Bible Commentaries

Analysis and Annotations

I. THE REIGN OF SOLOMON

1. The Beginning of Solomon’s Reign and the First Vision

CHAPTER 1

1. The Lord was with him (2 Chronicles 1:1)

2. At Gibeon (2 Chronicles 1:2-6)

3. The first vision (2 Chronicles 1:7-12)

4. His riches and prosperity (2 Chronicles 1:13-17)

The events connected with the beginning of Solomon’s reign and recorded in 1 Kings 1-3:3 are omitted in Chronicles. Second Chronicles begins with the statement that Solomon was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly. This shows the keynote of Chronicles. It is Jehovah’s gracious dealing with the house of David and the bestowal of the promised blessing. In 1 Kings 3:3 we read that Solomon loved the Lord.

Here more of Gibeon is mentioned than in Kings. “Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities” (Joshua 10:2). Later Gibeon became the possession of the tribe of Benjamin and was made a priest-city. It was about two hours from Jerusalem. When Saul had destroyed Nob, the tabernacle was removed to Gibeon, where it remained till Solomon built the house of the LORD (1 Chronicles 16:39; 1 Chronicles 21:29; 1 Kings 3:4; 2 Chronicles 1:3). The ark had been brought from Kirjath-jearim, not far from Gibeon, to the tent which David had pitched for it in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:2; 1 Chronicles 13:5-6), but the tabernacle and the brazen altar, that Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made remained at Gibeon. The high place at Gibeon means the elevation upon which the tabernacle and the altar stood. Originally there was at the same spot a Canaanitish place for the worship of idols. As long as the temple, that central place for worship chosen by God (Deuteronomy 12:11), was not standing, the worship of Jehovah in the Gibeon high place was not sinful. After the temple was built the high places became centers of idolatrous practices. Solomon and all the congregation with him gathered at Gibeon and sought the brazen altar and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it. He began with this act of worship and it was the same night that God appeared unto Solomon. The Lord drew graciously near to him as the result of the sacrifices upon the brazen altar. The burnt-offering is the type of the perfect devotion and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is this which makes us nigh. On the meaning of the great vision, God’s offer to Solomon, the King’s answer, see 1 Kings 3.

After the vision and the Lord’s promise, “I will give thee riches and wealth and honor,” we hear of Solomon’s horses, horsemen and chariots. In 1 Kings, we find the same paragraph in another setting, that is, in chapter 10:26-29. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen and 4,000 stalls for horses. A great commerce seems to have been fostered by Solomon. While this showed the promise fulfilled, in that the Lord gave him riches and wealth, it also showed an unlawful desire for increase which was forbidden (Deuteronomy 17:16). Read comment on 1 Kings 10:26-29.