(Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife;
The verse pauses the list of Solomon's building projects to explain how one of those cities came into his hands. It raises two questions: why was Gezer still a Canaanite city, and what do we make of the marriage that brought it in?
A city Israel never finished taking
Gezer has a long history before this verse, and it is a history of unfinished work. Its king was struck down in Joshua's campaigns, but the city itself stayed in enemy hands for centuries.
Numerical Bible NotesHoram king of Gezer comes up to help Lachish, and is struck down — he and his people. But his city is not taken at this time. In fact, no one drove the Canaanites out of it until Solomon's reign. By then the city seems to have drifted into separation from Israel. For it is Pharaoh king of Egypt who takes it then, and gives it to his daughter, Solomon's wife.
Why the Canaanites were left
Ephraim held this ground, and the Canaanites there stayed on as servants. Why they were spared is the warning.
Numerical Bible NotesBut Ephraim does not escape the common failure. Gezer is noted as a place where the Canaanites were allowed to remain, though they became servants. Sins are too often spared because they are useful; and among Ephraimites as much as anyone. And because a gracious God still blesses, we think He cares very little. Yet a day of reckoning comes at last.
The city Egypt cleared
Notice who finally clears Gezer. Egypt carries out the order to destroy the Canaanites, and Solomon gains the city without a battle.
H. L. RossierHe receives Gezer from Pharaoh. Pharaoh had wiped out the Canaanites living in that city, and had given it to his daughter, the king's wife. So the order to destroy the Canaanites is carried out without trouble for this reign of peace. Their city rightfully belonged to Israel. Long ago the people were weak and spared the Canaanites. Now all of them are brought into subjection.
From ruin to building site
Gezer arrives as a burnt-out ruin. Solomon puts it straight onto the same building list as the temple and the wall of Jerusalem.
Leslie M. GrantIn verse 15 we are told of a labour force that Solomon raised. He used it to build the temple, his own house, the Millo (a citadel, possibly a tower in the fortifications of Jerusalem), the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. These were areas that clearly needed repair. Gezer gets special mention: Pharaoh king of Egypt had captured it from the Canaanites, and he gave the city as a dowry to his daughter, whom Solomon married (v.16).
Two views of the marriage
Commentators differ here. Some see the Egyptian bride as a picture of Gentiles brought into blessing under the King that Solomon pictures.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThis union pointed ahead to the blessing Gentiles were to receive in union with Him whom Solomon pictures. It was grace which took up Pharaoh's daughter and made her share the riches and honours of Solomon.
Others judge the marriage a mistake, whatever it gained.
W. W. Fereday1 Kings 3:1 suggests that the affair was political in character. Marriage is sacred, and no one should use it for such ends. True, Solomon gained the important frontier city of Gezer as dowry with his wife. A remnant of Canaanites still held the place, and Egyptian forces wiped them out for Solomon's benefit. But should not the Ephraimites have taken the place long before, trusting in God? (Joshua 16:10)
Where the alliance led
The treaty came first, the marriage followed, and the slide did not stop there.
Leslie M. GrantHowever, early in Solomon's reign he slipped into the snare of making a treaty with the king of Egypt. Israel had before escaped from the bondage of Egypt, a type of the world in its independence of God. Believers are warned not to be friends with the world (James 4:4). Such friendship is actually enmity against God. This friendship of Solomon then went further still in his being married to a daughter of Pharaoh. Such laxity of conscience did not end there, however, as we shall see in chapter 11:1-8. Once we start on a wrong course, we shall keep sliding downward. The slide stops only when the grace of God steps in, leads us to judge ourselves seriously, and brings us back to the Lord.
Summary
- Left undone. Gezer's king fell in Joshua's day, but the city stayed Canaanite for centuries. Unfinished work does not go away.
- Left useful. Israel kept the Canaanites there as servants. Sin is too often spared because it is useful — and when God still blesses, we think He cares very little.
- Taken anyway. Egypt's Pharaoh burned Gezer and cleared out the Canaanites. The city belonged to Israel by right, and it came back without a battle.
- Given, then rebuilt. It arrived as a dowry and went straight onto Solomon's building list beside the temple and the wall of Jerusalem.
- Paid for later. Commentators differ on the marriage: a picture of Gentile blessing, or a political bargain. Either way, the alliance with Egypt ran on into chapter 11.