Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

8:17-18; 9:10-11 Ezion-geber. See note on 1 Kings 9:26-28. Israel forms the land bridge (and the trade routes) connecting the Mediterranean lands with the kingdoms on the Red Sea and beyond, into Asia. Solomon profited from his control of these routes, and from his maritime partnership with Hiram, the king of Tyre. The Tyreans (a people of Phoenician stock) were renowned for their seamanship. Ophir was probably in southwest Arabia or the Horn of Africa.

9:1-9, 12 This section closely follows 1 Kings 10:1-13. Sheba, or Saba, corresponds roughly to modern Yemen and was a mercantile kingdom that traded in luxury goods from East Africa and India. The queen's visit may have had commercial trade purposes (see 2 Chron. 9:1, 9) prompted by Solomon's naval activities in the south of the Red Sea, but her visit is presented primarily as a quest for wisdom (vv. 1, 6). Solomon is acknowledged as excelling in both wisdom and wealth (see 1:12). The Gentile queen recognizes that Solomon's greatness is from Yahweh (9:8; see 2:12) and that Solomon sits on God's throne as his king (cf. 1 Kings 10:9, "the throne of Israel"). For the Chronicler, the Davidic kingdom is the earthly expression of God's eternal kingdom (see 1 Chron. 17:14; 28:5; 2 Chron. 13:8). Recognition (esp. from a Gentile monarch) that God was the actual King of Israel could only encourage the postexilic community, when no descendant of David was on the throne.

9:7 Happy are these your servants. See note on 1 Kings 10:8.

9:9-12 On the queen's gift of 120 talents of gold, see note on 1 Kings 10:10-13.

9:13-28 This section closely follows 1 Kings 10:14-28. The Chronicler's presentation of Solomon concludes with a description of the king at the zenith of his wealth and international renown (a far cry from the difficult conditions of the postexilic days; see Ezra 9:7; Neh. 9:36-37).

9:13-14 Solomon's annual revenues in gold (equal to about 22 tons) would have been derived from both tribute and trade (see note on 1 Kings 10:14-25).

9:15-16 The House of the Forest of Lebanon was Solomon's palace, which contained great quantities of cedar (see 1 Kings 7:2). The gold shields were lost as booty to Pharaoh Shishak by Solomon's son Rehoboam (2 Chron. 12:9).

9:21 Tarshish is usually identified with Tartessus in Spain, but here the Chronicler seems to use it more generically, in the sense of "the ends of the earth" (cf. Ps. 72:10).

9:22-28 Solomon is presented as supreme over all the kings of the earth, in keeping with the promises made at the beginning of his reign (1:12). Verses 25-28 of ch. 9 are a partial repetition of 1:14-17, and thus form an inclusio (literary "bookends") around the Chronicler's portrayal of Solomon (cf. note on 1 Kings 10:26-29).

9:29-31 This is from 1 Kings 11:41-43, but with additional reference to Ahijah the Shilonite (see 1 Kings 11:29-40) and Iddo the seer (traditionally identified with the unknown prophet in 1 Kings 13). Although the Chronicler omits the accounts of Solomon's apostasy and the rebellions he faced in his declining years (1 Kings 11), the allusion to the words of these prophets directs the reader to the account in Kings, where a more critical portrayal of Solomon is preserved. As with his presentation of David, the Chronicler's focus here is on the positive achievement of Solomon's reign and its abiding significance for his community. Solomon slept with his fathers. See notes on 1 Kings 2:10 and 11:43.