And Baalath ,.... See 1 Kings 9:18 . From hence, to the end of 2 Chronicles 8:11 , it is the same with 1 Kings 9:19 . See Gill on 1 Kings 9:19 . 1 Kings 9:20 . 1 Kings 9:21 . 1 Kings 9:22 . 1 Kings 9:23 . 1 Kings 9:24 . read more
But of the children of Israel - See the note on 1 Kings 9:21 . read more
The daughter of Pharaoh - "And Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, Solomon brought up from the city of David to the palace which he had built for her." - T. Because the places are holy - Is not this a proof that he considered his wife to be a heathen, and not proper to dwell in a place which had been sanctified? Solomon had not yet departed from the true God. read more
The formative influence of the Church. In the exceeding abundance of suggestion of homiletic matter that characterizes Scripture, and even its historic books, there is naturally so much the less temptation to strain its sacred contents (which at all times serve their own purposes) by laying them under forced contributions to this particular service. It may be, therefore, perhaps best to say at once that this chapter does not proffer anything specially suitable for homiletics proper. None... read more
These verses, corresponding very nearly exactly with the parallel ( 1 Kings 9:20-23 ), betray how it was a thing never to be forgotten, if only as a fact, that the extermination of the old possessors of the land had not been entire; so that allusion to it is not omitted even by a post-Captivity compiler. The parallel charitably "whom the children of Israel were not able to destroy utterly," where our text shows with exacter fidelity, whom the children of Israel consumed not . The parallel... read more
The subjects of Solomon. I. NON - ISRAELITES . 1 . Their nationalities. Descendants of five of the seven nations in the promised laud anterior to the conquest, remnants of which were left instead of being utterly consumed as enjoined by Moses ( Deuteronomy 7:1 ). 2 . Their condition. Practically bond-servants, paying tribute to Solomon, they had no part in the civil commonwealth or religious theocracy of Israel. They illustrate the relation in which the world's... read more
(parallel, 1 Kings 9:24 ).—As the writer of Chronicles has not before alluded to the marriage and the circumstances of it involved in this verse, his account and assignment of Solomon's motive for the removal of his wife, Pharaoh's daughter, is given something more specifically (see 1 Kings 3:1 ; 1 Kings 7:8 ). The valley of Tyropeum lay between the temple on the eastern hill and Solomon's palace, which was on the western side of it. The name of this wife was probably Psusennes, last of... read more
Doubtful marriage alliance. There was more astuteness than wisdom in the alliance which Solomon effected between the daughter of Pharaoh and himself. It is probable that he congratulated himself greatly thereupon, and that at first it was a source of much gladness of heart to him. But the end did not justify his hope. The political alliance with Egypt, which it was intended to confirm, was very soon broken; in the very next reign the king of that country came up against Jerusalem ( 2... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Chronicles 8:1-11
This we had 1 Kgs. 9:10-24, and therefore shall only observe here, I. Though Solomon was a man of great learning and knowledge, yet he spent his days, not in contemplation, but in action, not in his study, but in his country, in building cities and fortifying them, in a time of peace preparing for a time of war, which is as much a man's business as it is in summer to provide food for winter. II. As he was a man of business himself, and did not consult his own ease, so he employed a great many... read more