1st Kings 9: Prophecy of the cursed blessing of Israel, the Temple

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In 1st Kings 9 and its parallel in 2nd Chronicles 8 read like reports on building projects, yet God is communicating something extremely important that would ring true over thousands of years to our day: Something that is a great blessing — Israel and the Temple — could become a curse, yet something cursed can become a blessing.

It took seven years to complete the Temple and 13 years to complete Solomon’s house, a total of 20 years. That was not the end of Solomon’s building projects. He continued to build in other places such as Millo, the wall of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer, Beth-horon, Baalath and Tamar. 

After Solomon had completed these two primary projects — the temple and his palace — God spoke to Solomon again. He repeated a promise and a curse previously given to Solomon. He also showed Solomon the future. We also see how God views the role of the Temple and the value He places on it. 

Most of the people who built the Temple were foreigners. Citizens of Israel were serving in other areas. 

Solomon gave Hiram king of Tyre 20 cities in the Galilee region of northern Israel, mostly populated by non-Israelites. Why would Hiram not like these cities? Hiram and the people of Tyre were seafarers a merchant culture. The area Solomon gave Hiram was agricultural, not commercial. The people there were poor farmers, and Hiram likely had to extend resources to defend them. Hiram ultimately told Solomon effectively, “Thanks but no thanks.” 

The Israelite servants had certain rights and protections as God’s people that the foreigners did not have.

Pattern reveals blessing to curse to blessing history of Israel

The chiastic structure in 1st Kings 9 is a bit different than other chapters:

A

B

C — the blessing

D — the curse

A′

B′

D′ — the blessing

C′ — the curse

Notes: The D-prime and C-prime parallel phrases are in reverse order from the corresponding phrases in the first portion. The reference to Solomon’s finishing the Temple and his own palace is repeated twice. Solomon then supplicates to God, but we also see that Solomon also “supplicates” to Hiram. Both God and Solomon give Hiram what Solomon desires. 

Yet Solomon also gave something: to God, the Temple; to Hiram, 20 cities. God was pleased with Solomon’s offering and said His “name” and “heart” would be there. Hiram, in contrast, did “put his name” on these cities by visiting them, but Hiram did not “have a heart” for these cities. The passage said, “they pleased him not.” Hiram called that land כָּבוּל Kavul (Strong’s lexicon No. H3521). Cabul in Hebrew can mean “shackled.”

The number 20 is the connector between Solomon’s initial building projects and these 20 cities in Cabul. What was pleasing to God flips to become unpleasant to Hiram. God did warn Solomon that if the people of Israel later reject Him, He will reject Israel and “make them a proverb and a byword among all people” (1st Kings 9:7). While later, Hiram, despite the fact he was not pleased with the cities from Solomon, gave him 80 talents of gold.

Despite the blessing of Solomon’s Temple, it would turn into a curse. God said that Solomon’s kingdom would one day become a “shackled” land. Things would get so bad that Israel would become a “proverb and a byword among all people.” Yet that would turn into a great blessing, just as 80 talents of gold are a great blessing. 

We know that Solomon did not walk in integrity his entire life. He married women who led him away from worshiping God. We know that most of the kings of Judah and Israel are a “byword” for us. They are an example of how not to live, not an example of a godly life. 

Speaker: Daniel Agee. Summary: Tammy.