1 Kings 9:2
in 1 Kings 9the LORD appeared to him a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
that Jehovah appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.
KJV
That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.
⋯
This verse in 1 Kings 9
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThe comparing of it with that intimates that it was the very night after he had finished the solemnities of his festival, for so that was, 2 Chron. i.
This site's exposition
when Solomon had finished the building
on 1 Kings 9:1-2
The second appearance answers the first at Gibeon, where Solomon asked for a hearing heart at the start of his reign (3:5-15); now the answer comes after both houses stand finished, the Lord's house and the king's own. The dream form is the same, but the content moves from a young king's request to a covenant's terms. Behind this verse lie twenty years of building, the temple's seven and the palace's thirteen counted separately at 6:38 and 7:1, now summed together as Solomon's whole desire.
This site's exposition
the LORD appeared to him a second time
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown and Matthew Henry place this vision on the night after the dedication, following 2 Chronicles 7:12. Albert Barnes ties it to verse 1 and Solomon's twenty-fourth year, and so dates the dedication itself thirteen years after the temple was finished. The vision answers the prayer of chapter 8 point by point.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
must be read, and the Lord had appeared. The purport of this answer. He assures him of his special presence in the temple he had built, in answer to the prayer he had made (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
That--rather, "For." the Lord appeared--This appearance was, like the former one at Gibeon, most probably made in a supernatural vision, and on the night immediately following the dedication of the temple (2Ch 7:12). The strain of it corresponds to this view, for it consists of direct answers to his solemn inaugural prayer (1Ki 9:3 is in answer to 1Ki 8:29;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
BELOVED Friends, it was an exceedingly encouraging thing to Solomon that the Lord should appear to him before the beginning of his great work of building the temple. See in the third chapter of this First Book of the Kings, at the fifth verse, "In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give you." Some of us remember how the Lord was with us at the beginning of our life-work—when we started as young men and women newly converted, full of zeal and earnestness—determined to do something for the Lord. How we sought His face! With what simplicity, with what tenderness of heart, with what dependence upon Him and diffidence as to ourselves! We remember, as HE remembers, the love of our espousals—those early days. I cannot forget when the Lord appeared unto me in Gibeon at the first. Truly there are things about the lives of Christian men that would not have been possible if God had not appeared to them at the beginning. If He had not strengthened and tutored them and given them wisdom beyond what they possess in themselves. If He had not inspirited them. If He had not infused life into them, they had not done what they have already done. It is a priceless blessing to begin with God and not to lay a stone of the temple of our life-work till the Lord has appeared unto us. I do not know, however, but that it is an equal, perhaps a superior blessing, for the Lord to appear to us after a certain work is done. Even as in this case—"The Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared unto him at Gibeon." Solomon had now finished the temple and he needed another visit from on high. There is great joy in completing a work. And yet there is, to some minds, a great letdown, when the once engrossing service ceases to keep the mind upon the stretch.
BELOVED Friends, it was an exceedingly encouraging thing to Solomon that the Lord should appear to him before the beginning of his great work of building the temple. See in the third chapter of this First Book of the Kings, at the fifth verse, "In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give you."
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The Lord appeared to Solomon - The design of this appearance, which was in a dream, as that was at Gibeon, was to assure Solomon that God had accepted his service, and had taken that house for his dwelling-place, and would continue it, and establish him and his descendants upon the throne of Israel for ever, provided they served him with an upright heart; but, on the contrary, if they forsook him, he would abandon both them and his temple.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
This appearance is fixed by 1Ki 9:1 to Solomon’s twenty-fourth year, the year in which he completed his palace 1Ki 6:37-38; 1Ki 7:1. The fact seems to be that, though the temple was finished in Solomon’s eleventh year, the dedication did not take place until his twenty-fourth year. The order of the narrative in Kings agrees with this view, since it interposes the account of the building of the palace 1Ki 7:1-12, and of the making of the furniture 1 Kings 7:13-51, between the completion of the building of the temple 1Ki 6:38 and the ceremony of the Dedication 1 Kings 8.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֵּרָ֧א | vaiyera' | and he appeared | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| יְהוָ֛ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| שְׁלֹמֹ֖ה | shelomoh | Solomon | H8010 → | 291 times |
| שֵׁנִ֑ית | shenit | a second [time] | H8145 → | 156 times |
| כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר | kaasher | just as | H834 → | 5497 times |
| נִרְאָ֥ה | nirah | he had appeared | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| אֵלָ֖יו | ʾelav | to him | H413 → | 5510 times |
| בְּגִבְעֽוֹן׃ | begivon | at Gibeon | H1391 → | 38 times |
וַיֵּרָ֧אand he appeared
vaiyera'H7200 →1300 times
יְהוָ֛הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
שְׁלֹמֹ֖הSolomon
shelomohH8010 →291 times
שֵׁנִ֑יתa second [time]
shenitH8145 →156 times
כַּאֲשֶׁ֛רjust as
kaasherH834 →5497 times
נִרְאָ֥הhe had appeared
nirahH7200 →1300 times
אֵלָ֖יוto him
ʾelavH413 →5510 times
בְּגִבְעֽוֹן׃at Gibeon
begivonH1391 →38 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Kings 3:5One night at Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”
it leads to
- James 1:5–6
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
- Numbers 12:6
He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.
- 2 Chronicles 1:7–12
That night God appeared to Solomon and said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”
- John 14:13–14
And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
- Genesis 28:12–13
And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder.
- James 1:5–6
Through
1 Kings 11:9Now the LORD grew angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 3:5
One night at Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”
- 1 Kings 3:5
Through
2 Chronicles 7:12the LORD appeared to him at night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.
it leads to
- Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.
- 2 Chronicles 7:16
For I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My Name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will be there for all time.
- Genesis 17:1
About 1 Kings
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2064: “Essential Points In Prayer” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.