1 Kings 9:1,2 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And it came to pass when Solomon had finished, &c. Or rather, according to 2 Chronicles 7:11, Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord, &c., and concluded all with the foregoing prayer, and the great festival which he kept. That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time That is, the second time in a dream or vision; the divine message, mentioned 1 Kings 6:11, having been imparted unto him by some prophet or messenger sent from God on that errand. Accordingly this appearance, like the former at Gibeon, is said (2Ch 7:10) to have been made by night, and in all probability the very night after he had finished the solemnities of his festival, as the other had been. God had given a real answer to Solomon's prayer, and tokens of his acceptance of it, immediately, by the fire from heaven which consumed the sacrifice, (2 Chronicles 7:1,) but here we have a more express and distinct answer to it.