on them for grain and olive oil, Hiram's relationship with Solomon was more important than a feud over some cities.

(9:16) An UnGodly Treaty - At this time, Israel and Egypt were the major powers in the ancient Middle East. For many years Egypt had retained control of Gezer, even though it was in Israelite territory. In Solomon's time the pharaoh gave the city to his daughter, whom Solomon married, putting Gezer under Israelite control. Intermarriage among royal families was common because it functioned as a peace treaty by securing military and trading alliances. But it was not endorsed by God (Deuteronomy 17:17).

(9:25) The Sacrifices - Solomon's three yearly sacrifices most likely correspond to the three great annual festivals for the nation: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which included the Passover (Leviticus 23:4-8), the Feast of Weeks (Leviticus 2315-21), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:33-43). The burnt offerings were specified by Moses in Leviticus 11-17 and were offered to make atonement for the sins of the nation. The peace offerings were also specified by Moses (Leviticus 3:1-17). They were offered to express gratitude to God and symbolized fellowship with him. Solomon not only completed the building of the temple but also made sure it was being used for its intended purpose.

Dave Burnette's Life Application
A God-Less Nation

Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter, making application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Today we continue in the book of 1 Kings with Chapter 9. In our text, we see God's warning to Solomon that he is to follow the Lord's Statutes. He would establish Israel forever, and if Solomon served other gods, he would cut them off from the land He gave them. In making applications, we see the same true today. God has blessed us with land, houses, family, and community. If we follow God's laws and His Word, then he will bless us, but if we follow other gods and reject His Word, God will remove his hand of blessing, and we will suffer the result of our doings. Today we are seeing this come to pass as the U.S.A. has rejected the Word of the Lord, embracing abortion, homosexuality, and corrupt business practices, which is causing the removal of the hand of God from this land. A financial downfall, storms of enormous economic impact, and violent crimes result from a nation turning from God unto itself. How about you? Do you see how our government is turning from God and, as a result suffering the results of a Godless nation? Let us learn from our text today and the warning that God gave Solomon - to follow God and be blessed by God - or to turn from God to become a Godless nation.

1 Kings 9

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1 Kings 9

¹And 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,

²That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.

³And 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.

⁴And 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:

⁵Then 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.

⁶But 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:

⁷Then 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:

⁸And 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?

⁹And 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.

¹⁰And 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.

¹²And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not.

¹³And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.

¹⁴And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.

¹⁵And 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.

¹⁶For 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.

¹⁷And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether,

¹⁸And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land,

¹⁹And 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.

²⁰And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel,

²¹Their 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.

²²But 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.

²³These 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.

²⁴But 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.

²⁵And 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.

²⁶And 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.

²⁷And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

²⁸And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.