CHAPTER 8

(992 B.C.)

SOLOMONS BUILDING ACTIVITIES

¹And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the House of the LORD, and his own house (this Chapter in small measure pictures the peace and plenty which will characterize the Millennial Earth),

²That the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the Children of Israel to dwell there (likewise, the coming Millennial Reign, of which all of this is a type, will see the greatest construction boom the world has ever known).

³And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it (in the entirety of Solomons reign, this was the only war that was fought; this typifies the scarcity of such in the coming Kingdom Age).

⁴And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath.

⁵Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars;

⁶And Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion. (So much of the world as designed by man has specialized in destruction instead of construction. However, during the coming Kingdom Age, when Jesus will reign supreme from Jerusalem, and over the entirety of the Earth, there will be no destruction except of that which is evil. Rather, there will be construction. For the first time, the world will see what the Earth could really be like under Gods Government instead of mans flawed and faulty government.)

⁷As for all the people who were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel,

⁸But of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the Children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day (likewise, in the coming Kingdom Age, the Gentile world will pay tribute to the Lord of Glory; but yet, it will not be in the form of ruinous taxation; in fact, it will gladly be paid, because of the great prosperity which will fill the entirety of the Earth).

⁹But of the Children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and horsemen.

¹⁰And these were the chief of king Solomons officers, even two hundred and fifty, who bore rule over the people (this typifies redeemed Israel and the blood-washed Saints of God in the coming Kingdom Age, who, under Christ, will carry out the Plan of God over the entirety of the Earth).

¹¹And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the Ark of the LORD has come (with such a Gentile wife, Solomon was starting out the wrong way, and he did not learn the lesson he should have learned, for he later loved many foreign women, who turned his heart away from God [I Ki. 11:1-9]; Solomon, like all the other Types, was a broken figure of Him Who is to come; nevertheless, the Antitype, Who is Christ, will be Perfect).

SOLOMONS FAITHFULNESS IN WORSHIP

¹²Then Solomon offered Burnt Offerings unto the LORD on the Altar of the LORD, which he had built before the porch,

¹³Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the Commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn Feasts, three times in the year, even in the Feast of Unleavened Bread (conducted in April), and in the Feast of Weeks (of Pentecost, in June), and in the Feast of Tabernacles (October; all the males of Israel were supposed to gather three times a year on these special Feasts [Ex. 23:14; Deut. 16:16]).

¹⁴And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the Priests to their service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the Priests, as the duty of every day required: the porters also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded (this was the appointment of the 24 courses of the Priests in their services [I Chron., Chpt. 24], the 24 courses of the Levites to sing and play music regarding praise and worship [I Chron., Chpt. 25], and the 24 courses of the porters [I Chron., Chpt. 26]; all this had been revealed to David by the Holy Spirit, and now it is being obeyed as he had left instructions).

¹⁵And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the Priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures (as well, we must not presently depart from the Commandment of the King, the Lord Jesus Christ, i.e., His Word).

¹⁶Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the House of the LORD, and until it was finished. So the House of the LORD was perfected (this is the desire and the work of the Holy Spirit that He may perfect the House of the LORD, that House now being our physical and spiritual persons, which are Temples of the Holy Spirit [I Cor. 3:16]; this is done by the Believer constantly exhibiting Faith in Christ, and what Christ has done at the Cross; the Holy Spirit, Who works exclusively within the parameters of the Finished Work of Christ, will then carry out the work within our lives [Rom. 8:1-2, 11]).

SOLOMONS GREAT WEALTH

¹⁷Then went Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, at the sea side in the land of Edom.

¹⁸And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon (in fact, the entirety of the world, even as we shall see, beat a path to Solomons door, exactly as the entirety of the world will come to Christ, availing themselves of His Perfect Wisdom, in the coming Kingdom Age, of which Solomon was a Type).