8:1 After twenty years, during which Solomon built the Lord’s temple and his royal palace, 8:2 Solomon rebuilt the cities that Huram had given him and settled Israelites there.
In Solomon’s first twenty years as king, Solomon was about 38 years old. He had already built the temple, his palace, and he rebuilt the cities which he had given to the King of Tyre. The King of Tyre did not like the cities, so Solomon took them back and rebuilt them.
In Israel, archaeologists have uncovered an artifact with the inscription “Dedicated to the house of Yahweh.” This is said to be the first specific archaeological reference to Solomon’s temple that has been found.
8:3 Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it.
Hamoth Zobah was a Syrian city about 300 miles north of Jerusalem.
8:4 He built up Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities he had built in Hamath.
Tadmor was a desert oasis trading center on the main highway from Mesopotamia, about 150 miles northeast of Damascus. Damascus was the capital of Syria.
8:5 He made upper Beth Horon and lower Beth Horon fortified cities with walls and barred gates,
Upper and lower Beth Horon were Israelite cities in which Solomon turned into fortified military cities.
8:6 and built up Baalath, all the storage cities that belonged to him, and all the cities where chariots and horses were kept. He built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom.
Baalath was a storage and horse stable city in the territory of Dan. It was against the Mosaic Law for kings to multiply horses, but Solomon did it anyway. These five cities were either strategic caravan cities or storage cities.
8:7 Now several non-Israelite peoples were left in the land after the conquest of Joshua, including the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
Joshua failed to exterminate all of the Canaanites. They were still living in the land.
8:8 Their descendants remained in the land (the Israelites were unable to wipe them out). Solomon conscripted them for his work crews and they continue in that role to this very day.
Solomon enslaved these tribes and forced them into manual labor groups.
The Hittites were originally from central Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. For many years, skeptics ridiculed the Bible, because there was no archaeological evidence of the Hittites. Then in the late 1800’s, archaeologists excavated over forty Hittite cities. Skeptics do not use this argument anymore.
The Amorites were early hill-dwellers in Canaan. The Perizzites were a Canaanite sub-tribe). The Hivites were most-likely the Indo-Aryan Hurrians. The Jebusites were Canaanites who David defeated at Jerusalem.
8:9 Solomon did not assign Israelites to these work crews; the Israelites served as his soldiers, officers, charioteers, and commanders of his chariot forces.
The Israelites were not assigned to work labor camps. They were drafted in the military.
8:10 These men worked for Solomon as supervisors; there were a total of 250 of them who were in charge of the people.
The Israelites were drafted as supervisors over the Canaanite work camps.
8:11 Solomon moved Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of King David of Israel, for the places where the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.”
The author did not record why Solomon married an Egyptian wife. Many scholars believe that he married an Egyptian wife to keep peace with Egypt. The King of Egypt will not attack Israel if his daughter is the queen. This meant that the Pharaoh saw Israel at least as an equal national power. Solomon not only built a palace for his Egyptian queen, but he also built pagan religious centers for all of his other wives. Solomon was beginning to compromise with the Word of God. Compromise leads to apostasy.
8:12 Then Solomon offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had built in front of the temple’s porch.
The burnt offerings pointed to the Messiah.
8:13 He observed the daily requirements for sacrifices that Moses had specified for Sabbaths, new moon festivals, and the three annual celebrations—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Temporary Shelters.
Israel was to offer a daily morning and evening sacrifice. In addition, there would be additional offerings on the Sabbath, the new moon, and during the festival. For example, if Unleavened Bread fell on the Sabbath and on a new moon, then the priests would offer a morning, evening, Sabbath, new moon, and festival offering all in one day. Each of these offerings pointed to the Messiah.
8:14 As his father David had decreed, Solomon appointed the divisions of the priests to do their assigned tasks, the Levitical orders to lead worship and help the priests with their daily tasks, and the divisions of the gatekeepers to serve at their assigned gates. This was what David the man of God had ordered.
David established the Levitical rotation system for priestly duties, judicial courts, temple ordinances, gate keeping, and music worship. Solomon executed his father’s plans.
8:15 They did not neglect any detail of the king’s orders pertaining to the priests, Levites, and treasuries.
Solomon executed all of the details of his father’s Levitical rotation system.
8:16 All the work ordered by Solomon was completed, from the day the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid until it was finished; the Lord’s temple was completed.
The temple and the Levitical rotation system were executed and completed by Solomon.
8:17 Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and to Elat on the coast in the land of Edom.
Ezion Geber and Elat were seaport cities on the eastern shores of the Red Sea.
18 Huram sent him ships and some of his sailors, men who were well acquainted with the sea. They sailed with Solomon’s men to Ophir, and took from there 450 talents of gold, which they brought back to King Solomon.
The Phoenicians were a world power who controlled the Mediterranean Sea with their advanced seaman skills. Solomon used his political wisdom to learn the seaman skills of the Phoenicians. Israel joined with the Phoenicians. making Israel even more prosperous. This political and business union also helped spread the greatness of Israel to foreign nations. The Phoenicians took news of Israel’s great kingdom to the rest of the world. The rest of the world was curious about Israel. Ambassadors from all over the world visited Israel during Solomon’s reign and were introduced to the one true God.