Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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What should I learn from this chapter?

• The historical veracity of God’s Word.
• The relationship of three kings and two of a kind: Solomon, Hiram, and the Pharaoh with his daughter. Of these three, Solomon and Hiram were two of a kind.

• The taxation of forced labor.

I Kings 9

God’s Second Appearance to Solomon

I Kings 9:¹ And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do,

I Kings 9:² that the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.

I Kings 9:³ And the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) 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.

• See: About Quantum Study Bible

I Kings 9:⁴ 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,

I Kings 9:⁵ 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.’

I Kings 9:⁶ But IF you or your sons at all turn (turn back) 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,

I Kings 9:⁷ THEN I will cut off  (destroy) 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.

I Kings 9:⁸ 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 (Yᵊhōvâ) done thus to this land and to this house?’

I Kings 9:⁹ Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God (Yᵊhōvâ ‘ĕlōhîm), who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”

Solomon and Hiram Exchange Gifts

I Kings 9:¹⁰ Now it happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) and the king’s house

I Kings 9:¹¹ (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.

• See: The Symbolism of Numbers
• Twenty means the work and value of a man. Solomon “demeaned” Hiram with these twenty cities.

I Kings 9:¹² Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him.

I Kings 9:¹³ So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Cabul (Lit. Good for Nothing), as they are to this day.

• Like Solomon also “Us”: “Salvation is an infinitely costly, free gift from God in Jesus Christ, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to earn or deserve it.  But if we really appreciate what He’s done for us, we will not want to be found guilty — with our half-hearted efforts, and cheap giving — of insulting the One who gave so much for us. Let’s not give our Great King a gift, that is really just an insult.”
  ~https://shawnethomas.com/2018/09/24/the-gift-that-is-an-insult-i-kings-910-14/

I Kings 9:¹⁴ Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.

• He shamed Solomon for Solomon’s “cheapness”. Basically telling Solomon “This is how a ‘GREAT KING’ gives”.

Solomon’s Additional Achievements

I Kings 9:¹⁵ And this is the reason for the labor force (a tax in the form of forced labor) which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ), his own house, the Millo (Lit. The Landfill), the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

I Kings 9:¹⁶ (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.)

• Archaeologist Dr Clifford Wilson interviewed by Dr Carl Wieland
  When Wieland asked “What was your most interesting ‘hands-on’ experience?“
  
  Dr. Wilson Answered:
  “It was at Gezer, where we excavated over a period of quite a few days. All we were going through in one area was a whole lot of black ash, and it was very discouraging. Professor Nelson Glueck—a very important archaeologist who gave the world the idea of Solomon’s mines—suggested that we ought to do more sieving. So we sieved, and we found evidences of a civilization which had Egyptian and Canaanite artefacts with a Solomonic wall nearby. The team found little god-figures and the like; I was in charge of that area. All the excavation leaders were very excited because they realized the ash was from the time when the Egyptians had burned the city of Gezer and then handed it over to Solomon as a wedding present when he married the Pharaoh’s daughter.”

I Kings 9:¹⁷ And Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth Horon, ¹⁸ Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,

I Kings 9:¹⁹ 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.

I Kings 9:²⁰ All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel—

I Kings 9:²¹ 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.

I Kings 9:²² 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.

I Kings 9:²³ 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.

• It was against God’s law to charge interest on a loan from one Jew to another Jew. I would think taxing them would be similar. Deuteronomy 23:19-20

I Kings 9:²⁴ But Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to her house which Solomon (Lit. he; cf. II Chr. 8:11) had built for her. Then he built the Millo.

I Kings 9:²⁵ Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ), and he burned incense with them on the altar that was before the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ). So he finished the temple.

• In Temple times, all males were required to appear at the Temple three times annually and actively participate in the festal offerings and celebrations. These were the joyous pilgrim festivals of Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks), and Sukkot (the Feast of Booths).
  
  Britannica Encylopedia
  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jewish-religious-year/Pilgrim-festivals

I Kings 9:²⁶ King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath (Heb. Eloth) on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.

I Kings 9:²⁷ Then Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon.

I Kings 9:²⁸ And they went to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

• Gold is Divine in its nature: coming from the heavens it cannot rust or decay and is therefore eternal. It’s other attributes are its value and beauty.
• Ezekiel 4:16 God said after the total of 420 days, “I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and places where I have driven you.”
• 420 is the number for restoration and prosperity.