⁸So Solomon held the feast at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the brook of Egypt.
8. the feast] i.e. the Feast of Tabernacles (see note below on seven days..., verse 9).
from the entering in of Hamath] See note on 1 Chronicles xiii. 5.
the brook of Egypt] i.e. not the Nile, but the stream called Shihor of Egypt in 1 Chronicles xiii. 5 (see note).
⁹And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly[¹]: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.
[¹] Or, closing festival.
9. a solemn assembly] margin, a closing festival. In the later stage of ritual, which is represented in the Priestly Code, an eighth day, to be observed as an holy assembly, was added to the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus xxiii. 36; Numbers xxix. 35). The earlier custom terminated the festival on the seventh day, and the people went away on the eighth (Deuteronomy xvi. 13, 15).
seven days, and ... seven days] Compare 1 Kings viii. 65, 66. The original text in Kings agreed with the earlier custom referred to in the previous note, the people being dismissed on the eighth day after observing the seven days Feast of Tabernacles. The evidence of the LXX. and also the opening words of verse 66 put it beyond doubt that in the present text of Kings the words and seven days, even fourteen days are a late addition due probably to the influence of the statement in Chronicles The Chronicler, or the tradition he follows, did not deem it fitting that there should be no special festival for the dedication of the Temple. His statement of events is therefore: a seven days Dedication Feast (from the 8th to the 14th of the month), followed by the Feast of Tabernacles, seven days plus one day of holy assembly (from the 15th to the 22nd); and finally on the 23rd of the month the dismissal of the people to their homes (see verse 10).
¹⁰And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away unto their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that the Lord had shewed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.
10. unto their tents] The Hebrew word (ōhel) here approaches in meaning the corresponding Arabic word (ahl), which denotes household or one’s own people, e.g. in the phrase ahlu ’linjil, “the household of the Gospel,” i.e. “the Christians,” a phrase found in the Koran. Compare x. 16, xxv. 22.