2 Crônicas 8

ARC · Chapter 8/36

1E succedeu, ao cabo de vinte annos, nos quaes Salomão edificou a casa do Senhor, e a sua propria casa,

2Que Salomão edificou as cidades que Hurão lhe tinha dado; e fez habitar n'ellas os filhos d'Israel.

3Depois foi Salomão a Hamath Zoba, e a tomou.

4Tambem edificou a Tadmor no deserto, e todas as cidades das munições, que edificou em Hamath.

5Edificou tambem a alta Beth-horon, e a baixa Beth-horon; cidades fortes com muros, portas e ferrolhos;

6Como tambem a Baalath, e todas as cidades das munições, que Salomão tinha, e todas as cidades dos carros e as cidades dos cavalleiros; e tudo quanto, conforme ao seu desejo, Salomão quiz edificar em Jerusalem, e no Libano, e em toda a terra do seu dominio.

7Quanto a todo o povo, que tinha ficado dos hetheos, e amorrheos, e pherezeos, e heveos, e jebuseos, que não eram d'Israel,

8Dos seus filhos, que ficaram depois d'elles na terra, os quaes os filhos d'Israel não destruiram, Salomão os fez tributarios, até ao dia d'hoje.

9Porém dos filhos d'Israel, a quem Salomão não fez servos para sua obra (mas eram homens de guerra, chefes dos seus capitães, e chefes dos seus carros, e dos seus cavalleiros),

10D'estes pois eram os chefes dos officiaes que o rei Salomão tinha, duzentos e cincoenta, que presidiam sobre o povo.

11E Salomão fez subir a filha de Pharaó da cidade de David para a casa que lhe tinha edificado; porque disse: Minha mulher não morará na casa de David, rei d'Israel, porquanto sanctos são os logares nos quaes entrou a arca do Senhor.

12Então Salomão offereceu holocaustos ao Senhor, sobre o altar do Senhor, que tinha edificado diante do portico:

13E isto segundo a ordem de cada dia, offerecendo o mandamento de Moysés, nos sabbados e nas luas novas, e nas solemnidades, tres vezes no anno: na festa dos pães asmos, e na festa das semanas, e na festa das tendas.

14Tambem, conforme á ordem de David seu pae, ordenou as turmas dos sacerdotes nos seus ministerios, como tambem as dos levitas ácerca de suas guardas, para louvarem a Deus, e ministrarem diante dos sacerdotes, segundo a ordenação de cada dia, e os porteiros pelas suas turmas a cada porta: porque tal era o mandado de David, o homem de Deus.

15E não se desviaram do mandado do rei aos sacerdotes e levitas, em negocio nenhum, nem ácerca dos thesouros.

16Assim se preparou toda a obra de Salomão, desde o dia da fundação da casa do Senhor, até se acabar: e assim se aperfeiçoou a casa do Senhor.

17Então foi Salomão a Esion-geber, e a Eloth, á praia do mar, na terra d'Edom.

18E enviou-lhe Hurão, por mão de seus servos, navios, e servos praticos do mar, e foram com os servos de Salomão a Ophir, e tomaram de lá quatrocentos e cincoenta talentos d'oiro: e os trouxeram ao rei Salomão.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Solomon completes several building projects beyond the temple, including his palace and fortified cities, organizes the forced labor system using the remaining non-Israelite peoples, and establishes the regular routine of sacrifices and priestly divisions as instructed by David.

Explanation

This chapter shows Solomon as a capable administrator, expanding the kingdom's infrastructure well beyond the temple, including strategic fortifications and storage systems. An ethically complex detail is the use of remaining Canaanite peoples as forced laborers, a common practice in ancient times though viewed with discomfort today — the text is careful to clarify that Israelites themselves were not subjected to this kind of compulsory labor. The faithful maintenance of priestly divisions and the sacrificial routine, specifically following what David had established, shows organizational continuity between father and son in the religious administration of the kingdom.

Fun facts

  • Solomon builds a separate house for his Egyptian wife, the Pharaoh's daughter, explaining that she should not live in the former house of David because the ark had been there, a sign of religious sensitivity regarding the holiness of certain spaces.
  • The mention of Solomon sailing to Ezion-geber, on the Red Sea, with the help of experienced sailors from Tyre to bring gold from Ophir, shows the maritime commercial reach of the Israelite kingdom during his reign.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Crônicas 8:1After twenty years devoted to building the temple and his own palace, the text moves on to tell what Solomon did during the rest of his reign.
  2. 2 Crônicas 8:2Solomon rebuilds and resettles with Israelites some cities that Huram of Tyre had given him — part of the commercial arrangement between the two kings.
  3. 2 Crônicas 8:3Solomon also expands the territory northward, conquering Hamath-zobah, a Syrian region.
  4. 2 Crônicas 8:4In the wilderness, Solomon builds Tadmor (later known as Palmyra) and other fortified cities in the region of Hamath — strategic posts for trade and defense.
  5. 2 Crônicas 8:5Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon are rebuilt as fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars — part of the kingdom’s defensive network.
  6. 2 Crônicas 8:6The list of building projects continues with Baalath and other storage cities, along with cities set aside for chariots and cavalry, spread across Jerusalem, Lebanon, and the whole territory.
  7. 2 Crônicas 8:7The text turns again to the peoples still living in the land from before the Israelite conquest — Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites — who were not counted as part of Israel.
  8. 2 Crônicas 8:8The descendants of these peoples left in the land, because the Israelites had not driven them out completely, became forced labor for Solomon, a situation that still held at the time the book was written.
  9. 2 Crônicas 8:9Solomon uses as forced labor only the descendants of the peoples already in the land before the Israelite conquest — native-born Israelites serve as soldiers and officers, not as slave labor. It’s a distinction the text makes a point of stating clearly.
  10. 2 Crônicas 8:10Two hundred fifty officers head this forced labor force, supervising the work on the king’s behalf.
  11. 2 Crônicas 8:11Solomon builds a separate house for his Egyptian wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, because he considers the spaces where the ark has been too sacred for her to go on living there.
  12. 2 Crônicas 8:12After settling this domestic matter, Solomon goes back to offering burnt offerings to God, on the altar he himself built in front of the temple.
  13. 2 Crônicas 8:13These sacrifices follow the calendar set by Moses: daily, on sabbaths, on new moons, and at the three great annual feasts — Passover, Weeks, and Tabernacles.
  14. 2 Crônicas 8:14Solomon organizes the priests and Levites into service divisions, following the system David had already set up before, also including the gatekeepers responsible for each entrance of the temple.
  15. 2 Crônicas 8:15The text assures that no one departed from these orders of David, either regarding religious service or regarding the temple’s treasures.
  16. 2 Crônicas 8:16With that, the whole work of the temple is recorded as complete, from the foundation to the final finishing — a formal close to the great building project.
  17. 2 Crônicas 8:17Solomon travels to Ezion-geber and Eloth, ports on the coast of Edom, launching the kingdom’s maritime expansion told in the verses that follow.
  18. 2 Crônicas 8:18Solomon’s fleet only manages to reach Ophir, a land famous for gold, because Huram of Tyre lends experienced sailors — the Israelites had no seafaring tradition of their own. It’s a trade partnership, not a conquest.

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