1 Kings 9:2

That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:1-9 God warned Solomon, now he had newly built and dedicated the temple, that he and his people might not be high-minded, but fear. After all the services we can perform, we stand upon the same terms with the Lord as before. Nothing can purchase for us liberty to sin, nor would the true believer desire such a licence. He would rather be chastened of the Lord, than be allowed to go on with ease and prosperity in sin.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This appearance is fixed by 1 Kings 9:1 to Solomon's twenty-fourth year, the year in which he completed his palace 1 Kings 6:37-38; 1 Kings 7:1. The fact seems to be that, though the temple was finished in Solomon's eleventh year, the dedication did not take place until his twenty-fourth year. The order of the narrative in Kings agrees with this view, since it interposes the account of the building of the palace 1 Kings 7:1-12, and of the making of the furniture 1 Kings 7:13-51, between the completion of the building of the temple 1 Kings 6:38 and the ceremony of the Dedication 1 Kings 8.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. That—rather, "For."

the Lord appeared—This appearance was, like the former one at Gibeon, most probably made in a supernatural vision, and on the night immediately following the dedication of the temple (2Ch 7:12). The strain of it corresponds to this view, for it consists of direct answers to his solemn inaugural prayer (1Ki 9:3 is in answer to 1Ki 8:29; 1Ki 9:4, 5 is in answer to 1Ki 8:25, 26; 1Ki 9:6-9 to 1Ki 8:33-46; see also De 29:22-24).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

To wit, in a dream or vision; for that which is mentioned 1 Kings 6:11, seems to have been imparted unto him by some prophet or messenger sent from God with that errand. The time of this revelation was either,

1. After all Solomon’s buildings, as the words thus rendered plainly imply. And if it seem strange that God should not reveal this purpose and sentence of his concerning the temple till so many years after the finishing of it, it must be considered,

1. That as it is an act of God’s singular grace when he doth thus reveal himself to any person, so it is but meet he should choose his own time for it.

2. That God had presently after the finishing of the temple, at the feast of the dedication of it, sufficiently showed his acceptance and approbation of it by that glorious cloud, 1 Kings 8:10,11, and therefore this revelation was not then necessary.

3. That God might choose this as the fittest time for giving Solomon the following admonition, when he perceived that his heart befall to be lifted up in pride for his sumptuous and magnificent buildings, &c., and that he was grown vain, and careless, and secure; and therefore most needed such all awakening oracle. Or,

2. Presently after the building of the temple, as may be thought from the matter of this revelation, which seems best to suit with that time when it was newly built, and when Solomon’s prayer here mentioned was newly made; for seeing the following words contain God’s answer to that prayer, it seems improbable, that the answer should come so many years after it. But then this second verse, and the rest, even to 1 Kings 9:11, are to be enclosed with a parenthesis; and the place must be thus rendered, 1 Kings 9:2, For (so the Hebrew vau is oft rendered) the Lord appeared, or had appeared, to Solomon, &c.; 1 Kings 9:3, And the Lord had said unto him, &c. And this parenthesis may seem to have a foundation in 1 Kings 9:10, where the first verse (in substance, though not in the very same words) is repeated, as is usual after long digressions; and then he completes the sentence, 1 Kings 9:11, &c., which till then had been suspended. Nor are such long parentheses without example in Scripture. See my Latin Synopsis on Romans 5:12, &c.; Ephesians 3:1, &c. Revelation 22:7.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time,.... Junius and Tremellius read this verse with the following, to the end of the ninth, in a parenthesis, and render this clause, "for the Lord had appeared", &c. and Piscator translates it, "moreover the Lord appeared", &c. as beginning a distinct narrative from the former; and indeed if the words are to be connected with the preceding, as in our version, this appearance must be thirteen years after the building of the temple, which is not probable; but rather it was the night after the dedication of it, when an answer was returned to Solomon's prayer in the preceding chapter; for that it should be deferred twelve or thirteen years is not reasonable to suppose; and this appearance was the second of the kind and manner:

as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon; in a dream and a vision, and by night, 1 Kings 3:5, see 2 Chronicles 7:12.

Geneva Study Bible

That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time] In 2 Chron. we are told that this was ‘by night,’ therefore in a vision. Josephus says ‘a vision appearing to the king in his sleep shewed him that God had hearkened to his prayer.’

at Gibeon] Cf. on 1 Kings 3:5 above.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time [see on 1 Kings 6:11, and 1 Kings 11:9; Solomon had received a message during the building of the temple], as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon [i.e., in a dream (1 Kings 3:5) ]. 1 Kings 9:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Answer of the Lord to Solomon's Dedicatory Prayer (cf. 2 Chronicles 7:11-22). - 1 Kings 9:1, 1 Kings 9:2. When Solomon had finished the building of the temple, and of his palace, and of all that he had a desire to build, the Lord appeared to him the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon, i.e., by night in a dream (see 1 Kings 3:5), to promise him that his prayer should be answered. For the point of time, see at 1 Kings 8:1. כּל־חשׁק, all Solomon's desire or pleasures, is paraphrased thus in the Chronicles: לב על כּל־הבּא, "all that came into his mind," and, in accordance with the context, is very properly restricted to these two principal buildings by the clause, "in the house of Jehovah and in his own house."