All the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,
Solomon's building programme pauses here to name five peoples still living in the land. Why were they still there, and why did Solomon put them to work instead of driving them out?
The names themselves carry meaning. One writer, looking at the same list in the book of Judges, explains what they meant and what living beside them did to Israel:
The Hittites ("children of fear"), Amorites ("sayers"), Perizzites ("squatters") and Jebusites ("treaders down") were added to the other nations left in the land, so that all these evils very soon troubled the Israelites. Once the thin edge of the wedge of evil begins its work, it is not long before it brings a complete split. If once we welcome evil, we shall soon find that it is far too strong for us, and we become slaves.
The verse calls them the people "who were left." One writer looks at an earlier moment when Israel put Canaanites to forced labour instead of driving them out, and asks why:
Their strength exposed the secret of their inability. They "could not" because they "would not" drive them out. They preferred to make a profit out of these pagan peoples rather than obey God. And so it happened that, after a time, Israel learned all the detestable practices of the Canaanites, and served them as a punishment for their sins.
Solomon put these peoples under tribute. One dictionary explains the word:
Several Hebrew words are translated as "tribute." The general sense is what one nation or people paid to another, in money or in goods, so that it could be left holding its land in peace. Some of the Canaanites were not driven out of the land, but they paid tribute to the Israelites, and Solomon put others under tribute.
Under Solomon the two groups change places. What Israel once compromised with now serves Israel:
So this glorious reign brings about a state of things that had never existed before, because the people had been unfaithful. All their former mingling with the Canaanites has disappeared. From now on the Lord's people are a free people, and no one can force them into servitude.
The strangers serve, and Israel does not. One writer reads that pairing as a picture of the future:
He made the Gentiles servants. The Jews will then be lords upon the earth, not slaves. The Gentiles will have to take the place of the tail, while Israel is at the head, as the prophet said.
One writer reads the whole chapter as a picture of the last days:
2 Chronicles 8 gives us a few more details of the state of Israel — a state which prefigures that of the last days. Solomon brings under control everything that could have blocked the full enjoyment of the promised land, from one end to the other, whether on the side of Tyre or of Syria. The strangers in the land continue to pay tribute, and the children of Israel are captains and men of war.
Submission is not the same as faith. One writer marks the difference:
So Solomon had full control of the country. When the Lord Jesus takes His kingdom, there will be those from the nations who will submit to Him despite not having genuine faith.
Not every writer sees a preview of Messiah's peace here. One writer puts it bluntly:
This is a display of prudence and strength in the presence of possible enemies… This is not the look of Messiah's peaceful reign, when peace and safety belong to every Israelite. A kingdom can be strong and unbreakable under the oppressive power of a tyrant. The showy splendour of the king may be only a veil hiding the oppression and tears of his people.
One writer thinks the descendants of these levied peoples may be a group found centuries later among the Lord's people. He draws out the mercy in it:
Instead of being destroyed with the sword of the Lord's host, they were rescued, and now, after centuries, they are found in honourable association with the Lord's people, and with a heart too for the Lord's house… the least connection with the Lord's people and the Lord's things becomes a means of blessing — not always spiritual blessing, as it surely is not, but almost always blessing in this life.
- Left — these peoples were still in the land because Israel never drove them out. They "could not" because they "would not."
- Levied — tribute was payment in money or goods so a people could be left in peace. Solomon turned an old compromise into forced labour.
- Reversed — under this reign the old mingling is gone. Israel is free, and the strangers alone carry the load.
- Foreshadowed — writers see the coming kingdom here. One warns that some will submit to Christ without real faith. Another says this chapter does not picture Messiah's peace at all.
- Rescued — the servitude was not the end. Descendants of these spared peoples may be the ones found centuries later among God's people. The least link with the Lord's things can become blessing.
their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel had not destroyed, upon them did Solomon impose tribute-service until this day.
Chapter 8 turns from the temple to Solomon's rule, and this verse tells what became of the peoples Israel never drove out of Canaan. Why were they still there, and what does their service under a glorious king picture?
Israel should have removed the nations named in verse 7 long before. Their survival traces back to a failure. Under Solomon that failure comes under control.
The men who carried loads, the stone cutters, and the overseers all came from the Canaanites living among Israel, whom the people had failed to drive out (2 Chron. 2:1-2, 17-18; 2 Chron. 8:7-9): "But of the children of Israel, Solomon made none of them slaves for his work." So this glorious reign reaches a state of things that had never existed before, because the people had been unfaithful. All their former mixing with the Canaanites has disappeared. From now on the Lord's people are a free people, and no one can bring them into servitude.
Older translations call this "a tribute of bondservice." Tribute was a known arrangement, and Israel had already imposed it on some of these peoples before Solomon.
Several Hebrew words are translated "tribute." In general it means what one nation or people paid to another, either in money or in goods (2 Kings 3:4), so that they could keep their land in peace. Some of the Canaanites were not driven out of the land, but they paid tribute to the Israelites, and Solomon put others under tribute. Joshua 17:13; 2 Chr. 8:7-8.
The next verse completes the picture: Solomon made no Israelite a slave for the work. One writer sees in that contrast a promise about Israel's future place among the nations.
So we see every kind of right exercised, and what had been wrong put right. "But of the children of Israel Solomon made no servants for his work." A very remarkable statement. He made the Gentiles servants. The Jews will then be lords upon the earth, not slaves. The Gentiles will have to take the place of the tail while Israel is at the head, as the prophet said.
Another writer finds a hint of Israel's future freedom in a question the Lord put to Peter.
Our Lord's words to Peter come to mind. They may refer to this period of Solomon's reign, and they throw a ray of light on the future condition of the children of Israel. "From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their sons or from others?" "From others," said Peter. "Then," said the Lord, "the sons are free." Solomon had not yet sunk so far into idolatry and forgetfulness of God. He did not yet treat Israelites, the chosen people, as he treated Canaanites.
Solomon's grip on the whole land points forward, but one writer marks a limit in the comparison.
Israel had not expelled all the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites from the land. Solomon conscripted those who were left as forced labour. So he had full control of the country. When the Lord Jesus takes His kingdom, there will be those from the nations who will submit to Him despite not having genuine faith (Ps. 18:43-45).
The verse ends by noting that this service was still going on when the record was written. One writer traces the Nethinim — temple servants of a later age — back to these spared peoples.
Here we probably find the origin of the Nethinim — those who were spared from the just judgment of God. If they were reduced to bondage, it was bondage in His mercy, in connection with His house, and so the very curse that rested on them (see Joshua 9:23) was turned into a blessing. Instead of being destroyed with the sword of the Lord's host, they were rescued. Now, hundreds of years later, they are found in honourable association with the Lord's people, and with a heart too for the Lord's house, since they returned from Babylon with their fellow-captives at this special moment. They are no small foreshadowing of the objects of grace even in this present age.
- Failure — These peoples were still there because Israel never drove them out. The verse records an unfinished obedience.
- Order — Solomon's reign reaches what Israel's unfaithfulness had never allowed: the mixing ends, and the Lord's people are free.
- Freedom — Solomon made no Israelite a slave for the work. The sons are free; others bear the tribute.
- Limit — Forced service pictures the nations under Christ. Yet people can submit to Him without genuine faith.
- Mercy — Those spared judgment and tied to God's house end up honoured among His people. Their bondage became blessing.