Solomon held the feast at that time: The feast refers to the Festival of Shelters (see verse 2). At that time refers to the time of the feast in the seventh month of the year (verse 2).
For assembly see the comments at verse 14.
From the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt: Both places mentioned are distant places, one in the north of the land of Israel and the other in the south. For this reason Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, and New Living Translation say “from as far away as…” and add the qualifiers “in the north” and “in the south.” Other translations add only “in the north” and “in the south” (Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). These two places are significant here because they indicate that Israelites assembled from one end of the country to the other. As noted at 1 Kgs 5.13, the phrase all Israel often refers specifically to the northern kingdom of Israel in 1–2 Kings. Here, however, it clearly refers to both Israel and Judah.
The entrance of Hamath translates the Hebrew words leboʾ hamath. According to Num 34.7-9, leboʾ hamath is one of the places that marks the northern boundary of the land that God promised to Israel. The exact meaning of the Hebrew is not clear. The word leboʾ may be an infinitive meaning “to enter,” and taken with the name Hamath it may indicate the entrance to the city of Hamath (so Revised Standard Version), but this is not the meaning of the text here. Some scholars think that this expression refers to a mountain pass to the south of the city of Hamath. For this reason Good News Translation translates “Hamath Pass” and New Jerusalem Bible has “the Pass of Hamath.” Hobbs (pages 182-183), however, argues convincingly that “Lebo-hamath” (New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Revised English Bible; similarly New International Version, Contemporary English Version) or “Labo of Hamath” (New American Bible) was the name of a city that corresponds to modern-day Lebweh located “close to the Litani River some seventy kilometers north of Damascus.”
The word Brook in the Brook of Egypt renders a Hebrew noun that may be translated more precisely as “wadi,” that is, a valley or deep gully which is usually dry in the dry season but carries rushing water in the rainy season. Compare the following translations: “the Wadi [or, wadi] of Egypt” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible) and “the Torrent of Egypt” (New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). The exact location of this wadi is uncertain. It is sometimes said to be a part of the Nile River, but more likely it refers to the Wadi-el-Arish, which flows into the Mediterranean Sea and is located in the northeastern part of the Sinai Peninsula about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of Gaza. Since this wadi marked the southern boundary of the Promised Land (Num 34.5), this second location seems more likely to be the correct one.
Seven days is based on the Septuagint. The Masoretic Text reads “seven days and seven days, fourteen days.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text, even though many translations follow the Septuagint (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant). If the Hebrew text is followed (so New International Version, New Century Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New Living Translation, Anchor Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Nouvelle Bible Segond, Parole de Vie), the meaning is that the dedication lasted for the first seven days, and then the final seven days consisted of the celebration of the Festival of Shelters. Either solution to this textual problem is acceptable since there is ample support for both.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .