Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Solomon builds his palace and many cities; he subjugates the remnants of the Canaanites; he establishes regular sacrifices to be offered at the king's expense; he distributes the offices of priests and Levites according to David's arrangement; having sent a fleet to Ophir, he receives from there 450 talents of gold.
Vulgate Text: 2 Paralipomenon 8:1-18
1. And when twenty years had passed after Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, 2. he built the cities which Hiram had given to Solomon, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. 3. He also went to Hamath-zobah and took it. 4. And he built Palmyra in the desert, and other very strongly fortified cities he built in Hamath. 5. He also built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, walled cities having gates and bars and locks; 6. Baalath also and all the strongest cities which belonged to Solomon, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, all that Solomon desired and planned, he built in Jerusalem and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion. 7. All the people who were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the stock of Israel: 8. of their children and posterity, whom the children of Israel had not slain, Solomon made tributaries, even to this day. 9. But of the children of Israel he made none to serve in the king's works; for they were men of war, and chief captains, and rulers of his chariots and horsemen. 10. And all the chief officers of King Solomon's army were two hundred and fifty, who trained the people. 11. And he transferred the daughter of Pharaoh from the City of David to the house which he had built for her. For the king said: My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because it has been sanctified, for the Ark of the Lord has entered into it. 12. Then Solomon offered holocausts to the Lord upon the altar of the Lord, which he had built before the porch, 13. that every day there might be offered on it according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the feast days, three times a year, that is, on the solemnity of unleavened bread, and on the solemnity of weeks, and on the solemnity of tabernacles. 14. And he appointed, according to the arrangement of David his father, the offices of the priests in their ministries, and the Levites in their order, to praise and minister before the priests according to the rite of each day; and the porters in their divisions at each gate; for so had David the man of God commanded. 15. Neither did the priests nor the Levites depart from any of the king's commandments, in all that he had commanded, and in the keeping of the treasures. 16. Solomon had all the expenses prepared, from the day when he founded the house of the Lord until the day when he finished it. 17. Then Solomon went to Eziongeber, and to Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, which is in the land of Edom. 18. And Hiram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and sailors skilled in the sea, and they went with Solomon's servants to Ophir, and brought from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon.
I have explained this chapter in 3 Kings chapters IX, 10 and following.
Verse 2: The Cities Which Hiram Had Given
2. THE CITIES WHICH HIRAM HAD GIVEN (that is, returned) TO SOLOMON.
Verse 17: Solomon Went to Eziongeber
17. SOLOMON WENT (either in person or through his ministers and officials) TO EZIONGEBER. — This is a port on the Red Sea, from which there is an easy and nearby passage to the East Indies; whence you may conclude that Ophir was in the East Indies, not the West Indies, namely in Pegu, not in Peru. For not in Peru, but in Pegu are found monkeys, peacocks, ivory, gems, spices, thyine wood, which this Ophir fleet brought to Solomon. This port is called Berenice by Josephus, book III of Antiquities chapter VI, Effia by St. Jerome; today it is called Suez.