Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
2 Chronicles 8:1–11, “And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house, That the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. And Solomon went to Hamathzobah, and prevailed against it. And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. Also he built Bethhoron the upper, and Bethhoron the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars; And Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion. As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel, But of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day. But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and horsemen. And these were the chief of king Solomon’s officers, even two hundred and fifty, that bare rule over the people. And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come.”
After Solomon completed the Temple and his own house, he decided to strengthen his borders and began to build fortified cities towards his own boundaries to discourage other nations from attacking him. Not only that, Solomon built garrison cities in strategic places throughout Israel as well. He had special cities built to garrison his heavy troops who fought in chariots as well. It was a sad fact that, after Joshua, the Israelis didn’t completely satisfy the Lord’s command to drive out all the former inhabitants of the Land. These people were given a lesser status in Solomon’s kingdom and were forced to pay a special tax. On the other hand, Israelis were allowed to be soldiers and administrators. Solomon must have felt guilty about marrying Pharaoh’s daughter because he wouldn’t let her live in David’s City but he built her a palace for her away from the sacred places in Jerusalem.
No comments:
Post a Comment