1 Kings 8:65 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Kings 8:65
And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.
time · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
Solomon
שְׁלֹמֹ֣הshe.lo.Moh
H8010
Shelomah · proper noun, a man's name
held
וַיַּ֣עַשׂvai.Ya.'as
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
feast
הֶחָ֡גhe.Chag
H2282
a festival · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֣לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
great
גָּד֜וֹלga.Dol
H1419
great (in any sense) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
congregation
קָהָ֨לka.Hal
H6951
assemblage (usually concretely) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
entering
מִלְּב֥וֹאmi.le.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · preposition + proper noun, a place name
Hamath
חֲמָ֣תcha.Mat
H2574
Chamath · proper noun, a place name
river
נַ֣חַלNa.chal
H5158
a stream · noun, common masculine singular construct
Egypt
מִצְרַ֗יִםmitz.Ra.yim
H4714
Mitsrajim · proper noun, a place name
before
לִפְנֵי֙lif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
LORD
יְהוָ֣הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
God
אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ'e.lo.Hei.nu
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
seven
שִׁבְעַ֥תshiv.'At
H7651
seven (as the sacred full one) · noun, common both genders singular construct
days
יָמִ֖יםya.Mim
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
seven
וְשִׁבְעַ֣תve.shiv.'At
H7651
seven (as the sacred full one) · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular construct
days
יָמִ֑יםya.Mim
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
fourteen
אַרְבָּעָ֥ה'ar.ba.'Ah
H702
four · noun, common both genders singular absolute
days
יֽוֹםYom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Numbers 34:5 And the border shall fetch a compass from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea.
Numbers 34:8 From mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad:
1 Kings 8:2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
Genesis 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great ri…
Joshua 13:5 And the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baal-gad under mount Hermon unto the entering into Hamath.
Judges 3:3 Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Ba…
2 Kings 14:25 He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, whic…
2 Chronicles 7:8-9 Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 8:62–end
We read before that Judah and Israel were eating and drinking, and very cheerful under their own vines and fig-trees; here we have them so in God's courts. Now they found Solomon's words true concerning Wisdom's ways, that they are ways of pleasantness.
I. They had abundant joy and satisfaction while they attended at God's house, for there, 1. Solomon offered a great sacrifice, 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep, enough to have drained the country of cattle if it had not been a very fruitful land. The heathen thought themselves very generous when they offered sacrifices by hundreds (hecatombs they called them), but Solomon out-did them: he offered them by thousands. When Moses dedicated his altar…
THE PEOPLE JOYFUL. (Kg1 8:65)
from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt--that is, from one extremity of the kingdom to the other. The people flocked from all quarters.
seven days and seven days, even fourteen days--The first seven were occupied with the dedication, and the other seven devoted to the feast of tabernacles (Ch2 7:9). The particular form of expression indicates that the fourteen days were not continuous. Some interval occurred in consequence of the great day of atonement falling on the tenth of the seventh month (Kg1 8:2), and the last day of the feast of tabernacles was on the twenty-third (Ch2 7:10), when the people returned to their homes with feelings of the…
From - Hamath - Supposed to be Antioch of Syria; unto the river of Egypt - to the Rhinocorura; the former being on the north, the latter on the south: i.e., from one extremity of the land to the other.
John Gill on 1 Kings 8:65
And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him,.... Partaking of the parts of the peace offerings which belonged to him, and were offered by way of thanksgiving on the occasion, together with whatsoever he might as a liberal prince provide for this entertainment:
for it was for a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt; consisting of a number of people, gathered together from Hamath, which was on the northern border of the land of Israel, to the river of Egypt; either the Nile, or Rhinoculura, a branch of it, which lay on the southern border of the land: and this was kept
before the Lord; as in his presence, with thankfulness to him, and w…
The Church Fathers
"Solomon held a great feast, etc." [1 Kings 8:65] It is said that Solomon held a great feast, and all Israel with him; a great multitude from the entrance of Hamath unto the brook of Egypt before the Lord; by the entrance of Hamath, it means the northern region of the promised land; by the brook or torrent of Egypt, as the Chronicles name it, it designates the southern. I think the reader will be pleased to quote some passages more extensively from the words of Saint Jerome. It is written in the book of Numbers, in which the entire promised land is divided in a brief speech by the four regions: The southern part shall begin from the wilderness of Sin, which is near Edom, and shall have its boundaries against the east at the Salt Sea, and shall circle the southern region by the ascent of Scorpions, so that they pass through Zin, and reach as far as the south to Kadesh-Barnea. From there the boundaries will proceed to the village called Adar, and extend to Azmon, and the border will go round from Azmon to the brook of Egypt and shall end at the Great Sea shore. Concerning which in the last vision of the prophet Ezekiel it is thus said: The southern boundary southward from Tamar unto the waters of Meribah (Ezek. 47), that is, of contradiction. Also Kadesh, and the brook until the Great Sea, which means the broad wilderness of Sin, which is near Edom, and in the Red Sea to circle its boundary, and by the ascent of Scorpions, and by Zin, and Kadesh-Barnea, and the courtyard or village of Adar, and from Azmon to reach up to the brook of Egypt, which flows into the sea near the city Rhinocorura. Here indeed, the boundary of the southern region begins at Thamar, which is a city in the wilderness, which Solomon built with remarkable works, and today is called Palmyra, and in the Hebrew language is called Thamar, which in our language sounds as "palm"; up to the waters of the dispute of Kadesh, which is undoubtedly in the desert. And the stream enters the Great Sea, which extends along the shores of Egypt and Palestine. It follows in the book of Numbers: But the western region will begin at the Great Sea, and will be closed by that end (Num. XXXIV): that is, from sea to sea, from the stream namely of Rhinocorure, which flows into the sea, up to the place where the city of Hemath of Syria is. Whose name Ezekiel puts in this region: And the border, he says, of the sea,…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Lebanon — White, “the white mountain of Syria,” is the loftiest and most celebrated mountain range in Syria. It is a branch running southward from the Caucasus, and at its lower end forking into two parallel…
Prayer — Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or…
River of Egypt — (1.) Heb. nahar mitsraim, denotes in Gen. 15:18 the Nile, or its eastern branch (2 Chr. 9:26). (2.) In Num. 34:5 (R.V., “brook of Egypt”) the Hebrew word is nahal, denoting a stream flowing rapidly…
Tabernacles, The Feast Of — (Exodus 23:16) (“the feast of ingathering”), the third of the three great festivals: of the Hebrews, which lasted from the 15th till the 22d of Tisri.
Temple, Solomon’s — Before his death David had “with all his might” provided materials in great abundance for the building of the temple on the summit of Mount Moriah (1 Chr. 22:14; 29:4; 2 Chr. 3:1), on the east of the…
Dedication · .See FEAST OF — .See FEAST OF
Feast Of Tabernacles, The · Remarkable celebrations of: At the dedication of Solomon’s temple — Remarkable celebrations of: At the dedication of Solomon’s temple
Hamath · A city of upper Syria — A city of upper Syria
Protracted Meetings · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Seven · . — .
Temple, The First · Solemnly dedicated to God by Solomon — Solemnly dedicated to God by Solomon
Thus Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the neighbourhood of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, i.e., from the whole land in its fullest extent from north to south. "The district of Hamath," i.e., Epiphania on the Orontes, is mentioned as the northern boundary (cf. Num 34:8; Num 13:21; Jos 13:5, etc.); and "the brook of Egypt" (מצרים נחל), Rhinocorura, as the southern boundary (cf. Num 34:8; Jos 15:4). "The feast" (החג), which Solomon held with the people "seven days and seven days, fourteen days," is not the feast of the dedication, but, as in Kg1 8:2, the feast of tabernacles, which fell in the seventh month; and the meaning of the verse is, that…
Lebo-hamath to the north in Aram and the Brook of Egypt (Wadi al Arish) to the south are the geographic boundaries that defined the Promised Land (Josh 13:5; 15:4). • seven days for the dedication of the altar and seven days for the Festival of Shelters: When the seven days for the dedication were completed, the Festival of Shelters was observed for another seven days.
Rashi on 1 Kings 8:65
[Stretching] from the entrance of Chamos. Located in the north of Eretz Yisroel.
To the Brook of Egypt. Which is opposite it, in the south, [as is delineated] in [the section entitled], “These are the travels.”40The Rabbis in Maseches Mo’ed Katan 9a, deduce from the redundancy of this phrase [“seven days and seven more days”], that one is not permitted to combine one שמחה with another, e.g., one is not allowed to celebrate a wedding on Chol Hamoed.
Seven days. Of inauguration.
And seven [more] days. Of Succos.41See Maseches Mo’ed Katan 9a and Rashi there. It is found that they ate and drank on Yom Kippur.42They began to celebrate on the eighth of Tishrei and continued for the next fourtee…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
