1 Kings 9:15

And this is the reason of the levy which King Solomon raised,.... Both of men to work, 1 Kings 5:13, and of money to defray the expense: it was for to build the house of the Lord; the temple: and his

And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. This is the reason of the levy.

The levy which king Solomon raised; both the levy of men, of which , and the levy of money upon his people and subjects, which is sufficiently evident from many scriptures. And this sentence may look both backward and forward. He raised this levy, both to pay what he owed to Hiram, which is mentioned before; and to build the works here following. Millo seems to have been an eminent, and large, and strong fort or castle in Jerusalem, as may be gathered from . Hazor, in Naphtali. See . Megiddo, in that part of the tribe of Manasseh within Jordan; of which see . Gezer, in Ephraim, . It now was, and long had been, in the possession of the Canaanites, , and permitted so to be by David and Solomon, either by neglect, or because they were busied in greater and more necessary employments.

1 Kings 9:15 And this [is] the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.Ver. 15. And this is the reason of the levy,] sc., That Hiram, since he would not have those cities, might have his money repaid him, that had been bestowed - and much more - upon those buildings.

(15) The levy.—This (see 1 Kings 5:13; 1 Kings 5:15) was both of Israelites and of the subject races, first originated for the building of the Temple, afterwards extended to the other great building works.The building works enumerated are, first in Jerusalem, then in various parts of the country of critical importance, either for war or for commerce.Millo, or (as it always has the definite article), “the Millo.” The Hebrew word seems to signify “piling up,” or “heaping up,” and its most simple meaning would be a “fortified mound.” From the mention, however, in Judges 9:6; Judges 9:20, of the “house of Millo,” in connection with the men of Shechem, it has been supposed to be a Canaanitish word; and it is possible that “the Millo” of Jerusalem may have been the name of a quarter of the old Jebusite city, especially as it is first used in connection with the narrative of its capture (2 Samuel 5:9; 1 Chronicles 11:8). That it was a part of the fortification of “the city of David” is clear by this passage, by 1 Kings 9:24 and 1 Kings 11:27, and by 2 Chronicles 32:5; and the LXX. invariably renders it “Acra,” or “the-citadel,” a name always applied in the later history to the fortification on Mount Zion. Josephus, in describing the works of Solomon, merely says that he made the walls of David higher and stronger, and built towers on them. From the derivation of the word it is possible that the work was the raising a high fortification of earth crowned with a wall, where the hill of Zion slopes down unto the valley known subsequently as the Tyropœon.Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.—These cities were all of important geographical positions, and all had belonged to the subject races.Hazor was in the north, on high ground near the waters of Merom. It had been the city of Jabin, head of the northern confederacy (Joshua 11:1). After the great victory over this confederacy, Joshua burnt Hazor (Joshua 11:13), and the territory was assigned to Naphtali (Joshua 19:36). But it must have been regained by its old possessors, and rebuilt, for it appears again under another Jabin in Judges 4. It was evidently important, as commanding the great line of invasion through Hamath from the north. Hence it was fortified by Solomon, and probably the native inhabitants were dispossessed.Megiddo lay in the great plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon, the battle-field of Northern Palestine, commanding some of the passes from it into the hill country of Manasseh, to which tribe it was assigned after the conquest (Joshua 17:11). But it was not subdued by them (Joshua 17:12-13; Judges 1:27-28), and, with Taanach, appears as a hostile city in the Song of Deborah (Judges 5:19). Now it was fortified, and is named subsequently as an Israelite city (2 Kings 9:27; 2 Kings 23:29). In later times the Romans seem to have occupied it, and their name for it, Legio (now el-£ejjûr), superseded the old title.Grezer or Gazer, was near Bethlehem, close to the maritime plain.

Verse 15. This is the reason of the levy] That is, in order to pay Hiram the sixscore talents of gold which he had borrowed from him (Hiram not being willing to take the Galilean cities mentioned above; or, having taken them, soon restored them again) he was obliged to lay a tax upon the people; and that this was a grievous and oppressive tax we learn from 1Kg 12:1-4, where the elders of Israel came to Rehoboam, complaining of their heavy state of taxation, and entreating that their yoke might be made lighter. And Millo] This is supposed to have been a deep valley between Mount Sion and what was called the city of Jebus, which Solomon filled up, and it was built on, and became a sort of fortified place, and a place for public assemblies.-See Calmet.

15–25. Of the levy which king Solomon raised (2 Chronicles 8:4-11) 15. the reason of the levy] On the nature and amount of this compulsory service see notes on chap. 1 Kings 5:13 seqq. The present passage explains the whole purpose for which it was enforced. and Millo] This word is always found in the original with the definite article ‘the Millo’ (2 Samuel 5:9; 1 Kings 11:27; 2 Chronicles 11:8; 2 Chronicles 32:5). Wherever it occurs it is in connexion with the walls or fortifications of Jerusalem. In 2 Chronicles 32:5 it is stated to be in the city of David. Now the most common rendering of the word in the LXX. is ἡἄ ?êñá = ‘the citadel,’ a word which is constantly used in the Books of the Maccabees for the fortress on Mount Zion. It seems probable therefore that ‘the Millo’ was some specially important, and hence strongly fortified, portion of the oldest walls where they approached most closely to Zion. From 2 Samuel 5:9 we should conclude that the fortress was already existing before David conquered Jerusalem, and the name itself may have been given by the Jebusites. and Hazor] A strong city, south of Kedesh-Naphtali in the north of Palestine. When the Israelites entered Canaan it was in the possession of king Jabin, but was taken and burnt by Joshua. Standing on a lofty position it was a post of much importance for the defence of the kingdom on the north. For this reason no doubt Solomon fortified it, but it must have already been rebuilt since its destruction by Joshua, for we read of it in Judges 4:2; Judges 4:17, as the city of another Jabin, whose commander in chief was Sisera, slain by Jael. Megiddo] This city (Joshua 12:21) lay on the south side of the plain of Esdraelon, between Mt. Tabor and the modern bay of St Jean d’Acre, and must have been important as a protection against inroads from the northern highlands and from the direction of Phœnicia, commanding, as it would, the great road from the sea to the plain of the Jordan. Megiddo lay within the tribe of Issachar, but was allotted to Manasseh (Joshua 17:11; 1 Chronicles 7:29). The city was famous for the overthrow of Sisera, but most especially as the place where king Josiah was slain in the war against Pharaoh-Necho (2 Kings 23:29). Gezer] The position of this ancient city has not been identified, and it is not clear that there were not two places of the same name. One Gezer is mentioned (Joshua 10:33) in connexion with Lachish and Eglon and other places in the south part of Canaan, but a Gezer is also spoken of as in the land assigned to the children of Joseph (Joshua 16:3), that is, the tribe of Ephraim, and as being not far from Beth-horon. If these two be references to the same place the king of Gezer came a long distance to help the king of Lachish. It seems more likely that they were distinct towns.

Levy - See the marginal reference note. Millo - See 2 Samuel 5:9 note.

15. The reason of the levy — The levy of men mentioned 1 Kings 5:13 was used, as we here learn, for building other works than the temple. Millo — The fortress on Zion, which had, perhaps, become somewhat dilapidated.