II Chronicles 8:14

Solomon's buildings, conquests, and officers, Ch2 8:1-10. He brings Pharaoh's daughter to his new-built palace, Ch2 8:11. His various sacrifices, and arrangement of the priests, Levites, and porters, Ch2 8:12-16. He sends a fleet to Ophir, Ch2 8:17, Ch2 8:18.

SOLOMON'S BUILDINGS. (Ch2 8:1-6) cities which Huram had restored . . . Solomon built them, &c.--These cities lay in the northwest of Galilee. Though included within the limits of the promised land, they had never been conquered. The right of occupying them Solomon granted to Huram, who, after consideration, refused them as unsuitable to the commercial habits of his subjects (see on Kg1 9:11). Solomon, having wrested them from the possession of the Canaanite inhabitants, repaired them and filled them with a colony of Hebrews.

Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, and until it was finished,.... The materials were prepared, and the money for the expenses; and even the very stones and timber were made fit for the building, so that there was nothing to retard the completion of it: so the house of God was perfected; in the space of seven years, in all the parts, and according to the form and pattern of it, see Kg1 6:38.

Solomon's City-Building, Statute Labour, Arrangement of Public Worship, and Nautical Undertakings - 2 Chronicles 8 The building of the temple was the most important work of Solomon's reign, as compared with which all the other undertakings of the king fall into the background; and these are consequently only summarily enumerated both in the book of Kings and in the Chronicle. In our chapter, in the first place, we have, (a) the building or completion of various cities, which were of importance partly as strongholds, partly as magazines, for the maintenance of the army necessary for the defence of the kingdom against hostile attacks (Ch2 8:1-6); (b) the arrangement of the statute labour for the execution of all his building works (Ch2 8:7-11); (c) the regulation of the sacrificial service and the public worship (Ch2 8:12-16); and (d) the voyage to Ophir (Ch2 8:17, Ch2 8:18). All these undertakings are recounted in the same order and in the same aphoristic way in 1 Kings 9:10-28, but with the addition of various notes, which are not found in our narrative; while the Chronicle, again, mentions several not unimportant though subordinate circumstances, which are not found in the book of Kings; whence it is clear that in the two narratives we have merely short and mutually supplementary extracts from a more elaborate description of these matters.

In this chapter we are told, I. What cities Solomon built (Ch2 8:1-6). II. What workmen Solomon employed (Ch2 8:7-10). III. What care he took about a proper settlement for his wife (Ch2 8:11). IV. What a good method he put the temple-service into (Ch2 8:12-16). V. What trading he had with foreign countries (Ch2 8:17, Ch2 8:18).