1 Kings 9:15

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹⁵This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.¹⁶Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife. ¹⁷So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, ¹⁸Baalath, and Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah, ¹⁹as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses-whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion. ²⁰As for all the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (the people who were not Israelites)- ²¹their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction-Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day. ²²But Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites to slavery, because they were his men of war, his servants, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry. ²³They were also the chief officers over Solomon's projects: 550 supervisors over the people who did the work. ²⁴As soon as Pharaoh's daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

am 2989-3029, bc 1015-975

the reason: 1 Kings 9:21, 1 Kings 5:13

to build: 1 Kings 9:10, 1 Kings 6:38, 1 Kings 7:1, 2 Chronicles 8:1

Millo: Millo is said to have been a deep valley, between the ancient city of Jebus and the city of David on mount Zion. This Solomon filled up, and built upon; and it became a fortified place, and a place for public assemblies. 1 Kings 9:24, 1 Kings 11:27, Judges 9:6, Judges 9:20, 2 Samuel 5:9, 2 Kings 12:20

the wall: Psalms 51:18

Hazor: Probably the city Hazor in Naphtali, and the famous capital of Jabin, situated in the lake Merom or Semechon, and placed by Josephus south of Tyre, near Ptolemais. Joshua 11:1, Joshua 19:36, Judges 4:2, 2 Kings 15:29

Megiddo: 1 Kings 4:12, Joshua 17:11, Judges 5:19, 2 Kings 9:27, 2 Kings 23:29, 2 Kings 23:30, 2 Chronicles 35:22, Zechariah 12:11

Gezer: 1 Kings 9:16, 1 Kings 9:17, Joshua 10:33, Joshua 16:10, Joshua 21:21, Judges 1:29, 1 Chronicles 6:67, 1 Chronicles 20:4

Reciprocal: Joshua 16:3 - Bethhoron 1 Samuel 27:8 - the Amalekites 1 Kings 3:1 - the wall 1 Kings 4:6 - tribute 1 Kings 12:4 - our yoke 1 Kings 12:25 - built 1 Chronicles 7:29 - Megiddo 1 Chronicles 11:8 - Millo

Cross-References

Genesis 9:8
Then God said to Noah and his sons with him,

Genesis 9:10
and with every living creature that was with you-the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth-every living thing that came out of the ark.

Exodus 28:12
Fasten both stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. Aaron is to bear their names on his two shoulders as a memorial before the LORD.

Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.

1 Kings 8:23
and said: "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.

Nehemiah 9:32
So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God who keeps His gracious covenant, do not view lightly all the hardship that has come upon us, and upon our kings and leaders, our priests and prophets, our ancestors and all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.

Psalms 106:45
And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.

Jeremiah 14:21
For the sake of Your name do not despise us; do not disgrace Your glorious throne. Remember Your covenant with us; do not break it.

Ezekiel 16:60
But I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

Luke 1:72
to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And this is the reason of the levy which King Solomon raised,.... Both of men to work, 1 Kings 5:13, and of money to defray the expense:

it was for to build the house of the Lord; the temple:

and his own house; or palace:

and Millo; which he repaired: 1 Kings 5:13- :.

and the wall of Jerusalem; which, as Abarbinel says, was a large building, there being three walls one within another:

and Hazor; a city in the tribe of Naphtali, and which had been a royal city with the Canaanites; see Joshua 11:1

and Megiddo; which was in the tribe of Manasseh, Joshua 17:11

and Gezer; which was in the tribe of Ephraim, and formerly a royal city of the Canaanites, Joshua 10:33.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Levy - See the marginal reference note.

Millo - See 2 Samuel 5:9 note. The Septuagint commonly render the word ἡ ἄκρα hē akra, “the citadel,” and it may possibly have been the fortress on Mount Zion connected with the Maccabean struggles (1 Macc. 4:41; 13:49-52). Its exact site has not been determined.

And the wall of Jerusalem - David’s fortification 2 Samuel 5:9; 1 Chronicles 11:8 had been hasty, and had now - fifty years later - fallen into decay. Solomon therefore had to “repair the breaches of the city of David” 1 Kings 11:27.

Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer were three of the most important sites in the holy land. For the two first places, compare the marginal references and notes.

Gezer was a main city of the south. It was situated on the great maritime plain, and commanded the ordinary line of approach from Egypt, which was along this low region. The importance of Gezer appears from Joshua 10:33; Joshua 12:12, etc. Its site is near Tell Jezer, and marked now by Abu Shusheh. Though within the lot of Ephraim Joshua 16:3, and especially assigned to the Kohathite Levites Joshua 21:21, it had never yet been conquered from the old inhabitants (marginal references), who continued to dwell in it until Solomon’s time, and apparently were an independent people 1 Kings 9:16.

Pharaoh took it before the marriage of Solomon with his daughter, and gave it “for a present” - i. e., for a dowry. Though in the East husbands generally pay for their wives, yet dower is given in some cases. Sargon gave Cilicia as a dowry with his daughter when he married her to Ambris king of Tubal: and the Persian kings seem generally to have given satrapial or other high offices as dowries to the husbands of their daughters.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 9:15. This is the reason of the levy — That is, in order to pay Hiram the sixscore talents of gold which he had borrowed from him (Hiram not being willing to take the Galilean cities mentioned above; or, having taken them, soon restored them again) he was obliged to lay a tax upon the people; and that this was a grievous and oppressive tax we learn from 1 Kings 12:1-4, where the elders of Israel came to Rehoboam, complaining of their heavy state of taxation, and entreating that their yoke might be made lighter.

And Millo — This is supposed to have been a deep valley between Mount Sion and what was called the city of Jebus, which Solomon filled up, and it was built on, and became a sort of fortified place, and a place for public assemblies.-See Calmet.