Page:03.BCOT.KD.HistoricalBooks.B.vol.3.LaterProphets.djvu/320



III. History of Solomon's Kingship - 2 Chronicles 1-9
The kingship of Solomon centres in the building of the temple of the Lord, and the account of that begins in 2 Chron 2 with a statement of the preparations which Solomon made for the accomplishment of this great work, so much pressed upon him by his father, and concludes in 2 Chron 7 with the answer which the Lord gave to his consecrating prayer in a vision. In 2 Chron 1, before the history of the temple building, we have an account of the sacrifice at Gibeon by which Solomon inaugurated his reign (2Ch 1:1-13), with some short notices of his power and riches (2Ch 1:14-17); and in 2 Chron 8 and 9, after the temple building, we have summary statements about the palaces and cities which he built (2Ch 8:1-11), the arrangement of the regular religious service (2Ch 8:12-16), the voyage to Ophir (2Ch 8:17, 2Ch 8:18), the visit of the queen of Sheba (2Ch 9:1-12), his riches and his royal magnificence and glory (2 Chron 9:13-28), with the concluding notices of the duration of his reign, and of his death (2Ch 9:29, 2Ch 9:30). If we compare with this the description of Solomon's reign in 1 Kings 1-11, we find that in the Chronicle not only are the narratives of his accession to the throne in consequence of Adonijah's attempted usurpation, and his confirming his kingdom by punishing the revolter (1 Kings 1 and 2), of his marriage to the Egyptian princess (1Ki 3:1, 1Ki 3:2), his wise judgment (1Ki 3:16-28), his public officers, his official men, his royal magnificence and glory (1 Kings 4:1-5:14), omitted, but also the accounts of the building of his palace (1Ki 7:1-12), of his idolatry, and of the adversaries who rose against him (1 Kings 11:1-40). On the other hand, the description of the building and consecration of the temple is supplemented by various important details which are omitted from the first book of Kings. Hence it is clear that the author of the Chronicle purposed only to portray more exactly the building of