2 Chronicles 8:1–18

Read the passage.

Because Solomon was not a warrior king like his father David, there is no list of military victories or conquests to put on his list of accomplishements. Instead, we get a list of the cities he built and the good relationships he had with the neighboring (and more distant) nations. The cities that Hiram, king of Tyre, gave to Solomon had actually been given to Hiram first. (1 Kings 9:10–14) In addition to these, whole cities were made to store all of Solomon’s chariots, horses, and warehouses for all the wealth he had amassed. To build all of these cities, Solomon used slave labor, but not his own people. The remnants of the Canaanites still lived in the land after Israel conquered it, but they were allowed to stay as servants and slaves.

Solomon also made an entire house for his wife, the daughter of Pharaoh. This was done to remove her from Jerusalem, where the ark of the covenant was placed in the temple, making it holy. Many consider Solomon’s major failing to be his marriage to so many foreign, and more importantly pagan, women. They pulled Solomon’s heart away from the worship of the true God with their idols and practices. Yet, at this point, Solomon was careful not to let his wife’s religion mix with his own.

The Chronicler goes on to say how Solomon was faithful to keep all of the sacrifices and feasts that the Lord had appointed for Israel. He continued the schedule of the priestly divisions that David had set up for service in the temple when it was built. More detail is given here than in the parallel passage in 1 Kings so that the returning exiles would be reminded of how important it is to worship the Lord in the way He wants.

In You alone are life and truth.