2 that Jehovah appeareth unto Solomon a second time, as He appeared unto him in Gibeon, 3 and Jehovah saith unto him, 'I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication with which thou hast made supplication before Me; I have hallowed this house that thou hast built to put My name there—unto the age, and Mine eyes and My heart have been there all the days. 4 'And thou—if thou dost walk before Me as David thy father walked, in simplicity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee—My statutes and My judgments thou dost keep— 5 then I have established the throne of thy kingdom over Israel—to the age, as I spake unto David thy father, saying, There is not cut off to thee a man from 'being' on the throne of Israel. 6 'If ye at all turn back—you and your sons—from after Me, and keep not My commands—My statutes, that I have set before you, and ye have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them, 7 then I have cut off Israel from the face of the ground that I have given to them, and the house that I have hallowed for My name I send away from My presence, and Israel hath been for a simile and for a byword among all the peoples; 8 as to this house, 'that' is high, every one passing by it is astonished, and hath hissed, and they have said, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus to this land and to this house? 9 and they have said, Because that they have forsaken Jehovah their God, who brought out their fathers from the land of Egypt, and they lay hold on other gods, and bow themselves to them, and serve them; therefore hath Jehovah brought in upon them all this evil.'
10 And it cometh to pass, at the end of twenty years, that Solomon hath built the two houses, the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Kings 9:2-10
Commentary on 1 Kings 9:1-9
(Read 1 Kings 9:1-9)
God warned Solomon, now he had newly built and dedicated the temple, that he and his people might not be high-minded, but fear. After all the services we can perform, we stand upon the same terms with the Lord as before. Nothing can purchase for us liberty to sin, nor would the true believer desire such a licence. He would rather be chastened of the Lord, than be allowed to go on with ease and prosperity in sin.
Commentary on 1 Kings 9:10-14
(Read 1 Kings 9:10-14)
Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities. Hiram did not like them. If Solomon would gratify him, let it be in his own element, by becoming his partner in trade, as he did. See how the providence of God suits this earth to the various tempers of men, and the dispositions of men to the earth, and all for the good of mankind in general.