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He used them as bond-men, and imposed burdens and bodily labours upon them. See 2Ch_2:18. Hence some think they are called Solomon’s servants, Ezr_2:55,58.
Quest. Why did not Solomon destroy them, as God had commanded, when now it was fully in his power to do so?
Answ. First, The command of destroying them, Deu_7:2, did chiefly, if not only, concern that generation of Canaanites who lived in or near the time of the Israelites’ entering into Canaan. Secondly, That command seems not to be absolute and universal, but conditional, and with some exception for those who should submit to them, and embrace the true religion, as may be gathered both from Jos_11:19, and from the history of the Gibeonites, Jos 9, whom Joshua did not sin in sparing, when he had sworn to do so; and Saul did sin in endeavouring to destroy them. But if God’s command had been absolute, the oaths of Joshua, and of the princes, could not have obliged them, nor dispensed with such a command.