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| This is the New King James text of the passages. |
I Kings 9; II Chronicles 8 Listen 
God speaks to Solomon (I Kings 9:1-9)
(Also found in II Chronicles 7:12-22 see notes)
I Kings 9 |
II Chronicles 7 |
| 1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do, 2 that the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 And the LORD said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 4 Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, “You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, “Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will answer, “Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the LORD has brought all this calamity on them.’ ” |
12 ¶ Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 17 As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, “You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’ 19 ¶ “But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, 20 then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 ¶ “And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and this house?’ 22 Then they will answer, “Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’ ” |
In I Kings 8 (see notes) the Ark had been moved into the newly-built temple, and the temple was dedicated - prayer, lots of sacrificing and a pep talk from Solomon to the people. After the smoke cleared (pun intended), Solomon gets a visit from God - his second visit, the first being right after he became king in I Kings 3:5-15 (see notes). God conveys a simple message really: Do right and always prosper; do wrong by serving other gods, and it will be your ruin. God promises that David's throne would be eternal; that was an unconditional covenant God made with David in II Samuel 7:12-16 (see notes).
However, there was a conditional part of the promise regarding David's throne. While it will be established eternally, it may be (and was) interrupted due to the conditions in this passage i.e. Israel went after other gods and forsook the one true God. We'll see that during Solomon's reign, he allowed worship of false gods to come right into the temple court - apparently even promoted it. While he always highly esteemed God himself, he allowed "freedom of religion" to be practiced by his own wives and the residents of Israel. The Lord God of Israel was not exclusive with him like he had been with his father David - a shortcoming of Solomon that turned out to be the beginning of Israel's downfall. And God didn't let this lack of faithfulness slide, as is pointed out in I Kings 11:1-25 (see notes). Consequently, after his reign was over, Israel split; the northern 10 tribes went after the worship of false gods.
Let's take a closer look at the negative stipulations found in I Kings 9:6-9:
6 But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,
7 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
8 And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, “Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’
9 Then they will answer, “Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the LORD has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”
So...it is important to recognize that, while God is bound to honor the Davidic Covenant first established in II Samuel 7:12-16 (see notes), this covenant did not prevent the setback brought about by the people of Israel going after false gods (per the conditions of the warning of this passage). In 586 B.C. the last stronghold of Israel, the city of Jerusalem, fell to the Babylonians; from that time until Israel declared its independence in 1948, there was no autonomous nation called Israel.
In October, 2004, a modern (unofficial) Sanhedrin was established in Israel patterned after that with which we are familiar from the New Testament. In addition, there is a keen interest among these religious leaders (the revived Sanhedrin) to restore the Davidic monarchy. Orthodox Jews see this as the path toward restoration i.e. the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy regarding the Davidic Kingdom. The website for the new Sanhedrin may be viewed by clicking here.
Most fundamental Christian Bible scholars today see the situation differently. I share their view that it is incidental to Old Testament prophetic promises whether or not the temple or the Davidic throne is established prior to the 70th week of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27, see notes). What we know from prophecy is that by the midpoint of those seven years, there will be a temple and that the throne of David will be established by Jesus at the end of that tribulation (beginning of the millennium). The temple that exists at that time (during the 70th week of Daniel) will be replaced by the Ezekiel temple (Ezekiel 40, see notes). In Ezekiel 40-48 we see detailed information regarding the rebuilding of this millennium temple.
Solomon is ridin' high (I Kings 9:10-28; II Chronicles 8)
I Kings 9 |
II Chronicles 8 |
| 10 ¶ Now it happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king’s house 11 (Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold, as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him. 13 So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Cabul, as they are to this day. 14 Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold. 15 ¶ And this is the reason for the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the LORD, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) 17 And Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth Horon, 18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, 19 all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for his chariots and cities for his cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 20 ¶ All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel— 21 that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely—from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day. 22 But of the children of Israel Solomon made no forced laborers, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his cavalry. 23 ¶ Others were chiefs of the officials who were over Solomon’s work: five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work. 24 ¶ But Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo. 25 ¶ Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the LORD, and he burned incense with them on the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the temple. 26 ¶ King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 Then Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they went to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon. |
1 It came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own house, 2 that the cities which Hiram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them; and he settled the children of Israel there. 3 And Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it. 4 He also built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities which he built in Hamath. 5 He built Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars, 6 also Baalath and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities and the cities of the cavalry, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 7 ¶ All the people who were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of Israel— 8 that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel did not destroy—from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day. 9 But Solomon did not make the children of Israel servants for his work. Some were men of war, captains of his officers, captains of his chariots, and his cavalry. 10 And others were chiefs of the officials of King Solomon: two hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people. 11 ¶ Now Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the LORD has come are holy.” 12 ¶ Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD which he had built before the vestibule, 13 according to the daily rate, offering according to the commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the three appointed yearly feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. 14 And, according to the order of David his father, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, the Levites for their duties (to praise and serve before the priests) as the duty of each day required, and the gatekeepers by their divisions at each gate; for so David the man of God had commanded. 15 They did not depart from the command of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the treasuries. 16 ¶ Now all the work of Solomon was well-ordered from the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed. 17 ¶ Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and Elath on the seacoast, in the land of Edom. 18 And Hiram sent him ships by the hand of his servants, and servants who knew the sea. They went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and fifty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon. |
Solomon is cruising along on all eight cylinders at this point in his reign - the royal donkey express. He's spent 20 years of his 40-year reign building the temple and a really, really nice house for himself. He used forced labor (non Israelites) to do all the work. I mean...he had it all - armies, ships and dominance. All the surrounding kings wanted to be Solomon's best buddy.
King Hiram of Tyre (who provided Solomon's Lebanon timber) didn't much like his vendor deal (20 cities selected by Solomon in Galilee), but...no problem, Solomon...whatever you say! Hiram did give them a nickname, though, calling them the "land of Cabul," a derogatory term indicating how little they were worth.
The King of Egypt (whose daughter was married to Solomon) gave him the whole city of Gezer (about 20 miles from Jerusalem) as a dowry for his daughter. It's interesting that, while Gezer was located in Israel, it had not been previously purged of Canaanites. The Tribe of Ephraim failed to do so in Joshua 16:10 (see notes), and David failed to do so again centuries later (II Samuel 5:25; I Chronicles 14:16, see notes). Pharaoh comes up out of Egypt to do the job - nothing too good for his daughter. Notice II Chronicles 8:11, "Now Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, 'My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the LORD has come are holy.'" So, his Egyptian wife doesn't just have her own bedroom; she has her own house..her own city! Why? Because Solomon's house apparently adjoined the temple, and he didn't want her heathen hands touching temple stuff. What a husband! He obviously deviated from those convictions during the last 20 years of his rule. It's not known whether her house in Gezer was a temporary home, vacation home or permanent home; we see in I Kings 7:1-12 (see notes) that he apparently had built her another house in Jerusalem near his own.
Times are good for Israel; we're now 20 years into Solomon's reign and Solomon is truly the big player in the region. Those Canaanites who stayed around now serve as slaves. We see from II Chronicles 8:13-15 that Solomon was very conscientious and intense about his commitment to God at this point in time. He observed the three annual Jewish festivals: the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tabernacles. Click here to learn more about the Feasts. He had the temple priests working their shifts, and God was prospering Israel under his reign. Times are truly good for Solomon and Israel.
Solomon even established a navy with some of the manpower supplied by King Hiram of Tyre. Solomon's ships subsequently went to a region (Ophir) and brought back gold for Solomon's coffers.
Again, it should be noted that Solomon experienced a significant slippage in his commitment to God during the last half of his reign. I Kings 11 (see notes) outlines his shortcomings.