Chapter II · Solomon’s Preparations for Building the Temple.

1, 2 [i. 18, ii. 1, Hebrew] (= verses 17, 18 below; 1 Kings v. 15). Bearers and Hewers.

¹Now Solomon purposed to build an house for the name of the Lord, and an house for his kingdom.

1. for the name] compare 1 Chronicles xxii. 7, 10, 19, xxviii. 3, xxix. 16.

an house for his kingdom] See 1 Kings vii. 1‒8.

²And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand men that were hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.

2. told out] i.e. counted. The 150,000 bearers and hewers mentioned here are said to have been aliens (verse 17). This agrees with 1 Kings v. 15, which distinguishes them from a levy of 30,000 hewers raised out of all Israel (1 Kings v. verse 13). The 30,000 Israelites were subject to a corvée of one month in every three, the 150,000 aliens were presumably supposed to have been continuously engaged on the work. The Chronicler makes no mention of the levy of 30,000 Israelites, recorded in Kings, for no doubt he thought it unfitting that compulsory labour should be laid on the Israelites themselves. On the other hand he holds that the 150,000 were all aliens (see verses 17, 18), whereas the writer in Kings, not having that scruple before his mind, does not make any such sweeping assertion (compare, however, 1 Kings ix. 20).

3‒10 (compare 1 Kings v. 2‒6). Solomon’s Message to Huram.

This passage is much fuller in Chronicles than in 1 Kings, which offers no parallel to Solomon’s language with regard to the Temple; verses 4‒6. Again, verse 7 (the request for a “cunning man”) has no nearer parallel than 1 Kings vii. 13. For verse 10 also there is no strict parallel in 1 Kings.

³And Solomon sent to Huram¹ 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.

¹ In 1 Kings v. 1, Hiram.

3. Huram] Another form of Hiram (1 Kings v. 1 [15, Hebrew]) which is a shortened form of Ahiram (Hebrew Āḥ, “brother” and rām, “exalted”). Yet another form is Hirom (1 Kings v. 10; see Revised Version margin). The Phoenician language is written with even fewer vowel signs than are found in ancient Hebrew; hence the uncertainty in the form of this name.

didst send him cedars] See 1 Chronicles xiv. 1 = 2 Samuel v. 11.

⁴Behold, I build an house for the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel. ⁵And the house which I build is great; for great is our God above all gods.

4. the continual shewbread] See 1 Chronicles ix. 32, notes; Leviticus xxiv. 5‒9.

on the set feasts] Compare 1 Chronicles xxiii. 31, note.

⁶But who is able¹ to build him an house, seeing the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn incense before him?

¹ Hebrew retaineth strength.

6. is able] Literally retaineth strength] 1 Chronicles xxix. 14.

cannot contain him] verses 4‒6 are carefully framed to guard against the careless imagination that the Temple is God’s dwelling: to the Chronicler it is only the spot where worship is offered. Compare vi. 2, 18.

⁷Now therefore send me 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 all manner of gravings, to be with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.

7. can skill to grave] Literally knoweth how to grave. To “grave” is to “carve”; compare 1 Kings vi. 29.

my father did provide] See 1 Chronicles xxii. 15.

⁸Send me also cedar trees, fir¹ trees, and algum² 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, ⁹even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great.

¹ Or, cypress.

² In 1 Kings x. 11, almug trees.

8. cedar trees] See 1 Chronicles xxii. 4.

fir trees] margin, cypress trees (which however are not now indigenous on Lebanon).

algum trees] called almug trees in 1 Kings x. 11, 12 and there described as coming from Ophir. According to 1 Kings v. 8 Solomon asked for cedar and “fir” only; so that the mention of algum trees here is probably incorrect. Algum is perhaps sandal-wood.

¹⁰And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures¹ of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures¹ of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.

¹ Hebrew cors.

10. measures] Hebrew cors. A cor was the same as a homer = about 11 bushels.

beaten wheat] 1 Kings v. 11, wheat for food. The text is doubtful, and the phrase beaten wheat occurs nowhere else and is uncertain in meaning.

of barley] The barley and wine are not mentioned in 1 Kings v. 11; there wheat and oil only are mentioned.

twenty thousand baths of oil] In 1 Kings v. 11 (Hebrew) twenty cors of pure oil. In liquid measure the bath = about 8¼ gallons. As ten baths went to a cor, the amount stated in Chronicles is a hundred times as much as the amount given in 1 Kings.

11‒16 [10‒15, Hebrew] (compare 1 Kings v. 7‒9). Huram’s Answer to Solomon.

Like the preceding verses 3‒10, these verses show considerable variations from the parallel in Kings.

¹¹Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the Lord loveth his people, he hath made thee king over them. ¹²Huram said moreover, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son, endued with discretion and understanding, that should build an house for the Lord, and an house for his kingdom.

12. The sequence is greatly improved if this verse is read before verse 11. Probably the transposition should be made.

God of Israel] The Chronicler feels no incongruity in making Huram use the language of a worshipper of Jehovah.

¹³And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, of Huram¹ my father’s,

¹ Or, even Huram my father See chapter iv. 16.

13. I have sent] According to 1 Kings vii. 13 Solomon himself sent and fetched Hiram the artificer.

of Huram my father’s] Render either literally as margin, even Huram my father, or better, even Huram my trusted counsellor. Huram the king calls Huram the artificer my father as a title of honour. Compare iv. 16.

¹⁴the 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 devise any device: that there may be a place appointed unto him with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father. ¹⁵Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants:

14. of Dan] in 1 Kings vii. 14, of Naphtali. The reading of Chronicles may have arisen from Exodus xxxi. 6 (Oholiab one of the artificers of the tabernacle was of the tribe of Dan).

¹⁶and 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 Joppa¹; and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.

¹ Hebrew Japho.

16. Joppa] Hebrew Japho, modern Jaffa (Yāfā).

17, 18 [16, 17, Hebrew] (compare verse 2 above). Bearers and Hewers.

¹⁷And 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.

17. David his father] See 1 Chronicles xxii. 2.

¹⁸And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand that were hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people awork.

18. As the separate numbers given in this verse equal the total (150,000) given in verse 17, evidently the Chronicler thought that all the aliens in the land were forced to take part in the work!

three thousand and six hundred overseers] In 1 Kings v. 16, three thousand and three hundred. Three in Hebrew (which may be represented in English by the letters SLS) is easily corrupted into six (= SS in English letters). Compare also viii. 10 (= 1 Kings ix. 23).

awork] i.e. on work, to work.