1 Kings 9:16

1Ki 9:16 [For] Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it [for] a present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

Ver. 16. For Pharaoh king of Egypt, &c.] At the request, likely, of his son-in-law Solomon, who was busied in his buildings.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki 9:16. For Pharaoh had gone up and taken Gezer, &c., and slain the Canaanites — For the Israelites did not dispossess the Canaanites, but they continued to dwell in Gezer in Joshua’s time and after, Jos 16:10; Jdg 1:29. And, it seems, neither David nor Solomon expelled them, but only kept them under tribute; till Pharaoh, upon some provocation which is not recorded, extirpated them, and burned their city. This, Sir John Marsham thinks, was the first expedition which the Egyptians made out of their own country.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9:16 Gezer, west of Jerusalem, was not previously occupied by Israelites. It was conquered by the Egyptian pharaoh and given to his daughter as a wedding gift when she married Solomon. An inscription in the Amon Temple in Tanis, apparently depicting a victory by the 21st dynasty Pharaoh Siamun (978–959 BC) against a Philistine campaign, suggests that Siamun was the pharaoh involved.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 16. Pharaoh - had gone up, and taken Gezer] This city Joshua had taken from the Canaanites, Jos 10:33; Jos 12:12, and it was divided by lot to the tribe of Ephraim, and was intended to be one of the Levitical cities; but it appears that the Canaanites had retaken it, and kept possession till the days of Solomon, when his father-in-law, Pharaoh king of Egypt, retook it, and gave it to Solomon in dowry with his daughter.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(16) A present—that is, of course, a dowry, on her marriage with Solomon.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. For Pharaoh king of Egypt] See above on 1Ki_3:1.

and taken Gezer] This incursion was probably before Solomon had taken the king’s daughter to wife, though Josephus (Ant. viii. 6, i) says ‘he gave it to his daughter who had been married to Solomon.’ Philippson (die Israelitische Bibel) suggests that Solomon wishing to be rid of these Canaanites asked his father-in-law to undertake their extermination.

and given it for a present] By ‘present’ here is meant ‘a wedding-portion.’ The noun implies ‘a gift on sending away’ and the verb is found Jos_12:9, where Ibzan the judge is said to have ‘sent abroad’ (i.e. apparently, portioned out in marriage) his thirty daughters and to have taken in thirty others from abroad as wives for his sons. Though it appears to have been the more usual custom in the East for a husband to make presents to his wife’s family, yet we find that Caleb (Jdg_1:15) gave lands with his daughter when she was married to Othniel.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Solomon built Gezer,.... Rebuilt it, it having been burnt, at least great part of it, by Pharaoh when he took it:

and Bethhoron the nether; and the upper also, Ch2 8:5, which belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, and were on the borders of it, between that and Benjamin, Jos 16:3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Wife. This custom distinguished princes from common people, who paid a dowry to their intended bride, 2 Machabees i. 14. Philadelphus gave hid daughter Bernice to Antiochus, of Syria, with an immense dowry, which caused her to be styled Phernophorus. The influence of these royal wives was more extensive than that of others of meaner birth, as we find in the daughter of Pharao, Jezabel, Athalia, &c. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Not now, but long before this time, and presently after the marriage of his daughter, as is most probable; and it is here mentioned only as the occasion of Solomon’s building it. Possibly the Canaanites of this place had been guilty of some heinous crime; and because Solomon thought not fit to destroy them himself, he desired Pharaoh to do it for him, or Pharaoh might offer his service herein for his daughter’s advantage.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16. Pharaoh… had… taken Gezer — The date and circumstances of this conquest are wrapped in perfect mystery.

Canaanites that dwelt in the city — These had not been expelled in Joshua’s time. Jos_16:10.

A present unto his daughter — “Though in the East husbands generally pay for their wives, yet dower is given in some cases. Sargon gave Cilicia as a dowry with his daughter when he married her to Ambris, king of Tubal. Antiochus Soter gave his claims on Macedonia as a dowry to his step-daughter Phila when she married Antigonus Gonatas. Coele-Syria and Palestine were promised as dowry to Ptolemy Epiphanes when he married Cleopatra, sister of Antiochus the Great.” — Rawlinson.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burnt it with fire The total destruction of the place and its inhabitants by fire and sword looks more like an act of vengeance for some grave offence than like ordinary warfare, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city Though Gezer was allotted to Ephraim (Jos_16:3) and designated as a Levitical city (ib., 21:21), the Canaanite inhabitants had never been dispossessed (Jos_16:10; Lxx"canaanites and Perizzites;" (cf. Jud 1:29) and they would seem to have enjoyed a sort of independence, and given it for a present dotatio, dowry. It is the custom of the East for the husband to purchase his wife by a present (Gen_29:18; 2Sa_3:14, etc.) but in royal marriages a dowry was often given. "Sargon gave Cilicia as a dowry with his daughter.... Antiochus Soter gave his claims on Macedonia as a dowry to his step-daughter Phila, when she married Antigonus Gonatas. Coele-Syria and Palestine were promised as a dowry to Ptolemy Epiphanes, when he married Cleopatra, sister of Antiochus the Great," etc. (Rawlinson). Gezer being a wedding present, its conquest must have taken place years before the date to which the history is now brought down) unto his daughter, Solomon"s wife.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Present. A dowry.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.