The section that begins with 1 Kings 9:10 is noted by the ESV as Solomon’s Other Acts.
But in 1 Kings 9:15 we are taken back to the building projects that we have already seen in earlier chapters. There is a difference here, for the emphasis is not on the building itself but on the forced labor
that was used in the projects of Solomon’s building. The focus also is expanded from the temple and his palace to other building projects. It is summarized here in 1 Kings 9:15, starting with the house of the Lord and Solomon’s own house and going on to talk about two building projects in Jerusalem and three other building projects outside of Jerusalem.
The Millo
is a reference that is not completely understood by scholarship in general. Different commentators have different ideas as to what it signifies. The word itself in Hebrew means filling,
but that information only helps us minimally. One commentator suggests, in light of the topography of Jerusalem, that it was a filling in of earth that was necessary in order that the walls might be stable and not to fall inward. Another commentator suggests that it was a filling in between the hills upon which David’s house had been constructed and the hills upon which the temple and Solomon’s palace were built. Either of these suggestions might be the case. The fact that the wall is mentioned also lends some credence to the first suggestion.
Three cities are mentioned in the present verse that represent projects outside the city of Jerusalem. They are Hazor, Gezer, and Megiddo. The first of the cities was the royal city of King Jabin, whose army (under Sisera) Barak and Deborah had defeated in the time of the judges. Gezer was a city conquered by Pharaoh and given to his daughter as part of the dowry in her marriage to Solomon. More will be said of Gezer in the next verse. Megiddo was one of the royal cities of the Canaanites that was conquered by Joshua.
The text here does not mean the building of two of these cities from the ground up, but the fortification of the cities. The exception to this comment is Gezer, because the destruction there caused by Pharaoh included the killing of its Canaanite population and burning it with fire.
In 1 Kings 9:17 three more cities that are outside Jerusalem are mentioned. These are Lower Beth-horon, Baalath (possibly a number of cities in this case),1 and Tamar.
15 Voici ce qui concerne les hommes de corvée que leva le roi Salomon pour bâtir la maison de l'Eternel et sa propre maison, Millo, et le mur de Jérusalem, Hatsor, Meguiddo et Guézer.