Matthew Henry on 2 Chronicles 8:1-11
This we had Kg1 9:10-24, and therefore shall only observe here,
I. Though Solomon was a man of great learning and knowledge, yet he spent his days, not in contemplation, but in action, not in his study, but in his country, in building cities and fortifying them, in a time of peace preparing for a time of war, which is as much a man's business as it is in summer to provide food for winter.
II. As he was a man of business himself, and did not consult his own ease, so he employed a great many hands, kept abundance of people to work. It is the interest of a state by all means possible to promote and encourage industry, and to keep its subjects from idleness. A great many strangers there were in…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Chronicles 8:7
THE CANAANITES MADE TRIBUTARIES. (Ch2 8:7-11)
all the people that were left, &c.--The descendants of the Canaanites who remained in the country were treated as war prisoners, being obliged to "pay tribute or to serve as galley slaves" (Ch2 2:18), while the Israelites were employed in no works but such as were of an honorable character.
Adam Clarke on 2 Chronicles 8:6
All the store cities - See the note on Kg1 9:19.
John Gill on 2 Chronicles 8:6
And Baalath,.... See 1 Kings 9:18. From hence, to the end of 2 Chronicles 8:11, it is the same with 1 Kings 9:19. See Gill on 1 Kings 9:19. 1 Kings 9:20. 1 Kings 9:21. 1 Kings 9:22. 1 Kings 9:23. 1 Kings 9:24.
Keil & Delitzsch on 2 Chronicles 8:7-8
On the arrangement of the statute labour, see on Kg1 9:20-23. - This note is in Chr. abruptly introduced immediately after the preceding. Ch2 8:7 is an absolute clause: "as regards the whole people, those." מן־בּניהם (Ch2 8:8) is not partitive: some of their sons; but is only placed before the אשׁר: those of their sons (i.e., of the descendants of the whole Canaanite people) who had remained in the land, whom the Israelites had not exterminated; Solomon made a levy of these for statute labourers. The מן is wanting in 1 Kings, but is not to be struck out here on that account. Much more surprising is the אשׁר after שׂראל מן־בּני, Ch2 8:9, which is likewise not found in 1 Kings, since the follo…
