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Wednesday, 12 March 2014

2 Chronicles 8 - More of Solomon's activities

As well as building the temple and palace, Solomon also rebuilt various villages and settled Israelites there (resettlement is nothing new!). This would be relevant to the people of the time of the writing of Chronicles. Some may have thought that it was all well and good sorting out the temple, but ordinary people needed homes too.
In Solomon's time there were still various other people in the land. Again at the time of Chronicles Israel would probably have an even greater mix as a result of the various invasions and settlements. Solomon conscripted these people, but not the Israelites themselves.
It seems that Solomon had built a separate palace for Pharaoh's daughter one of his (many) wives. There is a curious mix here. He does not want her to live in the places the ark has been to, yet is still happy to have married a non-Jew. This mix is a very human trait, we will be fastidious over things that are of minor importance and use this as some way of salving our conscience over some much bigger sin.
Sacrifices and festivals were held in accordance with the Law.

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