Text -- 1 Kings 9:1-13 (NET)

The Lord Gives Solomon a Promise and a Warning

9:1 After Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the other construction projects he had planned, 9:2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, in the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 9:3 The Lord said to him, “I have answered your prayer and your request for help that you made to me. I have consecrated this temple you built by making it my permanent home; I will be constantly present there. 9:4 You must serve me with integrity and sincerity, just as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. 9:5 Then I will allow your dynasty to rule over Israel permanently, just as I promised your father David, ‘You will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ 9:6 “But if you or your sons ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, and decide to serve and worship other gods, 9:7 then I will remove Israel from the land I have given them, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, and Israel will be mocked and ridiculed among all the nations. 9:8 This temple will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, saying, ‘Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?’ 9:9 Others will then answer, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them.’”

Foreign Affairs and Building Projects

9:10 After twenty years, during which Solomon built the Lord’s temple and the royal palace, 9:11 King Solomon gave King Hiram of Tyre twenty cities in the region of Galilee, because Hiram had supplied Solomon with cedars, evergreens, and all the gold he wanted. 9:12 When Hiram went out from Tyre to inspect the cities Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. 9:13 Hiram asked, “Why did you give me these cities, my friend?” He called that area the region of Cabul, a name which it has retained to this day.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:1

¹ tn Heb “and all the desire of Solomon which he wanted to do.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:2

¹ sn In the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. See 1 Kgs 3:5.

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:3

¹ tn Heb “I have heard.”

² tn Heb “by placing my name there perpetually” (or perhaps, “forever”).

³ tn Heb “and my eyes and my heart will be there all the days.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:4

¹ tn Heb “As for you, if you walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, by doing all which I commanded you, [and] you keep my rules and my regulations.” Verse 4 is actually a lengthy protasis (“if” section) of a conditional sentence, the apodosis (“then” section) of which appears in v. 5.

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:5

¹ tn Heb “I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever.”

² tn Heb “there will not be cut off from you a man from upon the throne of Israel.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:6

¹ tn Heb “which I placed before you.”

² tn Heb “and walk and serve other gods and bow down to them.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:7

¹ tn Heb “I will cut off Israel from upon the surface of the land.”

² tn Heb “and the temple which I consecrated for my name I will send away from before my face.”

sn Instead of “I will send away,” the parallel text in 2 Chr 7:20 has “I will throw away.” The two verbs sound very similar in Hebrew, so the discrepancy is likely due to an oral transmissional error.

³ tn Heb “will become a proverb and a taunt,” that is, a proverbial example of destruction and an object of reproach.

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:8

¹ tn Heb “and this house will be high [or elevated].” The statement makes little sense in this context, which predicts the desolation that judgment will bring. Some treat the clause as concessive, “Even though this temple is lofty [now].” Others, following the lead of several ancient versions, emend the text to, “this temple will become a heap of ruins.”

² tn Heb “hiss,” or perhaps “whistle.” This refers to a derisive sound one would make when taunting an object of ridicule.

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:9

¹ tn Heb “and they will say.”

² tn Heb “fathers.”

³ tn Heb “and they took hold of other gods and bowed down to them and served them.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:10

¹ tn Heb “the two houses, the house of the Lord and the house of the king.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:11

¹ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:12

¹ tn Heb “they were not agreeable in his eyes.”

NET Notes: 1Ki 9:13

¹ tn Heb “and he said.”

² tn Heb “my brother.” Kings allied through a parity treaty would sometimes address each other as “my brother.” See 1 Kgs 20:32-33.

³ tn Heb “he called them the land of Cabul to this day.” The significance of the name is unclear, though it appears to be disparaging. The name may be derived from a root, attested in Akkadian and Arabic, meaning “bound” or “restricted.” Some propose a wordplay, pointing out that the name “Cabul” sounds like a Hebrew phrase meaning, “like not,” or “as good as nothing.”