1 Kings 9:18
Ver. 18. And Baalath,.... A city in the tribe of Dan, Jos 19:44
and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land; or "Tamar", as in the Cetib, or Scriptural reading; for we go according to the marginal reading, and so Thamato in Ptolemy {p}; and is thought by some to be the same with Tamar in Eze 47:19, which Jerom there says is Palmyra. Tamar signifies a palm tree, from whence this city had its name Palmyra, the situation of which place agrees with this; hence we read both in Ptolemy {q} and Pliny {r} of the Palmyrene deserts: the ruins of it are to be seen to this day, and of it this account is given; that it is enclosed on three sides with long ridges of mountains, which open towards the east gradually, to the distance of about an hour's riding; but to the south stretches a vast plain, beyond the reach of the eye; the air is good, but the soil exceeding barren; nothing green to be seen therein, save some few palm trees in the gardens, and here and there about the town; and from these trees, I conceive, says my author, it obtained its name both in Hebrew and in Latin: it appears to have been of a large extent, by the space now taken up by the ruins; but there are no footsteps of any wall remaining, nor is it possible to judge of the ancient figure of the place. The present inhabitants, as they are poor, miserable, dirty people, so they have shut themselves up, to the number of about thirty or forty families, in little huts made of dirt, within the walls of a spacious court, which enclosed a most magnificent Heathen temple {s}. Benjamin of Tudela says {t}, it is situated in a wilderness, far from any habitable place, and is four days' journey from Baalath before mentioned; which place he takes to be the same with Baalbek, in the valley of Lebanon, built by Solomon for Pharaoh's daughter; which, according to the Arabic geographer {u}, was situated at the foot of Mount Lebanon; and Tadmor seems to be in the land of Hamathzobah, 2Ch 8:3.{p} Geograph. l. 5. c. 16. {q} Ib. c. 15. {r} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 26. & 6. 28. {s} Halifax apud Philosphic. Transact. vol. 3. p. 504. {t} Itinerar. p. 57, 58. {u} Geograph. Nub. par. 5. clim. 3. p. 117. 1 Kings 9:19Ver. 19. And all the cities of store that Solomon had,.... In which were his magazines of corn, arms, and ammunition; and these were built in Hamath, 2Ch 8:4and cities for his chariots; chariots of war, iron chariots, which were kept in times of peace, in case of necessity, of which Solomon had 1400, 1Ki 10:26,and cities for his horsemen; of which he had 12,000, a standing cavalry:and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem; besides the temple and his own palace before mentioned; see Ec 2:4,and in Lebanon; the house of the forest of Lebanon, which Junius on 1Ki 7:2 thinks he built after he had taken Hamathzobah, a royal city of Lebanon; see 2Ch 8:3 or fortresses on Mount Lebanon, which was the northern border of his kingdom:and in all the land of his dominions; where he might repair or fortify cities, or erect new forts for the safety of his kingdom; now for the doing of all this was the levy both of men and money raised, and of whom next follows. 1 Kings 9:20Ver. 20. And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites,.... Who were not destroyed in the times of Joshua, or since, but dwelt in several cities of the land of Israel from those times; see Jud 1:1, which were not of the children of Israel; not natives of the land of Israel, though they might be proselytes, at least some of them. 1 Kings 9:21Ver. 21. Their children that were left after them in the land,.... The posterity of those left unsubdued in the times of Joshua:whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy; in later times, though now it is thought by some it was not for want of power, but because they had made a covenant with them, as the Gibeonites did, and therefore they could not, because it would have been a breach of covenant to have destroyed them; see 2Ch 8:8,upon these did Solomon levy a tribute of bond service unto this day; not a tribute of money, which being poor they were not able to pay, but of service, and which being once laid on was continued, and even to the time of the writing of this book. 1 Kings 9:22Ver. 22. But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen,.... For that was contrary to the law; they might be hired servants, but not bond servants, Le 25:39but they were men of war; which he kept in pay, a standing army, maintained even in time of peace, in case of necessity, should an enemy attempt to invade or surprise them:and his servants; in his family and court, who had offices and employments there:and his princes; ministers of state, counsellors, governors of cities, &c.and his captains; officers in his army:and rulers of his chariots and his horsemen; war chariots and troopers; see 1Ki 9:19. 1 Kings 9:23Ver. 23. These were the chief of the officers over Solomon's work,.... In building the above houses and cities:five hundred and fifty which bore rule over the people that wrought in the work; in 2Ch 8:10 they are said to be but two hundred and fifty; now it may be observed, as is by the Jewish writers, that there were three sorts of those rulers; the lowest rank and order of them consisted of 3300, the next of three hundred which were over the 3300, and being numbered with them made 3600, 2Ch 2:18 and the highest rank of them were two hundred and fifty, and the middlemost and highest being joined together, as they are here, made five hundred and fifty. Abarbinel reconciles the places thus, the two hundred and fifty were only over those that wrought in the temple; and the five hundred and fifty here were those that were over such that were employed in the various parts of the kingdom. 1 Kings 9:24Ver. 24. But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David,.... Where he placed her when he first married her, until he had finished his buildings, 1Ki 3:1, which being done he brought her from thence unto her house, which Solomon had built for her; the reason of which is given, not only because it was the house of David, but because it was holy by the ark being there for some time; and therefore he did not judge it proper that his wife, an Egyptian woman, and sometimes in her impurity, should dwell there; see 2Ch 8:11,then did he build Millo: this being particularly repeated from 1Ki 9:15, and following upon what is said of Pharaoh's daughter, has led many Jewish writers to conclude her house was built at Millo; and indeed, without supposing this, it is hard to conceive why it should be observed here; the Targum on 2Ch 8:11 calls her name Bithiah. 1 Kings 9:25Ver. 25. And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the Lord,.... The brasen altar, the altar of burnt offering, which stood in the court of the priests, and by whom he offered. The three times were the feasts of passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, as explained in 2Ch 8:13, not that these were the only offerings, or these the only times he offered; for he offered all other sacrifices, and at all other times commanded in the law of Moses, as on sabbaths and new moons, as expressed in the above place:and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the Lord; the altar of incense, which stood in the holy place, right beside the most holy, in which was the ark, the symbol of the divine Presence; not that Solomon burnt incense in person, but by the priests, whom he furnished with incense; for no king might offer incense, as the case of Uzziah shows:so he finished the house; which respects not the building of it, that had been observed before, but the service of it; as he had provided all vessels and utensils for the furniture of it, and all things to be used in them; as sacrifices for the altar of burnt offering, incense for the altar of incense, bread for the shewbread table, and oil for the lamps; so he appointed the courses of the priests, Levites, and porters, to do their duty, who went through every part of service assigned them, and completed the whole; see 2Ch 8:14. 1 Kings 9:26Ver. 26. And King Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber,.... Which was one of the stations of the Israelites, near the wilderness of Sin, or Paran, Nu 33:35, it signifies the backbone of a man; and it is said {w} the ridge of rocks before this port were in that form, covered by the sea at high water, and sticking up with various points in a line when it was low. Josephus says {x} in his time it was called Berenice, which is placed by Mela {y} between the Heroopolitic bay, and the promontory Strobilus, or Pharan. It is thought probable {z} to be the same with that which is called by the Arabs Meenah-el-Dsahab, the port of gold, called Dizahab, De 1:1, which stands upon the shore of the Arabic gulf, about two or three days' distance from Mount Sinai; though by others {a} thought to be the same the Arabs call Calzem, where was a great quantity of wood fit for building ships. It is further described,which is beside Elath, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom; and when Edom was subdued by David, this port fell into his hands, and so was in the possession of Solomon; and there being plenty of timber in the parts adjacent, and this being a port in the Red sea, Solomon chose it as proper place to build ships in. Elath, near to which was, is the same the Elanitic bay had its name from; or whichSee Gill on "De 2:8". Trajan, the Roman emperor, formed a navy in the Red sea {b}, that by it he might ravage and waste the borders of India; and here it seems Solomon's navy went; see 1Ki 9:28.{w} Harris's Voyages, vol. 1. B. 1. ch. 2. sect. 3. p. 377. {x} Antiqu. l. 8. c. 6. sect. 4. {y} De Situ Orbis, l. 3. c. 8. {z} Clayton's Chronology, &c. p. 407. {a} Vossius in Melam ut supra, (Harris's Voyages, vol. 1. B. 1. ch. 2. sect. 3.) p. 386. {b} Eutrop. Rom. Hist. l. 8. Ruti Fest. Breviar. 1 Kings 9:27Ver. 27. And Hiram sent in his navy his servants,.... And, according to 2Ch 8:18, ships also but how he could send them from Tyre, which lay in the Mediterranean sea, to the above ports in the Red sea, without going a great way round, is not easy to conceive. Perhaps, as Gussetins conjectures {c}, Hiram had a port in the Red sea for building and sending out ships, for the sake of his eastern navigation, and from thence he sent them to Solomon's ports in the same sea; but if what R. Japhet {d} observes is true, that the Red sea is mixed with the sea of Joppa by means of the river Rhinocurura, as is remarked by a learned man {e} and who approves of the observation, and thinks it does not deserve the censure Dr. Lightfoot {f} passes on it. If this, I say, can be supported, the difficulty is removed: so Abarbinel asserts {g}, that a branch of the Nile flows into the Red sea: and another, passing through Alexandria, runs into the Mediterranean sea. This is the first navy of ships we read of; in the construction of which, as well as in the art of navigation, the Tyrians no doubt were greatly assisting to Solomon's servants, and which appears by what follows; and they are said {h} to be the first that made use of ships; and the invention of ships of burden, or merchant ships, such as these were, is by Pliny {i} ascribed to Hippus the Tyrian: and the Tyrians were famous for merchandise, which they could not carry on with foreign nations without shipping; see Isa 23:8, the servants Hiram sent in Solomon's navy wereshipmen that had knowledge of the sea; of sea coasts and ports, of the manner of guiding and managing ships at sea, and of the whole art of navigation, so far as then known, for which the Tyrians were famous; see Eze 27:3,with the servants of Solomon; to instruct and assist them in naval affairs, they not having been used thereunto.{c} Ebr. Comment p. 628. {d} In Aben Ezra in Jon. ii. 5. {e} Texelii Phoenix, l. 3. c. 6. p. 243, 244. {f} Miscellanies, c. 18. vol. 1. p. 1002, 1003. {g} Apud Manasseh, Spes Israelis, sect. 2. p. 20. {h} "Prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyros", Catullus. {i} Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 56. 1 Kings 9:28Ver. 28. And they came to Ophir,.... About which place there are various opinions; some take it to be the little island of Zocatora, on the eastern coast of Africa, at a small distance from the straits of Babelmandel; others the island of Ceylon; others Sofala in Africa; some {k} Peru in America; Vatablus the island of Hispaniola in the West Indies, discovered by Columbus, and who thought {l} himself that he had found the land of Ophir, because of the quantity of gold in it; others the southern part of Arabia; but the most reasonable opinion is, says my author {m}, that it is a rich country in Malacca, which is a peninsula in the true Red sea (that part of the ocean which divides Asia from Africa), known by the name of the "golden Chersonese", and which agrees with Josephus {n}; and at twelve leagues from Malacca there is a very high mountain, which by the natives is called Ophir, and is reported to be, or to have been, very rich in gold, though at present only some tin mines are worked there; and Kircher {o} says the word Ophir is a Coptic or Egyptian word, by which the ancient Egyptians used to call that India which contains the kingdoms of Malabar, Zeilan, the golden Chersonese, and, the islands belonging to it, Sumatra, Molucca, Java, and other neighbouring golden islands. So Varrerius {p} thinks that all that coast in which are contained Pegu, Malaca, and Somatra, is Ophir; which places, besides gold, abound with elephants, apes, and parrots. In the island of Sumatra gold is now found, especially in Achin, in great plenty; in which is a mountain, called the "golden mountain", near the mines {q} Reland {r} takes Ophir to be the country round about a city called Oupara or Suphara, in the East Indies, where now stands Goa, the most famous mart in all India at this day for many of those things Solomon traded thither for. Though after all perhaps there was no such place originally as Ophir in India; only the gold brought from thence was like that of Ophir in Arabia, and therefore they called the place so from whence it was had; see Job 22:24and fetched from thence gold four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon; which according to Brerewood {s} amounted to 1,890,000 pounds of our money; and according to another writer {t} 5,132,400 ducats of gold. Abarbinel says a talent of gold was equal to 12,300 Venetian ducats; in 2Ch 8:18 it is said, that four hundred and fifty talents of gold were brought to Solomon; perhaps thirty might be expended in the voyage, or paid to Hiram's servants for their wages, as some Jewish writers observe; or in the bulk or ore it might be four hundred and fifty talents, but when purified only four hundred and twenty, as Grotius remarks; either way removes the difficulty; though some think different voyages are respected here and there; of the gold of Ophir frequent mention is made in Scripture.{k} Erasm. Schmid. de America, orat. ad Cale. Pindar. p. 261. So some Jewish writers say it is the new world, Ganz. Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 10. 1. {l} P. Martyr Decad. 1. l. 1. {m} Harris's Voyages, ut supra. (vol. 1. B. 1. ch. 2. sect. 3. p. 377.) {n} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 8. c. 6. sect. 4.) {o} China Illustrat. cum Monument. p. 58. & Prodrom. Copt. c. 4. p. 119. {p} Comment. de Ophyra. {q} Dampier's Voyages, vol. 2. ch. 7. {r} Dissert. de Ophir, sect. 6, 7. {s} De Ponder. & Pret. c. 5. {t} Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p. 572.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.