2 CHRONICLES 2 COMMENTARYEDITED BY GLENN PEASE

Preparations for Building the Temple

1 [a]Solomon gave orders to build a temple for the Name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself

CLARKE A house for the name of the Lord - A temple for the worship of Jehovah

A house for his kingdom - A royal palace for his own use as king of Israel

GILL And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord For the worship and service of God and for his honour and glory being directed enjoined and encouraged to it by his father David

and an house for his kingdom for a royal palace for him and his successors first the one and then the other and in this order they were built

HENRY Solomons wisdom was given him not merely for speculation to entertain himself (though it is indeed a princely entertainment) nor merely for conversation to entertain his friends but for action and therefore to action he immediately applies himself Observe

I His resolution within himself concerning his business (2Ch_21) He determined to build in the first place a house for the name of the Lord It is fit that he who is the first should be served - first a temple and then a palace a house not so much for himself or his own convenience and magnitude as for the kingdom for the honour of it among its neighbours and for the decent reception of the people whenever they had occasion to apply to their prince so that in both he aimed at the public good Those are the wisest men that lay out themselves most for the honour of the name of the Lord and the welfare of communities We are not born for ourselves but for God and our country

JAMISON 2Ch_21 2Ch_22 Solomonrsquos laborers for building the Temple

Solomon determined to build mdash The temple is the grand subject of this narrative while the palace - here and in other parts of this book - is only incidentally noticed The duty of building the temple was reserved for Solomon before his birth As soon as he

1

became king he addressed himself to the work and the historian in proceeding to give an account of the edifice begins with relating the preliminary arrangements

KampD (118) The account of these is introduced by 118 ldquoSolomon thought to buildrdquo אמר with an infinitive following does not signify here to command one to do anything as eg in 1Ch_2117 but to purpose to do something as eg in 1Ki_55 For house for his kingdom ie the royal palace בית למלכות see on 1Ki_517 לשם יהוהThe building of this palace is indeed shortly spoken of in 2Ch_211 2Ch_711 and 2Ch_81 but is not in the Chronicle described in detail as in 1Ki_71-12

(21) With 2Ch_21 begins the account of the preparations which Solomon made for the erection of these buildings especially of the temple building accompanied by a statement that the king caused all the workmen of the necessary sort in his kingdom to be numbered There follows thereafter an account of the negotiations with King Hiram of Tyre in regard to the sending of a skilful architect and of the necessary materials such as cedar wood and hewn stones from Lebanon (2Ch_22-15) and in conclusion the statements as to the levying of the statute labourers of Israel (2Ch_21) are repeated and rendered more complete (2Ch_216 2Ch_217) If we compare the parallel account in 1Ki_55 we find that Solomons negotiation with Hiram about the proposed buildings is preceded (1Ki_55) by a notice that Hiram after he had heard of Solomons accession had sent him an embassy to congratulate him This notice is omitted in the Chronicle because it was of no importance in the negotiations which succeeded In the account of Solomons negotiation with Hiram both narratives (2Ch_22-15 and 1Ki_516) agree in the main but differ in form so considerably that it is manifest that they are free adaptations of one common original document quite independent of each other as has been already remarked on 1Ki_55 On 2Ch_22 see further on 1Ki_515

PULPIT In the Hebrew text this verse stands as the last of 2 Chronicles 11-17 Determined The Hebrew word is the ordinary word for said as eg in the expression of such frequent occurrence The Lord said Its natural equivalent here might be he gave the word or issued the command for the building of a house For the Name of the Lord better to the Name of the Lord (1 Kings 53 or in Hebrew text 1 Kings 518 1 Chronicles 227) The expression the Name of the Lord is of very early date (Genesis 426) A name named upon a person at the first purported as far as possible to mark his nature either its tout ensemble or some striking attribute of it Hence the changed name sometimes of Divine interposition (Genesis 175 Genesis 1715 Genesis 3228 Genesis 3510) and much more noticeably the alterations of the Divine Name to serve and to mark the progressive development of the revelation of God to man (Genesis 171 Exodus 314 Exodus 63 Exodus 3414) So the Name of the Lord stands evermdashmonogram most sacredmdashfor himself A house for his kingdom ie a royal residence for Solomon himself This is mere clearly expressed as in his own house (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81 1 Kings 910 1 Kings 915) The description of this house for himself is given in 1 Kings 71-13 But no parallel account exists in Chronicles

2

BENSON And a house for his kingdom mdash A royal palace for himself and his successors The substance of this whole chapter is contained in 1 Kings 5 and is explained in the notes there and the seeming differences between the contents of this and it reconciled

ELLICOTT (1) DeterminedmdashLiterally said which may mean either commanded as in 2 Chronicles 12 1 Chronicles 2117 or thought purposed resolved as in 1 Kings 55 The context seems to favour the latter sense

And an house for his kingdommdashOr for his royalty that is as the Vulg renders a palace for himself Solomonrsquos royal palace is mentioned again in 2 Chronicles 212 2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81 but the building of it is not related in the Chronicle (See 1 Kings 71-12)

POOLE Solomon appointeth workmen to build the temple his embassage to king Huram for workmen and materials promising to furnish him with victuals 2 Chronicles 21-10 Huramrsquos kindness 2 Chronicles 211-16 Solomon numbereth and divideth the workmen 2 Chronicles 21718

ie A royal palace for himself and his successors This whole chapter for the substance of it is contained in 1Ki 5 and in the notes there it is explained and the seeming differences reconciled

TRAPP And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 1 And Solomon determined] Heb Said He slighted not the divine oracle nor his fatherrsquos charge but was still plodding and talking of it to himself till it was done

To build a house for the name of the Lord] See 1 Kings 53 and compare this chapter with that the one giveth light to the other as glasses set one against another do cast a mutual light

And a house for his kingdom] David had built a fair palace but Solomonrsquos far exceeded it this was a house for his kingdom Our William Rufus found much fault with Westminster Hall for being built too small and took a plot for one far more spacious to be added unto it (a)

COFFMAN And a house for his kingdom (2 Chronicles 21) This refers to the house Solomon would build for himself[1] The Chronicler omitted many details that are found in Kings simply because those details were already widely known Knowledge of the temple (and many other things) from Kings and other sources is taken for granted[2] Therefore we reject as worthless the speculations of scholars regarding alleged reasons why this or that was abbreviated or left out altogether

3

The 153600 men mentioned here were slaves composed of Descendants of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out[3] From Kings it is clear that Israelites were also conscripted by Solomon for such slave labor and required to devote one month of every three to his service

PARKER And Solomon determined ( 2 Chronicles 21)

LITERALLY and Solomon said The word said seems to be quite a small word beside the word determined but it is just as good in quality and in music if we understand it rightly We have gone backward in the use of words we try to make up by many words what used to be expressed by one in this regard civilisation is not improving education is enfeebling our expression In the old time when a man said what he was going to do he had half done it he never spoke about it until his mind was made up now we vapour about what we are going to do and therefore we seldom do it our speech has become a variety of the process known as evaporation In other places the word rendered determined is rendered so as to give energy full purpose settled and unchangeable resolution There was no need for such expression in this case Solomon was born to do this work There is no need for the rose to say Now I am going to be beautiful and fragrant There is no need for the nightingale to say Now I have fully made up my mind to be musical and tuneful and to fill the air with richest expression and melody The flower was born to bloom and to throw all its fragrance away in generous donation the nightingale was made in every bone and feather of it for the sacred singing throat to sing to astonish the world with music Solomon came into this work naturally as it were by birth and education His father could latterly talk about nothing else the old man nearly built the temple himself although distinctly told he should not do it yet he could not let it alone if he awoke in the night-time it was to consider what the length of the temple should be and if he suddenly came upon his son Solomon it was to deliver an extra charge as to the building of the holy house When he wrote to his friends it was to ask for material for the temple He would speak upon no other subject when he lay upon his bed for the last time he signed and motioned and talked about the temple that he wanted to build There is always something we want to do next and although God has expressly told us that we should not touch the work we cannot keep our hands quite still We will build in the air if we cannot build on the ground we will talk if we cannot actually carve the ivory and prepare the gold It is infinitely pathetic to watch David in these later hours he is told that he should not do a thing and he says I am sure I will not do it and then he talks about it and prepares for it and offers suggestions respecting it and if he could get up in the night-time without God seeing him he would in very deed begin to build what he had made up his mind he would not build because God had told him he should not do it The wondrous pressure there is upon us The marvellous bias that our life takes in certain directions which are forbidden Would God some understood this a little better Would God some men would almost try to pray they might succeed In one respect it is the hardest in another it is the easiest of the miracles but a miracle

4

it Isaiah that a man trained in a mother tongue in his infancy to talk nonsense and frivolity should actually open his lips in prayer What greater miracle is there when it is rightly measured fully grasped and really enjoyed When we say we will build we ought to have begun to build The word determined is a weak word in comparison with the word said A mans word should be his bond he should not require to speak loudly in order to be believed when he says in the simplest tone that he has done some miracle of faith love service he should not be required to make oath and say his word his whisper should be his oath

And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord and an house for his kingdom ( 2 Chronicles 21)

That latter expression is not always clearly understood Solomon built a house for the name of the Lord and a house for his own residence That is the prayer in action This is what true men are always doing No man can build Gods house without building his own at the same time We have forgotten that immortal inspiring truthmdashThem that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first-fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine No man can give a cup of cold water to a disciple in the name of a disciple without having his reward Yet we must be on our guard against the subtle play of selfishness even here for if any man should say he will build his own house by building Gods he will never have a house of his own to live in There must be no investment of consecration there must be no folly at the altar If a man should say he will spend all his life in the church and let his own house take care of itself that house will come to ruin Here we see the play of wisdom here is the need of sentiment being guarded by discipline otherwise we shall have life frittered away in an infinite fuss about nothing Everywhere we must see the wise man then shall there be a steady preparation attention to the perspective of nature and of life and a response to all those obligations which touch it at every point and which are intended for its development and education and final consolidation in righteousness Yet here is the compound actionmdashBecause thou hast asked wisdom and not riches thou shalt have riches Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you therefore when thou art building my house I will be building thine We must not have these things taken out eclectically and set in rows like specimens we must from all the facts draw the inclusive inference and that inference must be the basis of our life God helps those who help him He never forgets the man who waits in his house he is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labour of love if you have given him water he will give you wine if you have spent a day at his house for his sake there is no green pasture in all heavens boundless paradise to which you shall not be welcomed We never can be before God greater than God in gift and eulogy and blessing

Solomon having begun to build grew in the idea of what was due to God and he laid down the great principle which underlies all true religious enthusiasmmdash

5

GUZIK 2 CHRONICLES 2 - SUPPLIES AND WORKERS FOR THE TEMPLE

A An overview of the work of building the temple

1 (2 Chronicles 21) Solomonrsquos determination to build the temple

Then Solomon determined to build a temple for the name of the LORD and a royal house for himself

a Then Solomon determined to build a temple His determination was fitting because of all that his father David did to prepare for the building and because of the charge David gave him to do the work

i We might think that the greatest thing about Solomon was his wisdom his riches his proverbs or his writings Clearly for the Chronicler the most important thing about Solomon was the temple he built This was most important because it was most relevant to a community of returning exiles who struggled to build a new temple and to make a place for Israel among the nations again

ii ldquoChroniclesrsquo record of Solomonrsquos achievements moves straight away to the construction of the temple Several important items in the account of his reign in Kings are left out as a result such as his wisdom in action administration educational reforms and some building activities (eg 1 Kings 316 1Ki_434 1Ki_71-12) These were not unimportant but for Chronicles they were all subsidiary to the templerdquo (Selman)

b And a royal house for himself Solomonrsquos great building works did not end with temple He also built a spectacular palace (1 Kings 71-12) and more

BI 1-16 And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord

Solomonrsquos predestined work

Solomon was born to do this work There is no need for the rose to say ldquoNow I am going to be beautiful and fragrantrdquo There is no need for the nightingale to say ldquoNow I have fully made up my mind to be musical and tuneful and to fill the air with richest expressions and melodyrdquo The flower was born to bloom and to throw all its fragrance away in generous donation the nightingale was made in every bone and feather of it for the sacred singing throat to sing to astonish the world with music Solomon came into this work naturally as it were by birth and education (J Parker DD)

6

2 He conscripted 70000 men as carriers and 80000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3600 as foremen over them

GILL And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men Of whom and the difference of the last number in this text from 1Ki_515 see the notes there See Gill on 1Ki_515 See Gill on 1Ki_516

HENRY 1-6 Solomons wisdom was given him not merely for speculation to entertain himself (though it is indeed a princely entertainment) nor merely for conversation to entertain his friends but for action and therefore to action he immediately applies himself Observe

I His resolution within himself concerning his business (2Ch_21) He determined to build in the first place a house for the name of the Lord It is fit that he who is the first should be served - first a temple and then a palace a house not so much for himself or his own convenience and magnitude as for the kingdom for the honour of it among its neighbours and for the decent reception of the people whenever they had occasion to apply to their prince so that in both he aimed at the public good Those are the wisest men that lay out themselves most for the honour of the name of the Lord and the welfare of communities We are not born for ourselves but for God and our country

II His embassy to Huram king of Tyre to engage his assistance in the prosecution of his designs The purport of his errand to him is much the same here as we had it 1Ki_52 etc only here it is more largely set forth

1 The reasons why he makes this application to Huram are here more fully represented for information to Huram as well as for inducement (1) He pleads his fathers interest in Huram and the kindness he had received from him (2Ch_23) As thou didst deal with David so deal with me As we must show kindness to so we may expect kindness from our fathers friends and with them should cultivate a correspondence (2) He represents his design in building the temple he intended it for a place of religious worship (2Ch_24) that all the offerings which God had appointed for the honour of his name might be offered up there The house was built that it might be dedicated to God and used in his service This we should aim at in all our business that our havings and doings may be all to the glory of God He mentions various particular services that were there to be performed for the instruction of Huram The mysteries of the true religion unlike those of the Gentile superstition coveted not concealment (3) He endeavors to inspire Huram with very great and high thoughts of the God of Israel by expressing the mighty veneration he had for his holy name Great is our God above all gods above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both

7

under the control of the God of Israel and therefore [1] ldquoThe house must be great not in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated (for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion) but in some proportion to the great value and esteem we have for this Godrdquo [2] ldquoYet be it ever so great it cannot be a habitation for the great God Let not Huram think that the God of Israel like the gods of the nations dwells in temples made with hands Act_1724 No the heaven of heavens cannot contain him It is intended only for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a fit place wherein to burn sacrifice before himrdquo [3] He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as unworthy the honour of being employed in this great work Who am I that I should build him a house It becomes us to go about every work for God with a due sense of our utter insufficiency for it and our incapacity to do any thing adequate to the divine perfections It is part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk towards those that are without carefully to guard against all misapprehension which any thing we say or do may occasion concerning God so Solomon does here in his treaty with Huram

PULPIT The presence of this verse here and the composition of it may probably mark some corruptness of text or error of copyists as the first two words of it are the proper first two words of 2 Chronicles 217 and the remainder of it shows the proper contents of 2 Chronicles 218 which are not only in other aspects apparently in the right place there but also by analogy of the parallel (1 Kings 515 1 Kings 516) The contents of this verse will therefore be considered with 2 Chronicles 217 2 Chronicles 218

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 22 And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them

Ver 2 And Solomon told out] See 1 Kings 516-17

And three thousand and six hundred] See on 1 Kings 516 Solomon might afterwards add three hundred more for better despatch

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 22) The magnitude of the work

Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains and three thousand six hundred to oversee them

a Seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone This seems to describe the number of Canaanite slave laborers that Solomon used

i Ginzberg relates some of the legends surrounding the building of the temple ldquoDuring the seven years it took to build the Temple not a single workman died who was employed about it nor even did a single one fall sick And as the workmen were

8

sound and robust from first to last so the perfection of their tools remained unimpaired until the building stood complete Thus the work suffered no sort of interruptionrdquo (Ginzberg)

b And three thousand six hundred to oversee them This was the middle management team administrating the work of building the temple

i ldquoThe number of thirty-six hundred foremen differs from 1 Kings 516 (3300) but the LXX of Kings is quite insecure here and Chronicles may preserve the better readingrdquo (Selman)

3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram[b] king of TyreldquoSend me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in

BARNES Huram the form used throughout Chronicles (except 1Ch_141) for the name both of the king and of the artisan whom he lent to Solomon 2Ch_213 2Ch_411 2Ch_416 is a late corruption of the true native word Hiram (marginal note and reference)

CLARKE Solomon sent to Huram - This manrsquos name is written חירם Chiram in

Kings and in Chronicles חורם Churam there is properly no difference only a י yod and

a ו vau interchanged See on 1Ki_52 (note)

GILL And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre The same with Hiram 1Ki_51 and from whence it appears that Huram first sent a letter to Solomon to congratulate him on his accession to the throne which is not taken notice of here

as thou didst deal with my father and didst send him cedars to build him an

9

house to dwell therein see 1Ch_141 even so deal with me which words are a supplement

JAMISON 2Ch_23-10 Message to Huram for skillful artificers

Solomon sent to Huram mdash The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (2Ch_211 also see on 1Ki_58)

As thou didst deal with David my father mdash This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was Davidrsquos friend (see on 1Ki_51-6) In opening the business Solomon grounded his request for Tyrian aid on two reasons 1 The temple he proposed to build must be a solid and permanent building because the worship was to be continued in perpetuity and therefore the building materials must be of the most durable quality 2 It must be a magnificent structure because it was to be dedicated to the God who was greater than all gods and therefore as it might seem a presumptuous idea to erect an edifice for a Being ldquowhom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not containrdquo it was explained that Solomonrsquos object was not to build a house for Him to dwell in but a temple in which His worshippers might offer sacrifices to His honor No language could be more humble and appropriate than this The pious strain of sentiment was such as became a king of Israel

KampD (22-9) Solomon through his ambassadors addressed himself to Huram king of Tyre with the request that he would send him an architect and building wood for the temple On the Tyrian king Huram or Hiram the contemporary of David and Solomon see the discussion on 2Sa_511 According to the account in 1 Kings 5 Solomon asked cedar wood from Lebanon from Hiram according to our account which is more exact he desired an architect and cedar cypress and other wood In 1 Kings 5 the motive of Solomons request is given in the communication to Hiram viz that David could not carry out the building of the proposed temple on account of his wars but that Jahve had given him (Solomon) rest and peace so that he now in accordance with the divine promise to David desired to carry on the building (1Ki_53-5) In the 2Ch_22-5 on the contrary Solomon reminds the Tyrian king of the friendliness with which he had supplied his father David with cedar wood for his palace and then announces to him his purpose to build a temple to the Lord at the same time stating that it was designed for the worship of God whom the heavens and the earth cannot contain It is clear therefore that both authors have expanded the fundamental thoughts of their authority in somewhat freer fashion The apodosis of the clause beginning with כאשר is wanting and the sentence is an anacolouthon The apodosis should be ldquodo so also for me and send me cedarsrdquo This latter clause follows in 2Ch_26 2Ch_27 while the first can easily be supplied as is done eg in the Vulg by sic fac mecum

PULPIT Huram So the name is spelt whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman in Chronicles except perhaps in 1 Chronicles 141 Elsewhere the name is written Geseuius draws attention to Josephuss חורם instead of חירום or sometimes הירםGreek rendering of the name סשלןעוי with whom agree Menander an historian of Ephesus in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus Contra Apion 1 Chronicles 118) and Dius a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon

10

and Hiram Josephus also is the means of preserving (Contra Apion 117) The Septuagint write the name לבקיס the Alexandrian לבקויס the Vulgate Hiram The name of Hirams father was Abibaal Hiram himself began to reign according to Menander when nineteen years of age reigned thirty-four years and died therefore at the age of fifty-three Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon The city of Tyre is among the most ancient Though it is not mentioned in Homer yet the Sidonians who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians are mentioned there whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city Sidon being twenty miles distant The modern name of Tyre is Sur The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean in Phoenicia about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 1929 After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 511 with all its parallels 2 Samuel 247 Isaiah 231 Isaiah 237 Ezekiel 262 Ezekiel 271-8 Zechariah 92 Zechariah 93 Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history without leaving us dependent on doubtful history or tales of such as Josephus (Ant 85 sect 3 Contra Apion 117) For the timber metals workmen given by Hiram to Solomon Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil ceded to him some cities and the use of some ports on the Red Sea (1 Kings 911-14 1 Kings 925-28 1 Kings 1021-23 See also 1 Kings 1631) As thou didst deal with David hellip and didst send him cedars To this Zechariah 97 and Zechariah 98 are the apodosis manifestly while Zechariah 94 Zechariah 95 Zechariah 96 should be enclosed in brackets

BENSON 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram mdash Or Hiram as he is called in the first book of Kings where we learn that he first sent to Solomon congratulate him on his accession to the throne and then Solomon sent to him

ELLICOTT (3) And Solomon sent to HurammdashComp 1 Kings 52-11 from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources

HurammdashIn Kings the name is spelt Hiram (1 Kings 51-2 1 Kings 57) and Hirom (1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 Hebr) (Comp 1 Chronicles 141) Whether the Tyrian name Sirocircmos (Herod vii 98) is another form of Hiram as Bertheau supposes is more than doubtful It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II to whom he paid tribute (BC 738) along with Menahem of Samaria (Assyr Hi-ru-um-mu to which the Hicircrocircm of 1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 comes very near)

As thou didst deal dwell thereinmdashSee 1 Chronicles 141 The sense requires the clause added by our translators in italics ldquoEven so deal with merdquo after the Vulg

11

ldquosic fac mecumrdquo 1 Kings 53 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple

POOLE Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing and from the following words such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew Or without any ellipsis the sense being here suspended is completed 2 Chronicles 27 so send me ampc the 4th 5th and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis to usher in and enforce his following request

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre saying As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein [even so deal with me]

Ver 3 And Solomon sent to Huram] See on 1 Kings 51

As thou didst deal with David my father] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio

COFFMAN Huram the king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 23) This person is called Hiram in Kings But throughout Chronicles he is called Huram (except in 1 Chronicles 141)[4]

2 Chronicles 24 here is a summary of the principal rituals of the ancient tabernacle and an indication of their continued observance in the projected temple The entire Pentateuch is in a sense summarized in this single verse in keeping with the entire religious constitution of ancient Israel Extensive sections of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are reflected in this single verse No wonder the critics hate it Elmslie looked at it and wrote It looks like a heavy-handed addition[5] However there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that this verse is an interpolation It is the previous mind-set of critics that causes them to make such an allegation

GUZIK B Solomonrsquos correspondence with Hiram king of Tyre

1 (2 Chronicles 23-6) Solomon describes the work to Hiram

Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in so deal with me Behold I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God to dedicate it to Him to burn before Him sweet incense for the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths on the New Moons and on the set feasts of the LORD our God This is an ordinance forever to Israel And the temple which I build will be great for our God is greater than all gods But who is able to

12

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

became king he addressed himself to the work and the historian in proceeding to give an account of the edifice begins with relating the preliminary arrangements

KampD (118) The account of these is introduced by 118 ldquoSolomon thought to buildrdquo אמר with an infinitive following does not signify here to command one to do anything as eg in 1Ch_2117 but to purpose to do something as eg in 1Ki_55 For house for his kingdom ie the royal palace בית למלכות see on 1Ki_517 לשם יהוהThe building of this palace is indeed shortly spoken of in 2Ch_211 2Ch_711 and 2Ch_81 but is not in the Chronicle described in detail as in 1Ki_71-12

(21) With 2Ch_21 begins the account of the preparations which Solomon made for the erection of these buildings especially of the temple building accompanied by a statement that the king caused all the workmen of the necessary sort in his kingdom to be numbered There follows thereafter an account of the negotiations with King Hiram of Tyre in regard to the sending of a skilful architect and of the necessary materials such as cedar wood and hewn stones from Lebanon (2Ch_22-15) and in conclusion the statements as to the levying of the statute labourers of Israel (2Ch_21) are repeated and rendered more complete (2Ch_216 2Ch_217) If we compare the parallel account in 1Ki_55 we find that Solomons negotiation with Hiram about the proposed buildings is preceded (1Ki_55) by a notice that Hiram after he had heard of Solomons accession had sent him an embassy to congratulate him This notice is omitted in the Chronicle because it was of no importance in the negotiations which succeeded In the account of Solomons negotiation with Hiram both narratives (2Ch_22-15 and 1Ki_516) agree in the main but differ in form so considerably that it is manifest that they are free adaptations of one common original document quite independent of each other as has been already remarked on 1Ki_55 On 2Ch_22 see further on 1Ki_515

PULPIT In the Hebrew text this verse stands as the last of 2 Chronicles 11-17 Determined The Hebrew word is the ordinary word for said as eg in the expression of such frequent occurrence The Lord said Its natural equivalent here might be he gave the word or issued the command for the building of a house For the Name of the Lord better to the Name of the Lord (1 Kings 53 or in Hebrew text 1 Kings 518 1 Chronicles 227) The expression the Name of the Lord is of very early date (Genesis 426) A name named upon a person at the first purported as far as possible to mark his nature either its tout ensemble or some striking attribute of it Hence the changed name sometimes of Divine interposition (Genesis 175 Genesis 1715 Genesis 3228 Genesis 3510) and much more noticeably the alterations of the Divine Name to serve and to mark the progressive development of the revelation of God to man (Genesis 171 Exodus 314 Exodus 63 Exodus 3414) So the Name of the Lord stands evermdashmonogram most sacredmdashfor himself A house for his kingdom ie a royal residence for Solomon himself This is mere clearly expressed as in his own house (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81 1 Kings 910 1 Kings 915) The description of this house for himself is given in 1 Kings 71-13 But no parallel account exists in Chronicles

2

BENSON And a house for his kingdom mdash A royal palace for himself and his successors The substance of this whole chapter is contained in 1 Kings 5 and is explained in the notes there and the seeming differences between the contents of this and it reconciled

ELLICOTT (1) DeterminedmdashLiterally said which may mean either commanded as in 2 Chronicles 12 1 Chronicles 2117 or thought purposed resolved as in 1 Kings 55 The context seems to favour the latter sense

And an house for his kingdommdashOr for his royalty that is as the Vulg renders a palace for himself Solomonrsquos royal palace is mentioned again in 2 Chronicles 212 2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81 but the building of it is not related in the Chronicle (See 1 Kings 71-12)

POOLE Solomon appointeth workmen to build the temple his embassage to king Huram for workmen and materials promising to furnish him with victuals 2 Chronicles 21-10 Huramrsquos kindness 2 Chronicles 211-16 Solomon numbereth and divideth the workmen 2 Chronicles 21718

ie A royal palace for himself and his successors This whole chapter for the substance of it is contained in 1Ki 5 and in the notes there it is explained and the seeming differences reconciled

TRAPP And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 1 And Solomon determined] Heb Said He slighted not the divine oracle nor his fatherrsquos charge but was still plodding and talking of it to himself till it was done

To build a house for the name of the Lord] See 1 Kings 53 and compare this chapter with that the one giveth light to the other as glasses set one against another do cast a mutual light

And a house for his kingdom] David had built a fair palace but Solomonrsquos far exceeded it this was a house for his kingdom Our William Rufus found much fault with Westminster Hall for being built too small and took a plot for one far more spacious to be added unto it (a)

COFFMAN And a house for his kingdom (2 Chronicles 21) This refers to the house Solomon would build for himself[1] The Chronicler omitted many details that are found in Kings simply because those details were already widely known Knowledge of the temple (and many other things) from Kings and other sources is taken for granted[2] Therefore we reject as worthless the speculations of scholars regarding alleged reasons why this or that was abbreviated or left out altogether

3

The 153600 men mentioned here were slaves composed of Descendants of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out[3] From Kings it is clear that Israelites were also conscripted by Solomon for such slave labor and required to devote one month of every three to his service

PARKER And Solomon determined ( 2 Chronicles 21)

LITERALLY and Solomon said The word said seems to be quite a small word beside the word determined but it is just as good in quality and in music if we understand it rightly We have gone backward in the use of words we try to make up by many words what used to be expressed by one in this regard civilisation is not improving education is enfeebling our expression In the old time when a man said what he was going to do he had half done it he never spoke about it until his mind was made up now we vapour about what we are going to do and therefore we seldom do it our speech has become a variety of the process known as evaporation In other places the word rendered determined is rendered so as to give energy full purpose settled and unchangeable resolution There was no need for such expression in this case Solomon was born to do this work There is no need for the rose to say Now I am going to be beautiful and fragrant There is no need for the nightingale to say Now I have fully made up my mind to be musical and tuneful and to fill the air with richest expression and melody The flower was born to bloom and to throw all its fragrance away in generous donation the nightingale was made in every bone and feather of it for the sacred singing throat to sing to astonish the world with music Solomon came into this work naturally as it were by birth and education His father could latterly talk about nothing else the old man nearly built the temple himself although distinctly told he should not do it yet he could not let it alone if he awoke in the night-time it was to consider what the length of the temple should be and if he suddenly came upon his son Solomon it was to deliver an extra charge as to the building of the holy house When he wrote to his friends it was to ask for material for the temple He would speak upon no other subject when he lay upon his bed for the last time he signed and motioned and talked about the temple that he wanted to build There is always something we want to do next and although God has expressly told us that we should not touch the work we cannot keep our hands quite still We will build in the air if we cannot build on the ground we will talk if we cannot actually carve the ivory and prepare the gold It is infinitely pathetic to watch David in these later hours he is told that he should not do a thing and he says I am sure I will not do it and then he talks about it and prepares for it and offers suggestions respecting it and if he could get up in the night-time without God seeing him he would in very deed begin to build what he had made up his mind he would not build because God had told him he should not do it The wondrous pressure there is upon us The marvellous bias that our life takes in certain directions which are forbidden Would God some understood this a little better Would God some men would almost try to pray they might succeed In one respect it is the hardest in another it is the easiest of the miracles but a miracle

4

it Isaiah that a man trained in a mother tongue in his infancy to talk nonsense and frivolity should actually open his lips in prayer What greater miracle is there when it is rightly measured fully grasped and really enjoyed When we say we will build we ought to have begun to build The word determined is a weak word in comparison with the word said A mans word should be his bond he should not require to speak loudly in order to be believed when he says in the simplest tone that he has done some miracle of faith love service he should not be required to make oath and say his word his whisper should be his oath

And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord and an house for his kingdom ( 2 Chronicles 21)

That latter expression is not always clearly understood Solomon built a house for the name of the Lord and a house for his own residence That is the prayer in action This is what true men are always doing No man can build Gods house without building his own at the same time We have forgotten that immortal inspiring truthmdashThem that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first-fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine No man can give a cup of cold water to a disciple in the name of a disciple without having his reward Yet we must be on our guard against the subtle play of selfishness even here for if any man should say he will build his own house by building Gods he will never have a house of his own to live in There must be no investment of consecration there must be no folly at the altar If a man should say he will spend all his life in the church and let his own house take care of itself that house will come to ruin Here we see the play of wisdom here is the need of sentiment being guarded by discipline otherwise we shall have life frittered away in an infinite fuss about nothing Everywhere we must see the wise man then shall there be a steady preparation attention to the perspective of nature and of life and a response to all those obligations which touch it at every point and which are intended for its development and education and final consolidation in righteousness Yet here is the compound actionmdashBecause thou hast asked wisdom and not riches thou shalt have riches Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you therefore when thou art building my house I will be building thine We must not have these things taken out eclectically and set in rows like specimens we must from all the facts draw the inclusive inference and that inference must be the basis of our life God helps those who help him He never forgets the man who waits in his house he is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labour of love if you have given him water he will give you wine if you have spent a day at his house for his sake there is no green pasture in all heavens boundless paradise to which you shall not be welcomed We never can be before God greater than God in gift and eulogy and blessing

Solomon having begun to build grew in the idea of what was due to God and he laid down the great principle which underlies all true religious enthusiasmmdash

5

GUZIK 2 CHRONICLES 2 - SUPPLIES AND WORKERS FOR THE TEMPLE

A An overview of the work of building the temple

1 (2 Chronicles 21) Solomonrsquos determination to build the temple

Then Solomon determined to build a temple for the name of the LORD and a royal house for himself

a Then Solomon determined to build a temple His determination was fitting because of all that his father David did to prepare for the building and because of the charge David gave him to do the work

i We might think that the greatest thing about Solomon was his wisdom his riches his proverbs or his writings Clearly for the Chronicler the most important thing about Solomon was the temple he built This was most important because it was most relevant to a community of returning exiles who struggled to build a new temple and to make a place for Israel among the nations again

ii ldquoChroniclesrsquo record of Solomonrsquos achievements moves straight away to the construction of the temple Several important items in the account of his reign in Kings are left out as a result such as his wisdom in action administration educational reforms and some building activities (eg 1 Kings 316 1Ki_434 1Ki_71-12) These were not unimportant but for Chronicles they were all subsidiary to the templerdquo (Selman)

b And a royal house for himself Solomonrsquos great building works did not end with temple He also built a spectacular palace (1 Kings 71-12) and more

BI 1-16 And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord

Solomonrsquos predestined work

Solomon was born to do this work There is no need for the rose to say ldquoNow I am going to be beautiful and fragrantrdquo There is no need for the nightingale to say ldquoNow I have fully made up my mind to be musical and tuneful and to fill the air with richest expressions and melodyrdquo The flower was born to bloom and to throw all its fragrance away in generous donation the nightingale was made in every bone and feather of it for the sacred singing throat to sing to astonish the world with music Solomon came into this work naturally as it were by birth and education (J Parker DD)

6

2 He conscripted 70000 men as carriers and 80000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3600 as foremen over them

GILL And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men Of whom and the difference of the last number in this text from 1Ki_515 see the notes there See Gill on 1Ki_515 See Gill on 1Ki_516

HENRY 1-6 Solomons wisdom was given him not merely for speculation to entertain himself (though it is indeed a princely entertainment) nor merely for conversation to entertain his friends but for action and therefore to action he immediately applies himself Observe

I His resolution within himself concerning his business (2Ch_21) He determined to build in the first place a house for the name of the Lord It is fit that he who is the first should be served - first a temple and then a palace a house not so much for himself or his own convenience and magnitude as for the kingdom for the honour of it among its neighbours and for the decent reception of the people whenever they had occasion to apply to their prince so that in both he aimed at the public good Those are the wisest men that lay out themselves most for the honour of the name of the Lord and the welfare of communities We are not born for ourselves but for God and our country

II His embassy to Huram king of Tyre to engage his assistance in the prosecution of his designs The purport of his errand to him is much the same here as we had it 1Ki_52 etc only here it is more largely set forth

1 The reasons why he makes this application to Huram are here more fully represented for information to Huram as well as for inducement (1) He pleads his fathers interest in Huram and the kindness he had received from him (2Ch_23) As thou didst deal with David so deal with me As we must show kindness to so we may expect kindness from our fathers friends and with them should cultivate a correspondence (2) He represents his design in building the temple he intended it for a place of religious worship (2Ch_24) that all the offerings which God had appointed for the honour of his name might be offered up there The house was built that it might be dedicated to God and used in his service This we should aim at in all our business that our havings and doings may be all to the glory of God He mentions various particular services that were there to be performed for the instruction of Huram The mysteries of the true religion unlike those of the Gentile superstition coveted not concealment (3) He endeavors to inspire Huram with very great and high thoughts of the God of Israel by expressing the mighty veneration he had for his holy name Great is our God above all gods above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both

7

under the control of the God of Israel and therefore [1] ldquoThe house must be great not in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated (for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion) but in some proportion to the great value and esteem we have for this Godrdquo [2] ldquoYet be it ever so great it cannot be a habitation for the great God Let not Huram think that the God of Israel like the gods of the nations dwells in temples made with hands Act_1724 No the heaven of heavens cannot contain him It is intended only for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a fit place wherein to burn sacrifice before himrdquo [3] He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as unworthy the honour of being employed in this great work Who am I that I should build him a house It becomes us to go about every work for God with a due sense of our utter insufficiency for it and our incapacity to do any thing adequate to the divine perfections It is part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk towards those that are without carefully to guard against all misapprehension which any thing we say or do may occasion concerning God so Solomon does here in his treaty with Huram

PULPIT The presence of this verse here and the composition of it may probably mark some corruptness of text or error of copyists as the first two words of it are the proper first two words of 2 Chronicles 217 and the remainder of it shows the proper contents of 2 Chronicles 218 which are not only in other aspects apparently in the right place there but also by analogy of the parallel (1 Kings 515 1 Kings 516) The contents of this verse will therefore be considered with 2 Chronicles 217 2 Chronicles 218

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 22 And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them

Ver 2 And Solomon told out] See 1 Kings 516-17

And three thousand and six hundred] See on 1 Kings 516 Solomon might afterwards add three hundred more for better despatch

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 22) The magnitude of the work

Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains and three thousand six hundred to oversee them

a Seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone This seems to describe the number of Canaanite slave laborers that Solomon used

i Ginzberg relates some of the legends surrounding the building of the temple ldquoDuring the seven years it took to build the Temple not a single workman died who was employed about it nor even did a single one fall sick And as the workmen were

8

sound and robust from first to last so the perfection of their tools remained unimpaired until the building stood complete Thus the work suffered no sort of interruptionrdquo (Ginzberg)

b And three thousand six hundred to oversee them This was the middle management team administrating the work of building the temple

i ldquoThe number of thirty-six hundred foremen differs from 1 Kings 516 (3300) but the LXX of Kings is quite insecure here and Chronicles may preserve the better readingrdquo (Selman)

3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram[b] king of TyreldquoSend me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in

BARNES Huram the form used throughout Chronicles (except 1Ch_141) for the name both of the king and of the artisan whom he lent to Solomon 2Ch_213 2Ch_411 2Ch_416 is a late corruption of the true native word Hiram (marginal note and reference)

CLARKE Solomon sent to Huram - This manrsquos name is written חירם Chiram in

Kings and in Chronicles חורם Churam there is properly no difference only a י yod and

a ו vau interchanged See on 1Ki_52 (note)

GILL And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre The same with Hiram 1Ki_51 and from whence it appears that Huram first sent a letter to Solomon to congratulate him on his accession to the throne which is not taken notice of here

as thou didst deal with my father and didst send him cedars to build him an

9

house to dwell therein see 1Ch_141 even so deal with me which words are a supplement

JAMISON 2Ch_23-10 Message to Huram for skillful artificers

Solomon sent to Huram mdash The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (2Ch_211 also see on 1Ki_58)

As thou didst deal with David my father mdash This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was Davidrsquos friend (see on 1Ki_51-6) In opening the business Solomon grounded his request for Tyrian aid on two reasons 1 The temple he proposed to build must be a solid and permanent building because the worship was to be continued in perpetuity and therefore the building materials must be of the most durable quality 2 It must be a magnificent structure because it was to be dedicated to the God who was greater than all gods and therefore as it might seem a presumptuous idea to erect an edifice for a Being ldquowhom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not containrdquo it was explained that Solomonrsquos object was not to build a house for Him to dwell in but a temple in which His worshippers might offer sacrifices to His honor No language could be more humble and appropriate than this The pious strain of sentiment was such as became a king of Israel

KampD (22-9) Solomon through his ambassadors addressed himself to Huram king of Tyre with the request that he would send him an architect and building wood for the temple On the Tyrian king Huram or Hiram the contemporary of David and Solomon see the discussion on 2Sa_511 According to the account in 1 Kings 5 Solomon asked cedar wood from Lebanon from Hiram according to our account which is more exact he desired an architect and cedar cypress and other wood In 1 Kings 5 the motive of Solomons request is given in the communication to Hiram viz that David could not carry out the building of the proposed temple on account of his wars but that Jahve had given him (Solomon) rest and peace so that he now in accordance with the divine promise to David desired to carry on the building (1Ki_53-5) In the 2Ch_22-5 on the contrary Solomon reminds the Tyrian king of the friendliness with which he had supplied his father David with cedar wood for his palace and then announces to him his purpose to build a temple to the Lord at the same time stating that it was designed for the worship of God whom the heavens and the earth cannot contain It is clear therefore that both authors have expanded the fundamental thoughts of their authority in somewhat freer fashion The apodosis of the clause beginning with כאשר is wanting and the sentence is an anacolouthon The apodosis should be ldquodo so also for me and send me cedarsrdquo This latter clause follows in 2Ch_26 2Ch_27 while the first can easily be supplied as is done eg in the Vulg by sic fac mecum

PULPIT Huram So the name is spelt whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman in Chronicles except perhaps in 1 Chronicles 141 Elsewhere the name is written Geseuius draws attention to Josephuss חורם instead of חירום or sometimes הירםGreek rendering of the name סשלןעוי with whom agree Menander an historian of Ephesus in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus Contra Apion 1 Chronicles 118) and Dius a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon

10

and Hiram Josephus also is the means of preserving (Contra Apion 117) The Septuagint write the name לבקיס the Alexandrian לבקויס the Vulgate Hiram The name of Hirams father was Abibaal Hiram himself began to reign according to Menander when nineteen years of age reigned thirty-four years and died therefore at the age of fifty-three Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon The city of Tyre is among the most ancient Though it is not mentioned in Homer yet the Sidonians who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians are mentioned there whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city Sidon being twenty miles distant The modern name of Tyre is Sur The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean in Phoenicia about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 1929 After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 511 with all its parallels 2 Samuel 247 Isaiah 231 Isaiah 237 Ezekiel 262 Ezekiel 271-8 Zechariah 92 Zechariah 93 Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history without leaving us dependent on doubtful history or tales of such as Josephus (Ant 85 sect 3 Contra Apion 117) For the timber metals workmen given by Hiram to Solomon Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil ceded to him some cities and the use of some ports on the Red Sea (1 Kings 911-14 1 Kings 925-28 1 Kings 1021-23 See also 1 Kings 1631) As thou didst deal with David hellip and didst send him cedars To this Zechariah 97 and Zechariah 98 are the apodosis manifestly while Zechariah 94 Zechariah 95 Zechariah 96 should be enclosed in brackets

BENSON 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram mdash Or Hiram as he is called in the first book of Kings where we learn that he first sent to Solomon congratulate him on his accession to the throne and then Solomon sent to him

ELLICOTT (3) And Solomon sent to HurammdashComp 1 Kings 52-11 from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources

HurammdashIn Kings the name is spelt Hiram (1 Kings 51-2 1 Kings 57) and Hirom (1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 Hebr) (Comp 1 Chronicles 141) Whether the Tyrian name Sirocircmos (Herod vii 98) is another form of Hiram as Bertheau supposes is more than doubtful It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II to whom he paid tribute (BC 738) along with Menahem of Samaria (Assyr Hi-ru-um-mu to which the Hicircrocircm of 1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 comes very near)

As thou didst deal dwell thereinmdashSee 1 Chronicles 141 The sense requires the clause added by our translators in italics ldquoEven so deal with merdquo after the Vulg

11

ldquosic fac mecumrdquo 1 Kings 53 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple

POOLE Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing and from the following words such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew Or without any ellipsis the sense being here suspended is completed 2 Chronicles 27 so send me ampc the 4th 5th and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis to usher in and enforce his following request

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre saying As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein [even so deal with me]

Ver 3 And Solomon sent to Huram] See on 1 Kings 51

As thou didst deal with David my father] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio

COFFMAN Huram the king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 23) This person is called Hiram in Kings But throughout Chronicles he is called Huram (except in 1 Chronicles 141)[4]

2 Chronicles 24 here is a summary of the principal rituals of the ancient tabernacle and an indication of their continued observance in the projected temple The entire Pentateuch is in a sense summarized in this single verse in keeping with the entire religious constitution of ancient Israel Extensive sections of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are reflected in this single verse No wonder the critics hate it Elmslie looked at it and wrote It looks like a heavy-handed addition[5] However there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that this verse is an interpolation It is the previous mind-set of critics that causes them to make such an allegation

GUZIK B Solomonrsquos correspondence with Hiram king of Tyre

1 (2 Chronicles 23-6) Solomon describes the work to Hiram

Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in so deal with me Behold I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God to dedicate it to Him to burn before Him sweet incense for the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths on the New Moons and on the set feasts of the LORD our God This is an ordinance forever to Israel And the temple which I build will be great for our God is greater than all gods But who is able to

12

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

BENSON And a house for his kingdom mdash A royal palace for himself and his successors The substance of this whole chapter is contained in 1 Kings 5 and is explained in the notes there and the seeming differences between the contents of this and it reconciled

ELLICOTT (1) DeterminedmdashLiterally said which may mean either commanded as in 2 Chronicles 12 1 Chronicles 2117 or thought purposed resolved as in 1 Kings 55 The context seems to favour the latter sense

And an house for his kingdommdashOr for his royalty that is as the Vulg renders a palace for himself Solomonrsquos royal palace is mentioned again in 2 Chronicles 212 2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81 but the building of it is not related in the Chronicle (See 1 Kings 71-12)

POOLE Solomon appointeth workmen to build the temple his embassage to king Huram for workmen and materials promising to furnish him with victuals 2 Chronicles 21-10 Huramrsquos kindness 2 Chronicles 211-16 Solomon numbereth and divideth the workmen 2 Chronicles 21718

ie A royal palace for himself and his successors This whole chapter for the substance of it is contained in 1Ki 5 and in the notes there it is explained and the seeming differences reconciled

TRAPP And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 1 And Solomon determined] Heb Said He slighted not the divine oracle nor his fatherrsquos charge but was still plodding and talking of it to himself till it was done

To build a house for the name of the Lord] See 1 Kings 53 and compare this chapter with that the one giveth light to the other as glasses set one against another do cast a mutual light

And a house for his kingdom] David had built a fair palace but Solomonrsquos far exceeded it this was a house for his kingdom Our William Rufus found much fault with Westminster Hall for being built too small and took a plot for one far more spacious to be added unto it (a)

COFFMAN And a house for his kingdom (2 Chronicles 21) This refers to the house Solomon would build for himself[1] The Chronicler omitted many details that are found in Kings simply because those details were already widely known Knowledge of the temple (and many other things) from Kings and other sources is taken for granted[2] Therefore we reject as worthless the speculations of scholars regarding alleged reasons why this or that was abbreviated or left out altogether

3

The 153600 men mentioned here were slaves composed of Descendants of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out[3] From Kings it is clear that Israelites were also conscripted by Solomon for such slave labor and required to devote one month of every three to his service

PARKER And Solomon determined ( 2 Chronicles 21)

LITERALLY and Solomon said The word said seems to be quite a small word beside the word determined but it is just as good in quality and in music if we understand it rightly We have gone backward in the use of words we try to make up by many words what used to be expressed by one in this regard civilisation is not improving education is enfeebling our expression In the old time when a man said what he was going to do he had half done it he never spoke about it until his mind was made up now we vapour about what we are going to do and therefore we seldom do it our speech has become a variety of the process known as evaporation In other places the word rendered determined is rendered so as to give energy full purpose settled and unchangeable resolution There was no need for such expression in this case Solomon was born to do this work There is no need for the rose to say Now I am going to be beautiful and fragrant There is no need for the nightingale to say Now I have fully made up my mind to be musical and tuneful and to fill the air with richest expression and melody The flower was born to bloom and to throw all its fragrance away in generous donation the nightingale was made in every bone and feather of it for the sacred singing throat to sing to astonish the world with music Solomon came into this work naturally as it were by birth and education His father could latterly talk about nothing else the old man nearly built the temple himself although distinctly told he should not do it yet he could not let it alone if he awoke in the night-time it was to consider what the length of the temple should be and if he suddenly came upon his son Solomon it was to deliver an extra charge as to the building of the holy house When he wrote to his friends it was to ask for material for the temple He would speak upon no other subject when he lay upon his bed for the last time he signed and motioned and talked about the temple that he wanted to build There is always something we want to do next and although God has expressly told us that we should not touch the work we cannot keep our hands quite still We will build in the air if we cannot build on the ground we will talk if we cannot actually carve the ivory and prepare the gold It is infinitely pathetic to watch David in these later hours he is told that he should not do a thing and he says I am sure I will not do it and then he talks about it and prepares for it and offers suggestions respecting it and if he could get up in the night-time without God seeing him he would in very deed begin to build what he had made up his mind he would not build because God had told him he should not do it The wondrous pressure there is upon us The marvellous bias that our life takes in certain directions which are forbidden Would God some understood this a little better Would God some men would almost try to pray they might succeed In one respect it is the hardest in another it is the easiest of the miracles but a miracle

4

it Isaiah that a man trained in a mother tongue in his infancy to talk nonsense and frivolity should actually open his lips in prayer What greater miracle is there when it is rightly measured fully grasped and really enjoyed When we say we will build we ought to have begun to build The word determined is a weak word in comparison with the word said A mans word should be his bond he should not require to speak loudly in order to be believed when he says in the simplest tone that he has done some miracle of faith love service he should not be required to make oath and say his word his whisper should be his oath

And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord and an house for his kingdom ( 2 Chronicles 21)

That latter expression is not always clearly understood Solomon built a house for the name of the Lord and a house for his own residence That is the prayer in action This is what true men are always doing No man can build Gods house without building his own at the same time We have forgotten that immortal inspiring truthmdashThem that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first-fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine No man can give a cup of cold water to a disciple in the name of a disciple without having his reward Yet we must be on our guard against the subtle play of selfishness even here for if any man should say he will build his own house by building Gods he will never have a house of his own to live in There must be no investment of consecration there must be no folly at the altar If a man should say he will spend all his life in the church and let his own house take care of itself that house will come to ruin Here we see the play of wisdom here is the need of sentiment being guarded by discipline otherwise we shall have life frittered away in an infinite fuss about nothing Everywhere we must see the wise man then shall there be a steady preparation attention to the perspective of nature and of life and a response to all those obligations which touch it at every point and which are intended for its development and education and final consolidation in righteousness Yet here is the compound actionmdashBecause thou hast asked wisdom and not riches thou shalt have riches Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you therefore when thou art building my house I will be building thine We must not have these things taken out eclectically and set in rows like specimens we must from all the facts draw the inclusive inference and that inference must be the basis of our life God helps those who help him He never forgets the man who waits in his house he is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labour of love if you have given him water he will give you wine if you have spent a day at his house for his sake there is no green pasture in all heavens boundless paradise to which you shall not be welcomed We never can be before God greater than God in gift and eulogy and blessing

Solomon having begun to build grew in the idea of what was due to God and he laid down the great principle which underlies all true religious enthusiasmmdash

5

GUZIK 2 CHRONICLES 2 - SUPPLIES AND WORKERS FOR THE TEMPLE

A An overview of the work of building the temple

1 (2 Chronicles 21) Solomonrsquos determination to build the temple

Then Solomon determined to build a temple for the name of the LORD and a royal house for himself

a Then Solomon determined to build a temple His determination was fitting because of all that his father David did to prepare for the building and because of the charge David gave him to do the work

i We might think that the greatest thing about Solomon was his wisdom his riches his proverbs or his writings Clearly for the Chronicler the most important thing about Solomon was the temple he built This was most important because it was most relevant to a community of returning exiles who struggled to build a new temple and to make a place for Israel among the nations again

ii ldquoChroniclesrsquo record of Solomonrsquos achievements moves straight away to the construction of the temple Several important items in the account of his reign in Kings are left out as a result such as his wisdom in action administration educational reforms and some building activities (eg 1 Kings 316 1Ki_434 1Ki_71-12) These were not unimportant but for Chronicles they were all subsidiary to the templerdquo (Selman)

b And a royal house for himself Solomonrsquos great building works did not end with temple He also built a spectacular palace (1 Kings 71-12) and more

BI 1-16 And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord

Solomonrsquos predestined work

Solomon was born to do this work There is no need for the rose to say ldquoNow I am going to be beautiful and fragrantrdquo There is no need for the nightingale to say ldquoNow I have fully made up my mind to be musical and tuneful and to fill the air with richest expressions and melodyrdquo The flower was born to bloom and to throw all its fragrance away in generous donation the nightingale was made in every bone and feather of it for the sacred singing throat to sing to astonish the world with music Solomon came into this work naturally as it were by birth and education (J Parker DD)

6

2 He conscripted 70000 men as carriers and 80000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3600 as foremen over them

GILL And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men Of whom and the difference of the last number in this text from 1Ki_515 see the notes there See Gill on 1Ki_515 See Gill on 1Ki_516

HENRY 1-6 Solomons wisdom was given him not merely for speculation to entertain himself (though it is indeed a princely entertainment) nor merely for conversation to entertain his friends but for action and therefore to action he immediately applies himself Observe

I His resolution within himself concerning his business (2Ch_21) He determined to build in the first place a house for the name of the Lord It is fit that he who is the first should be served - first a temple and then a palace a house not so much for himself or his own convenience and magnitude as for the kingdom for the honour of it among its neighbours and for the decent reception of the people whenever they had occasion to apply to their prince so that in both he aimed at the public good Those are the wisest men that lay out themselves most for the honour of the name of the Lord and the welfare of communities We are not born for ourselves but for God and our country

II His embassy to Huram king of Tyre to engage his assistance in the prosecution of his designs The purport of his errand to him is much the same here as we had it 1Ki_52 etc only here it is more largely set forth

1 The reasons why he makes this application to Huram are here more fully represented for information to Huram as well as for inducement (1) He pleads his fathers interest in Huram and the kindness he had received from him (2Ch_23) As thou didst deal with David so deal with me As we must show kindness to so we may expect kindness from our fathers friends and with them should cultivate a correspondence (2) He represents his design in building the temple he intended it for a place of religious worship (2Ch_24) that all the offerings which God had appointed for the honour of his name might be offered up there The house was built that it might be dedicated to God and used in his service This we should aim at in all our business that our havings and doings may be all to the glory of God He mentions various particular services that were there to be performed for the instruction of Huram The mysteries of the true religion unlike those of the Gentile superstition coveted not concealment (3) He endeavors to inspire Huram with very great and high thoughts of the God of Israel by expressing the mighty veneration he had for his holy name Great is our God above all gods above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both

7

under the control of the God of Israel and therefore [1] ldquoThe house must be great not in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated (for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion) but in some proportion to the great value and esteem we have for this Godrdquo [2] ldquoYet be it ever so great it cannot be a habitation for the great God Let not Huram think that the God of Israel like the gods of the nations dwells in temples made with hands Act_1724 No the heaven of heavens cannot contain him It is intended only for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a fit place wherein to burn sacrifice before himrdquo [3] He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as unworthy the honour of being employed in this great work Who am I that I should build him a house It becomes us to go about every work for God with a due sense of our utter insufficiency for it and our incapacity to do any thing adequate to the divine perfections It is part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk towards those that are without carefully to guard against all misapprehension which any thing we say or do may occasion concerning God so Solomon does here in his treaty with Huram

PULPIT The presence of this verse here and the composition of it may probably mark some corruptness of text or error of copyists as the first two words of it are the proper first two words of 2 Chronicles 217 and the remainder of it shows the proper contents of 2 Chronicles 218 which are not only in other aspects apparently in the right place there but also by analogy of the parallel (1 Kings 515 1 Kings 516) The contents of this verse will therefore be considered with 2 Chronicles 217 2 Chronicles 218

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 22 And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them

Ver 2 And Solomon told out] See 1 Kings 516-17

And three thousand and six hundred] See on 1 Kings 516 Solomon might afterwards add three hundred more for better despatch

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 22) The magnitude of the work

Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains and three thousand six hundred to oversee them

a Seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone This seems to describe the number of Canaanite slave laborers that Solomon used

i Ginzberg relates some of the legends surrounding the building of the temple ldquoDuring the seven years it took to build the Temple not a single workman died who was employed about it nor even did a single one fall sick And as the workmen were

8

sound and robust from first to last so the perfection of their tools remained unimpaired until the building stood complete Thus the work suffered no sort of interruptionrdquo (Ginzberg)

b And three thousand six hundred to oversee them This was the middle management team administrating the work of building the temple

i ldquoThe number of thirty-six hundred foremen differs from 1 Kings 516 (3300) but the LXX of Kings is quite insecure here and Chronicles may preserve the better readingrdquo (Selman)

3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram[b] king of TyreldquoSend me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in

BARNES Huram the form used throughout Chronicles (except 1Ch_141) for the name both of the king and of the artisan whom he lent to Solomon 2Ch_213 2Ch_411 2Ch_416 is a late corruption of the true native word Hiram (marginal note and reference)

CLARKE Solomon sent to Huram - This manrsquos name is written חירם Chiram in

Kings and in Chronicles חורם Churam there is properly no difference only a י yod and

a ו vau interchanged See on 1Ki_52 (note)

GILL And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre The same with Hiram 1Ki_51 and from whence it appears that Huram first sent a letter to Solomon to congratulate him on his accession to the throne which is not taken notice of here

as thou didst deal with my father and didst send him cedars to build him an

9

house to dwell therein see 1Ch_141 even so deal with me which words are a supplement

JAMISON 2Ch_23-10 Message to Huram for skillful artificers

Solomon sent to Huram mdash The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (2Ch_211 also see on 1Ki_58)

As thou didst deal with David my father mdash This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was Davidrsquos friend (see on 1Ki_51-6) In opening the business Solomon grounded his request for Tyrian aid on two reasons 1 The temple he proposed to build must be a solid and permanent building because the worship was to be continued in perpetuity and therefore the building materials must be of the most durable quality 2 It must be a magnificent structure because it was to be dedicated to the God who was greater than all gods and therefore as it might seem a presumptuous idea to erect an edifice for a Being ldquowhom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not containrdquo it was explained that Solomonrsquos object was not to build a house for Him to dwell in but a temple in which His worshippers might offer sacrifices to His honor No language could be more humble and appropriate than this The pious strain of sentiment was such as became a king of Israel

KampD (22-9) Solomon through his ambassadors addressed himself to Huram king of Tyre with the request that he would send him an architect and building wood for the temple On the Tyrian king Huram or Hiram the contemporary of David and Solomon see the discussion on 2Sa_511 According to the account in 1 Kings 5 Solomon asked cedar wood from Lebanon from Hiram according to our account which is more exact he desired an architect and cedar cypress and other wood In 1 Kings 5 the motive of Solomons request is given in the communication to Hiram viz that David could not carry out the building of the proposed temple on account of his wars but that Jahve had given him (Solomon) rest and peace so that he now in accordance with the divine promise to David desired to carry on the building (1Ki_53-5) In the 2Ch_22-5 on the contrary Solomon reminds the Tyrian king of the friendliness with which he had supplied his father David with cedar wood for his palace and then announces to him his purpose to build a temple to the Lord at the same time stating that it was designed for the worship of God whom the heavens and the earth cannot contain It is clear therefore that both authors have expanded the fundamental thoughts of their authority in somewhat freer fashion The apodosis of the clause beginning with כאשר is wanting and the sentence is an anacolouthon The apodosis should be ldquodo so also for me and send me cedarsrdquo This latter clause follows in 2Ch_26 2Ch_27 while the first can easily be supplied as is done eg in the Vulg by sic fac mecum

PULPIT Huram So the name is spelt whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman in Chronicles except perhaps in 1 Chronicles 141 Elsewhere the name is written Geseuius draws attention to Josephuss חורם instead of חירום or sometimes הירםGreek rendering of the name סשלןעוי with whom agree Menander an historian of Ephesus in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus Contra Apion 1 Chronicles 118) and Dius a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon

10

and Hiram Josephus also is the means of preserving (Contra Apion 117) The Septuagint write the name לבקיס the Alexandrian לבקויס the Vulgate Hiram The name of Hirams father was Abibaal Hiram himself began to reign according to Menander when nineteen years of age reigned thirty-four years and died therefore at the age of fifty-three Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon The city of Tyre is among the most ancient Though it is not mentioned in Homer yet the Sidonians who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians are mentioned there whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city Sidon being twenty miles distant The modern name of Tyre is Sur The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean in Phoenicia about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 1929 After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 511 with all its parallels 2 Samuel 247 Isaiah 231 Isaiah 237 Ezekiel 262 Ezekiel 271-8 Zechariah 92 Zechariah 93 Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history without leaving us dependent on doubtful history or tales of such as Josephus (Ant 85 sect 3 Contra Apion 117) For the timber metals workmen given by Hiram to Solomon Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil ceded to him some cities and the use of some ports on the Red Sea (1 Kings 911-14 1 Kings 925-28 1 Kings 1021-23 See also 1 Kings 1631) As thou didst deal with David hellip and didst send him cedars To this Zechariah 97 and Zechariah 98 are the apodosis manifestly while Zechariah 94 Zechariah 95 Zechariah 96 should be enclosed in brackets

BENSON 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram mdash Or Hiram as he is called in the first book of Kings where we learn that he first sent to Solomon congratulate him on his accession to the throne and then Solomon sent to him

ELLICOTT (3) And Solomon sent to HurammdashComp 1 Kings 52-11 from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources

HurammdashIn Kings the name is spelt Hiram (1 Kings 51-2 1 Kings 57) and Hirom (1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 Hebr) (Comp 1 Chronicles 141) Whether the Tyrian name Sirocircmos (Herod vii 98) is another form of Hiram as Bertheau supposes is more than doubtful It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II to whom he paid tribute (BC 738) along with Menahem of Samaria (Assyr Hi-ru-um-mu to which the Hicircrocircm of 1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 comes very near)

As thou didst deal dwell thereinmdashSee 1 Chronicles 141 The sense requires the clause added by our translators in italics ldquoEven so deal with merdquo after the Vulg

11

ldquosic fac mecumrdquo 1 Kings 53 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple

POOLE Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing and from the following words such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew Or without any ellipsis the sense being here suspended is completed 2 Chronicles 27 so send me ampc the 4th 5th and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis to usher in and enforce his following request

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre saying As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein [even so deal with me]

Ver 3 And Solomon sent to Huram] See on 1 Kings 51

As thou didst deal with David my father] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio

COFFMAN Huram the king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 23) This person is called Hiram in Kings But throughout Chronicles he is called Huram (except in 1 Chronicles 141)[4]

2 Chronicles 24 here is a summary of the principal rituals of the ancient tabernacle and an indication of their continued observance in the projected temple The entire Pentateuch is in a sense summarized in this single verse in keeping with the entire religious constitution of ancient Israel Extensive sections of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are reflected in this single verse No wonder the critics hate it Elmslie looked at it and wrote It looks like a heavy-handed addition[5] However there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that this verse is an interpolation It is the previous mind-set of critics that causes them to make such an allegation

GUZIK B Solomonrsquos correspondence with Hiram king of Tyre

1 (2 Chronicles 23-6) Solomon describes the work to Hiram

Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in so deal with me Behold I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God to dedicate it to Him to burn before Him sweet incense for the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths on the New Moons and on the set feasts of the LORD our God This is an ordinance forever to Israel And the temple which I build will be great for our God is greater than all gods But who is able to

12

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

The 153600 men mentioned here were slaves composed of Descendants of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out[3] From Kings it is clear that Israelites were also conscripted by Solomon for such slave labor and required to devote one month of every three to his service

PARKER And Solomon determined ( 2 Chronicles 21)

LITERALLY and Solomon said The word said seems to be quite a small word beside the word determined but it is just as good in quality and in music if we understand it rightly We have gone backward in the use of words we try to make up by many words what used to be expressed by one in this regard civilisation is not improving education is enfeebling our expression In the old time when a man said what he was going to do he had half done it he never spoke about it until his mind was made up now we vapour about what we are going to do and therefore we seldom do it our speech has become a variety of the process known as evaporation In other places the word rendered determined is rendered so as to give energy full purpose settled and unchangeable resolution There was no need for such expression in this case Solomon was born to do this work There is no need for the rose to say Now I am going to be beautiful and fragrant There is no need for the nightingale to say Now I have fully made up my mind to be musical and tuneful and to fill the air with richest expression and melody The flower was born to bloom and to throw all its fragrance away in generous donation the nightingale was made in every bone and feather of it for the sacred singing throat to sing to astonish the world with music Solomon came into this work naturally as it were by birth and education His father could latterly talk about nothing else the old man nearly built the temple himself although distinctly told he should not do it yet he could not let it alone if he awoke in the night-time it was to consider what the length of the temple should be and if he suddenly came upon his son Solomon it was to deliver an extra charge as to the building of the holy house When he wrote to his friends it was to ask for material for the temple He would speak upon no other subject when he lay upon his bed for the last time he signed and motioned and talked about the temple that he wanted to build There is always something we want to do next and although God has expressly told us that we should not touch the work we cannot keep our hands quite still We will build in the air if we cannot build on the ground we will talk if we cannot actually carve the ivory and prepare the gold It is infinitely pathetic to watch David in these later hours he is told that he should not do a thing and he says I am sure I will not do it and then he talks about it and prepares for it and offers suggestions respecting it and if he could get up in the night-time without God seeing him he would in very deed begin to build what he had made up his mind he would not build because God had told him he should not do it The wondrous pressure there is upon us The marvellous bias that our life takes in certain directions which are forbidden Would God some understood this a little better Would God some men would almost try to pray they might succeed In one respect it is the hardest in another it is the easiest of the miracles but a miracle

4

it Isaiah that a man trained in a mother tongue in his infancy to talk nonsense and frivolity should actually open his lips in prayer What greater miracle is there when it is rightly measured fully grasped and really enjoyed When we say we will build we ought to have begun to build The word determined is a weak word in comparison with the word said A mans word should be his bond he should not require to speak loudly in order to be believed when he says in the simplest tone that he has done some miracle of faith love service he should not be required to make oath and say his word his whisper should be his oath

And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord and an house for his kingdom ( 2 Chronicles 21)

That latter expression is not always clearly understood Solomon built a house for the name of the Lord and a house for his own residence That is the prayer in action This is what true men are always doing No man can build Gods house without building his own at the same time We have forgotten that immortal inspiring truthmdashThem that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first-fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine No man can give a cup of cold water to a disciple in the name of a disciple without having his reward Yet we must be on our guard against the subtle play of selfishness even here for if any man should say he will build his own house by building Gods he will never have a house of his own to live in There must be no investment of consecration there must be no folly at the altar If a man should say he will spend all his life in the church and let his own house take care of itself that house will come to ruin Here we see the play of wisdom here is the need of sentiment being guarded by discipline otherwise we shall have life frittered away in an infinite fuss about nothing Everywhere we must see the wise man then shall there be a steady preparation attention to the perspective of nature and of life and a response to all those obligations which touch it at every point and which are intended for its development and education and final consolidation in righteousness Yet here is the compound actionmdashBecause thou hast asked wisdom and not riches thou shalt have riches Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you therefore when thou art building my house I will be building thine We must not have these things taken out eclectically and set in rows like specimens we must from all the facts draw the inclusive inference and that inference must be the basis of our life God helps those who help him He never forgets the man who waits in his house he is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labour of love if you have given him water he will give you wine if you have spent a day at his house for his sake there is no green pasture in all heavens boundless paradise to which you shall not be welcomed We never can be before God greater than God in gift and eulogy and blessing

Solomon having begun to build grew in the idea of what was due to God and he laid down the great principle which underlies all true religious enthusiasmmdash

5

GUZIK 2 CHRONICLES 2 - SUPPLIES AND WORKERS FOR THE TEMPLE

A An overview of the work of building the temple

1 (2 Chronicles 21) Solomonrsquos determination to build the temple

Then Solomon determined to build a temple for the name of the LORD and a royal house for himself

a Then Solomon determined to build a temple His determination was fitting because of all that his father David did to prepare for the building and because of the charge David gave him to do the work

i We might think that the greatest thing about Solomon was his wisdom his riches his proverbs or his writings Clearly for the Chronicler the most important thing about Solomon was the temple he built This was most important because it was most relevant to a community of returning exiles who struggled to build a new temple and to make a place for Israel among the nations again

ii ldquoChroniclesrsquo record of Solomonrsquos achievements moves straight away to the construction of the temple Several important items in the account of his reign in Kings are left out as a result such as his wisdom in action administration educational reforms and some building activities (eg 1 Kings 316 1Ki_434 1Ki_71-12) These were not unimportant but for Chronicles they were all subsidiary to the templerdquo (Selman)

b And a royal house for himself Solomonrsquos great building works did not end with temple He also built a spectacular palace (1 Kings 71-12) and more

BI 1-16 And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord

Solomonrsquos predestined work

Solomon was born to do this work There is no need for the rose to say ldquoNow I am going to be beautiful and fragrantrdquo There is no need for the nightingale to say ldquoNow I have fully made up my mind to be musical and tuneful and to fill the air with richest expressions and melodyrdquo The flower was born to bloom and to throw all its fragrance away in generous donation the nightingale was made in every bone and feather of it for the sacred singing throat to sing to astonish the world with music Solomon came into this work naturally as it were by birth and education (J Parker DD)

6

2 He conscripted 70000 men as carriers and 80000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3600 as foremen over them

GILL And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men Of whom and the difference of the last number in this text from 1Ki_515 see the notes there See Gill on 1Ki_515 See Gill on 1Ki_516

HENRY 1-6 Solomons wisdom was given him not merely for speculation to entertain himself (though it is indeed a princely entertainment) nor merely for conversation to entertain his friends but for action and therefore to action he immediately applies himself Observe

I His resolution within himself concerning his business (2Ch_21) He determined to build in the first place a house for the name of the Lord It is fit that he who is the first should be served - first a temple and then a palace a house not so much for himself or his own convenience and magnitude as for the kingdom for the honour of it among its neighbours and for the decent reception of the people whenever they had occasion to apply to their prince so that in both he aimed at the public good Those are the wisest men that lay out themselves most for the honour of the name of the Lord and the welfare of communities We are not born for ourselves but for God and our country

II His embassy to Huram king of Tyre to engage his assistance in the prosecution of his designs The purport of his errand to him is much the same here as we had it 1Ki_52 etc only here it is more largely set forth

1 The reasons why he makes this application to Huram are here more fully represented for information to Huram as well as for inducement (1) He pleads his fathers interest in Huram and the kindness he had received from him (2Ch_23) As thou didst deal with David so deal with me As we must show kindness to so we may expect kindness from our fathers friends and with them should cultivate a correspondence (2) He represents his design in building the temple he intended it for a place of religious worship (2Ch_24) that all the offerings which God had appointed for the honour of his name might be offered up there The house was built that it might be dedicated to God and used in his service This we should aim at in all our business that our havings and doings may be all to the glory of God He mentions various particular services that were there to be performed for the instruction of Huram The mysteries of the true religion unlike those of the Gentile superstition coveted not concealment (3) He endeavors to inspire Huram with very great and high thoughts of the God of Israel by expressing the mighty veneration he had for his holy name Great is our God above all gods above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both

7

under the control of the God of Israel and therefore [1] ldquoThe house must be great not in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated (for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion) but in some proportion to the great value and esteem we have for this Godrdquo [2] ldquoYet be it ever so great it cannot be a habitation for the great God Let not Huram think that the God of Israel like the gods of the nations dwells in temples made with hands Act_1724 No the heaven of heavens cannot contain him It is intended only for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a fit place wherein to burn sacrifice before himrdquo [3] He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as unworthy the honour of being employed in this great work Who am I that I should build him a house It becomes us to go about every work for God with a due sense of our utter insufficiency for it and our incapacity to do any thing adequate to the divine perfections It is part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk towards those that are without carefully to guard against all misapprehension which any thing we say or do may occasion concerning God so Solomon does here in his treaty with Huram

PULPIT The presence of this verse here and the composition of it may probably mark some corruptness of text or error of copyists as the first two words of it are the proper first two words of 2 Chronicles 217 and the remainder of it shows the proper contents of 2 Chronicles 218 which are not only in other aspects apparently in the right place there but also by analogy of the parallel (1 Kings 515 1 Kings 516) The contents of this verse will therefore be considered with 2 Chronicles 217 2 Chronicles 218

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 22 And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them

Ver 2 And Solomon told out] See 1 Kings 516-17

And three thousand and six hundred] See on 1 Kings 516 Solomon might afterwards add three hundred more for better despatch

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 22) The magnitude of the work

Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains and three thousand six hundred to oversee them

a Seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone This seems to describe the number of Canaanite slave laborers that Solomon used

i Ginzberg relates some of the legends surrounding the building of the temple ldquoDuring the seven years it took to build the Temple not a single workman died who was employed about it nor even did a single one fall sick And as the workmen were

8

sound and robust from first to last so the perfection of their tools remained unimpaired until the building stood complete Thus the work suffered no sort of interruptionrdquo (Ginzberg)

b And three thousand six hundred to oversee them This was the middle management team administrating the work of building the temple

i ldquoThe number of thirty-six hundred foremen differs from 1 Kings 516 (3300) but the LXX of Kings is quite insecure here and Chronicles may preserve the better readingrdquo (Selman)

3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram[b] king of TyreldquoSend me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in

BARNES Huram the form used throughout Chronicles (except 1Ch_141) for the name both of the king and of the artisan whom he lent to Solomon 2Ch_213 2Ch_411 2Ch_416 is a late corruption of the true native word Hiram (marginal note and reference)

CLARKE Solomon sent to Huram - This manrsquos name is written חירם Chiram in

Kings and in Chronicles חורם Churam there is properly no difference only a י yod and

a ו vau interchanged See on 1Ki_52 (note)

GILL And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre The same with Hiram 1Ki_51 and from whence it appears that Huram first sent a letter to Solomon to congratulate him on his accession to the throne which is not taken notice of here

as thou didst deal with my father and didst send him cedars to build him an

9

house to dwell therein see 1Ch_141 even so deal with me which words are a supplement

JAMISON 2Ch_23-10 Message to Huram for skillful artificers

Solomon sent to Huram mdash The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (2Ch_211 also see on 1Ki_58)

As thou didst deal with David my father mdash This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was Davidrsquos friend (see on 1Ki_51-6) In opening the business Solomon grounded his request for Tyrian aid on two reasons 1 The temple he proposed to build must be a solid and permanent building because the worship was to be continued in perpetuity and therefore the building materials must be of the most durable quality 2 It must be a magnificent structure because it was to be dedicated to the God who was greater than all gods and therefore as it might seem a presumptuous idea to erect an edifice for a Being ldquowhom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not containrdquo it was explained that Solomonrsquos object was not to build a house for Him to dwell in but a temple in which His worshippers might offer sacrifices to His honor No language could be more humble and appropriate than this The pious strain of sentiment was such as became a king of Israel

KampD (22-9) Solomon through his ambassadors addressed himself to Huram king of Tyre with the request that he would send him an architect and building wood for the temple On the Tyrian king Huram or Hiram the contemporary of David and Solomon see the discussion on 2Sa_511 According to the account in 1 Kings 5 Solomon asked cedar wood from Lebanon from Hiram according to our account which is more exact he desired an architect and cedar cypress and other wood In 1 Kings 5 the motive of Solomons request is given in the communication to Hiram viz that David could not carry out the building of the proposed temple on account of his wars but that Jahve had given him (Solomon) rest and peace so that he now in accordance with the divine promise to David desired to carry on the building (1Ki_53-5) In the 2Ch_22-5 on the contrary Solomon reminds the Tyrian king of the friendliness with which he had supplied his father David with cedar wood for his palace and then announces to him his purpose to build a temple to the Lord at the same time stating that it was designed for the worship of God whom the heavens and the earth cannot contain It is clear therefore that both authors have expanded the fundamental thoughts of their authority in somewhat freer fashion The apodosis of the clause beginning with כאשר is wanting and the sentence is an anacolouthon The apodosis should be ldquodo so also for me and send me cedarsrdquo This latter clause follows in 2Ch_26 2Ch_27 while the first can easily be supplied as is done eg in the Vulg by sic fac mecum

PULPIT Huram So the name is spelt whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman in Chronicles except perhaps in 1 Chronicles 141 Elsewhere the name is written Geseuius draws attention to Josephuss חורם instead of חירום or sometimes הירםGreek rendering of the name סשלןעוי with whom agree Menander an historian of Ephesus in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus Contra Apion 1 Chronicles 118) and Dius a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon

10

and Hiram Josephus also is the means of preserving (Contra Apion 117) The Septuagint write the name לבקיס the Alexandrian לבקויס the Vulgate Hiram The name of Hirams father was Abibaal Hiram himself began to reign according to Menander when nineteen years of age reigned thirty-four years and died therefore at the age of fifty-three Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon The city of Tyre is among the most ancient Though it is not mentioned in Homer yet the Sidonians who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians are mentioned there whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city Sidon being twenty miles distant The modern name of Tyre is Sur The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean in Phoenicia about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 1929 After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 511 with all its parallels 2 Samuel 247 Isaiah 231 Isaiah 237 Ezekiel 262 Ezekiel 271-8 Zechariah 92 Zechariah 93 Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history without leaving us dependent on doubtful history or tales of such as Josephus (Ant 85 sect 3 Contra Apion 117) For the timber metals workmen given by Hiram to Solomon Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil ceded to him some cities and the use of some ports on the Red Sea (1 Kings 911-14 1 Kings 925-28 1 Kings 1021-23 See also 1 Kings 1631) As thou didst deal with David hellip and didst send him cedars To this Zechariah 97 and Zechariah 98 are the apodosis manifestly while Zechariah 94 Zechariah 95 Zechariah 96 should be enclosed in brackets

BENSON 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram mdash Or Hiram as he is called in the first book of Kings where we learn that he first sent to Solomon congratulate him on his accession to the throne and then Solomon sent to him

ELLICOTT (3) And Solomon sent to HurammdashComp 1 Kings 52-11 from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources

HurammdashIn Kings the name is spelt Hiram (1 Kings 51-2 1 Kings 57) and Hirom (1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 Hebr) (Comp 1 Chronicles 141) Whether the Tyrian name Sirocircmos (Herod vii 98) is another form of Hiram as Bertheau supposes is more than doubtful It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II to whom he paid tribute (BC 738) along with Menahem of Samaria (Assyr Hi-ru-um-mu to which the Hicircrocircm of 1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 comes very near)

As thou didst deal dwell thereinmdashSee 1 Chronicles 141 The sense requires the clause added by our translators in italics ldquoEven so deal with merdquo after the Vulg

11

ldquosic fac mecumrdquo 1 Kings 53 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple

POOLE Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing and from the following words such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew Or without any ellipsis the sense being here suspended is completed 2 Chronicles 27 so send me ampc the 4th 5th and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis to usher in and enforce his following request

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre saying As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein [even so deal with me]

Ver 3 And Solomon sent to Huram] See on 1 Kings 51

As thou didst deal with David my father] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio

COFFMAN Huram the king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 23) This person is called Hiram in Kings But throughout Chronicles he is called Huram (except in 1 Chronicles 141)[4]

2 Chronicles 24 here is a summary of the principal rituals of the ancient tabernacle and an indication of their continued observance in the projected temple The entire Pentateuch is in a sense summarized in this single verse in keeping with the entire religious constitution of ancient Israel Extensive sections of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are reflected in this single verse No wonder the critics hate it Elmslie looked at it and wrote It looks like a heavy-handed addition[5] However there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that this verse is an interpolation It is the previous mind-set of critics that causes them to make such an allegation

GUZIK B Solomonrsquos correspondence with Hiram king of Tyre

1 (2 Chronicles 23-6) Solomon describes the work to Hiram

Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in so deal with me Behold I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God to dedicate it to Him to burn before Him sweet incense for the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths on the New Moons and on the set feasts of the LORD our God This is an ordinance forever to Israel And the temple which I build will be great for our God is greater than all gods But who is able to

12

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

it Isaiah that a man trained in a mother tongue in his infancy to talk nonsense and frivolity should actually open his lips in prayer What greater miracle is there when it is rightly measured fully grasped and really enjoyed When we say we will build we ought to have begun to build The word determined is a weak word in comparison with the word said A mans word should be his bond he should not require to speak loudly in order to be believed when he says in the simplest tone that he has done some miracle of faith love service he should not be required to make oath and say his word his whisper should be his oath

And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord and an house for his kingdom ( 2 Chronicles 21)

That latter expression is not always clearly understood Solomon built a house for the name of the Lord and a house for his own residence That is the prayer in action This is what true men are always doing No man can build Gods house without building his own at the same time We have forgotten that immortal inspiring truthmdashThem that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first-fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine No man can give a cup of cold water to a disciple in the name of a disciple without having his reward Yet we must be on our guard against the subtle play of selfishness even here for if any man should say he will build his own house by building Gods he will never have a house of his own to live in There must be no investment of consecration there must be no folly at the altar If a man should say he will spend all his life in the church and let his own house take care of itself that house will come to ruin Here we see the play of wisdom here is the need of sentiment being guarded by discipline otherwise we shall have life frittered away in an infinite fuss about nothing Everywhere we must see the wise man then shall there be a steady preparation attention to the perspective of nature and of life and a response to all those obligations which touch it at every point and which are intended for its development and education and final consolidation in righteousness Yet here is the compound actionmdashBecause thou hast asked wisdom and not riches thou shalt have riches Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you therefore when thou art building my house I will be building thine We must not have these things taken out eclectically and set in rows like specimens we must from all the facts draw the inclusive inference and that inference must be the basis of our life God helps those who help him He never forgets the man who waits in his house he is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labour of love if you have given him water he will give you wine if you have spent a day at his house for his sake there is no green pasture in all heavens boundless paradise to which you shall not be welcomed We never can be before God greater than God in gift and eulogy and blessing

Solomon having begun to build grew in the idea of what was due to God and he laid down the great principle which underlies all true religious enthusiasmmdash

5

GUZIK 2 CHRONICLES 2 - SUPPLIES AND WORKERS FOR THE TEMPLE

A An overview of the work of building the temple

1 (2 Chronicles 21) Solomonrsquos determination to build the temple

Then Solomon determined to build a temple for the name of the LORD and a royal house for himself

a Then Solomon determined to build a temple His determination was fitting because of all that his father David did to prepare for the building and because of the charge David gave him to do the work

i We might think that the greatest thing about Solomon was his wisdom his riches his proverbs or his writings Clearly for the Chronicler the most important thing about Solomon was the temple he built This was most important because it was most relevant to a community of returning exiles who struggled to build a new temple and to make a place for Israel among the nations again

ii ldquoChroniclesrsquo record of Solomonrsquos achievements moves straight away to the construction of the temple Several important items in the account of his reign in Kings are left out as a result such as his wisdom in action administration educational reforms and some building activities (eg 1 Kings 316 1Ki_434 1Ki_71-12) These were not unimportant but for Chronicles they were all subsidiary to the templerdquo (Selman)

b And a royal house for himself Solomonrsquos great building works did not end with temple He also built a spectacular palace (1 Kings 71-12) and more

BI 1-16 And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord

Solomonrsquos predestined work

Solomon was born to do this work There is no need for the rose to say ldquoNow I am going to be beautiful and fragrantrdquo There is no need for the nightingale to say ldquoNow I have fully made up my mind to be musical and tuneful and to fill the air with richest expressions and melodyrdquo The flower was born to bloom and to throw all its fragrance away in generous donation the nightingale was made in every bone and feather of it for the sacred singing throat to sing to astonish the world with music Solomon came into this work naturally as it were by birth and education (J Parker DD)

6

2 He conscripted 70000 men as carriers and 80000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3600 as foremen over them

GILL And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men Of whom and the difference of the last number in this text from 1Ki_515 see the notes there See Gill on 1Ki_515 See Gill on 1Ki_516

HENRY 1-6 Solomons wisdom was given him not merely for speculation to entertain himself (though it is indeed a princely entertainment) nor merely for conversation to entertain his friends but for action and therefore to action he immediately applies himself Observe

I His resolution within himself concerning his business (2Ch_21) He determined to build in the first place a house for the name of the Lord It is fit that he who is the first should be served - first a temple and then a palace a house not so much for himself or his own convenience and magnitude as for the kingdom for the honour of it among its neighbours and for the decent reception of the people whenever they had occasion to apply to their prince so that in both he aimed at the public good Those are the wisest men that lay out themselves most for the honour of the name of the Lord and the welfare of communities We are not born for ourselves but for God and our country

II His embassy to Huram king of Tyre to engage his assistance in the prosecution of his designs The purport of his errand to him is much the same here as we had it 1Ki_52 etc only here it is more largely set forth

1 The reasons why he makes this application to Huram are here more fully represented for information to Huram as well as for inducement (1) He pleads his fathers interest in Huram and the kindness he had received from him (2Ch_23) As thou didst deal with David so deal with me As we must show kindness to so we may expect kindness from our fathers friends and with them should cultivate a correspondence (2) He represents his design in building the temple he intended it for a place of religious worship (2Ch_24) that all the offerings which God had appointed for the honour of his name might be offered up there The house was built that it might be dedicated to God and used in his service This we should aim at in all our business that our havings and doings may be all to the glory of God He mentions various particular services that were there to be performed for the instruction of Huram The mysteries of the true religion unlike those of the Gentile superstition coveted not concealment (3) He endeavors to inspire Huram with very great and high thoughts of the God of Israel by expressing the mighty veneration he had for his holy name Great is our God above all gods above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both

7

under the control of the God of Israel and therefore [1] ldquoThe house must be great not in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated (for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion) but in some proportion to the great value and esteem we have for this Godrdquo [2] ldquoYet be it ever so great it cannot be a habitation for the great God Let not Huram think that the God of Israel like the gods of the nations dwells in temples made with hands Act_1724 No the heaven of heavens cannot contain him It is intended only for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a fit place wherein to burn sacrifice before himrdquo [3] He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as unworthy the honour of being employed in this great work Who am I that I should build him a house It becomes us to go about every work for God with a due sense of our utter insufficiency for it and our incapacity to do any thing adequate to the divine perfections It is part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk towards those that are without carefully to guard against all misapprehension which any thing we say or do may occasion concerning God so Solomon does here in his treaty with Huram

PULPIT The presence of this verse here and the composition of it may probably mark some corruptness of text or error of copyists as the first two words of it are the proper first two words of 2 Chronicles 217 and the remainder of it shows the proper contents of 2 Chronicles 218 which are not only in other aspects apparently in the right place there but also by analogy of the parallel (1 Kings 515 1 Kings 516) The contents of this verse will therefore be considered with 2 Chronicles 217 2 Chronicles 218

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 22 And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them

Ver 2 And Solomon told out] See 1 Kings 516-17

And three thousand and six hundred] See on 1 Kings 516 Solomon might afterwards add three hundred more for better despatch

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 22) The magnitude of the work

Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains and three thousand six hundred to oversee them

a Seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone This seems to describe the number of Canaanite slave laborers that Solomon used

i Ginzberg relates some of the legends surrounding the building of the temple ldquoDuring the seven years it took to build the Temple not a single workman died who was employed about it nor even did a single one fall sick And as the workmen were

8

sound and robust from first to last so the perfection of their tools remained unimpaired until the building stood complete Thus the work suffered no sort of interruptionrdquo (Ginzberg)

b And three thousand six hundred to oversee them This was the middle management team administrating the work of building the temple

i ldquoThe number of thirty-six hundred foremen differs from 1 Kings 516 (3300) but the LXX of Kings is quite insecure here and Chronicles may preserve the better readingrdquo (Selman)

3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram[b] king of TyreldquoSend me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in

BARNES Huram the form used throughout Chronicles (except 1Ch_141) for the name both of the king and of the artisan whom he lent to Solomon 2Ch_213 2Ch_411 2Ch_416 is a late corruption of the true native word Hiram (marginal note and reference)

CLARKE Solomon sent to Huram - This manrsquos name is written חירם Chiram in

Kings and in Chronicles חורם Churam there is properly no difference only a י yod and

a ו vau interchanged See on 1Ki_52 (note)

GILL And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre The same with Hiram 1Ki_51 and from whence it appears that Huram first sent a letter to Solomon to congratulate him on his accession to the throne which is not taken notice of here

as thou didst deal with my father and didst send him cedars to build him an

9

house to dwell therein see 1Ch_141 even so deal with me which words are a supplement

JAMISON 2Ch_23-10 Message to Huram for skillful artificers

Solomon sent to Huram mdash The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (2Ch_211 also see on 1Ki_58)

As thou didst deal with David my father mdash This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was Davidrsquos friend (see on 1Ki_51-6) In opening the business Solomon grounded his request for Tyrian aid on two reasons 1 The temple he proposed to build must be a solid and permanent building because the worship was to be continued in perpetuity and therefore the building materials must be of the most durable quality 2 It must be a magnificent structure because it was to be dedicated to the God who was greater than all gods and therefore as it might seem a presumptuous idea to erect an edifice for a Being ldquowhom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not containrdquo it was explained that Solomonrsquos object was not to build a house for Him to dwell in but a temple in which His worshippers might offer sacrifices to His honor No language could be more humble and appropriate than this The pious strain of sentiment was such as became a king of Israel

KampD (22-9) Solomon through his ambassadors addressed himself to Huram king of Tyre with the request that he would send him an architect and building wood for the temple On the Tyrian king Huram or Hiram the contemporary of David and Solomon see the discussion on 2Sa_511 According to the account in 1 Kings 5 Solomon asked cedar wood from Lebanon from Hiram according to our account which is more exact he desired an architect and cedar cypress and other wood In 1 Kings 5 the motive of Solomons request is given in the communication to Hiram viz that David could not carry out the building of the proposed temple on account of his wars but that Jahve had given him (Solomon) rest and peace so that he now in accordance with the divine promise to David desired to carry on the building (1Ki_53-5) In the 2Ch_22-5 on the contrary Solomon reminds the Tyrian king of the friendliness with which he had supplied his father David with cedar wood for his palace and then announces to him his purpose to build a temple to the Lord at the same time stating that it was designed for the worship of God whom the heavens and the earth cannot contain It is clear therefore that both authors have expanded the fundamental thoughts of their authority in somewhat freer fashion The apodosis of the clause beginning with כאשר is wanting and the sentence is an anacolouthon The apodosis should be ldquodo so also for me and send me cedarsrdquo This latter clause follows in 2Ch_26 2Ch_27 while the first can easily be supplied as is done eg in the Vulg by sic fac mecum

PULPIT Huram So the name is spelt whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman in Chronicles except perhaps in 1 Chronicles 141 Elsewhere the name is written Geseuius draws attention to Josephuss חורם instead of חירום or sometimes הירםGreek rendering of the name סשלןעוי with whom agree Menander an historian of Ephesus in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus Contra Apion 1 Chronicles 118) and Dius a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon

10

and Hiram Josephus also is the means of preserving (Contra Apion 117) The Septuagint write the name לבקיס the Alexandrian לבקויס the Vulgate Hiram The name of Hirams father was Abibaal Hiram himself began to reign according to Menander when nineteen years of age reigned thirty-four years and died therefore at the age of fifty-three Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon The city of Tyre is among the most ancient Though it is not mentioned in Homer yet the Sidonians who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians are mentioned there whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city Sidon being twenty miles distant The modern name of Tyre is Sur The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean in Phoenicia about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 1929 After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 511 with all its parallels 2 Samuel 247 Isaiah 231 Isaiah 237 Ezekiel 262 Ezekiel 271-8 Zechariah 92 Zechariah 93 Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history without leaving us dependent on doubtful history or tales of such as Josephus (Ant 85 sect 3 Contra Apion 117) For the timber metals workmen given by Hiram to Solomon Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil ceded to him some cities and the use of some ports on the Red Sea (1 Kings 911-14 1 Kings 925-28 1 Kings 1021-23 See also 1 Kings 1631) As thou didst deal with David hellip and didst send him cedars To this Zechariah 97 and Zechariah 98 are the apodosis manifestly while Zechariah 94 Zechariah 95 Zechariah 96 should be enclosed in brackets

BENSON 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram mdash Or Hiram as he is called in the first book of Kings where we learn that he first sent to Solomon congratulate him on his accession to the throne and then Solomon sent to him

ELLICOTT (3) And Solomon sent to HurammdashComp 1 Kings 52-11 from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources

HurammdashIn Kings the name is spelt Hiram (1 Kings 51-2 1 Kings 57) and Hirom (1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 Hebr) (Comp 1 Chronicles 141) Whether the Tyrian name Sirocircmos (Herod vii 98) is another form of Hiram as Bertheau supposes is more than doubtful It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II to whom he paid tribute (BC 738) along with Menahem of Samaria (Assyr Hi-ru-um-mu to which the Hicircrocircm of 1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 comes very near)

As thou didst deal dwell thereinmdashSee 1 Chronicles 141 The sense requires the clause added by our translators in italics ldquoEven so deal with merdquo after the Vulg

11

ldquosic fac mecumrdquo 1 Kings 53 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple

POOLE Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing and from the following words such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew Or without any ellipsis the sense being here suspended is completed 2 Chronicles 27 so send me ampc the 4th 5th and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis to usher in and enforce his following request

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre saying As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein [even so deal with me]

Ver 3 And Solomon sent to Huram] See on 1 Kings 51

As thou didst deal with David my father] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio

COFFMAN Huram the king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 23) This person is called Hiram in Kings But throughout Chronicles he is called Huram (except in 1 Chronicles 141)[4]

2 Chronicles 24 here is a summary of the principal rituals of the ancient tabernacle and an indication of their continued observance in the projected temple The entire Pentateuch is in a sense summarized in this single verse in keeping with the entire religious constitution of ancient Israel Extensive sections of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are reflected in this single verse No wonder the critics hate it Elmslie looked at it and wrote It looks like a heavy-handed addition[5] However there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that this verse is an interpolation It is the previous mind-set of critics that causes them to make such an allegation

GUZIK B Solomonrsquos correspondence with Hiram king of Tyre

1 (2 Chronicles 23-6) Solomon describes the work to Hiram

Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in so deal with me Behold I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God to dedicate it to Him to burn before Him sweet incense for the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths on the New Moons and on the set feasts of the LORD our God This is an ordinance forever to Israel And the temple which I build will be great for our God is greater than all gods But who is able to

12

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

GUZIK 2 CHRONICLES 2 - SUPPLIES AND WORKERS FOR THE TEMPLE

A An overview of the work of building the temple

1 (2 Chronicles 21) Solomonrsquos determination to build the temple

Then Solomon determined to build a temple for the name of the LORD and a royal house for himself

a Then Solomon determined to build a temple His determination was fitting because of all that his father David did to prepare for the building and because of the charge David gave him to do the work

i We might think that the greatest thing about Solomon was his wisdom his riches his proverbs or his writings Clearly for the Chronicler the most important thing about Solomon was the temple he built This was most important because it was most relevant to a community of returning exiles who struggled to build a new temple and to make a place for Israel among the nations again

ii ldquoChroniclesrsquo record of Solomonrsquos achievements moves straight away to the construction of the temple Several important items in the account of his reign in Kings are left out as a result such as his wisdom in action administration educational reforms and some building activities (eg 1 Kings 316 1Ki_434 1Ki_71-12) These were not unimportant but for Chronicles they were all subsidiary to the templerdquo (Selman)

b And a royal house for himself Solomonrsquos great building works did not end with temple He also built a spectacular palace (1 Kings 71-12) and more

BI 1-16 And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord

Solomonrsquos predestined work

Solomon was born to do this work There is no need for the rose to say ldquoNow I am going to be beautiful and fragrantrdquo There is no need for the nightingale to say ldquoNow I have fully made up my mind to be musical and tuneful and to fill the air with richest expressions and melodyrdquo The flower was born to bloom and to throw all its fragrance away in generous donation the nightingale was made in every bone and feather of it for the sacred singing throat to sing to astonish the world with music Solomon came into this work naturally as it were by birth and education (J Parker DD)

6

2 He conscripted 70000 men as carriers and 80000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3600 as foremen over them

GILL And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men Of whom and the difference of the last number in this text from 1Ki_515 see the notes there See Gill on 1Ki_515 See Gill on 1Ki_516

HENRY 1-6 Solomons wisdom was given him not merely for speculation to entertain himself (though it is indeed a princely entertainment) nor merely for conversation to entertain his friends but for action and therefore to action he immediately applies himself Observe

I His resolution within himself concerning his business (2Ch_21) He determined to build in the first place a house for the name of the Lord It is fit that he who is the first should be served - first a temple and then a palace a house not so much for himself or his own convenience and magnitude as for the kingdom for the honour of it among its neighbours and for the decent reception of the people whenever they had occasion to apply to their prince so that in both he aimed at the public good Those are the wisest men that lay out themselves most for the honour of the name of the Lord and the welfare of communities We are not born for ourselves but for God and our country

II His embassy to Huram king of Tyre to engage his assistance in the prosecution of his designs The purport of his errand to him is much the same here as we had it 1Ki_52 etc only here it is more largely set forth

1 The reasons why he makes this application to Huram are here more fully represented for information to Huram as well as for inducement (1) He pleads his fathers interest in Huram and the kindness he had received from him (2Ch_23) As thou didst deal with David so deal with me As we must show kindness to so we may expect kindness from our fathers friends and with them should cultivate a correspondence (2) He represents his design in building the temple he intended it for a place of religious worship (2Ch_24) that all the offerings which God had appointed for the honour of his name might be offered up there The house was built that it might be dedicated to God and used in his service This we should aim at in all our business that our havings and doings may be all to the glory of God He mentions various particular services that were there to be performed for the instruction of Huram The mysteries of the true religion unlike those of the Gentile superstition coveted not concealment (3) He endeavors to inspire Huram with very great and high thoughts of the God of Israel by expressing the mighty veneration he had for his holy name Great is our God above all gods above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both

7

under the control of the God of Israel and therefore [1] ldquoThe house must be great not in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated (for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion) but in some proportion to the great value and esteem we have for this Godrdquo [2] ldquoYet be it ever so great it cannot be a habitation for the great God Let not Huram think that the God of Israel like the gods of the nations dwells in temples made with hands Act_1724 No the heaven of heavens cannot contain him It is intended only for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a fit place wherein to burn sacrifice before himrdquo [3] He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as unworthy the honour of being employed in this great work Who am I that I should build him a house It becomes us to go about every work for God with a due sense of our utter insufficiency for it and our incapacity to do any thing adequate to the divine perfections It is part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk towards those that are without carefully to guard against all misapprehension which any thing we say or do may occasion concerning God so Solomon does here in his treaty with Huram

PULPIT The presence of this verse here and the composition of it may probably mark some corruptness of text or error of copyists as the first two words of it are the proper first two words of 2 Chronicles 217 and the remainder of it shows the proper contents of 2 Chronicles 218 which are not only in other aspects apparently in the right place there but also by analogy of the parallel (1 Kings 515 1 Kings 516) The contents of this verse will therefore be considered with 2 Chronicles 217 2 Chronicles 218

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 22 And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them

Ver 2 And Solomon told out] See 1 Kings 516-17

And three thousand and six hundred] See on 1 Kings 516 Solomon might afterwards add three hundred more for better despatch

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 22) The magnitude of the work

Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains and three thousand six hundred to oversee them

a Seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone This seems to describe the number of Canaanite slave laborers that Solomon used

i Ginzberg relates some of the legends surrounding the building of the temple ldquoDuring the seven years it took to build the Temple not a single workman died who was employed about it nor even did a single one fall sick And as the workmen were

8

sound and robust from first to last so the perfection of their tools remained unimpaired until the building stood complete Thus the work suffered no sort of interruptionrdquo (Ginzberg)

b And three thousand six hundred to oversee them This was the middle management team administrating the work of building the temple

i ldquoThe number of thirty-six hundred foremen differs from 1 Kings 516 (3300) but the LXX of Kings is quite insecure here and Chronicles may preserve the better readingrdquo (Selman)

3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram[b] king of TyreldquoSend me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in

BARNES Huram the form used throughout Chronicles (except 1Ch_141) for the name both of the king and of the artisan whom he lent to Solomon 2Ch_213 2Ch_411 2Ch_416 is a late corruption of the true native word Hiram (marginal note and reference)

CLARKE Solomon sent to Huram - This manrsquos name is written חירם Chiram in

Kings and in Chronicles חורם Churam there is properly no difference only a י yod and

a ו vau interchanged See on 1Ki_52 (note)

GILL And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre The same with Hiram 1Ki_51 and from whence it appears that Huram first sent a letter to Solomon to congratulate him on his accession to the throne which is not taken notice of here

as thou didst deal with my father and didst send him cedars to build him an

9

house to dwell therein see 1Ch_141 even so deal with me which words are a supplement

JAMISON 2Ch_23-10 Message to Huram for skillful artificers

Solomon sent to Huram mdash The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (2Ch_211 also see on 1Ki_58)

As thou didst deal with David my father mdash This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was Davidrsquos friend (see on 1Ki_51-6) In opening the business Solomon grounded his request for Tyrian aid on two reasons 1 The temple he proposed to build must be a solid and permanent building because the worship was to be continued in perpetuity and therefore the building materials must be of the most durable quality 2 It must be a magnificent structure because it was to be dedicated to the God who was greater than all gods and therefore as it might seem a presumptuous idea to erect an edifice for a Being ldquowhom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not containrdquo it was explained that Solomonrsquos object was not to build a house for Him to dwell in but a temple in which His worshippers might offer sacrifices to His honor No language could be more humble and appropriate than this The pious strain of sentiment was such as became a king of Israel

KampD (22-9) Solomon through his ambassadors addressed himself to Huram king of Tyre with the request that he would send him an architect and building wood for the temple On the Tyrian king Huram or Hiram the contemporary of David and Solomon see the discussion on 2Sa_511 According to the account in 1 Kings 5 Solomon asked cedar wood from Lebanon from Hiram according to our account which is more exact he desired an architect and cedar cypress and other wood In 1 Kings 5 the motive of Solomons request is given in the communication to Hiram viz that David could not carry out the building of the proposed temple on account of his wars but that Jahve had given him (Solomon) rest and peace so that he now in accordance with the divine promise to David desired to carry on the building (1Ki_53-5) In the 2Ch_22-5 on the contrary Solomon reminds the Tyrian king of the friendliness with which he had supplied his father David with cedar wood for his palace and then announces to him his purpose to build a temple to the Lord at the same time stating that it was designed for the worship of God whom the heavens and the earth cannot contain It is clear therefore that both authors have expanded the fundamental thoughts of their authority in somewhat freer fashion The apodosis of the clause beginning with כאשר is wanting and the sentence is an anacolouthon The apodosis should be ldquodo so also for me and send me cedarsrdquo This latter clause follows in 2Ch_26 2Ch_27 while the first can easily be supplied as is done eg in the Vulg by sic fac mecum

PULPIT Huram So the name is spelt whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman in Chronicles except perhaps in 1 Chronicles 141 Elsewhere the name is written Geseuius draws attention to Josephuss חורם instead of חירום or sometimes הירםGreek rendering of the name סשלןעוי with whom agree Menander an historian of Ephesus in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus Contra Apion 1 Chronicles 118) and Dius a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon

10

and Hiram Josephus also is the means of preserving (Contra Apion 117) The Septuagint write the name לבקיס the Alexandrian לבקויס the Vulgate Hiram The name of Hirams father was Abibaal Hiram himself began to reign according to Menander when nineteen years of age reigned thirty-four years and died therefore at the age of fifty-three Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon The city of Tyre is among the most ancient Though it is not mentioned in Homer yet the Sidonians who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians are mentioned there whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city Sidon being twenty miles distant The modern name of Tyre is Sur The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean in Phoenicia about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 1929 After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 511 with all its parallels 2 Samuel 247 Isaiah 231 Isaiah 237 Ezekiel 262 Ezekiel 271-8 Zechariah 92 Zechariah 93 Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history without leaving us dependent on doubtful history or tales of such as Josephus (Ant 85 sect 3 Contra Apion 117) For the timber metals workmen given by Hiram to Solomon Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil ceded to him some cities and the use of some ports on the Red Sea (1 Kings 911-14 1 Kings 925-28 1 Kings 1021-23 See also 1 Kings 1631) As thou didst deal with David hellip and didst send him cedars To this Zechariah 97 and Zechariah 98 are the apodosis manifestly while Zechariah 94 Zechariah 95 Zechariah 96 should be enclosed in brackets

BENSON 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram mdash Or Hiram as he is called in the first book of Kings where we learn that he first sent to Solomon congratulate him on his accession to the throne and then Solomon sent to him

ELLICOTT (3) And Solomon sent to HurammdashComp 1 Kings 52-11 from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources

HurammdashIn Kings the name is spelt Hiram (1 Kings 51-2 1 Kings 57) and Hirom (1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 Hebr) (Comp 1 Chronicles 141) Whether the Tyrian name Sirocircmos (Herod vii 98) is another form of Hiram as Bertheau supposes is more than doubtful It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II to whom he paid tribute (BC 738) along with Menahem of Samaria (Assyr Hi-ru-um-mu to which the Hicircrocircm of 1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 comes very near)

As thou didst deal dwell thereinmdashSee 1 Chronicles 141 The sense requires the clause added by our translators in italics ldquoEven so deal with merdquo after the Vulg

11

ldquosic fac mecumrdquo 1 Kings 53 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple

POOLE Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing and from the following words such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew Or without any ellipsis the sense being here suspended is completed 2 Chronicles 27 so send me ampc the 4th 5th and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis to usher in and enforce his following request

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre saying As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein [even so deal with me]

Ver 3 And Solomon sent to Huram] See on 1 Kings 51

As thou didst deal with David my father] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio

COFFMAN Huram the king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 23) This person is called Hiram in Kings But throughout Chronicles he is called Huram (except in 1 Chronicles 141)[4]

2 Chronicles 24 here is a summary of the principal rituals of the ancient tabernacle and an indication of their continued observance in the projected temple The entire Pentateuch is in a sense summarized in this single verse in keeping with the entire religious constitution of ancient Israel Extensive sections of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are reflected in this single verse No wonder the critics hate it Elmslie looked at it and wrote It looks like a heavy-handed addition[5] However there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that this verse is an interpolation It is the previous mind-set of critics that causes them to make such an allegation

GUZIK B Solomonrsquos correspondence with Hiram king of Tyre

1 (2 Chronicles 23-6) Solomon describes the work to Hiram

Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in so deal with me Behold I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God to dedicate it to Him to burn before Him sweet incense for the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths on the New Moons and on the set feasts of the LORD our God This is an ordinance forever to Israel And the temple which I build will be great for our God is greater than all gods But who is able to

12

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

2 He conscripted 70000 men as carriers and 80000 as stonecutters in the hills and 3600 as foremen over them

GILL And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men Of whom and the difference of the last number in this text from 1Ki_515 see the notes there See Gill on 1Ki_515 See Gill on 1Ki_516

HENRY 1-6 Solomons wisdom was given him not merely for speculation to entertain himself (though it is indeed a princely entertainment) nor merely for conversation to entertain his friends but for action and therefore to action he immediately applies himself Observe

I His resolution within himself concerning his business (2Ch_21) He determined to build in the first place a house for the name of the Lord It is fit that he who is the first should be served - first a temple and then a palace a house not so much for himself or his own convenience and magnitude as for the kingdom for the honour of it among its neighbours and for the decent reception of the people whenever they had occasion to apply to their prince so that in both he aimed at the public good Those are the wisest men that lay out themselves most for the honour of the name of the Lord and the welfare of communities We are not born for ourselves but for God and our country

II His embassy to Huram king of Tyre to engage his assistance in the prosecution of his designs The purport of his errand to him is much the same here as we had it 1Ki_52 etc only here it is more largely set forth

1 The reasons why he makes this application to Huram are here more fully represented for information to Huram as well as for inducement (1) He pleads his fathers interest in Huram and the kindness he had received from him (2Ch_23) As thou didst deal with David so deal with me As we must show kindness to so we may expect kindness from our fathers friends and with them should cultivate a correspondence (2) He represents his design in building the temple he intended it for a place of religious worship (2Ch_24) that all the offerings which God had appointed for the honour of his name might be offered up there The house was built that it might be dedicated to God and used in his service This we should aim at in all our business that our havings and doings may be all to the glory of God He mentions various particular services that were there to be performed for the instruction of Huram The mysteries of the true religion unlike those of the Gentile superstition coveted not concealment (3) He endeavors to inspire Huram with very great and high thoughts of the God of Israel by expressing the mighty veneration he had for his holy name Great is our God above all gods above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both

7

under the control of the God of Israel and therefore [1] ldquoThe house must be great not in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated (for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion) but in some proportion to the great value and esteem we have for this Godrdquo [2] ldquoYet be it ever so great it cannot be a habitation for the great God Let not Huram think that the God of Israel like the gods of the nations dwells in temples made with hands Act_1724 No the heaven of heavens cannot contain him It is intended only for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a fit place wherein to burn sacrifice before himrdquo [3] He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as unworthy the honour of being employed in this great work Who am I that I should build him a house It becomes us to go about every work for God with a due sense of our utter insufficiency for it and our incapacity to do any thing adequate to the divine perfections It is part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk towards those that are without carefully to guard against all misapprehension which any thing we say or do may occasion concerning God so Solomon does here in his treaty with Huram

PULPIT The presence of this verse here and the composition of it may probably mark some corruptness of text or error of copyists as the first two words of it are the proper first two words of 2 Chronicles 217 and the remainder of it shows the proper contents of 2 Chronicles 218 which are not only in other aspects apparently in the right place there but also by analogy of the parallel (1 Kings 515 1 Kings 516) The contents of this verse will therefore be considered with 2 Chronicles 217 2 Chronicles 218

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 22 And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them

Ver 2 And Solomon told out] See 1 Kings 516-17

And three thousand and six hundred] See on 1 Kings 516 Solomon might afterwards add three hundred more for better despatch

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 22) The magnitude of the work

Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains and three thousand six hundred to oversee them

a Seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone This seems to describe the number of Canaanite slave laborers that Solomon used

i Ginzberg relates some of the legends surrounding the building of the temple ldquoDuring the seven years it took to build the Temple not a single workman died who was employed about it nor even did a single one fall sick And as the workmen were

8

sound and robust from first to last so the perfection of their tools remained unimpaired until the building stood complete Thus the work suffered no sort of interruptionrdquo (Ginzberg)

b And three thousand six hundred to oversee them This was the middle management team administrating the work of building the temple

i ldquoThe number of thirty-six hundred foremen differs from 1 Kings 516 (3300) but the LXX of Kings is quite insecure here and Chronicles may preserve the better readingrdquo (Selman)

3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram[b] king of TyreldquoSend me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in

BARNES Huram the form used throughout Chronicles (except 1Ch_141) for the name both of the king and of the artisan whom he lent to Solomon 2Ch_213 2Ch_411 2Ch_416 is a late corruption of the true native word Hiram (marginal note and reference)

CLARKE Solomon sent to Huram - This manrsquos name is written חירם Chiram in

Kings and in Chronicles חורם Churam there is properly no difference only a י yod and

a ו vau interchanged See on 1Ki_52 (note)

GILL And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre The same with Hiram 1Ki_51 and from whence it appears that Huram first sent a letter to Solomon to congratulate him on his accession to the throne which is not taken notice of here

as thou didst deal with my father and didst send him cedars to build him an

9

house to dwell therein see 1Ch_141 even so deal with me which words are a supplement

JAMISON 2Ch_23-10 Message to Huram for skillful artificers

Solomon sent to Huram mdash The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (2Ch_211 also see on 1Ki_58)

As thou didst deal with David my father mdash This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was Davidrsquos friend (see on 1Ki_51-6) In opening the business Solomon grounded his request for Tyrian aid on two reasons 1 The temple he proposed to build must be a solid and permanent building because the worship was to be continued in perpetuity and therefore the building materials must be of the most durable quality 2 It must be a magnificent structure because it was to be dedicated to the God who was greater than all gods and therefore as it might seem a presumptuous idea to erect an edifice for a Being ldquowhom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not containrdquo it was explained that Solomonrsquos object was not to build a house for Him to dwell in but a temple in which His worshippers might offer sacrifices to His honor No language could be more humble and appropriate than this The pious strain of sentiment was such as became a king of Israel

KampD (22-9) Solomon through his ambassadors addressed himself to Huram king of Tyre with the request that he would send him an architect and building wood for the temple On the Tyrian king Huram or Hiram the contemporary of David and Solomon see the discussion on 2Sa_511 According to the account in 1 Kings 5 Solomon asked cedar wood from Lebanon from Hiram according to our account which is more exact he desired an architect and cedar cypress and other wood In 1 Kings 5 the motive of Solomons request is given in the communication to Hiram viz that David could not carry out the building of the proposed temple on account of his wars but that Jahve had given him (Solomon) rest and peace so that he now in accordance with the divine promise to David desired to carry on the building (1Ki_53-5) In the 2Ch_22-5 on the contrary Solomon reminds the Tyrian king of the friendliness with which he had supplied his father David with cedar wood for his palace and then announces to him his purpose to build a temple to the Lord at the same time stating that it was designed for the worship of God whom the heavens and the earth cannot contain It is clear therefore that both authors have expanded the fundamental thoughts of their authority in somewhat freer fashion The apodosis of the clause beginning with כאשר is wanting and the sentence is an anacolouthon The apodosis should be ldquodo so also for me and send me cedarsrdquo This latter clause follows in 2Ch_26 2Ch_27 while the first can easily be supplied as is done eg in the Vulg by sic fac mecum

PULPIT Huram So the name is spelt whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman in Chronicles except perhaps in 1 Chronicles 141 Elsewhere the name is written Geseuius draws attention to Josephuss חורם instead of חירום or sometimes הירםGreek rendering of the name סשלןעוי with whom agree Menander an historian of Ephesus in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus Contra Apion 1 Chronicles 118) and Dius a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon

10

and Hiram Josephus also is the means of preserving (Contra Apion 117) The Septuagint write the name לבקיס the Alexandrian לבקויס the Vulgate Hiram The name of Hirams father was Abibaal Hiram himself began to reign according to Menander when nineteen years of age reigned thirty-four years and died therefore at the age of fifty-three Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon The city of Tyre is among the most ancient Though it is not mentioned in Homer yet the Sidonians who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians are mentioned there whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city Sidon being twenty miles distant The modern name of Tyre is Sur The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean in Phoenicia about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 1929 After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 511 with all its parallels 2 Samuel 247 Isaiah 231 Isaiah 237 Ezekiel 262 Ezekiel 271-8 Zechariah 92 Zechariah 93 Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history without leaving us dependent on doubtful history or tales of such as Josephus (Ant 85 sect 3 Contra Apion 117) For the timber metals workmen given by Hiram to Solomon Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil ceded to him some cities and the use of some ports on the Red Sea (1 Kings 911-14 1 Kings 925-28 1 Kings 1021-23 See also 1 Kings 1631) As thou didst deal with David hellip and didst send him cedars To this Zechariah 97 and Zechariah 98 are the apodosis manifestly while Zechariah 94 Zechariah 95 Zechariah 96 should be enclosed in brackets

BENSON 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram mdash Or Hiram as he is called in the first book of Kings where we learn that he first sent to Solomon congratulate him on his accession to the throne and then Solomon sent to him

ELLICOTT (3) And Solomon sent to HurammdashComp 1 Kings 52-11 from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources

HurammdashIn Kings the name is spelt Hiram (1 Kings 51-2 1 Kings 57) and Hirom (1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 Hebr) (Comp 1 Chronicles 141) Whether the Tyrian name Sirocircmos (Herod vii 98) is another form of Hiram as Bertheau supposes is more than doubtful It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II to whom he paid tribute (BC 738) along with Menahem of Samaria (Assyr Hi-ru-um-mu to which the Hicircrocircm of 1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 comes very near)

As thou didst deal dwell thereinmdashSee 1 Chronicles 141 The sense requires the clause added by our translators in italics ldquoEven so deal with merdquo after the Vulg

11

ldquosic fac mecumrdquo 1 Kings 53 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple

POOLE Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing and from the following words such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew Or without any ellipsis the sense being here suspended is completed 2 Chronicles 27 so send me ampc the 4th 5th and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis to usher in and enforce his following request

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre saying As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein [even so deal with me]

Ver 3 And Solomon sent to Huram] See on 1 Kings 51

As thou didst deal with David my father] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio

COFFMAN Huram the king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 23) This person is called Hiram in Kings But throughout Chronicles he is called Huram (except in 1 Chronicles 141)[4]

2 Chronicles 24 here is a summary of the principal rituals of the ancient tabernacle and an indication of their continued observance in the projected temple The entire Pentateuch is in a sense summarized in this single verse in keeping with the entire religious constitution of ancient Israel Extensive sections of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are reflected in this single verse No wonder the critics hate it Elmslie looked at it and wrote It looks like a heavy-handed addition[5] However there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that this verse is an interpolation It is the previous mind-set of critics that causes them to make such an allegation

GUZIK B Solomonrsquos correspondence with Hiram king of Tyre

1 (2 Chronicles 23-6) Solomon describes the work to Hiram

Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in so deal with me Behold I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God to dedicate it to Him to burn before Him sweet incense for the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths on the New Moons and on the set feasts of the LORD our God This is an ordinance forever to Israel And the temple which I build will be great for our God is greater than all gods But who is able to

12

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

under the control of the God of Israel and therefore [1] ldquoThe house must be great not in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated (for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion) but in some proportion to the great value and esteem we have for this Godrdquo [2] ldquoYet be it ever so great it cannot be a habitation for the great God Let not Huram think that the God of Israel like the gods of the nations dwells in temples made with hands Act_1724 No the heaven of heavens cannot contain him It is intended only for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a fit place wherein to burn sacrifice before himrdquo [3] He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as unworthy the honour of being employed in this great work Who am I that I should build him a house It becomes us to go about every work for God with a due sense of our utter insufficiency for it and our incapacity to do any thing adequate to the divine perfections It is part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk towards those that are without carefully to guard against all misapprehension which any thing we say or do may occasion concerning God so Solomon does here in his treaty with Huram

PULPIT The presence of this verse here and the composition of it may probably mark some corruptness of text or error of copyists as the first two words of it are the proper first two words of 2 Chronicles 217 and the remainder of it shows the proper contents of 2 Chronicles 218 which are not only in other aspects apparently in the right place there but also by analogy of the parallel (1 Kings 515 1 Kings 516) The contents of this verse will therefore be considered with 2 Chronicles 217 2 Chronicles 218

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 22 And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them

Ver 2 And Solomon told out] See 1 Kings 516-17

And three thousand and six hundred] See on 1 Kings 516 Solomon might afterwards add three hundred more for better despatch

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 22) The magnitude of the work

Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains and three thousand six hundred to oversee them

a Seventy thousand men to bear burdens eighty thousand to quarry stone This seems to describe the number of Canaanite slave laborers that Solomon used

i Ginzberg relates some of the legends surrounding the building of the temple ldquoDuring the seven years it took to build the Temple not a single workman died who was employed about it nor even did a single one fall sick And as the workmen were

8

sound and robust from first to last so the perfection of their tools remained unimpaired until the building stood complete Thus the work suffered no sort of interruptionrdquo (Ginzberg)

b And three thousand six hundred to oversee them This was the middle management team administrating the work of building the temple

i ldquoThe number of thirty-six hundred foremen differs from 1 Kings 516 (3300) but the LXX of Kings is quite insecure here and Chronicles may preserve the better readingrdquo (Selman)

3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram[b] king of TyreldquoSend me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in

BARNES Huram the form used throughout Chronicles (except 1Ch_141) for the name both of the king and of the artisan whom he lent to Solomon 2Ch_213 2Ch_411 2Ch_416 is a late corruption of the true native word Hiram (marginal note and reference)

CLARKE Solomon sent to Huram - This manrsquos name is written חירם Chiram in

Kings and in Chronicles חורם Churam there is properly no difference only a י yod and

a ו vau interchanged See on 1Ki_52 (note)

GILL And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre The same with Hiram 1Ki_51 and from whence it appears that Huram first sent a letter to Solomon to congratulate him on his accession to the throne which is not taken notice of here

as thou didst deal with my father and didst send him cedars to build him an

9

house to dwell therein see 1Ch_141 even so deal with me which words are a supplement

JAMISON 2Ch_23-10 Message to Huram for skillful artificers

Solomon sent to Huram mdash The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (2Ch_211 also see on 1Ki_58)

As thou didst deal with David my father mdash This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was Davidrsquos friend (see on 1Ki_51-6) In opening the business Solomon grounded his request for Tyrian aid on two reasons 1 The temple he proposed to build must be a solid and permanent building because the worship was to be continued in perpetuity and therefore the building materials must be of the most durable quality 2 It must be a magnificent structure because it was to be dedicated to the God who was greater than all gods and therefore as it might seem a presumptuous idea to erect an edifice for a Being ldquowhom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not containrdquo it was explained that Solomonrsquos object was not to build a house for Him to dwell in but a temple in which His worshippers might offer sacrifices to His honor No language could be more humble and appropriate than this The pious strain of sentiment was such as became a king of Israel

KampD (22-9) Solomon through his ambassadors addressed himself to Huram king of Tyre with the request that he would send him an architect and building wood for the temple On the Tyrian king Huram or Hiram the contemporary of David and Solomon see the discussion on 2Sa_511 According to the account in 1 Kings 5 Solomon asked cedar wood from Lebanon from Hiram according to our account which is more exact he desired an architect and cedar cypress and other wood In 1 Kings 5 the motive of Solomons request is given in the communication to Hiram viz that David could not carry out the building of the proposed temple on account of his wars but that Jahve had given him (Solomon) rest and peace so that he now in accordance with the divine promise to David desired to carry on the building (1Ki_53-5) In the 2Ch_22-5 on the contrary Solomon reminds the Tyrian king of the friendliness with which he had supplied his father David with cedar wood for his palace and then announces to him his purpose to build a temple to the Lord at the same time stating that it was designed for the worship of God whom the heavens and the earth cannot contain It is clear therefore that both authors have expanded the fundamental thoughts of their authority in somewhat freer fashion The apodosis of the clause beginning with כאשר is wanting and the sentence is an anacolouthon The apodosis should be ldquodo so also for me and send me cedarsrdquo This latter clause follows in 2Ch_26 2Ch_27 while the first can easily be supplied as is done eg in the Vulg by sic fac mecum

PULPIT Huram So the name is spelt whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman in Chronicles except perhaps in 1 Chronicles 141 Elsewhere the name is written Geseuius draws attention to Josephuss חורם instead of חירום or sometimes הירםGreek rendering of the name סשלןעוי with whom agree Menander an historian of Ephesus in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus Contra Apion 1 Chronicles 118) and Dius a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon

10

and Hiram Josephus also is the means of preserving (Contra Apion 117) The Septuagint write the name לבקיס the Alexandrian לבקויס the Vulgate Hiram The name of Hirams father was Abibaal Hiram himself began to reign according to Menander when nineteen years of age reigned thirty-four years and died therefore at the age of fifty-three Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon The city of Tyre is among the most ancient Though it is not mentioned in Homer yet the Sidonians who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians are mentioned there whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city Sidon being twenty miles distant The modern name of Tyre is Sur The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean in Phoenicia about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 1929 After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 511 with all its parallels 2 Samuel 247 Isaiah 231 Isaiah 237 Ezekiel 262 Ezekiel 271-8 Zechariah 92 Zechariah 93 Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history without leaving us dependent on doubtful history or tales of such as Josephus (Ant 85 sect 3 Contra Apion 117) For the timber metals workmen given by Hiram to Solomon Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil ceded to him some cities and the use of some ports on the Red Sea (1 Kings 911-14 1 Kings 925-28 1 Kings 1021-23 See also 1 Kings 1631) As thou didst deal with David hellip and didst send him cedars To this Zechariah 97 and Zechariah 98 are the apodosis manifestly while Zechariah 94 Zechariah 95 Zechariah 96 should be enclosed in brackets

BENSON 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram mdash Or Hiram as he is called in the first book of Kings where we learn that he first sent to Solomon congratulate him on his accession to the throne and then Solomon sent to him

ELLICOTT (3) And Solomon sent to HurammdashComp 1 Kings 52-11 from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources

HurammdashIn Kings the name is spelt Hiram (1 Kings 51-2 1 Kings 57) and Hirom (1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 Hebr) (Comp 1 Chronicles 141) Whether the Tyrian name Sirocircmos (Herod vii 98) is another form of Hiram as Bertheau supposes is more than doubtful It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II to whom he paid tribute (BC 738) along with Menahem of Samaria (Assyr Hi-ru-um-mu to which the Hicircrocircm of 1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 comes very near)

As thou didst deal dwell thereinmdashSee 1 Chronicles 141 The sense requires the clause added by our translators in italics ldquoEven so deal with merdquo after the Vulg

11

ldquosic fac mecumrdquo 1 Kings 53 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple

POOLE Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing and from the following words such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew Or without any ellipsis the sense being here suspended is completed 2 Chronicles 27 so send me ampc the 4th 5th and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis to usher in and enforce his following request

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre saying As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein [even so deal with me]

Ver 3 And Solomon sent to Huram] See on 1 Kings 51

As thou didst deal with David my father] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio

COFFMAN Huram the king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 23) This person is called Hiram in Kings But throughout Chronicles he is called Huram (except in 1 Chronicles 141)[4]

2 Chronicles 24 here is a summary of the principal rituals of the ancient tabernacle and an indication of their continued observance in the projected temple The entire Pentateuch is in a sense summarized in this single verse in keeping with the entire religious constitution of ancient Israel Extensive sections of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are reflected in this single verse No wonder the critics hate it Elmslie looked at it and wrote It looks like a heavy-handed addition[5] However there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that this verse is an interpolation It is the previous mind-set of critics that causes them to make such an allegation

GUZIK B Solomonrsquos correspondence with Hiram king of Tyre

1 (2 Chronicles 23-6) Solomon describes the work to Hiram

Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in so deal with me Behold I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God to dedicate it to Him to burn before Him sweet incense for the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths on the New Moons and on the set feasts of the LORD our God This is an ordinance forever to Israel And the temple which I build will be great for our God is greater than all gods But who is able to

12

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

sound and robust from first to last so the perfection of their tools remained unimpaired until the building stood complete Thus the work suffered no sort of interruptionrdquo (Ginzberg)

b And three thousand six hundred to oversee them This was the middle management team administrating the work of building the temple

i ldquoThe number of thirty-six hundred foremen differs from 1 Kings 516 (3300) but the LXX of Kings is quite insecure here and Chronicles may preserve the better readingrdquo (Selman)

3 Solomon sent this message to Hiram[b] king of TyreldquoSend me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in

BARNES Huram the form used throughout Chronicles (except 1Ch_141) for the name both of the king and of the artisan whom he lent to Solomon 2Ch_213 2Ch_411 2Ch_416 is a late corruption of the true native word Hiram (marginal note and reference)

CLARKE Solomon sent to Huram - This manrsquos name is written חירם Chiram in

Kings and in Chronicles חורם Churam there is properly no difference only a י yod and

a ו vau interchanged See on 1Ki_52 (note)

GILL And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre The same with Hiram 1Ki_51 and from whence it appears that Huram first sent a letter to Solomon to congratulate him on his accession to the throne which is not taken notice of here

as thou didst deal with my father and didst send him cedars to build him an

9

house to dwell therein see 1Ch_141 even so deal with me which words are a supplement

JAMISON 2Ch_23-10 Message to Huram for skillful artificers

Solomon sent to Huram mdash The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (2Ch_211 also see on 1Ki_58)

As thou didst deal with David my father mdash This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was Davidrsquos friend (see on 1Ki_51-6) In opening the business Solomon grounded his request for Tyrian aid on two reasons 1 The temple he proposed to build must be a solid and permanent building because the worship was to be continued in perpetuity and therefore the building materials must be of the most durable quality 2 It must be a magnificent structure because it was to be dedicated to the God who was greater than all gods and therefore as it might seem a presumptuous idea to erect an edifice for a Being ldquowhom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not containrdquo it was explained that Solomonrsquos object was not to build a house for Him to dwell in but a temple in which His worshippers might offer sacrifices to His honor No language could be more humble and appropriate than this The pious strain of sentiment was such as became a king of Israel

KampD (22-9) Solomon through his ambassadors addressed himself to Huram king of Tyre with the request that he would send him an architect and building wood for the temple On the Tyrian king Huram or Hiram the contemporary of David and Solomon see the discussion on 2Sa_511 According to the account in 1 Kings 5 Solomon asked cedar wood from Lebanon from Hiram according to our account which is more exact he desired an architect and cedar cypress and other wood In 1 Kings 5 the motive of Solomons request is given in the communication to Hiram viz that David could not carry out the building of the proposed temple on account of his wars but that Jahve had given him (Solomon) rest and peace so that he now in accordance with the divine promise to David desired to carry on the building (1Ki_53-5) In the 2Ch_22-5 on the contrary Solomon reminds the Tyrian king of the friendliness with which he had supplied his father David with cedar wood for his palace and then announces to him his purpose to build a temple to the Lord at the same time stating that it was designed for the worship of God whom the heavens and the earth cannot contain It is clear therefore that both authors have expanded the fundamental thoughts of their authority in somewhat freer fashion The apodosis of the clause beginning with כאשר is wanting and the sentence is an anacolouthon The apodosis should be ldquodo so also for me and send me cedarsrdquo This latter clause follows in 2Ch_26 2Ch_27 while the first can easily be supplied as is done eg in the Vulg by sic fac mecum

PULPIT Huram So the name is spelt whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman in Chronicles except perhaps in 1 Chronicles 141 Elsewhere the name is written Geseuius draws attention to Josephuss חורם instead of חירום or sometimes הירםGreek rendering of the name סשלןעוי with whom agree Menander an historian of Ephesus in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus Contra Apion 1 Chronicles 118) and Dius a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon

10

and Hiram Josephus also is the means of preserving (Contra Apion 117) The Septuagint write the name לבקיס the Alexandrian לבקויס the Vulgate Hiram The name of Hirams father was Abibaal Hiram himself began to reign according to Menander when nineteen years of age reigned thirty-four years and died therefore at the age of fifty-three Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon The city of Tyre is among the most ancient Though it is not mentioned in Homer yet the Sidonians who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians are mentioned there whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city Sidon being twenty miles distant The modern name of Tyre is Sur The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean in Phoenicia about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 1929 After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 511 with all its parallels 2 Samuel 247 Isaiah 231 Isaiah 237 Ezekiel 262 Ezekiel 271-8 Zechariah 92 Zechariah 93 Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history without leaving us dependent on doubtful history or tales of such as Josephus (Ant 85 sect 3 Contra Apion 117) For the timber metals workmen given by Hiram to Solomon Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil ceded to him some cities and the use of some ports on the Red Sea (1 Kings 911-14 1 Kings 925-28 1 Kings 1021-23 See also 1 Kings 1631) As thou didst deal with David hellip and didst send him cedars To this Zechariah 97 and Zechariah 98 are the apodosis manifestly while Zechariah 94 Zechariah 95 Zechariah 96 should be enclosed in brackets

BENSON 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram mdash Or Hiram as he is called in the first book of Kings where we learn that he first sent to Solomon congratulate him on his accession to the throne and then Solomon sent to him

ELLICOTT (3) And Solomon sent to HurammdashComp 1 Kings 52-11 from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources

HurammdashIn Kings the name is spelt Hiram (1 Kings 51-2 1 Kings 57) and Hirom (1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 Hebr) (Comp 1 Chronicles 141) Whether the Tyrian name Sirocircmos (Herod vii 98) is another form of Hiram as Bertheau supposes is more than doubtful It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II to whom he paid tribute (BC 738) along with Menahem of Samaria (Assyr Hi-ru-um-mu to which the Hicircrocircm of 1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 comes very near)

As thou didst deal dwell thereinmdashSee 1 Chronicles 141 The sense requires the clause added by our translators in italics ldquoEven so deal with merdquo after the Vulg

11

ldquosic fac mecumrdquo 1 Kings 53 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple

POOLE Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing and from the following words such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew Or without any ellipsis the sense being here suspended is completed 2 Chronicles 27 so send me ampc the 4th 5th and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis to usher in and enforce his following request

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre saying As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein [even so deal with me]

Ver 3 And Solomon sent to Huram] See on 1 Kings 51

As thou didst deal with David my father] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio

COFFMAN Huram the king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 23) This person is called Hiram in Kings But throughout Chronicles he is called Huram (except in 1 Chronicles 141)[4]

2 Chronicles 24 here is a summary of the principal rituals of the ancient tabernacle and an indication of their continued observance in the projected temple The entire Pentateuch is in a sense summarized in this single verse in keeping with the entire religious constitution of ancient Israel Extensive sections of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are reflected in this single verse No wonder the critics hate it Elmslie looked at it and wrote It looks like a heavy-handed addition[5] However there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that this verse is an interpolation It is the previous mind-set of critics that causes them to make such an allegation

GUZIK B Solomonrsquos correspondence with Hiram king of Tyre

1 (2 Chronicles 23-6) Solomon describes the work to Hiram

Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in so deal with me Behold I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God to dedicate it to Him to burn before Him sweet incense for the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths on the New Moons and on the set feasts of the LORD our God This is an ordinance forever to Israel And the temple which I build will be great for our God is greater than all gods But who is able to

12

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

house to dwell therein see 1Ch_141 even so deal with me which words are a supplement

JAMISON 2Ch_23-10 Message to Huram for skillful artificers

Solomon sent to Huram mdash The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (2Ch_211 also see on 1Ki_58)

As thou didst deal with David my father mdash This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was Davidrsquos friend (see on 1Ki_51-6) In opening the business Solomon grounded his request for Tyrian aid on two reasons 1 The temple he proposed to build must be a solid and permanent building because the worship was to be continued in perpetuity and therefore the building materials must be of the most durable quality 2 It must be a magnificent structure because it was to be dedicated to the God who was greater than all gods and therefore as it might seem a presumptuous idea to erect an edifice for a Being ldquowhom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not containrdquo it was explained that Solomonrsquos object was not to build a house for Him to dwell in but a temple in which His worshippers might offer sacrifices to His honor No language could be more humble and appropriate than this The pious strain of sentiment was such as became a king of Israel

KampD (22-9) Solomon through his ambassadors addressed himself to Huram king of Tyre with the request that he would send him an architect and building wood for the temple On the Tyrian king Huram or Hiram the contemporary of David and Solomon see the discussion on 2Sa_511 According to the account in 1 Kings 5 Solomon asked cedar wood from Lebanon from Hiram according to our account which is more exact he desired an architect and cedar cypress and other wood In 1 Kings 5 the motive of Solomons request is given in the communication to Hiram viz that David could not carry out the building of the proposed temple on account of his wars but that Jahve had given him (Solomon) rest and peace so that he now in accordance with the divine promise to David desired to carry on the building (1Ki_53-5) In the 2Ch_22-5 on the contrary Solomon reminds the Tyrian king of the friendliness with which he had supplied his father David with cedar wood for his palace and then announces to him his purpose to build a temple to the Lord at the same time stating that it was designed for the worship of God whom the heavens and the earth cannot contain It is clear therefore that both authors have expanded the fundamental thoughts of their authority in somewhat freer fashion The apodosis of the clause beginning with כאשר is wanting and the sentence is an anacolouthon The apodosis should be ldquodo so also for me and send me cedarsrdquo This latter clause follows in 2Ch_26 2Ch_27 while the first can easily be supplied as is done eg in the Vulg by sic fac mecum

PULPIT Huram So the name is spelt whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman in Chronicles except perhaps in 1 Chronicles 141 Elsewhere the name is written Geseuius draws attention to Josephuss חורם instead of חירום or sometimes הירםGreek rendering of the name סשלןעוי with whom agree Menander an historian of Ephesus in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus Contra Apion 1 Chronicles 118) and Dius a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon

10

and Hiram Josephus also is the means of preserving (Contra Apion 117) The Septuagint write the name לבקיס the Alexandrian לבקויס the Vulgate Hiram The name of Hirams father was Abibaal Hiram himself began to reign according to Menander when nineteen years of age reigned thirty-four years and died therefore at the age of fifty-three Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon The city of Tyre is among the most ancient Though it is not mentioned in Homer yet the Sidonians who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians are mentioned there whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city Sidon being twenty miles distant The modern name of Tyre is Sur The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean in Phoenicia about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 1929 After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 511 with all its parallels 2 Samuel 247 Isaiah 231 Isaiah 237 Ezekiel 262 Ezekiel 271-8 Zechariah 92 Zechariah 93 Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history without leaving us dependent on doubtful history or tales of such as Josephus (Ant 85 sect 3 Contra Apion 117) For the timber metals workmen given by Hiram to Solomon Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil ceded to him some cities and the use of some ports on the Red Sea (1 Kings 911-14 1 Kings 925-28 1 Kings 1021-23 See also 1 Kings 1631) As thou didst deal with David hellip and didst send him cedars To this Zechariah 97 and Zechariah 98 are the apodosis manifestly while Zechariah 94 Zechariah 95 Zechariah 96 should be enclosed in brackets

BENSON 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram mdash Or Hiram as he is called in the first book of Kings where we learn that he first sent to Solomon congratulate him on his accession to the throne and then Solomon sent to him

ELLICOTT (3) And Solomon sent to HurammdashComp 1 Kings 52-11 from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources

HurammdashIn Kings the name is spelt Hiram (1 Kings 51-2 1 Kings 57) and Hirom (1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 Hebr) (Comp 1 Chronicles 141) Whether the Tyrian name Sirocircmos (Herod vii 98) is another form of Hiram as Bertheau supposes is more than doubtful It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II to whom he paid tribute (BC 738) along with Menahem of Samaria (Assyr Hi-ru-um-mu to which the Hicircrocircm of 1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 comes very near)

As thou didst deal dwell thereinmdashSee 1 Chronicles 141 The sense requires the clause added by our translators in italics ldquoEven so deal with merdquo after the Vulg

11

ldquosic fac mecumrdquo 1 Kings 53 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple

POOLE Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing and from the following words such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew Or without any ellipsis the sense being here suspended is completed 2 Chronicles 27 so send me ampc the 4th 5th and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis to usher in and enforce his following request

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre saying As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein [even so deal with me]

Ver 3 And Solomon sent to Huram] See on 1 Kings 51

As thou didst deal with David my father] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio

COFFMAN Huram the king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 23) This person is called Hiram in Kings But throughout Chronicles he is called Huram (except in 1 Chronicles 141)[4]

2 Chronicles 24 here is a summary of the principal rituals of the ancient tabernacle and an indication of their continued observance in the projected temple The entire Pentateuch is in a sense summarized in this single verse in keeping with the entire religious constitution of ancient Israel Extensive sections of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are reflected in this single verse No wonder the critics hate it Elmslie looked at it and wrote It looks like a heavy-handed addition[5] However there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that this verse is an interpolation It is the previous mind-set of critics that causes them to make such an allegation

GUZIK B Solomonrsquos correspondence with Hiram king of Tyre

1 (2 Chronicles 23-6) Solomon describes the work to Hiram

Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in so deal with me Behold I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God to dedicate it to Him to burn before Him sweet incense for the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths on the New Moons and on the set feasts of the LORD our God This is an ordinance forever to Israel And the temple which I build will be great for our God is greater than all gods But who is able to

12

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

and Hiram Josephus also is the means of preserving (Contra Apion 117) The Septuagint write the name לבקיס the Alexandrian לבקויס the Vulgate Hiram The name of Hirams father was Abibaal Hiram himself began to reign according to Menander when nineteen years of age reigned thirty-four years and died therefore at the age of fifty-three Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon The city of Tyre is among the most ancient Though it is not mentioned in Homer yet the Sidonians who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians are mentioned there whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city Sidon being twenty miles distant The modern name of Tyre is Sur The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean in Phoenicia about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 1929 After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 511 with all its parallels 2 Samuel 247 Isaiah 231 Isaiah 237 Ezekiel 262 Ezekiel 271-8 Zechariah 92 Zechariah 93 Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history without leaving us dependent on doubtful history or tales of such as Josephus (Ant 85 sect 3 Contra Apion 117) For the timber metals workmen given by Hiram to Solomon Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil ceded to him some cities and the use of some ports on the Red Sea (1 Kings 911-14 1 Kings 925-28 1 Kings 1021-23 See also 1 Kings 1631) As thou didst deal with David hellip and didst send him cedars To this Zechariah 97 and Zechariah 98 are the apodosis manifestly while Zechariah 94 Zechariah 95 Zechariah 96 should be enclosed in brackets

BENSON 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram mdash Or Hiram as he is called in the first book of Kings where we learn that he first sent to Solomon congratulate him on his accession to the throne and then Solomon sent to him

ELLICOTT (3) And Solomon sent to HurammdashComp 1 Kings 52-11 from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources

HurammdashIn Kings the name is spelt Hiram (1 Kings 51-2 1 Kings 57) and Hirom (1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 Hebr) (Comp 1 Chronicles 141) Whether the Tyrian name Sirocircmos (Herod vii 98) is another form of Hiram as Bertheau supposes is more than doubtful It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II to whom he paid tribute (BC 738) along with Menahem of Samaria (Assyr Hi-ru-um-mu to which the Hicircrocircm of 1 Kings 510 1 Kings 518 comes very near)

As thou didst deal dwell thereinmdashSee 1 Chronicles 141 The sense requires the clause added by our translators in italics ldquoEven so deal with merdquo after the Vulg

11

ldquosic fac mecumrdquo 1 Kings 53 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple

POOLE Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing and from the following words such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew Or without any ellipsis the sense being here suspended is completed 2 Chronicles 27 so send me ampc the 4th 5th and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis to usher in and enforce his following request

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre saying As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein [even so deal with me]

Ver 3 And Solomon sent to Huram] See on 1 Kings 51

As thou didst deal with David my father] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio

COFFMAN Huram the king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 23) This person is called Hiram in Kings But throughout Chronicles he is called Huram (except in 1 Chronicles 141)[4]

2 Chronicles 24 here is a summary of the principal rituals of the ancient tabernacle and an indication of their continued observance in the projected temple The entire Pentateuch is in a sense summarized in this single verse in keeping with the entire religious constitution of ancient Israel Extensive sections of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are reflected in this single verse No wonder the critics hate it Elmslie looked at it and wrote It looks like a heavy-handed addition[5] However there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that this verse is an interpolation It is the previous mind-set of critics that causes them to make such an allegation

GUZIK B Solomonrsquos correspondence with Hiram king of Tyre

1 (2 Chronicles 23-6) Solomon describes the work to Hiram

Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in so deal with me Behold I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God to dedicate it to Him to burn before Him sweet incense for the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths on the New Moons and on the set feasts of the LORD our God This is an ordinance forever to Israel And the temple which I build will be great for our God is greater than all gods But who is able to

12

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

ldquosic fac mecumrdquo 1 Kings 53 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple

POOLE Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing and from the following words such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew Or without any ellipsis the sense being here suspended is completed 2 Chronicles 27 so send me ampc the 4th 5th and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis to usher in and enforce his following request

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 23 And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre saying As thou didst deal with David my father and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein [even so deal with me]

Ver 3 And Solomon sent to Huram] See on 1 Kings 51

As thou didst deal with David my father] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio

COFFMAN Huram the king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 23) This person is called Hiram in Kings But throughout Chronicles he is called Huram (except in 1 Chronicles 141)[4]

2 Chronicles 24 here is a summary of the principal rituals of the ancient tabernacle and an indication of their continued observance in the projected temple The entire Pentateuch is in a sense summarized in this single verse in keeping with the entire religious constitution of ancient Israel Extensive sections of Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are reflected in this single verse No wonder the critics hate it Elmslie looked at it and wrote It looks like a heavy-handed addition[5] However there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that this verse is an interpolation It is the previous mind-set of critics that causes them to make such an allegation

GUZIK B Solomonrsquos correspondence with Hiram king of Tyre

1 (2 Chronicles 23-6) Solomon describes the work to Hiram

Then Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father and sent him cedars to build himself a house to dwell in so deal with me Behold I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God to dedicate it to Him to burn before Him sweet incense for the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the Sabbaths on the New Moons and on the set feasts of the LORD our God This is an ordinance forever to Israel And the temple which I build will be great for our God is greater than all gods But who is able to

12

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him Who am I then that I should build Him a temple except to burn sacrifice before Him

a Solomon sent to Hiram king of Tyre saying As you have dealt with David my father Solomon appealed to Hiram based on his prior good relationship with his father David This shows us that David did not regard every neighbor nation as an enemy David wisely built alliances and friendships with neighbor nations and the benefit of this also came to Solomon

i ldquoHiram is an abbreviation of Ahiram which means lsquoBrother of Ramrsquo or lsquoMy brother is exaltedrsquo or lsquoBrother of the lofty onersquo Archaeologists have discovered a royal sarcophagus in Byblos of Tyre dated about 1200 BC inscribed with the kingrsquos name lsquoAhiramrsquo Apparently it belonged to the man in this passagerdquo (Dilday commentary on 1 Kings)

b Then Solomon sent to Hiram ldquoAccording to Josephus copies of such a letter along with Hiramrsquos reply were preserved in both Hebrew and Tyrian archives and were extant in his day (Antiquities 828)rdquo (Dilday)

c I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God Of course Solomon did not build a temple for a name but for a living God This is a good example of avoiding direct mention of the name of God in Hebrew writing and speaking They did this out of reverence to God

i Solomon also used this phrase because he wanted to explain that he didnrsquot think the temple would be the house of God in the way pagans thought This is especially shown in his words who is able to build Him a temple since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him By the standards of the paganism of his day Solomonrsquos conception of God was both Biblical and high

ii ldquoHe never conceived it as a place to which God would be confined He did expect and he received manifestations of the Presence of God in that house Its chief value was that it afforded man a place in which he should offer incense that is the symbol of adoration praise worship to Godrdquo (Morgan)

iii God is ldquogood without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all without extent he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothingrdquo (Trapp)

13

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

4 Now I am about to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God and to dedicate it to him for burning fragrant incense before him for setting out the consecrated bread regularly and for making burnt offerings every morning and evening and on the Sabbaths at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals of the Lord our God This is a lasting ordinance for Israel

BARNES The symbolic meaning of ldquoburning incenserdquo is indicated in Rev_83-4 Consult the marginal references to this verse

The solemn feasts - The three great annnual festivals the Passover the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) and the Feast of tabernacles Lev 234-44 Deut 161-17

GILL Behold I build an house to the name of the Lord my God Am about to do it and determined upon it see 2Ch_21

to dedicate it to him to set it apart for sacred service to him

and to burn before him sweet incense on the altar of incense

and for the continual shewbread the loaves of shewbread which were continually on the shewbread table which and the altar of incense both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle and so to be in the temple

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening the daily sacrifice on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God at which seasons besides the daily sacrifice additional burnt offerings were offered and all on the brasen altar in the court this is an ordinance

for ever unto Israel to offer the above sacrifices even for a long time to come until the Messiah comes and therefore Solomon suggests as Jarchi and Kimchi think that a good strong house ought to be built

KampD 2Ch_24

ldquoBehold I will buildrdquo הנה with a participle of that which is imminent what one

14

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

intends to do להקדיש ל to sanctify (the house) to Him The infinitive clause which

follows (להקטיר וגו) defines more clearly the design of the temple The temple is to be consecrated by worshipping Him there in the manner prescribed by burning incense etc קטרת סמים incense of odours Exo_256 which was burnt every morning and evening on the altar of incense Exo_307 The clauses which follow are to be connected by zeugma with להקטיר ie the verbs corresponding to the objects are to be supplied

from הקטיר ldquoand to spread the continual spreading of breadrdquo (Exo_2530) and to offer

burnt-offerings as is prescribed in Num 28 and 29 לם זאת וגו for ever is this לעenjoined upon Israel cf 1Ch_2331

PULPIT In the nine headings contained in this verse we may consider that the leading religious observances and services of the nation are summarized To dedicate it The more frequent rendering of the Hebrew word here used is to hallow Or to sanctify

(a) with meat offering consisting of three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for each bullock two-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil for the ram one-tenth of an ephah of flour similarly mixed for each lamb

(b) with drink offering of half a hin of wine to each bullock the third part of a hin to the ram and the fourth part of a hin to each lamb A kid of the goats for a sin offering which in fact was offered before the burnt offering And all these were to be additional to the continual offering of the day with its drink offering (see also Isaiah 6623 Ezekiel 463 Amos 85)

BENSON 2 Chronicles 24 To dedicate it to him mdash To his honour and worship For the continual show-bread mdash So called here and Numbers 47 because it stood before the Lord continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed See Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

ELLICOTT (4) I buildmdashAm about to build (bocircneh)

To the name of the Lordmdash1 Kings 32 1 Chronicles 1635 1 Chronicles 227

To dedicatemdashOr consecrate (Comp Leviticus 2714 1 Kings 93 1 Kings 97) The italicised and should be omitted as the following words define the purpose of the dedication viz for burning before him ampc Comp Vulgate ldquoUt consecrem eam ad adolendum incensum coram illordquo (See Exodus 256 Exodus 307-8)

And for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offeringsmdashIn the Hebrew this is loosely connected with the verb rendered to burn as part of its object for offering before him incense of spices and a continual pile (of shewbread) and burnt offerings (See Leviticus 245 Leviticus 248 Numbers 284)

15

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

On the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feastsmdash1 Chronicles 2331 ldquoSolemn feastsrdquo set seasons These special sacrifices are prescribed in Numbers 289 to Numbers 2940

This is an ordinance for ever to IsraelmdashLiterally for ever this is (is obligatory) upon Israel viz this ordinance of offerings (Comp the similar phrase 1 Chronicles 2331 and the formula ldquoa statute for everrdquo so common in the Law Exodus 1214 Exodus 299)

POOLE To dedicate it to him ie to his honour and worship

For the continual shew-bread so called here and Numbers 97 because it was to be there continually by a constant succession of new bread when the old was removed of which see Exodus 2530 Leviticus 248

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 24 Behold I build an house to the name of the LORD my God to dedicate [it] to him [and] to burn before him sweet incense and for the continual shewbread and for the burnt offerings morning and evening on the sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God This [is an ordinance] for ever to Israel

Ver 4 To dedicate it to him ampc] Not to be impiae gentis arcanum as Florus basely slandereth this temple

5 ldquoThe temple I am going to build will be great because our God is greater than all other gods

BARNES See 1Ki_62 note In Jewish eyes at the time that the temple was built it may have been ldquogreatrdquo that is to say it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection

Great is our God - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king But it appears 2Ch_211-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth

GILL And the house which I build is great Not so very large though that with all apartments and courts belonging to it he intended to build was so but because

16

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

magnificent in its structure and decorations

for great is our God above all gods and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others as the temple at Jerusalem did

KampD 5-6 2Ch_25-6In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices the temple must be large

because Jahve is greater than all gods cf Exo_1811 Deu_1017

No one is able ( ח as in 1Ch_2914) to build a house in which this God could עצר כdwell for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him These words are a reminiscence of Solomons prayer (1Ki_827 2Ch_618) How should I (Solomon) be able to build Him a house scil that He should dwell therein In connection with this there then comes the thought and that is not my purpose but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple הקטיר is used as pars pro toto to designate the whole worship of the Lord After this declaration of the purpose there follows in Deu_106 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman and the necessary material viz costly woods The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold silver etc According to 2Ch_411-16 and 1Ki_713 he prepared the brazen and metal work and the vessels of the temple here on the contrary and in 2Ch_213 also he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving and in stone and wood work to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple To indicate this all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated ארגון the later form of ארגמן deep-red purple

see on Exo_254 כרמיל occurring only here 2Ch_26 2Ch_213 and in 2Ch_314 in

the signification of the Heb לעת שני crimson or scarlet purple see on Exo_254 It is תnot originally a Hebrew word but is probably derived from the Old-Persian and has been imported along with the thing itself from Persia by the Hebrews תכלת deep-blue

purple hyacinth purple see on Exo_254 פתח פתוהים to make engraved work and Exo_289 Exo_2811 Exo_2836 and Exo_396 of engraving precious stones but used here as 2 כל־פתוחCh_213 shows in the general signification of engraved work in

metal or carved work in wood cf 1Ki_629 עם־החכמים depends upon ת to work לעש

in gold together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah אשר הכין quos comparavit cf 1Ch_2821 1Ch_2215

PULPIT 2 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 26

The contents of these verses beg some special observation in the first place as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection and rejection in many cases of the matter at his command is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work Then again they may be remarked on as spoken to another king who whether it were to be expected or no was it is plain a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (2 Chronicles 212) This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our

17

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

regret that we do not know more of Hiram He was no proselyte but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest that Hiram for some long time had seen the rising kingdom and alike in David and Solomon in turn the coming men He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards but not less effectually and operatively impressed And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man who could be a powerful helper of Solomons enterprise his outburst of explanation and of ardent religious purpose and of humble godly awe is natural But that he should call the temple he purposed to build so great as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these viz that in point of fact neither David nor Solomon were travelled men as Joseph and Moses for instance Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country And further Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of 2 Chronicles 26) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place for instance of vast congregations and vast processions Then too as compared with the tabernacle it would loom great whether for size or for its enduring material Meantime though Solomon does indeed use the words (2 Chronicles 25) The house is great yet throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse and of Davids words in 1 Chronicles 291 it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size but rather the character of the house and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618) Who am I hellip save only to burn sacrifice before him The drift of Solomons thought is plainmdashthat nothing would justify mortal man if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain but that he is justified all the more in not giving sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids until he had found out a place (Psalms 1324 Psalms 1325) where man might acceptably in Gods appointed way draw near to him If earth draw near to heaven it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory majesty grace to earth

BENSON 2 Chronicles 25 The house which I build is great mdash Though the temple strictly so called was small yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous For great is our God above all gods mdash Above all idols above all princes Idols are nothing princes are little and both are under the control of the God of Israel Therefore the house must be great not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him and the great esteem we have for him

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 25 And the house which I build [is] great for great [is] our God above all gods

18

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

Ver 5 And the house which I build is great] Excellently great as he afterwards saith [2 Chronicles 29]

For great is our God] And must therefore be served like himself

Above all gods] Whether deputed as princes or reputed as idols

PARKER And the house which I build is great ( 2 Chronicles 25)

Why is it great For the sake of vanity display ostentation to make heathen people stare in blankest wonder because of the greatness of thy resources NomdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God That is philosophy He has really now received the wisdom he talks like a sagacious king he has seen the reality of things and how nobly he talksmdashthe house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods That is the explanation of all honest enthusiasm A volume is needed here rather than a suggestionmdashThe house which I build is great for great is our God the sacrifice which I offer is great for great is the God to whom it is offered the consecration is great for great is the cross the missionary toil and effort is great for great is the love of God which it represents The religious must always be greater than the material and must account for the material However stupendous the temple we must write upon its portals Here is One greater than the temple However magnificent the oblation we lay upon the altar we should say The fire that burns it in every spark is greater than any jewel we have laid upon the altar to be consumed Here is a rational consecration Why do you build your little hut Because you have a little God If the hut is all you can build if it is the measure of your resources and if all the while you are saying concerning it Would God it were ten thousand times better than it is then it shall be as acceptable as was the temple of Solomon But it you are seeking to evade sacrifice by the plea that God needs not any effort of yours or is not pleased with any expenditure or display of yours then renounce your Christian name and preface your surname by the word Iscariot Let us have no lying in the sanctuary I Let us go out rather into the broad wilderness in the night-time and babble our lies to the careless windsmdashbut do not let us tell lies in the house of God How often has the Christian cause suffered in the village in the little town because some man has said he is opposed to display He is not opposed to the display of his selfishness he is opposed to the display of some other mans unselfishness Solomon here must be regarded as the wise man The house which I build is great for great is our God above all gods Our theology determines our architecture Our theology determines our expenditure Search in the garden for a flower for Christmdashwhich will you bringmdashthe one you can spare the best Never He stands there waiting the flower How your eyes quicken into new expression What eagerness there is in your whole gait and posture How you turn the flowers over so to say that you may gather the loveliest and the best and how on the road to him you pray God that even yet it may grow into some fairer loveliness and be charged with some more heavenly fragrance

19

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

Let us take another view of this verse

Solomons conception of his work was great and worthymdashAnd the house which I build is greatmdashWhy For [because] great is our God Here is more than a local incident here indeed is the whole philosophy of Christian service A great religion means a great humanity a great God means a great worship a great faith means a great consecration Solomons temple therefore was an embodied theology it was no fancy work the creation of dainty fingers meant merely to please an eye that hungered for beauty Solomon was not gratifying an aesthetic taste when he sent for a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue or when he sent for cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon his aeligstheticism as we should say in modern phrase was but an aspect of his theology The sweet incense was not for a pampered nostril the ceiling panelled with fir was not merely a picture to look upon and the gold of Parvaim was not a mere display of wealth a merely ostentatious show of civic plate When the house was garnished with precious stones for beauty and the beams overlaid with gold and the walls were engraved with cherubims whose wings all but moved and when the images of the cherubims outstretched their wings one towards the other and when Jachin and Boaz were reared before the temple there was but one meaning one interpretation so also with the chain the altar the mercy seat the myriad oxen the ten lavers the ten candlesticks of gold the pomegranates and all the founders work cast in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah there was but one purpose one thought one answermdashthe house is great because the God it is meant for is great We have forgotten the reason and therefore we have descended to commonplacemdashany hut will do for God This enables us to get rid of a plea that is often adopted by an idle sentimentalism to the effect that any house how frail and unpretending soever will do for divine worship God does not look for finery any place however simple and however poor and however small will do to worship in So it will if it be all that the worshippers can offer then the offering shall be as the widows mites and as the cup of cold water the gift shall be glorified by the receiver but where it is the fault of idleness indifference avarice coldness of heart worldliness a misgiving faith it will be as a house without light a skeleton unblessed and rejected God will judge between poverty that wants to give and wealth that wants to withhold Solomons policy in temple building was rational Solomon had a great conception of God so Hebrews having an abundance of resources would build no mean house for him The king of one nation will not receive the monarch of another in a common meeting room but will have it decorated and enriched and the metropolis of his country shall yield treasure and beauty that the eye of the visiting monarch may be delighted with things pleasant to behold England is not affronted because a foreign Court prepares sumptuously to receive Englands Queen but for a moments interview There is a fitness in all things God will meet us under the plainest roof if it is all we can supply he will make it beautiful but if we say Any place will do for God you may make the appointment but he will not be there

Then Solomon feels that he has begun to do the impossible We never come to our

20

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

best selves until we come to this kind of madness So long as we work easily within our hand-reach we are doing nothing there must come upon us persuasions that we have undertaken a madmans work if we are to rise to the dignity of our vocation we must feel that any house we can build is utterly unworthy of the guest who is to be asked to accept the unworthy hospitality

6 But who is able to build a temple for him since the heavens even the highest heavens cannot contain him Who then am I to build a temple for him except as a place to burn sacrifices before him

BARNES Save only to burn sacrifice before him - Solomon seems to mean that to build the temple can only be justified on the human - not on the divine - side ldquoGod dwelleth not in temples made with handsrdquo He cannot be confined to them He does in no sort need them The sole reason for building a temple lies in the needs of man his worship must he local the sacrifices commanded in the Law had of necessity to be offered somewhere

CLARKE Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - ldquoFor the lower heavens the middle heavens and the upper heavens cannot contain him seeing he sustains all things by the arm of his power Heaven is the throne of his glory the earth his footstool the deep and the whole world are sustained by the spirit of his Word [ברוח מימריה

beruach meqmereih] Who am I then that I should build him a houserdquo - Targum

Save only to burn sacrifice - It is not under the hope that the house shall be able to contain him but merely for the purpose of burning incense to him and offering him sacrifice that I have erected it

GILL But who is able to build him an house Suitable to the greatness of his majesty especially as he dwells not in temples made with hands

21

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him see 1Ki_827

who am I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him since God was an immense and infinite Being be would have Hiram to understand that he had no thought of building an house in which he could be circumscribed and contained only a place in which he might be worshipped and sacrifices offered to him

BENSON 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him a house mdash No house be it ever so great can be a habitation for him Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him mdash Nor does he like the gods of the nations dwell in temples made with hands When therefore I speak of building a great house for the great God let none be so foolish as to imagine that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite Who am I then that I should build him a house mdash He looked upon himself though a mighty prince as utterly unworthy of the honour of being employed in this great work Save only to burn sacrifice before him mdash As if he had said We have not such low notions of our God as to suppose we can build a house that will contain him we only intend it for the convenience of his priests and worshippers that they may have a suitable place wherein to assemble and offer sacrifices and prayers and perform other religious duties to him Thus Solomon guards Hiram against any misapprehension concerning God which his speaking of building him a house might otherwise have occasioned And it is one part of the wisdom wherein we ought to walk toward them that are without in a similar manner carefully to guard against all misapprehension which anything we may say or do may occasion concerning any truth or duty of religion

ELLICOTT (6) But who is ablemdashLiterally who could keep strength (See 1 Chronicles 2914)

The heaven cannot contain himmdashThis high thought occurs in Solomonrsquos prayer (1 Kings 827 2 Chronicles 618)

Who am I then before himmdashThat is I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity as to think of localising it within an earthly dwelling I build not for His residence but for His worship and service (Comp Isaiah 4022)

To burn sacrificemdashLiterally to burn incense Here as in 2 Chronicles 24 used in a general sense

POOLE

The heaven of heavens cannot contain him when I speak of building a great house for our great God let none be so foolish to think that I mean to include or comprehend God within it for he is infinite

22

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

To burn sacrifice before him ie to worship him there where he is graciously present

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 26 But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who [am] I then that I should build him an house save only to burn sacrifice before him

Ver 6 Seeing the heavens and heaven of heavens] He is ανεπιγραπτος incomprehensible incircumscriptible good without quality great without quantity everlasting without time present everywhere without place containing all things without extent he filleth all places without compression or straitening of another or the contraction extension condensation or rarefaction of himself he is within all things and contained of nothing without all things and sustained of nothing

COFFMAN 6-7 The heaven of heavens cannot contain him (God) (2 Chronicles 26) The notion that God could be confined in a house or a box is an error which skeptics have falsely attributed to the people of God during the OT period but they knew that God was Lord of heaven and earth and so declared it many times as Solomon did here[6] Moreover it was not a discovery by Solomon He had most certainly learned it from David whose Psalms often gave voice to the same truth The Chroniclers accurate record here of Solomons words refutes the critics allegations on this matter also as well as denying their foolish fairy tale regarding a late date for the Pentateuch

That knoweth how to grave all manner of gravings (2 Chronicles 27) The words here rendered grave and gravings are read as engrave and engravings in the RSV

And in purple and crimson and blue (2 Chronicles 27) Thus in the color scheme The temple in this respect as well as in others conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus 254 261 etc)[7] (See our Commentary Vol 8 of the NT Series (Hebrews) p 172 for a discussion of the significance of these colors)

Algum-trees out of Lebanon (2 Chronicles 28) Curtis wrote that these were probably Sandalwood or ebony[8]

Wheat barley wine and oil (2 Chronicles 210) The translation of the quantities of all these supplies into their modern equivalent is of no importance and is also impossible

PARKER Who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ( 2 Chronicles 26)

The man who has that conception will build a house sooner or later he is under the

23

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

influence of the right degree and quality of inspiration he does not come pompously forth from his throne saying I will do this with the ease of a king when he looks upon his wealth he sees only its poverty when he counts his weapons he counts but so many broken straws Who can do it Yet even here Solomon is as wise as ever for he says All I can do is to burn sacrifices before himmdashsave only to burn sacrifice before him it will only be a little useful place after all when my father and the allied kings and myself and my counsellors have done all that lies in our power it will simply come to a place to burn sacrifice in Woe be unto us when we think the house is greater than the God Yet in this only we have all we want Here is the beginning of piety here is the dawn of worship here is the daystar that will melt into the noonday glory We build God a house and it is only to sing hymns in but in the singing of a hymn a man may see Christ it is only to hear a brother man explain so far as he can poor soul what he reads in the infinite word but when the infirmest expositor is true to his text a light flashes out of it that dims the sun it is only a meeting house where we can lay hand to hand in brotherliness and fellowship and bow our heads in common plaint and cry and prayer That is enough We are not to be discouraged because we can only begin we should be encouraged because we can in reality make some kind of commencement Blessed is that servant who shall be found trying to make the best of Gods house when his Lord cometh This is but decency and justice that we should plainly say in most audible words that we have in Gods house received benefits which we could not have received in any other place what upliftings of heart what sudden illuminations of mind what calls from the spirit world What a glorious house So much so that amid much frivolity and much merchandise that ends in nothing we have come back after all to our earliest memories and men who have fought the worlds battles and won them have asked in the eleventh hour of their existence to have sung to them the little hymns which they sung in the nursery Thus we come home thus we come back to the starting-point we begin with the cradle and we end with it We are born into some other world not at the point of our deceptive illusory greatness but at the point of our childlikeness when we have little and know how little it is Let the house of God make this claim for itself and nothing can destroy it We do not come to Gods house for new Revelation for intellectual excitements and entertainments we come to itmdashsave only to burn incense or sacrifice save only to confess sin save only to look at the cross save only to begin our lesson save only to rehearse our lesson with a view to its more perfect utterance otherwhere but it is enough it is a line to start with No man can dislodge you out of your simplicity When your faith becomes a metaphysical puzzle some controversialist may break through and steal it when it is a sweet rest on Christ a childs trust in God moth and rust cannot corrupt and thieves cannot break through and steal If we claim too much for the house of God our claim may be disputed and finally extinguished but if we accept the sanctuary as but a beginning any temple we can build here as but a doorway into the true temple no man can take from us our heritage

PARKER Then Solomon falls back and says the best is but poormdash

24

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

But who is able to build him an house seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him who am I then that I should build him an house ( 2 Chronicles 26)

That is not despair that is the beginning of greater strength Solomon once more shows the true wisdom when he says save only to burn sacrifice before him that is the little I can do and that I am prepared to do when the whole house is set up all I can do is to burn the little incense I would do more if I could I would sing like an angel I would be hospitable as God himself I would see all mysteries and solve all problems and reveal the kingdom to all who wish to see it but at present I am the victim of limitation and my whole function comes to incense-or sacrifice-burning but that little I will do I shall be here early in the morning and late at night and all the time between this altar shall smoke with an offering to God Let us do the little we can do Our best religious worship here is but a hint but therein is not only its littleness but its significance When a man stumbles in prayer and proceeds in prayer notwithstanding all stumbling he means by that effortmdashSome day I will pray When a man lays down a religious dogma and says It is badly expressed now I have written it I do not like it because it does not tell one ten-thousandth part of what is in my heart yet that is the only symbol I can think of or invent or create well then let it stand God will take its meaning not its literary totality Looking at it he will say It is an emblem a type a symbol a hint an algebraic sign pointing towards the unknown and the present impossible Do what you can and God will do the rest

Solomon can do everything himself we should imagine because he is so great a man Probably there never was so great a king in his time and within the world as known to him Solomon therefore will begin continue and end and make all things according to his own will without the assistance of any one So we should say but in so saying we talk foolishly

7 ldquoSend me therefore a man skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron and in purple crimson and blue yarn and experienced in the art of engraving to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers whom my father David provided

25

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

BARNES See 1Ki_56 note 1Ki_713 note

Purple - ldquoPurple crimson and bluerdquo would be needed for the hangings of the temple which in this respect as in others was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo_254 Exo_261 etc) Hiramrsquos power of ldquoworking in purple crimsonrdquo etc was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors The Phoenicians off whose coast the murex was commonly taken were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period

Crimson - כרמיל karmı yl the word here and elsewhere translated ldquocrimsonrdquo is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin The famous red dye of Persia and India the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos and to the Romans as coccum is

obtained from an insect Whether the ldquoscarletrdquo שני shacircnıy of Exodus (Exo_254 etc) is the same or a different red cannot be certainly determined

CLARKE Send me - a man cunning to work - A person of great ingenuity who is capable of planning and directing and who may be over the other artists

GILL Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron There being many things relating to the temple about to be built and vessels to be put into it which were to be made of those metals

and in purple and crimson and blue used in making the vails for it hung up in different places

and that can skill to grave in wood or stone

with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom my father David did provide see 1Ch_2215

HENRY 7-9 2 The requests he makes to him are more particularly set down here (1) He desired Huram would furnish him with a good hand to work (2Ch_27) Send me a man He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah whom David provided 1Ch_2215 Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists But ldquosend me a man to direct them There are ingenious men in Jerusalem but not such engravers as are in Tyre and therefore since temple-work must be the best in its kind let me have the best workmen that can be gotrdquo (2) With good materials to work on (2Ch_28) cedar and other timber in abundance (2Ch_28 2Ch_29) for the house must be wonderfully great that is very stately and magnificent no cost must be spared

26

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

nor any contrivance wanting in it

JAMISON Send me now therefore a man cunning to work mdash Masons and carpenters were not asked for Those whom David had obtained (1Ch_141) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem and had instructed others But he required a master of works a person capable like Bezaleel (Exo_3531) of superintending and directing every department for as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience The things specified in which he was to be skilled relate not to the building but the furniture of the temple Iron which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built was now through intercourse with the coast plentiful and much used The cloths intended for curtains were from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named evidently those stuffs for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous ldquoThe gravingrdquo probably included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments

KampD 2Ch_27The materials Hiram was to send were cedar cypress and algummim wood from

Lebanon 2 אלגומיםCh_27 and 2Ch_910 instead of 1 אלמגיםKi_1011 probably means sandal wood which was employed in the temple according to 1Ki_1012 for stairs and musical instruments and is therefore mentioned here although it did not grow in Lebanon but according to 1Ki_910 and 1Ki_1011 was procured at Ophir Here in our enumeration it is inexactly grouped along with the cedars and cypresses brought from Lebanon

PULPIT Send me hellip a man cunning to work etc The parenthesis is now ended By comparison of 2 Chronicles 23 it appears that Solomon makes of Hirams services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1 Chronicles 141 and 2 Samuel 511 2 Samuel 512 Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David and had not waited to be applied to by David This would show us more clearly the force of Solomons plea Further if we note the language of 1 Kings 51 we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection and indicates that though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative an easy opportunity was opened in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hirams servants That the king of this most privileged separate and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and so to say heathen help in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the cunning and the skill of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef doeuvre of the said exclusive nation is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels even when most divinely purposed and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices and of the brotherhood of humanity never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale The competence

27

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities The man who was sent is described in 1 Kings 513 1 Kings 514 infra as also 1 Kings 7131 Kings 714 Purple hellip crimson hellip blue It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram so skilled in working of gold silver brass and iron was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple So far indeed as the literal construction of the words go this would seem to be what is meant and no doubt may have been the case though unlikely The purple ( אדגון ) A Chaldee form of this word ( ארגונא) occurs three times in Daniel 57 Daniel 516 Daniel 529 and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as scarlet Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus Numbers Judges Esther Proverbs Canticles Jeremiah and Ezekiel nor indeed in verse 13 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 In all these places numbering nearly forty the word is ארגבן The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean The crimson ( כרמיל) Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis) and that the word is from the Persian language The Persian kerm Sanscrit krimi Armenian karmir German carmesin and our own crimson keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree This word is found only here 2 Chronicles 313 infra and 2 Chronicles 314 The crimson of Isaiah 118 and Jeremiah 430 and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books come as the rendering of the word שני The blue ( תכלת) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus Numbers and in later books This colour was obtained from a shell-fish (Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean the shell of which was blue Can skill to grave The word to grave is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb פתח to open Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation it is translated grave nine times loosed eleven times put off twice ungirded once opened four times appear once and go free once Perhaps the opening the ground with the plough (Isaiah 2824 ) leads most easily on to the idea of engraving Cunning men whom hellip David hellip did provide As we read in 1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

BENSON 2 Chronicles 27 Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold ampc mdash There were admirable artists in all the works here referred to at Tyre some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him that they might assist those whom David had provided but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre

ELLICOTT (7) Send me now mdashAnd now send me a wise man to work in the gold and in the silver (1 Chronicles 2215 2 Chronicles 213)

And in (the) purple and crimson and bluemdashNo allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 411-16 nor in 1 Kings 713 seq which describe only metallurgic works of this master whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous

28

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

names of the Renaissance

Purple (rsquoargĕwacircn)mdashAramaic form (Heb rsquoargacircmacircn Exodus 254)

Crimson (karmicircl)mdashA word of Persian origin occurring only here and in 2 Chronicles 213 and 2 Chronicles 314 (Comp our word carmine)

Blue (tĕkccedilleth)mdashDark blue or violet (Exodus 254 and elsewhere)

Can skillmdashKnoweth how

To gravemdashLiterally to carve carvings whether in wood or stone (1 Kings 629 Zechariah 39 Exodus 289 on gems)

With the cunning menmdashThe Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse There should be a stop after the words to grave

Whom David my father did provide (prepared 1 Chronicles 292)mdash1 Chronicles 2215 1 Chronicles 2821

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 27 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold and in silver and in brass and in iron and in purple and crimson and blue and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem whom David my father did provide

Ver 7 Send me now therefore a man] See 1 Kings 713-14

PARKER Send me now therefore a man ( 2 Chronicles 27)

What king Solomon wanting a man Why does he not build the temple himself No temple should be built by any one man Blessed be God everything that is worth doing is done by cooperation by acknowledged reciprocity of labour Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself although it could not have been spread without you Thank God there are no mere monographs in revelation Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible It is better that many hands should have written the Book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume We do not read Hamlet because William Shakespeare wrote it we need not care whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote it there it is No one man could have written what Shakespeare is said to have written Thank God we are not yet permitted to see omniscience gathered up and focalised in any one genius All good books are rich with quotations sometimes acknowledged and sometimes not acknowledged because unconscious Every man has a hundred men in him One queen boasted that she carried the blood of a hundred kings Solomon therefore sends to Hiram king of

29

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

Tyre saying Send me now therefore a man Has Tyre to help Jerusalem Has the Gentile to help the Jew Has the Englishman to feed at a table on which the Chinaman has laid something Are our houses curtained and draped by foreign countries Wondrous is this thought that no one land is absolutely complete in itself we still need the sea we cannot get rid of shipsmdashwe will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem We are not permitted to enjoy the narrow parochial comfort of doing everything for ourselves When the man comes from Tyre he will be as much a king as Solomon not nominally but in the cunning of his fingers in the penetration of his eye in his knowledge of brass and iron and purple and crimson and blue and in his skill to grave things of beauty on facets of hardness Every man has his own kingship Every man has something that no other man has A recognition of this fact and a proper use of all its suggestions would create for us a democracy hard to distinguish from a theocracy for each man would say to his brother What hast thou that thou hast not received and each man would say for himself By the grace of God I am what I am

GUZIK 2 (2 Chronicles 27-10) Solomonrsquos request to Hiram

Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver in bronze and iron in purple and crimson and blue who has skill to engrave with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem whom David my father provided Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon and indeed my servants will be with your servants to prepare timber for me in abundance for the temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful And indeed I will give to your servants the woodsmen who cut timber twenty thousand kors of ground wheat twenty thousand kors of barley twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

a Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver Solomon wanted the temple to be the best it could be so he used Gentile labor when it was better This means that Solomon was willing to build this great temple to God with ldquoGentilerdquo wood and using ldquoGentilerdquo labor This was a temple to the God of Israel but it was not only for Israel

i ldquoThe leading craftsmen for the Tent Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab were both similarly skilled in a range of abilities (cf Exodus 311-6 Exo_3530 to Exo_362)rdquo (Selman)

ii ldquoDespite a growing number of lsquoskilled craftsmenrsquo in Israel their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in generalrdquo (Payne)

30

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

b To prepare timber for me in abundance The cedar trees of Lebanon were legendary for their excellent timber This means Solomon wanted to build the temple out of the best materials possible

i ldquoThe Sidonians were noted as timber craftsmen in the ancient world a fact substantiated on the famous Palmero Stone Its inscription from 2200 BC tells us about timber-carrying ships that sailed from Byblos to Egypt about four hundred years previously The skill of the Sidonians was expressed in their ability to pick the most suitable trees know the right time to cut them fell them with care and then properly treat the logsrdquo (Dilday)

8 ldquoSend me also cedar juniper and algum[c] logs from Lebanon for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber there My servants will work with yours

GILL Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon Of the two first of these and which Hiram sent see 1Ki_510 The algum trees are the same with the almug trees 1Ki_1011 by a transposition of letters these could not be coral as some Jewish writers think which grows in the sea for these were in Lebanon nor Brazil as Kimchi so called from a place of this name which at this time was not known though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India as appears from the above quoted place as well as from Arabia and it seems as Beckius (c) observes to be an Arabic word by the article al prefixed to it

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon better than his

and behold my servants shall be with thy servants to help and assist them in what they can and to learn of them see 1Ki_56

JAMISON Send me cedar trees etc mdash The cedar and cypress were valued as being both rare and durable the algum or almug trees (likewise a foreign wood) though not found on Lebanon are mentioned as being procured through Huram (see on 1Ki_1011)

31

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

KampD 2Ch_28-9

The infinitive ולהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of ת nor is it a לכר

continuation of the imperat שלח לי (2Ch_27) with the signification ldquoand let there be prepared for merdquo (Berth) It is subordinated to the preceding clauses send me cedars which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew and in that my servants will assist in order viz to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic) On 2Ch_28 cf 2Ch_

24 The infin abs הפלא is used adverbially ldquowonderfullyrdquo (Ew sect280 c) In return Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain wine and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1Ki_510 see on 2Ch_214 להטבים is

more closely defined by לכרתי העצים and ל is the introductory ל ldquoand behold as to

the hewers the fellers of treesrdquo חטב to hew (wood) and to dress it (Deu_2910 Jos_

921 Jos_923) would seem to have been supplanted by חצב which in 2Ch_22 2Ch_

218 is used for it and it is therefore explained by כרת העצים ldquoI will give wheat ת to מכ

thy servantsrdquo (the hewers of wood) The word ת gives no suitable sense for ldquowheat of מכthe strokesrdquo for threshed wheat would be a very extraordinary expression even apart from the facts that wheat which is always reckoned by measure is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed and that no such addition is made use of with the barley ת מכ

is probably only an orthographical error for מכלת food as may be seen from 1Ki_511

PULPIT Algum trees out of Lebanon These trees are called algum in the three passages of Chronicles in which the tree is mentioned viz here and 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 but in the three passages of Kings almug viz 1 Kings 1011 1 Kings 1012 bis As we read in 1 Kings 1011 2 Chronicles 910 2 Chronicles 911 that they were exports from Ophir we are arrested by the expression out of Lebanon here If they were accessible in Lebanon it is not on the face of it to be supposed they would be ordered from such a distance as Ophir Lastly there is very great difference of opinion as to what the tree was in itself In Smiths Bible Dictionary vol 3 appendix p 6 the subject is discussed more fully than it can be here and with some of its scientific technicalities Celsius has mentioned fifteen woods for which the honour has been claimed More modern disputants have suggested five of these the red sandalwood being considered perhaps the likeliest So great an authority as Dr Hooker pronounces that it is a question quite undetermined But inasmuch as it is so undetermined it would seem possible that if it were a precious wood of the smaller kind (as eg ebony with us) and so to say of shy growth in Lebanon it might be that it did grow in Lebanon but that a very insufficient supply of it there was customarily supplemented by the imports received from Ophir Or again it may be that the words out of Lebanon are simply misplaced (1 Kings 58) and should follow the words fir trees The rendering pillars in 1 Kings 1012 for rails or props is unfortunate as the other quoted uses of the wood for harps and psalteries would all betoken a small as well as

32

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

very hard wood Lastly it is a suggestion of Canon Rawlinson that inasmuch as the almug wood of Ophir came via Phoenicia and Hiram Solomon may very possibly have been ignorant that Lebanon was not its proper habitat Thy servants can skill to cut timber This same testimony is expressed yet more strongly in 1 Kings 56 There is not any among us that can skill to hew timber like the Sidoniaus Passages like 2 Kings 1923 Isaiah 148 Isaiah 3724 go to show that the verb employed in our text is rightly rendered hew as referring to the felling rather than to any subsequent dressing and sawing up of the timber It is therefore rather more a point of interest to learn in what the great skill consisted which so threw Israelites into the shade while distinguishing Hirams servants It is of course quite possible that the hewing or felling may be taken to infer all the subsequent cutting dressing etc Perhaps the skill intended will have included the best selection of trees as well as the neatest and quickest laying of them prostrate and if beyond this it included the sawing and dressing and shaping of the wood the room for superiority of skill would be ample My servants (so Isaiah 372 Isaiah 3718 1 Kings 515)

ELLICOTT (8) Fir treesmdashThe word bĕrocircshicircm is now often rendered cypresses But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the ldquoisle of bĕrocircshicircmrdquo and is called in Greek πετυου σαι ie ldquoPine isletsrdquo Moreover a species of pine is very common on the Lebanon

Algum treesmdashSandal wood Heb rsquoalgummicircm which appears a more correct spelling of the native Indian word (valgucircka) than the rsquoalmuggicircm of 1 Kings 1011 (See Note on 2 Chronicles 1010)

Out of LebanonmdashThe chronicler knew that sandal wood came from Ophir or Abhicircra at the mouth of the Indus (2 Chronicles 1010 comp 1 Kings 1011) The desire to be concise has betrayed him into an inaccuracy of statement Or must we suppose that Solomon himself believed that the sandal wood which he only knew as a Phoenician export really grew like the cedars and firs on the Lebanon Such a mistake would be perfectly natural but the divergence of this account from the parallel in 1 Kings leaves it doubtful whether we have in either anything more than an ideal sketch of Solomonrsquos message

For I know that thy servants mdashComp the words of Solomon as reported in 1 Kings 56

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 28 Send me also cedar trees fir trees and algum trees out of Lebanon for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon and behold my servants [shall be] with thy servants

Ver 8 Send me also cedar trees] Which are strong longlasting and odoriferous

Fir trees and algum trees] See on 1 Kings 58

33

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

My servants shall be with thy servants] See on 1 Kings 56

9 to provide me with plenty of lumber because the temple I build must be large and magnificent

GILL Even to prepare me timber in abundance Since he would want a large quantity for raftering cieling wainscoting and flooring the temple

for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great as to its structure and ornaments

ELLICOTT (9) Even to prepare me timber in abundancemdashRather And they shall prepare or let them prepare (A use of the infinitive to which the chronicler is partial see 1 Chronicles 51 1 Chronicles 925 1 Chronicles 134 1 Chronicles 152 1 Chronicles 225) So Syriac ldquoLet them be bringing to merdquo

Shall be wonderful greatmdashSee margin and LXX μέγας καὶ ἔνδοξος ldquogreat and gloriousrdquo Syriac ldquoan astonishmentrdquo (temhacirc)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 29 Even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great

Ver 9 Wonderful great] Yet was it not so great as the temple at Ephesus but far more wonderful See on 2 Chronicles 25

10 I will give your servants the woodsmen who cut the timber twenty thousand cors[d] of ground wheat twenty thousand cors[e] of barley twenty

34

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

thousand baths[f] of wine and twenty thousand baths of olive oilrdquo

BARNES Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here The true original may be restored from marginal reference where the wheat is said to have been given ldquofor foodrdquo

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief the barley wine and ordinary oil would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers

GILL Behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat Meaning not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail as some nor bruised or half broke for pottage as others but ground into flour as R Jonah (d) interprets it or rather perhaps it should be rendered food (e) that is for his household as in 1Ki_511 and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians and they were obliged to have it from the Jews Act_1220

and twenty thousand measures of barley the measures of both these were the cor of which see 1Ki_511

and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil which measure was the tenth part of a cor According to the Ethiopians a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f)

HENRY 3 Here is Solomons engagement to maintain the workmen (2Ch_210) to give them so much wheat and barley so much wine and oil He did not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty and every thing of the best Those that employ labourers ought to take care they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and fit for them Let the rich masters do for their poor workmen as they would be done by if the tables were turned

JAMISON behold I will give to thy servants beaten wheat mdash Wheat stripped of the husk boiled and saturated with butter forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki_511) There is no discrepancy between that passage and this The yearly supplies of wine and oil mentioned in the former were intended for Huramrsquos court in return for the cedars sent him while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon

35

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

PULPIT Beaten wheat In 1 Kings 511 the language is wheat for food ( מכלת ) while the Septuagint gives סילבקו יךב In our present passage the Septuagint gives ע יו

לבפבשגס suggesting at once that our Hebrew מכות is an error for מכלת The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for plagues strokes etc and it is nowhere but in this place rendered beaten I will give to thy servants This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 511 but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it It is possible that the two passages are distinct The contents of the present verse at all events need not be credited with any ambiguity unless indeed we would wish it more definite whether the expression I will give to thy servants may not be quite as correctly understood for thy servants ie to thee as the hire of them If this be so it would enable us to give at once all the wheat and two hundred out of the 20000 baths of oil for the consumption not of the literal workmen but of the royal household Then this granted the verse though not identical with 1 Kings 511 is brought into harmony with it Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 51-18 what we learn is that Solomon in his application to Hiram offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (1 Kings 56) Hirams reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment food for his household (1 Kings 59) the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in 1 Kings 511 This is the whole case the discrepancies in which are plain but they do not amount to contradictions The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomons original application to Hiram Measures These were cots and the cot was the same as the homer From a calculation of some doubtfulness however made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 422 it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32000 measures The cor or homer was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity being equal to 180 cabs 100 omers 30 seahe 10 ephahs though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at Baths The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs

BENSON 2 Chronicles 210 Behold I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat ampc mdash Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water but with plenty of provisions and of the best kind They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid but well provided for with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned

ELLICOTT (10) And behold I will give barleymdashRather And behold for the hewers that is for the woodcutters I will give wheat as food for thy servants viz twenty thousand kors and barley twenty thousand kors ampc ldquoFor the hewersrdquo may mean ldquoas for the hewersrdquo or perhaps ldquoon account of the hewersrdquo (Genesis 423) The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1 Kings 511

36

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

where we read ldquoAnd Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household and twenty korsrdquo (LXX 20000 baths) ldquoof pure ouuml so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by yearrdquo ie during his building operations

Beaten wheatmdashThe Hebrew (hitticircm makkocircth) is literally wheatmdashstrokes But it is obvious that makkocircth is a misreading for makkocircleth food the word used in 1 Kings 511 and so the LXX renders The expression ldquothy servantsrdquo here seems to correspond with the phraserdquo his household ldquothere and the drift of the whole passage is that in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers Solomon engages to supply Hiramrsquos royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil

Others assume without much likelihood that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiramrsquos court and by the other his Tyrian workmen with provisions

Hewers (hocirctĕbicircm)mdashAn old word not recurring in the chronicle and therefore explained by the writer

Measures (kocircricircm)mdashThe kor was a dry measure = one quarter (Syriac reblsquoe ldquoquartersrdquo) The bath a liquid measure of six or seven gallonsrsquo capacity Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 166-7

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 210 And behold I will give to thy servants the hewers that cut timber twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat and twenty thousand measures of barley and twenty thousand baths of wine and twenty thousand baths of oil

Ver 10 And behold I will give to thy servants] And shall not Christrsquos servants and ministers have due maintenance That which is given to them is given to Christ as that which is here promised to Hiramrsquos servants is promised to Hiramrsquos self [1 Kings 56 1 Kings 511] who if he did not like it is promised more [1 Kings 56] The difference of the food and measures given by Solomon here over and above that in 1 Kings 511 may stand in this that the former was for king Hiramrsquos court and household and this here for his workmen in Lebanon

11 Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to SolomonldquoBecause the Lord loves his people he has made

37

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

you their kingrdquo

BARNES Josephus and others professed to give Greek versions of the correspondence which (they said) had taken place between Hiram and Solomon No value attaches to those letters which are evidently forgeries

Because the Lord hath loved his people - Compare the marginal references The neighboring sovereigns in their communications with the Jewish monarchs seem to have adopted the Jewish name for the Supreme Being (Yahweh) either identifying Him (as did Hiram) with their own chief god or (sometimes) meaning merely to acknowledge Him as the special God of the Jewish nation and country

CLARKE Answered in writing - Though correspondence among persons of distinction was in these early times carried on by confidential messengers yet we find that epistolary correspondence did exist and that kings could write and read in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own name About the year of our Lord 700 Withred king of Kent thus concludes a charter to secure the liberties of the Church Ego Wythredus rex Cantiae haec omnia suprascripta et confirmavi atque a me dictata propria manu signum sanctae crucis pro ignorantia literarum espressi ldquoAll the above dictated by myself I have confirmed and because I cannot write I have with my own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross +rdquo - See Wilkinsrsquo Concilta

GILL Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon In which letter he told him he had considered the contents of his and would grant him all that he desired see 1Ki_58

because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them which are much the same words the queen of Sheba said to Solomon see Gill on 1Ki_109

HENRY 11-14 Here we have I The return which Huram made to Solomons embassy in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant 1 He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (2Ch_211) Because the Lord loved his people he has made thee king Note A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Gods favour

38

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

He does not say Because he loved thee (though that was true 2Sa_1224) he made thee king but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger 2 He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David 2Ch_212 It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation and well pleased with their prosperity but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion and worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and as the fountain of power as well as being for he sets up kings Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God and so preserved their honour the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been in the days of their apostasy to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours This made them high that they lent to many nations and did not borrow lent truth to them and did not borrow error from them as when they did the contrary it was their shame 3 He sent him a very ingenious curious workman that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan and therefore says so here 2Ch_214 but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali 1Ki_714) but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6) who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mothers side 4 He engaged for the timber as much as he would have occasion for and undertook to deliver it at Joppa and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised v 15 16 This agreement we had 1Ki_58 1Ki_59

JAMISON 2Ch_211-18 Huramrsquos kind answer

Because the Lord hath loved his people etc mdash This pious language creates a presumption that Huram might have attained some knowledge of the true religion from his long familiar intercourse with David But the presumption however pleasing may be delusive (see on 1Ki_57)

KampD 11-16 The answer of King Hiram cf 1Ki_57-11 - Hiram answered בכתב in a writing a letter which he sent to Solomon In 1Ki_57 Hiram first expresses his joy at Solomons request because it was of importance to him to be on a friendly footing with the king of Israel In the Chronicle his writing begins with the congratulation because Jahve loveth His people hath He made thee king over them Cf for the expression 2Ch_98 and 1Ki_109 He then according to both narratives praises God that He has given David so wise a son 2 ויאמרCh_212 means then he said further The praise of God is heightened in the Chronicle by Hirams entering into Solomons religious ideas calling Jahve the Creator of heaven and earth Then further בן חכם is strengthened by ובינה דע שכל having understanding and discernment and this predicate is specially יreferred to Solomons resolve to build a temple to the Lord Then in 2Ch_213 he promises to send Solomon the artificer Huram-Abi On the title אבי my father ie minister counsellor and the descent of this man cf the commentary on 1Ki_713-14 In 2Ch_214 of the Chronicle his artistic skill is described in terms coinciding with

39

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

Solomons wish in 2Ch_26 only heightened by small additions To the metals as materials in which he could work there are added stone and wood work and to the woven fabrics בוץ (byssus) the later word for שש and finally to exhaust the whole he is

said to be able ולחשב כל־מח to devise all manner of devices which shall be put to him as in Exo_314 he being thus raised to the level of Bezaleel the chief artificer of the tabernacle עם־חכמי is dependent upon ת as in 2Ch_26 The promise to send לעשcedars and cypresses is for the sake of brevity here omitted and only indirectly indicated in 2Ch_216 In 2Ch_215 however it is mentioned that Hiram accepted the promised supply of grain wine and oil for the labourers and 2Ch_216 closes with the promise to fell the wood required in Lebanon and to cause it to be sent in floats to Joppa (Jaffa) whence Solomon could take it up to Jerusalem The word צר ldquoneedrdquo is a απαξ λεγ in

the Old Testament but is very common in Aramaic writings ת floatsrdquo tooldquo רפסד

occurs only here instead of ת 1Ki_59 and its etymology is unknown If we דבבcompare 1Ki_513-16 with the parallel account in 1Ki_58-11 we find that besides Hirams somewhat verbose promise to fell the desired quantity of cedars and cypresses on Lebanon and to send them in floats by sea to the place appointed by Solomon the latter contains a request from Hiram that Solomon would give him לחם maintenance for his house and a concluding remark that Hiram sent Solomon cedar wood while Solomon gave Hiram year by year 20000 kor of wheat as food for his house ie the royal household and twenty kor beaten oil that is of the finest oil In the book of Kings therefore the promised wages of grain wine and oil which were sent to the Tyrian woodcutters is passed over and only the quantity of wheat and finest oil which Solomon gave to the Tyrian king for his household year by year in return for the timber sent is mentioned In the Chronicle on the contrary only the wages or payment to the woodcutters is mentioned and the return made for the building timber is not spoken of but there is no reason for bringing these two passages which treat of different things into harmony by alterations of the text For further discussion of this and of the measures see on 1Ki_511

PULPIT Huram hellip answered in writing It is impossible to argue with any but superficial plausibility that Solomon had not used writing In the parallel of Kings an identical expression is used for the communications of both Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 22) and Hiram sent to Solomon (2 Chronicles 28) The productions of the forms of this correspondence by Josephus (Ant Jud 82) and Eupolemus (Ap Praep Evang 933) are of course merely mythical Because the Lord hath loved his people This beautiful expression has parallels not only in such passages as 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 but in such as Deuteronomy 713 Deuteronomy 1015 Psalms 474 Psalms 11512 Jeremiah 313 Hosea 111 Hosea 114 These were all precursors of the fuller assertion and kinder demonstration of Gods love repeated so often and in such tender connections in the Epistles of the New Testament This verse and the following are also testimony to the indirect influences on surrounding nations of the knowledge of the one true Creator-God and Ruler-God that was domiciled by special revelation and oracle (Romans 32) with Israel Where nations near were bitter foes they often feared Israels God

40

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

whereas now they were friends they could summon to their lips the highest of the outbursts of praise not to say of adoration The very noteworthy sympathy of Hiram with Israel may have owed something to his personal predilection for David (1 Kings 51) And this again is convincing testimony to the worth and usefulness of individual character which here influenced the destiny of two whole nations

BENSON 2 Chronicles 211 Huram answered Because the Lord loved his people ampc mdash Thus he congratulates the happiness of Israel in having such a king as Solomon was And certainly a wise and good government is a great blessing to a people and may well be accounted a singular token of Godrsquos favour He does not say Because he loved thee he made thee king (though that also was true) but because he loved his people Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good not for their own personal satisfaction and should rule so as to evidence they were given to their people in love not in anger

ELLICOTT (11) Answered in writingmdashSaid in a letter This seems to imply that Solomonrsquos message had been orally delivered

Because the Lord hath loved his peoplemdashSo 2 Chronicles 98 1 Kings 109 In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah on hearing Solomonrsquos message apparently before writing his reply

Verses 11-15

(11-15) Huramrsquos reply (Comp 1 Kings 57-9)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 211 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD hath loved his people he hath made thee king over them

Ver 11 Because the Lord hath loved his people] It is a great mercy of God to any people that they have good governors and the contrary [Isaiah 32-4]

GUZIK 3 (2 Chronicles 211-16) Hiramrsquos response to Solomon

Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing which he sent to Solomon Because the LORD loves His people He has made you king over them Hiram also said Blessed be the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth for He has given King David a wise son endowed with prudence and understanding who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal house for himself And now I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre) skilled to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood purple and blue fine linen and

41

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

crimson and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father Now therefore the wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants And we will cut wood from Lebanon as much as you need we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa and you will carry it up to Jerusalem

a Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing ldquoWe find that kings could write and read in what were called the by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans barbarous nations Nearly two thousand years after this we find a king on the British throne who could not sign his own namerdquo (Clarke)

b Blessed be the LORD God of Israel We canrsquot say if Hiram was a saved man but he certainly respected the God of Israel This was no doubt due to Davidrsquos godly influence on Hiram

c I have sent a skillful man endowed with understanding Huram my master craftsman King Hiram answered Solomonrsquos request for a skillful man (2 Chronicles 27) Huram had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father

d The wheat the barley the oil and the wine which my lord has spoken of let him send to his servants Hiram agreed to work for the arrangement suggested by Solomon though he could have asked for more (1 Kings 56)

i This shows us that Hiram did expect to be paid His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice ldquoThere are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work and talk as if it were very near their hearts who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had The man who serves God because he gets paid for it does not serve Himrdquo (Maclaren)

12 And Hiram added

ldquoPraise be to the Lord the God of Israel who made heaven and earth He has given King David a wise son endowed with intelligence and discernment who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself

42

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

BARNES The Lord that made heaven and earth - This appears to have been a formula designating the Supreme God with several of the Asiatic nations In the Persian inscriptions Ormazd is constantly called ldquothe great god who gaverdquo (or made) ldquoheaven and earthrdquo

GILL Huram said moreover blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth Huram seems to have had some good notions of the divine Being not only as the God of the people of Israel in a peculiar sense but as the Former and Maker of all things

who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding see 1Ki_57

that might build an house for the Lord and for his kingdom as in 2Ch_21

JAMISON KampD BENSON 2 Chronicles 212 Blessed be the Lord that made heaven and earth mdash It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation but a proselyte to their religion and that he worshipped Jehovah the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbour nations) as the God that made heaven and earth and the fountain of power as well as of being

ELLICOTT (12) Huram said moreovermdashAnd Huram said that is in his letter to Solomon

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earthmdashIn 1 Kings 57 we read simply ldquoBlessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great peoplerdquo The chronicler has perhaps modified the words of his source in a monotheistic sense although it is quite possible that Jeaovah was known to the polytheist Phoenician by the title of ldquoMaker of heaven and earthrdquo (Comp Genesis 1419) An inscription of the Persian emperor Xerxes speaks of the Supreme in terms which resemble what Solomon says in 2 Chronicles 25 as well as Huramrsquos language here ldquoThe great god Ahuramazda great one of the gods who made this earth who made these heavensrdquo (inscription on rocks at Elvend)

An house for his kingdommdashA royal palace (2 Chronicles 711 2 Chronicles 81)

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 212 Huram said moreover Blessed [be] the LORD God of

43

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son endued with prudence and understanding that might build an house for the LORD and an house for his kingdom

Ver 12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth] Egregia est confessio Aristotle held the worldrsquos eternity

COFFMAN 12-16 Blessed be Jehovah lord of heaven and earth (2 Chronicles 212) Critics find fault here as they do at every possible excuse because of Hurams apparent belief in Jehovah but anyone should be able to see that the king of Tyre said this in the same lack of sincerity with which he even called Solomon his `lord in 2 Chronicles 215 In a polytheistic society politeness to a neighbors god cost nothing[9]

Of Huram my fathers (2 Chronicles 213) The RSV should be followed here I have sent a skillful man Huramabi

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan (2 Chronicles 214) Critics love to cite this as a discrepancy with 1 Kings 714 which refers to her as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali some even calling it a contradiction Of course the two passages teach that Huramabis mother was by birth of the tribe of Dan and by residence of the tribe of Napthtali

Let him send unto his servants (2 Chronicles 215) Huram in these words surely suggests that the supplies for the upkeep of all the workmen Solomon requested was expected to be paid in advance

In floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 216) This was the nearest seaport to Jerusalem located about 35 miles east of Joppa with rugged territory in between Solomon indeed needed many workmen to transport shiploads of lumber over that distance

13 ldquoI am sending you Huram-Abi a man of great skill

44

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

BARNES Of Huram my fatherrsquos - A wrong translation Huram here is the workman sent by the king of Tyre and not the king of Tyrersquos father (see 1Ki_51 note) The words in the original are Huram Abi and the latter word is now commonly thought to be either a proper name or an epithet of honor e g my master-workman

CLARKE I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram or Hiram Abi see the notes on 1Ki_713 1Ki_714

GILL And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding In such things as Solomon required he should 2Ch_27

of Huram my fathers a workman of his whom he employed and so might be depended upon as a good artificer though rather Huram is the artificers name

and Abi we render my father his surname that is Huram Abi and this is the opinion of several learned men (g) and is very probable for certain it is that his name was Huram or Hiram 1Ki_713 and so he is called Huram his father or Huram Abif 2Ch_416

JAMISON I have sent a cunning man mdash (See on 1Ki_713-51)

PULPIT Of Huram my fathers The words of 2 Chronicles 411 2 Chronicles 416 would invest these with suspicion if nothing that occurred before did as eg the parallel passage (1 Kings 713 1 Kings 714 1 Kings 740) There can be no doubt from these passages that the name Huram of this verse is the name of the workman sent (the lamed prefixed being only the objective sign) not the supposed name of King Hirams father which as already seen was Abibaal But the following word translated my father ( אבי ) is less easily explained 2 Chronicles 416 (his father) is quite sufficient to negative the rendering father altogether In our text altogether inappropriate it may be called there altogether impossible It has been proposed to render it as a proper name Abi or as an affix of honour Ab equal to master However Gesenius (in Lexicon sub roe אב)6 ) which see) furnishes a signification chief counsellor which (taking it to mean chief counsellor or as it were expert chief referee or even only foreman in such matters as might be in question) would well suit all the passages and remove all difficulty

ELLICOTT (13) Endued with understandingmdashSee the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 1232

Of Huram my fatherrsquosmdashRather Huram my fathermdashie master preceptor as in 2 Chronicles 416 where Huram is called the ldquofatherrdquo of Solomon (Comp Genesis 458 Judges 1710 Judges 1819 So LXX and Vulgate Syriac omits)

45

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Huram my fatherrsquos

Ver 13 Of Huram my father] ie His servant and architect The Vulgate hath it Hiram my father ie one whom for his virtue wisdom and industry I honour as a father

COKE 2 Chronicles 213 And now I have sent a cunning man ampcmdash Therefore I have sent unto thee a man of understanding whom my father Huram had for his instructor Houbigant

REFLECTIONSmdash1st Solomon being appointed to build Gods house and by his wisdom so highly qualified for it begins to set about the glorious structure and afterwards resolves to raise a palace for himself Note Let God be always first and best served For this purpose he sends an embassage to Hiram or Huram king of Tyre whose assistance he wanted in the work He mentions the kindness that Hiram had shewn to David as a reason for continuing his friendship to him his son informs him of his design to build the house of God of whose glory he speaks most highly The God of Israel was above all gods therefore a temple became him such as nowhere else could be found not that the most pompous structure could be worthy of the infinite God or his immensity be circumscribed by the largest palace since the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him He pretended only to build a place to worship and sacrifice before him The Tyrians being most expert workmen he begs him to send him a capital artist in engraving and embroidery who might instruct those that were ingenious among his own people and requests that he would cut down and convey to him from Lebanon cedars and other timber in which service he would send his own servants with Hirams who were more skilled in the business In consideration for which services he offers to give as wages and maintenance for Hirams servants twenty thousand measures of wheat and barley and as many baths of wine and oil commodities which Tyre wanted and in which Canaan abounded Note (1) We should desire to make our fathers friends our own (2) They who have the knowledge of the true God themselves would fain have others acquainted with him also (3) Though when we have done our best it is poor and unworthy of God yet it speaks at least our humble gratitude

2nd Hiram was as ready to grant as Solomon to ask and that in the most friendly manner congratulating Israel on so good a king and blessing God for giving so gracious a son to his friend He sent him an ingenious artist half an Israelite and therefore more likely to be hearty in the service undertook to convey the timber to Joppa by sea and accepted of the wages proposed Note (1) The polite manner in which a favour is conferred doubles the obligation (2) The assistance of the Gentiles in building the church was a figure of their incorporation in the fulness of time with the Israel of God

46

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

Solomon immediately dispatched his servants to Lebanon to meet Hirams He employed no Israelites in servile work but the strangers who probably by becoming proselytes were incorporated among them whether of the remnant of the old inhabitants or others These to the number of 153600 David had registered before and Solomon now set them to work for him and no doubt well paid them for their labour

14 whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre He is trained to work in gold and silver bronze and iron stone and wood and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord David your father

BARNES To find out every device - Compare Exo_314 The ldquodevicesrdquo intended are plans or designs connected with art which Huram could invent on any subject that was ldquoput to himrdquo

GILL The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan Here follows an account of the descent of the artificer and of his skill in working of what seeming disagreement there may be in this account with that in 1Ki_714 see Gill on 1Ki_714

PULPIT Son of a woman hellip of Dan Both this and the parallel (1 Kings 714) agree as to the father of this very clever workman that he was a man of Tyre But the parallel gives the mother as a woman of the tribe of Naphtali and calls her a widow This must mean either that she was a widow now or that she was a widow when the man of Tyre married her If this latter is the correct meaning it

47

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

has been suggested that though the mother was really a woman of the daughters of Dan yet the husband who dying left her a widow was of the tribe of Naphtali and that from this she became credited with belonging to that tribe It would seem not altogether impossible that it may be intended to state in a delicate way that this remarkably able man was the natural son of the widow in question the man of Tyre (not called her husband) being the father On the intermarriages of Danites and Phoenicians see Blunts Coincidences pt 2 4 Skilful hellip to find out every device (For the identical phrase see Exodus 314) The present verse exceeding in definiteness verse 7 supra undoubtedly purports on the face of it to ascribe a very wide range of practical skill and not merely general administrative and directing skill to Hiram Note however the significance couched in the last clauses of both verses

BENSON 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman mdash of Dan and his father a man of Tyre mdash A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple With the cunning men of my lord David mdash So he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterward Acts 1220

ELLICOTT (14) The son of a woman of the daughters of DanmdashIn 1 Kings 714 Hiram is called ldquoson of a widow of the tribe of Naphtalirdquo ldquoBertheau explainsrdquo She was by birth a Danite married into the tribe of Naphtali became a widow and as a widow of the tribe of Naphtali became the wife of a man of Tyre by whom she had a son Huram Thus two of the tribes of Israel could boast that on the motherrsquos side Huram belonged to themrdquo But in the Hebrew words ldquodaughters of Danrdquo it is possible to see a corruption of the word NAPHTALI

SkilfulmdashThis epithet belongs to Huram not to his Tyrian father

To work in goldmdash1 Kings 714 calls Huram simply ldquoa worker in brassrdquo or bronze

PurplemdashThe strictly Hebrew form (2 Chronicles 27)

Fine linen (bucircccedil byssus)mdash1 Chronicles 1527 Neither this material of Huramrsquos art nor stone nor timber was mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27 Huram is naturally represented as enhancing the accomplishments of his artist

To find out every device which shall be put to himmdashRather to devise any manner of device that may be given him (to devise) that is to invent all kinds of artistic objects according to commission The words are a reminiscence of Exodus 314 Exodus 3532 probably interpolated by the chronicler

With thy cunning menmdashie to work along with them (Comp verse 7)

My lord DavidmdashA touch of Oriental politeness Huram was independent of David

48

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

as of Solomon

POOLE The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan of which See Poole 1 Kings 714

My lord so he calls David here and Solomon in the next verse either out of singular respect to their greatness and true worth or because he was indeed tributary to them or at least his country was nourished by their country as it was afterwards Acts 1220

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 214 The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan and his father [was] a man of Tyre skilful to work in gold and in silver in brass in iron in stone and in timber in purple in blue and in fine linen and in crimson also to grave any manner of graving and to find out every device which shall be put to him with thy cunning men and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father

Ver 14 The son of a woman] See on 1 Kings 714

Skilful to work in gold ampc] Some men are good at anything as Hippias called Omniseius by Apuleius (a) He was not only a general scholar but made with his own hands he ring he wore the clothes he had on the shoes on his feet ampc as Cicero (b) tells us

15 ldquoNow let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised

GILL Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of In his letter to him 2Ch_210 as for the phrase my lord which some think is used because Hiram was tributary to Solomon it may only be a respectful way of speaking

let him send unto his servants Hiram accepted thereof as a proper reward for the work of his servants

PULPIT The contents of this verse cannot be supposed to imply that King Hiram is eager for the pay to be remembered but are equivalent to saying promptly that all

49

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

things are ready to begin and that therefore the commissariat must be ready also

ELLICOTT (15) The wheat and the barleymdashSee 2 Chronicles 210 Huram accepts Solomonrsquos proposed exchange of benefits

His servantsmdashHuram means himself and his court The term is the correlative of ldquolordrdquo

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 215 Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil and the wine which my lord hath spoken of let him send unto his servants

Ver 15 Now therefore the wheat] See 2 Chronicles 210

16 and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa You can then take them up to Jerusalemrdquo

CLARKE In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on 1Ki_59 and on the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter

GILL And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shall need Both cedar and fir 1Ki_58

and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa a port in the Mediterranean sea the same that Jonah went down to see Gill on 1Ki_59

and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem in land carriages about forty miles off

PULPIT Joppa This was one of the most ancient of towns and is referred to by Pliny (Hist Nat 2 Chronicles 513) as Joppa Phoenicum antiquior terrarum

50

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

inundatione ut ferunt Its name ( יפו beauty) is said to have been justified by the beautiful groves in its neighbourhood It is mentioned Joshua 1946 as Japho where also we learn the circumstances under which the Dan tribe were possessed of it It is remarkable that it is not mentioned again till our present verse not even in the parallel (1 Kings 59) But it appears again in Ezra 37 Jonah 13 and in several places in the Acts of the Apostles The modern name of it is Joffa and it is not reputed as a good port now It was distant from Jerusalem some thirty-four miles The carriage of the tim-bet this road-journey is nowhere described in detail nor is the exact spot of the coast west of Lebanon mentioned where the flotes were made and thence despatched

ELLICOTT (16) And we will cut woodmdashThe we is emphatic and we on our part the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew

Wood (= ldquotimberrdquo 2 Chronicles 28-10 2 Chronicles 214)mdashProperly trees

As much as thou shalt needmdashSee margin ldquoNeedrdquo (ccedilocircrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament The word is common in the Targums and in Rabbinic writings 1 Kings 58 has the classical phrase ldquoall thy desirerdquo

In flotesmdashHeb raphsocircdocircth Another isolated expression Rendered ldquoraftsrdquo by the LXX and Vulgate but omitted by Syriac and Arabic 1 Kings 59 has docircbĕrocircth ldquoraftsrdquo which settles the meaning

To Joppamdash1 Kings 59 has the less definite ldquounto the place that thou shalt appoint merdquo Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem

And thou shalt carry it up to JerusalemmdashThis interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 59 ldquoand thou shalt take (them) awayrdquo

A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huramrsquos letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text (2 that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents From Josephus (Ant viii 2 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day if only we might trust his authority

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 216 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem

Ver 16 And we will cut wood] See the benefit of a good neighbour ready to every good office as Hesiod describeth him

51

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken and they were found to be 153600

BARNES The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Jdg_128 Jdg_130 Jdg_133 Jdg_135 but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul was (it is clear) due to David whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses

GILL In 2Ch_217 and 2Ch_218 the short statement in 2Ch_22 as to Solomons statute labourers is again taken up and expanded Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers viz the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated ldquoaccording to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered themrdquo This remark refers to 1Ch_222 where however it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple he doubtless caused them to be numbered and to this reference is here made The numbering gave a total of 153000 men of whom 70000 were made bearers of burdens ie on Lebanon and 3600 בהר ie probably hewers of stone and wood חצב 80000

foremen or overseers over the workmen להעביד את־העם to cause the people to work that is to hold them to their task With this cf 1Ki_515 where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300 This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers of higher and lower rank is given while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite) - cf 1Ki_923 and of these 250 were Israelites who alone are mentioned in 2Ch_810 while the remaining 300 were Canaanites The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts - 3850 who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1Ki_516) It is moreover stated in 1Ki_512 that Solomon had levied a force of 30000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel with the design that a third part of them that is 10000 men should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle

52

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

HENRY 17-18 II The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself not so much as to be overseers of it In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had and therefore applied to trades and got their living by their ingenuity and industry There were at this time vast numbers of them in the land (2Ch_217) who if they were of any of the devoted nations perhaps fell within the case and therefore fell under the law of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for the congregation if not yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple Yet no doubt they were well paid in money or moneys worth the law was Thou shalt not oppress a stranger The distribution of them we have here (2Ch_22 and again 2Ch_218) in all 150000 Canaan was a fruitful land that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives and the temple was a vast building that found work for so many bands Mr Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure of framing all beforehand must needs increase the work I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together without crowding one another which they could not have been upon Mount Sion And if there had not been such vast numbers employed so large and curious a fabric which was begun and ended in seven years might for aught I know have been as long in building as St Pauls

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Strangers By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land who had not been extirpated or driven out Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 121-28 133-36 But these had largely lapsed till as it appears David revived them rather trenchantly and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 87 2 Chronicles 88 1 Kings 920 1 Kings 921) The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 513-16 After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement But the place of it is sufficiently evident as indicated in 1 Chronicles 222

BENSON 2 Chronicles 217 Solomon numbered all the strangers mdash For David had not only numbered his own people but afterward the strangers that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings Yet Solomon numbered them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering

ELLICOTT (17) All the strangersmdashThe indigenous Canaanite population

53

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

(Comp the use of the term in Genesis 234 Exodus 2221 Leviticus 178)

After the numberingmdashThe word sĕphacircr ldquoreckoningrdquo ldquocensusrdquo occurs here only in the Old Testament

Wherewith David his fathermdashThe former census of the native Canaanites which had taken place by order of David is briefly recorded in 1 Chronicles 222 (Comp 2 Samuel 2024 ldquoand Adoram was over the levyrdquo from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David comp also 1 Kings 46 1 Kings 514 1 Kings 124-18)

And they were foundmdashThe total of the numbers here given is 153600 which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse viz 70000 + 80000 + 8600

POOLE Wherewith David his father had numbered them for David had not only numbered his own people for which he smarted 2Sa 24 but afterward he numbered the strangers not out of vanity but that Solomon might have a true account of them and employ them about his buildings as he saw fit Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since Davidrsquos numbering of them and it behoved him to have an exact account of them

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 217 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that [were] in the land of Israel after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred

Ver 17 After the numbering] See 1 Chronicles 222

COFFMAN After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them (2 Chronicles 217) This means that Solomons numbering was sinful exactly as was Davids (1 Chronicles 211-17)

There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chroniclers compliment to king Solomon In fact right here we have the clue to what was wrong with Davids `numbering Israel (1 Chronicles 222f) Both he and Solomon were actually in the business of enslaving all of the aliens and sojourners in Israel (descendants of the original Canaanites whom Israel did not drive out) for one purpose only that of forcing them to labor in the building of the temple Here is also the explanation of that total number given at the head of this chapter namely 150000 workers and 3600 overseers The census came first and Solomon compelled all those numbered to enter his forced labor gangs

54

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

GUZIK 4 (2 Chronicles 217-18) The laborers who built the temple

Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel after the census in which David his father had numbered them and there were found to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred And he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work

a All the aliens who were in the land of Israel This specifically tells us where the seventy thousand man labor force described here and in 1 Chronicles 22 came from

i ldquoThe temple then did not become a house of prayer for all nations by accident The nations even played a part in its constructionrdquo (Selman)

BI 17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

Naturalisation of foreigners

I A good government will tend to make a country attractive to foreigners

II Foreigners thus attracted are amenable to the laws of the state

III Thus protected they may contribute materially to the enrichment of a state by the importation of foreign industries Silk-weavers of Spitalfields

V Be kind to strangers (Bibical Museum)

Strangers in the city

I Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to explore the underground life of the community I believe that three-fourths of the young men of our cities are ruined for the simple reason that they went to look at iniquity In 1794 during the Reign of Terror in Paris there were people who to hide from their persecutors got into the sewers under the city and went on mile after mile amid the stifling atmosphere poisoned and exhausted coming out after a while at the river Seine where they washed and breathed again the pure air But alas that so many men who attempt to explore underground New York life never come to a river Seine where they can wash and they die horribly in the sewers I stand on a mountain of Colorado six thousand feet high There is a man standing beneath me who says ldquoI see a peculiar shelving to this rockrdquo and he bends towards it I say ldquoStop you will fallrdquo He says ldquoNo danger I have a steady hand and foot and see a peculiar kind of mossrdquo I say ldquoStand backrdquo but he says ldquoI am not afraidrdquo and he bends farther and farther and after a while his head whirls and his feet slipmdashand the eagles know not that it is the macerated flesh of a man they are picking at but it is So I have seen men come to the very verge of the life of this city and they look away down in it They say ldquoDonrsquot be cowardly Let us go downrdquo They look farther and farther I warn them to stand back but Satan comes behind them and while they are swinging over the verge pushes them off People say they were naturally bad They

55

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

were not They were engaged in exploration No man can afford to sail so near the coast of eternal fire for the purpose of discovering how hot it is Stand off from that exploration If you are a good swimmer and you see a man drowning leap for him and bring him ashore but if you are merely going to jump in to see him drown stand back

II Strangers in a city are in danger from the temptation to desecrate the Sabbath There is not one in ten who knows how to keep the Lordrsquos day when he is away from home and absent from all Christian influences

III Strangers in a city are not safe without Christian restraint (T De Witt Talmage)

18 He assigned 70000 of them to be carriers and 80000 to be stonecutters in the hills with 3600 foremen over them to keep the people working

BARNES On the numbers see the 1Ki_516 note

To set the people a work - Or ldquoto set the people to workrdquo - i e to compel them to labor Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips or sticks with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish

GILL And he set threescore and ten thousand of them Which is repeated from 2Ch_22 to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of 70000 of them bearers of burdens 80000 of them hewers of wood and 3600 overseers of the workmen in all 153600 an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple the church Zec_615

JAMISON Solomon numbered all the strangers etc mdash (See on 1Ki_513 see on 1Ki_518)

PULPIT Three thousand and six hundred Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 810 infra the total 3850 of 1 Kings 516 is exactly reached That total however is reached by a somewhat different classification the division being into 3300 strangers and 500 chief of the officers (1 Kings 923) The explanation probably is that of the 3600 stranger overseers the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon who were probably Israelites

56

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

BENSON 2 Chronicles 218 To be hewers in the mountain mdash He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery but the strangers that were proselytes who having no lands applied themselves to trades and got their living by their industry or ingenuity

ELLICOTT mdashLiterally and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 515

And three thousand and six hundred overseersmdashThe same number was given in 2 Chronicles 22 In 1 Kings 516 we read of 3300 officers In the Hebrew three (shacirclocircsh) and six (shecircsh) might easily be confused our reading appears right The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30000 Israelites which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 513-14) whether by an oversight or from disapproval we cannot say Adding that number to the 70000 and 80000 other labourers we get a grand total of 180000 which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3600 overseers

OverseersmdashHeb mĕnaccedilccedilĕhicircm Only here and in 2 Chronicles 22 supra and 2 Chronicles 3413 It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 319) while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 38-9 (See Note on 1 Chronicles 1521)

To set the people a workmdashie on work or a-working (Comp ldquoI go a-fishingrdquo John 213) Literally to make the people work

TRAPP 2 Chronicles 218 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them [to be] bearers of burdens and fourscore thousand [to be] hewers in the mountain and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work

Ver 18 And he set threescore and ten thousand of them] Hereby were shadowed out the several offices in Christrsquos Church this St Paul setteth forth by the similitude of the diffferent members in manrsquos body ampc

To set the people a work] Heb To make them to pass sc from one business to another

COFFMAN To set the people at work (2 Chronicles 218) This means to compel them to work Probably like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor these officers carried whips to quicken the movement of the sluggish[10]

It was the brutal and heartless wickedness of Solomon in this very particular that precipitated the rebellion of the ten northern tribes in the reign of Solomons son Rehoboam It happened when Rehoboam sent the hated slave-driver Adoram to

57

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58

negotiate with the dissatisfied northern tribes (1 Kings 1218) (See our further comment on this in 1Kings)

Footnotes

2 Chronicles 21 In Hebrew texts 21 is numbered 118 and 22-18 is numbered 21-172 Chronicles 23 Hebrew Huram a variant of Hiram also in verses 11 and 122 Chronicles 28 Probably a variant of almug2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3600 tons or about 3200 metric tons of wheat2 Chronicles 210 That is probably about 3000 tons or about 2700 metric tons of barley2 Chronicles 210 That is about 120000 gallons or about 440000 liters

58