2 Chronicles 8:1-18--Solomon's Accomplishments

2 Chronicles 8
English Standard Version

Solomon's Accomplishments
8 At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own house, 2 Solomon rebuilt the cities that Hiram had given to him, and settled the people of Israel in them.

3 And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and took it. 4 He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities that he built in Hamath. 5 He also built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars, 6 and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had and all the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 7 All the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, 8 from their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel had not destroyed—these Solomon drafted as forced labor, and so they are to this day. 9 But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves for his work; they were soldiers, and his officers, the commanders of his chariots, and his horsemen. 10 And these were the chief officers of King Solomon, 250, who exercised authority over the people.

11 Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the city of David to the house that he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not live in the house of David king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the LORD has come are holy.”

12 Then Solomon offered up burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD that he had built before the vestibule, 13 as the duty of each day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the three annual feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths. 14 According to the ruling of David his father, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their offices of praise and ministry before the priests as the duty of each day required, and the gatekeepers in their divisions at each gate, for so David the man of God had commanded. 15 And they did not turn aside from what the king had commanded the priests and Levites concerning any matter and concerning the treasuries.

16 Thus was accomplished all the work of Solomon from the day the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed.

17 Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Eloth on the shore of the sea, in the land of Edom. 18 And Hiram sent to him by the hand of his servants ships and servants familiar with the sea, and they went to Ophir together with the servants of Solomon and brought from there 450 talents of gold and brought it to King Solomon.

---

We're wrapping up our discussion of Solomon here and giving a list of his accomplishments as king of Israel.  The LORD helped Solomon expand his territory as a visible sign of the LORD's blessing.  Areas that had been captured by enemies were retaken and the new cities and storehouses and stables for keeping the king's war horses were built.  The kingdom grew in size to the largest it would ever be under any king of Israel with even more people of other lands subject to Solomon and paying him tribute, even though he may not have had direct ownership of their land.

The LORD also provided enough foreigners to serve as laborers on all of the important projects that needed to be done so that none of the people of Israel needed to stop their regular jobs to work on these special construction projects.  Imagine having people who used to be your enemies willing to work to build up your walls and fortifications so that you would provide them with food and lodging because that's probably how bad it was for them where they lived.  It was better for them to live and work for Solomon where they knew they had a job and had food for themselves and their families and to try to scrape by wherever they were from.  The important point here that I want to make is that even these "slaves" were treated well--we should not read into that word the sins of the Trans-Atlantic African slave trade.  God gave rules on how to treat slaves who were foreigners and how to treat Israelite slaves in the Law, and those who broke those laws could face penalties up to and including the death penalty.  How God's people treated other people was something He took very seriously.

We've already talked some about how Solomon did things as king in direct opposition to the Law of the LORD--marrying foreign women, building up his armies with chariots and horses that he bought from Egypt and other nations, and building high places and idols to all the false gods of his many wives and concubines.  He also collected much wealth for himself which became a snare to him, and he sought pleasure and knowledge only to find out these pursuits were vain and empty if he didn't first seek God, His kingdom, and His righteousness.  He at least had some sense to build palaces for his foreign wives away from Jerusalem as he knew that their presence there worshiping other gods with counter-culture worldviews and lifestyles would most certainly defile the city and the Temple.  If he knew this, then why marry her at all?  It's not like it should be okay to defile any other part of the Land.  Yes, Jerusalem and the Temple are very holy, but that doesn't mean that the rest of the Land and the people are expendable.

One good think I can say for Solomon is that he encouraged the Levites and the Aaronic priests to fulfil their duties completely.  All the required sacrifices and feasts were made and celebrated in the proper way at their proper times--morning and evening, springtime, summertime and harvesttime, and at the beginning of each new month.  Solomon was careful to make it look like his heart was undivided, but all the high places around Jerusalem said otherwise.

Definitely, Solomon's greatest accomplishment, especially in the eyes of the priests who are writing this, is the construction of the Temple of the LORD.  It is a place for all the nations of the world to come and see how great the LORD is and how His Name is highly exalted.  He is worthy of all glory and honor and praise, yet sin is also something the separates us (the Temple was all about separation, and the sinful people needed to be kept far off) and the only way for the priests to draw near to the LORD to minister before Him was through the sacrifice of an innocent, spotless animal.  The sing and guilt of the people were placed on the head of the sacrifice and then it was killed in their place--the innocent for the guilty and its blood made atonement for them.  This has been part of the gospel message since Genesis 3 when the LORD Himself first killed animals to make skin coverings for Adam and Eve's nakedness (to cover over their sin and their guilt).  Now we can boldly approach the LORD through an even better Sacrifice--the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

The last thing that today's passage mentioned is that Solomon's renown and influence spread to distant lands across the sea as he and Hiram worked together to build a great navy that went out to foreign lands to explore and bring back all kinds of wealth and treasures--gold, precious jewels, exotic animals, and more.  Anything that looked rare, valuable, or unique, Solomon wanted it to encourage people to want to come and see him and listen to the LORD's wisdom that had been given to him (and hopefully many of these visitors also went to the Temple to hear the Law of the LORD being taught and to see the LORD's covenant love on full display).