Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the coast of Edom. So Hiram sent him ships captained by his servants, along with crews of experienced sailors. They went with Solomon's servants to Ophir and acquired from there 450 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.
Now at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon built these two houses, the house of the LORD and the royal palace, King Solomon gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, who had supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every desire. So Hiram went out from Tyre to inspect the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them. "What are these towns you have given me, my brother?" asked Hiram, and he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are called to this day. And Hiram had sent the king 120 talents of gold. This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. So Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, Baalath, and Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah, as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion. As for all the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (the people who were not Israelites)— their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day. But Solomon did not consign any of the Israelites to slavery, because they were his men of war, his servants, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and cavalry. They were also the chief officers over Solomon’s projects: 550 supervisors over the people who did the work. As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.
Significance
The Chronicler's account of Solomon's Red Sea trading expedition from Ezion-geber and Eloth (2 Chr 8:17-18) parallels the broader Solomon narrative in 1 Kings 9:10-24. Both texts attest to the maritime partnership with Hiram (Huram) of Tyre, with Tyrian sailors providing naval expertise. The Chronicler specifies that the fleet brought 450 talents of gold from Ophir, differing from 1 Kings 9:28's 420 talents—a minor numerical variant. This commercial detail demonstrates Solomon's wealth as evidence of the divine blessing promised at Gibeon for the king who chose wisdom over riches.
Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
None
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