Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God appears to Solomon, and promises him an eternal throne if he walks in His law; but if not, He threatens him with the destruction of the kingdom and the temple. Then, verse 10, Solomon offers Hiram king of Tyre 20 cities; thence, verse 17, he builds and fortifies various cities, and makes all the remaining Canaanites tributary to himself. Finally, verse 26, he sends a fleet to Ophir, which brings him 420 talents.
Vulgate Text: 3 Kings 9:1-28
1. And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the building of the king, and all that he had desired and wished to do, 2. the Lord appeared to him a second time, as He had appeared to him in Gibeon. 3. And the Lord said to him: I have heard your prayer and your supplication which you have made before Me; I have sanctified this house, which you have built, to place My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart shall be there all the days. 4. And if you also walk before Me, as your father walked, in simplicity of heart, and in equity, and do all that I have commanded you, and keep My statutes and My judgments, 5. I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I spoke to David your father, saying: There shall not fail a man of your line from the throne of Israel. 6. But if by turning away you turn aside, you and your children, not following Me, nor keeping My commandments, and My ceremonies, which I have set before you, but go away and worship strange gods, and adore them, 7. I will take away Israel from the face of the land which I have given them; and the temple which I have sanctified to My name, I will cast out of My sight, and Israel shall be a proverb, and a byword among all peoples. 8. And this house shall be made an example: everyone that shall pass by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and shall say: Why has the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house? 9. And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and followed strange gods, and worshipped them, and served them; therefore the Lord has brought upon them all this evil. 10. And when twenty years were expired after Solomon had built the two houses, that is, the house of the Lord, and the house of the king 11. (Hiram the king of Tyre furnishing Solomon with cedar timber and fir timber, and gold according to all that he needed), then Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee. 12. And Hiram came out from Tyre, to see the towns which Solomon had given him, and they pleased him not, 13. and he said: Are these the cities which you have given me, brother? And he called them the land of Cabul, unto this day. 14. And Hiram sent to king Solomon one hundred and twenty talents of gold. 15. This is the sum of the expenses which king Solomon offered for building the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. 16. Pharaoh the king of Egypt came up, and took Gezer, and burned it with fire; and he slew the Canaanite who dwelt in the city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter Solomon's wife. 17. So Solomon built Gezer, and lower Beth-horon, 18. and Baalath, and Palmyra in the land of the wilderness. 19. And all the villages that belonged to him, and were unwalled, he fortified, and the cities of chariots and the cities of horsemen, and whatever it pleased him to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 20. All the people that remained of the Amorites, and Hittites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel: 21. Their children who remained in the land, whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy: Solomon made tributary, unto this day. 22. But of the children of Israel Solomon made no one to serve, but they were men of war and his ministers, and princes, and captains, and rulers of his chariots and horses. 23. And the chief officers over all the works of Solomon were five hundred and fifty overseers, who had the people subject to them, and commanded over the appointed works. 24. And the daughter of Pharaoh came up out of the city of David into her own house, which Solomon had built for her: then he built Millo. 25. Solomon also offered three times every year holocausts, and peace offerings, upon the altar which he had built to the Lord, and he burned incense before the Lord: and the temple was finished. 26. And king Solomon made a fleet in Ezion-geber, which is beside Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27. And Hiram sent in the fleet his servants, expert seamen and knowledgeable of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. 28. And when they had come to Ophir, they brought from thence gold of four hundred and twenty talents to king Solomon.
Verse 2: The Lord Appeared to Him a Second Time
2. THE LORD APPEARED TO HIM A SECOND TIME, AS HE HAD APPEARED TO HIM (the first time) IN GIBEON, namely He appeared to him "at night," as is said in 2 Chronicles 7:12, in a dream: for thus He had appeared to him in Gibeon, chapter 3, verse 4.
3. I HAVE SANCTIFIED THIS HOUSE, that is, "I have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice," as is explained in 2 Chronicles 7:12.
TO PLACE MY NAME THERE FOREVER, that is, as long as the temple shall exist and stand, it will be called the house of the Lord, and there I will show Myself and My presence, grace and glory.
AND MY EYES AND MY HEART SHALL BE THERE ALL THE DAYS, that is to say, I will cast My eyes upon My house, and it will be dear to Me, close to My heart and in My care.
Verse 4: If You Also Walk Before Me
4. AND IF YOU ALSO WALK BEFORE ME, AS YOUR FATHER WALKED IN SIMPLICITY (in Hebrew betom, that is, in integrity; in Chaldean, in truth; in the Septuagint, in holiness) OF HEART, AND IN EQUITY (in Hebrew beioscer, that is, in rectitude): that is, if you serve Me with an entire, true, holy and perfect heart, so that you give Me your whole heart, and do not divide it, giving one part to Me, another to idols and lusts. For God demands our whole heart, and our whole love, according to that: "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with all your strength," Deuteronomy 6:5. See what was said there. Whence, explaining, He adds:
AND DO ALL THAT I HAVE COMMANDED YOU, AND KEEP MY STATUTES (laws) AND MY JUDGMENTS (the juridical laws and rights enacted by Me).
Verse 6: But If by Turning Away You Turn Aside
6. BUT IF BY TURNING AWAY YOU TURN ASIDE, from Me and My law.
7. I WILL TAKE AWAY ISRAEL FROM THE FACE OF THE LAND WHICH I GAVE THEM: AND THE TEMPLE WHICH I SANCTIFIED (dedicated) TO MY NAME I WILL CAST OUT, as now on account of the slaying of Christ we see the Jews wanderers and vagabonds throughout the whole world, and their temple destroyed. So also God has often punished Christians who slide into heresy and other crimes, and still punishes them, with the destruction of nations and kingdoms, and permits temples and monasteries to be burned and overthrown.
Verse 10: When Twenty Years Were Expired
10. AND WHEN TWENTY YEARS WERE EXPIRED (from the beginning of the temple construction, that is, in the 24th year of Solomon's reign) AFTER SOLOMON HAD BUILT THE TWO HOUSES, THAT IS, THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, AND THE HOUSE OF THE KING, etc.
Then Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in THE LAND OF GALILEE. You may ask whether Solomon lawfully alienated these cities from Israel and delivered them to Hiram the king of Tyre, a Gentile. I answer that he could not lawfully alienate them forever, so as to make them Phoenician territory, because he would have done an injustice to the Israelites against the law of God, who had assigned and given them to them. Furthermore, Hiram would have drawn these Galileans to his idols and paganism. Therefore he did not hand over to Hiram absolute and full ownership of them, but only the usufruct, so that Hiram might receive from them the revenues and rights which Solomon used to receive, until he compensated for the expenses he had incurred on Solomon's behalf; or certainly until his own death, so that when he died they would revert to the kingdom and kings of Israel. So Abulensis, Serarius, Salianus and others.
Verse 13: And he called them the land of Cabul
13. And he called them the land of Cabul. "Cabul" in the Phoenician language, says Josephus, book VIII, chapter 5, means "not pleasing" or "displeasing." So Abulensis, Cajetan and others: but in the Hebrew language chebel means fetters, whence chabul means a tenacious and muddy land, which delays those walking, and as it were puts fetters on them, so that they can scarcely make progress. So R. David, Vatablus and Pagninus. Chabul could also be derived by metathesis from keleb, that is, dog, meaning: a dog-like land, vile and dirty like a dog; whence Josephus says that Hiram did not wish to accept these cities, and thus they remained Israel's.
Verse 15: The Sum of the Expenses Which King Solomon Offered
15. THIS IS THE SUM OF THE EXPENSES WHICH KING SOLOMON OFFERED FOR BUILDING THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, AND HIS OWN HOUSE, AND MILLO, AND THE WALL OF JERUSALEM, AND HAZOR, etc. That is to say, this is the cause or subject of so many expenses and costs which Solomon incurred; namely the construction of the temple, his house, Millo, etc. For in these constructions he made the greatest expenses, and exhausted his most opulent treasury. For in Hebrew it reads, this is the matter of the tribute, that is, this is the reason and cause of so great a tribute which Solomon imposed on the people (on account of which the people murmured, and defected from Rehoboam to Jeroboam), namely, so that from it he might build the temple and so many cities. For construction exhausts even royal and the greatest resources. So Vatablus, Serarius, Sanchez and others.
Secondly, it could be translated with the Septuagint as: this is the sum of the distribution, into which Solomon distributed and spent his resources and such great tributes, so that the sum of expenses is the sum of the things on which the expenses were made, namely the construction of the temple and so many cities. For otherwise properly no sum of Solomon's tributes or wealth is set forth here.
Verse 16: He Gave It as a Dowry to His Daughter
16. AND HE GAVE IT AS A DOWRY TO HIS DAUGHTER, SOLOMON'S WIFE. Already before when she married Solomon, he had given her a dowry. "As a dowry" therefore, that is, as an increase of the dowry. Whence the Hebrews have: he gave her soluchim; the Septuagint has apostolas, that is, gifts sent, namely presents; that is, he gave it to her as a gift, as the Chaldean translates.
Verse 18: And Palmyra
18. AND PALMYRA. The Hebrews and the Septuagint have Thamer, that is, Palm. Therefore this city seems to have been called Palmyra from the abundance of palms and the palm groves abundant there, says St. Jerome on Ezekiel chapters 47 and 48. It was situated across the Jordan in the borders of Israel and belonged to the half-tribe of Manasseh, distant from Damascus 27 miles. Solomon therefore built it there as on the extreme border of his empire, and surrounded it with the strongest walls: afterwards, restored by the Emperor Hadrian, it was called Hadrianopolis. From this famous city the whole region and the neighboring wilderness was called Palmyrene. See Adrichomius, page 92, number 73.
Verse 21: Solomon Made Them Tributary
21. SOLOMON MADE THEM TRIBUTARY, namely all the Canaanites who remained in Judea, whom the Hebrews had not been able to exterminate. You may ask whether Solomon sinned in this, for God had commanded all the Canaanites to be killed. Abulensis answers that he did not sin, because neither had David his father killed them: whence either God had dispensed in His law, or rather the law did not bind at that time, because at that time all the danger that was feared for Israel from the Canaanites had ceased, namely lest they entice the Hebrews to their idols: for they were now entirely suppressed by David and Solomon, so that they dared not do this nor raise their heads. Furthermore, Solomon could fear that if he killed all the Canaanites, the Philistines and other nations might in revenge likewise slaughter all the Jews living among them, and indeed they themselves
might wage war. Add that the law commanding the Canaanites to be killed pertained especially to the Canaanites who lived in the time of Joshua and afterward, when the land was to be conquered and possessed, as is indicated in this verse. So Cajetan and others.
Verse 26: King Solomon Also Made a Fleet
26. KING SOLOMON ALSO MADE A FLEET. Pineda thinks that Solomon equipped this fleet at the beginning of his reign, to collect gold for the construction of the temple. But David had already abundantly provided this beforehand: whence Salianus thinks that he prepared this fleet after the construction of the temple in the 24th year of his reign, and he gathers this from verse 10, which should be understood of the later and larger fleets. For that he had equipped this fleet before the construction of the temple for the enormous expense of building the temple as well as the palaces and cities, is clear from chapter 10, verse 12, where it is said that Solomon made the supports of the house of the Lord and of the royal house from thyine wood brought from Ophir.
Verse 27: Expert in the Sea
27. EXPERT IN THE SEA. For the Tyrians and Phoenicians, as inhabitants of the sea coast, were in every age famous among all nations for their nautical art and navigation.
Verse 28: When They Had Come to Ophir
28. AND WHEN THEY HAD COME TO OPHIR, THEY BROUGHT FROM THENCE GOLD OF FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY TALENTS TO KING SOLOMON. You may ask, what and where is Ophir? Some think it was Angola, where there are Ethiopians who were brought to Solomon as slaves, as they are also brought from there to Spain today. Others think it was Malacca, others Sofala, others with Eugubinus lower Persia, others Africa.
Two opinions are more probable. The first, that Ophir is the kingdom of Peru in the West Indies, both because there is the most plentiful and most esteemed gold, which is exported from there to Spain almost every year, and because Ophir by metathesis of letters is Peru; and because the gold of Ophir is called the gold of Parvaim, that is, of the two Perus, namely the lesser and the greater, 2 Chronicles 3:7. So Vatablus, Arias, Genebrardus and others, who think the New World was discovered and known by Solomon.
The latter and more common opinion is that Ophir was in the East Indies, and indeed that it embraced several gold-bearing regions of the same, such as the Golden Chersonese, so called from its abundance of gold, Sumatra and Taprobane, Pegu, Ceylon and other gold-bearing regions of the East Indies. So Sanchez, Serarius, Salianus, Gaspar Varerius, in his book On Ophir, Josephus Acosta, book I On the Nature of the New World, chapters 13 and 14. Josephus, Hesychius, Theodoret, Procopius and St. Jerome, epistle 140 to Principia, support this, who affirms that Ophir was named after Ophir the son of Eber, Genesis chapter 10, verse 29.
It is proved firstly, because this fleet set sail from Ezion-geber situated on the Red Sea, or in the Arabian Gulf: and from this there is an easy, direct and nearby voyage around the promontory of Comorin to Sumatra and Taprobane, as lying directly opposite it, as is evident from cosmographic charts; but the voyage from the Red Sea to Peru would have been very long, plainly dangerous and circuitous: for it would have been necessary either to sail eastward around all the East Indies, Malacca, Japan and China, and there turn the course toward America; or certainly to sail westward around the Cape of Good Hope and all of Africa and the vast Ocean; thence through Brazil, Patagonia, Chile and the Strait of Magellan to reach Peru. But a far easier and closer voyage to Peru would have been from Joppa and Tyre, that is, from the Mediterranean Sea, as the voyage today is from Seville in Spain.
Secondly, because at that time the use of the magnetic compass was unknown: therefore sailors measured their courses by the pole and the polar stars; whence they kept close to nearby shores, and did not dare to cross beyond Cadiz (where Hercules fixed his pillars, as it were a limit of navigation which no one would dare to cross), much less the equatorial line. Hence Cadiz was considered the utmost boundary of the earth, even by the Tyrians themselves, as Strabo testifies, book III, Diodorus, book V, Paterculus, book I. Whence the old proverb: "To Cadiz." In Peter Apianus, book I of Antiquities, there stands this monument at Cadiz: "Heliodorus the madman of Carthage, at the end of the world, by testament ordered that my sarcophagus be placed here, to see if anyone ever more insane than I might penetrate to these regions to visit me."
Thirdly, if the West Indies and the navigation to them had been discovered and well-trodden by Solomon, surely its memory and continuation would have remained: for the desire for gold would have spurred everyone to it. But now no memory of it exists; indeed before Amerigo Vespucci (from whom America was named) that land was considered by all as new and unknown. In addition, from the Arabian Gulf or the Red Sea, there was at that time frequent navigation by the Tyrians and others to the East Indies, as Pineda shows from ancient authors.
Fourthly, because Sumatra, Taprobane and the neighboring places abound in excellent gold, gems, thyine wood, ivory and other precious things, which are said to be in Ophir and Tarshish in chapter 10, verses 11 and 22, whereas Peru lacks thyine wood, apes, peacocks, ivory and elephants, as witnessed by Joseph Acosta in the place cited, who lived in Peru for 15 years. In addition, Maffaeus, book XVI of the History of the Indies, writes that the people of Pegu from the tradition of their ancestors trace their lineage to Jewish exiles, condemned by Solomon to the gold mines of Ophir, and sent to dig gold in Peru and the neighboring places. Moreover, from Ophir excellent gold is called Ophirizium, and thence obrizum, says St. Jerome in the place cited.
Fifthly, Ophir was named after Ophir the son of Joktan, as the grandson of Eber. Moreover the brother of Ophir was called Havilah, and both inhabited the regions of India and the eastern quarter near the Ganges River, which, named after them, were most rich in gold and gems.
Hence the response to the arguments of the former opinion is clear. Add that the name Ophir may allude to Africa as well as to Peru, as though Africa were Ophirica, that is, Africa. For in Ophir the first letter is Aleph, which is in Africa. Whence the Septuagint and Josephus translate "Ophir" as Sophir or Sofira, which some think to be Sofala, which is a region of Africa, through which those coming from the Red Sea sail to Sumatra and the rest of the East Indies. I will speak about the gold of Parvaim at 2 Chronicles 3:7. Finally, the name Peru was unknown, indeed it is still unknown to the Peruvians themselves: for the Spaniards recently gave that name to that region from a certain river situated there, whose name is Peru, as Acosta and others testify.
Finally, why would Solomon, the wisest king, leaving aside the riches of the East Indies near to him, and those most excellent, have sought them in the most remote West Indies, where the navigation was most dangerous? If anyone nevertheless insists that Ophir is Peru, let him say that part of this fleet sailed to Peru, another to Sumatra and the East Indies, just as now from the division of Pope Alexander VI, the Portuguese sail to the East Indies, the Spaniards their neighbors to the West Indies. For more on Ophir see Pineda, book IV On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 16.
GOLD OF FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY TALENTS, the book of 2 Chronicles chapter 8, verse 18, supplements in its usual manner, counting 450 talents. Mystically, Solomon by this navigation represented, and indeed opened the way for the Spaniards and Portuguese to the Indies, both to acquire gold, and rather to acquire for Christ, who is the true Solomon, the souls of the Indians, more precious than all gold.