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Chapter 9 records Solomon's duties after the completion of the Temple. By now Solomon was well into his building program. All of his architectural accomplishments are not known but those that are, the quality and splendor are unparalleled in history. Note some of his accomplishments:
After Solomon completed the Temple, the Lord appeared to him. This was the second time that the Lord appeared to Solomon. The first time, as it was here, occurred as Solomon had completed a place of worship. It was on the "high place" at Gibeon where Solomon had erected an Altar and had finished the Festival to the Lord. Both were a sign of God's acceptance of what Solomon had done. Solomon built and God hollowed it.
Then the Lord said to Solomon what He had said to the people of Israel many times before, obedience will bring blessings and disobedience will bring judgment. Much is prophesied in verses 6 thru 9. It was as though it was a foregone conclusion that Israel would disobey God and be scattered throughout the nations of the world and that the Temple would become a heap of ruins and it took less than 400 years for this to come true.
Recorded here is Solomon's attempt to repay King Hiram of Tyre for all the help that he had given him in the building of the Temple and his Palace. Solomon had 20 cities described here as being in the land of Galilee. Galilee was that area of land that lay between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea and these 20 cities actually lay in the land of Phoenicia, land that was controlled by the King of Tyre. These cities and Phoenicia were part of the inheritance given to the Tribe of Asher but was never conquered. As it turned out, the cities were still populated by the Canaanites as the Phoenicians didn't want them and the Hebrews had not conquered them.
Why didn't The King of Tyre want them? He considered them beneath his position. The people of Tyre were merchants and traders. They lived in fine houses near the sea. They were rich by being on the main sea routes to the Middle East from Europe. They were knowledgeable of the business of trading but knew nothing about agriculture or horticulture. To the people of Tyre, this area was "cabul", displeasing and wasteland.
What King Harim had asked of Solomon at the beginning in exchange for his help, he already had. Solomon had given room and board to the Phoenician workmen. What King Hiram hoped to gain from this association was trade, which, as we will see, he certainly did achieve. As for the 20 cities in Galilee, Solomon took them over and populated then with Hebrews.
Mentioned in verse 15 is one of Solomon's building projects called Fort Millo. The word "millo" described a type of construction of walls. Like Jericho and Jerusalem these walls were double walls, separated approximately 10 to 15 feet and filled with earth between them, also it referred to an earthen mound upon which they were built. Shechem was a model of "millo construction". This fort must have been built on a mound with that type of wall construction and simply called Fort Millo.
Solomon conscripted much of his labor. It is believed that at one time he had as many as 200,000 laborers in his building program. He rebuilt cities that had been destroyed by war. He rebuilt the city of Gezer which had been captured and burned by Egyptians and gave it as a "dowry" to the Pharaoh of Egypt for his daughter. After Solomon completed his Palace he built separate living quarters for his Egyptian wife. With the completion of the Temple, Solomon offered sacrifices there 3 times a year.
Finally we see King Hiram of Tyre getting out of this deal what he wanted. Solomon built a seaport on the Gulf of Aqaba, an inlet of the Red Sea, and furnished it with a fleet of ships. King Harim supplied the sailors. These ships went back and forth to Ophir in S-W Arabia, taking about 3 years to make the trip. Their cargo was gold, silver, ivory, peacocks and apes.
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