Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 9:15

"And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised, to build the house of Jehovah, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer." — 1 Kings 9:15 (ASV)

The levy. This levy (see 1 Kings 5:13, 15) was drawn from both Israelites and the subject races. It was first established for the building of the Temple and was later extended to the other great building works.

The building works enumerated were located first in Jerusalem, and then in various parts of the country that were critically important, either for war or for commerce.

Millo, or (as it always has the definite article) “the Millo.” The Hebrew word seems to mean “piling up” or “heaping up,” and its simplest meaning would be a “fortified mound.”

However, from its mention in Judges 9:6, 20 as the “house of Millo” in connection with the men of Shechem, it has been suggested that it is a Canaanitish word. It is also possible that “the Millo” of Jerusalem was the name of a quarter of the old Jebusite city, especially since it is first mentioned in the narrative of its capture (2 Samuel 5:9; 1 Chronicles 11:8).

It is clear that it was a part of the fortification of “the city of David” from this passage, from 1 Kings 9:24 and 1 Kings 11:27, and from 2 Chronicles 32:5. The Septuagint invariably translates it as “Acra,” or “the citadel,” a name always applied in later history to the fortification on Mount Zion.

Josephus, in describing Solomon’s works, merely says that he made David’s walls higher and stronger, and built towers on them.

From the word's derivation, it is possible that the work involved raising a high earthen fortification crowned with a wall, where the hill of Zion slopes down to the valley later known as the Tyropoeon.

Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. These cities all occupied important geographical positions and had all previously belonged to the subject races.

Hazor was in the north, on high ground near the waters of Merom. It had been the city of Jabin, head of the northern confederacy (Joshua 11:1). After the great victory over this confederacy, Joshua burned Hazor (Joshua 11:13), and the territory was assigned to Naphtali (Joshua 19:36).

However, it must have been regained by its former possessors and rebuilt, as it appears again under another Jabin in Judges 4:2. It was evidently important, as it commanded the great invasion route through Hamath from the north. Therefore, Solomon fortified it, and the native inhabitants were probably dispossessed.

Megiddo was situated in the great plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon, the battlefield of Northern Palestine. It commanded some of the passes from this plain into the hill country of Manasseh, to which tribe it was assigned after the conquest (Joshua 17:11).

However, it was not subdued by them (Joshua 17:12–13; Judges 1:27–28) and, with Taanach, appears as a hostile city in the Song of Deborah (Judges 5:19).

It was now fortified and is later named as an Israelite city (2 Kings 9:27; 2 Kings 23:29). In later times, the Romans seem to have occupied it, and their name for it, Legio (now el-Łejjûr), superseded the old title.

Grezer or Gazer was near Bethlehem, close to the maritime plain. Its king was conquered by Joshua (Joshua 10:33; Joshua 12:12), and the city was allotted to the Levites in the territory of Ephraim (Joshua 21:17), though it remained unsubdued (Judges 1:29).

From the notice in the next verse, it must have been in rebellion against Israel, perhaps in the early and more troubled days of Solomon. Consequently, it was taken by the Egyptian army, which could easily march up the plain and attack it from there.

The passes here were critically important, as is evident from the Philistine wars (1 Chronicles 20:4; 2 Samuel 5:25), in relation to any advance from the plain.