II. THE BUILDING AND CONSECRATION OF THE TEMPLE (2 Chronicles 2-8). Preliminary measures: (1) The levy of Canaanite labourers (2 Chronicles 2:1; 2 Chronicles 2:17). (2) The treaty with Huram of Tyre (2 Chronicles 2:3).... [ Continue Reading ]
DETERMINED. — Literally, _said,_ which may mean either _commanded,_ as in 2 Chronicles 1:2; 1 Chronicles 21:17, or _thought, purposed, resolved,_ as in 1 Kings 5:5. The context seems to favour the latter sense. AND AN HOUSE FOR HIS KINGDOM. — Or, _for his royalty;_ that is, as the Vulg. renders, _a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SOLOMON TOLD OUT. — That is, _counted out._ (Comp. Psalms 22:17; Exodus 5:8.) For the rest of this verse see Note on 2 Chronicles 2:18, where its contents are repeated. (Comp. 1 Kings 5:15.) TO BEAR... TO HEW... TO OVERSEE. — _Bearers of... hewers_... _overseers over,_ as in 2 Chronicles 2:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SOLOMON SENT TO HURAM. — Comp. 1 Kings 5:2, 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... [ Continue Reading ]
I BUILD. — _Am about to build_ (_bôneh_). TO THE NAME OF THE LORD. — 1 Kings 3:2; 1 Chronicles 16:35; 1 Chronicles 22:7. TO DEDICATE. — Or, _consecrate._ (Comp. Leviticus 27:14; 1 Kings 9:3; 1 Kings 9:7.) The italicised _and_ should be omitted, as the following words define the purpose of the dedic... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE HOUSE WHICH I BUILD IS GREAT. — 1 Chronicles 29:1. GREAT IS OUR GOD ABOVE ALL GODS. — Exodus 18 11; Deuteronomy 10:17; Psalms 77:13; Psalms 95:3. According to modern notions of magnitude, the Temple of Solomon was a small building. (See on 1 Kings 6:2.) Shelley’s “There once proud Salem’s... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHO IS ABLE. — Literally, _who could keep strength?_ (See 1 Chronicles 29:14.) THE HEAVEN... CANNOT CONTAIN HIM. — This high thought occurs in Solomon’s prayer (1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 6:18). WHO AM I THEN... BEFORE HIM? — That is, I am not so ignorant of the infinite nature of Deity, as to... [ Continue Reading ]
SEND ME NOW ... — _And now send me a wise man, to work in the gold and in the silver_ (1 Chronicles 22:15; 2 Chronicles 2:13). AND IN (_the_) PURPLE, AND CRIMSON, AND BLUE. — No allusion is made to this kind of art in 2 Chronicles 4:11, nor in 1 Kings 7:13 _seq.,_ which describe only metallurgic wo... [ Continue Reading ]
FIR TREES. — The word _bĕrôshîm_ is now often rendered cypresses. But Professor Robertson Smith has well pointed out that the Phoenician Ebusus (the modern Iviza) is the “isle of _bĕrôshîm,”_ and is called in Greek Πετυου̑σαι_, i.e.,_ “Pine islets.” Moreover a species of pine is very common on the L... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN TO PREPARE ME TIMBER IN ABUNDANCE. — Rather, _And they shall prepare,_ or, _let them prepare._ (A use of the infinitive, to which the chronicler is partial: see 1 Chronicles 5:1; 1 Chronicles 9:25; 1 Chronicles 13:4; 1 Chronicles 15:2; 1 Chronicles 22:5.) So Syriac, “Let them be bringing to me.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND, BEHOLD, I WILL GIVE... BARLEY. — Rather, _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, &c._ “For the hewers” may mean “as for the hewers,” or perhaps “on account of the hew... [ Continue Reading ]
ANSWERED IN WRITING. — _Said in a letter._ This seems to imply that Solomon’s message had been orally delivered. BECAUSE THE LORD HATH LOVED HIS PEOPLE. — So 2 Chronicles 9:8; 1 Kings 10:9. In the parallel passage Hurain blesses Jehovah, on hearing Solomon’s message, apparently before writing his r... [ Continue Reading ]
(11-15) Huram’s reply. (Comp. 1 Kings 5:7.)... [ Continue Reading ]
HURAM SAID MOREOVER. — _And Huram said,_ that is, in his letter to Solomon. BLESSED BE THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, THAT MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH. — In 1 Kings 5:7 we read simply, “Blessed be the Lord this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people.” The chronicler has perhaps modifi... [ Continue Reading ]
ENDUED WITH UNDERSTANDING. — See the same phrase in 1 Chronicles 12:32. OF HURAM MY FATHER’S. — Rather, _Huram my father_ — i.e., master, preceptor, as in 2 Chronicles 4:16, where Huram is called the “father” of Solomon. (Comp. Genesis 45:8; Judges 17:10; Judges 18:19. So LXX. and Vulgate; Syriac o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SON OF A WOMAN OF THE DAUGHTERS OF DAN. — In 1 Kings 7:14 Hiram is called “son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali.” “Bertheau explains,” 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 wh... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WHEAT, AND THE BARLEY. — See 2 Chronicles 2:10. Huram accepts Solomon’s proposed exchange of benefits. HIS SERVANTS. — Huram means himself and his court. The term is the correlative of “lord.”... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WE WILL CUT WOOD. — The _we_ is emphatic, _and we, on our part,_ the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew. WOOD (= “timber,” 2 Chronicles 2:8; 2 Chronicles 2:14). — Properly _trees._ AS MUCH AS THOU SHALT NEED. — See margin. “Need” (_çôrek_) occurs here only in the Old Testament. The word is... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE STRANGERS. — The indigenous Canaanite population. (Comp. the use of the term in Genesis 23:4; Exodus 22:21; Leviticus 17:8.) AFTER THE NUMBERING. — The word _sĕphâr,_ “reckoning,” “census,” occurs here only in the Old Testament. WHEREWITH DAVID HIS FATHER. — The former census of the native... [ Continue Reading ]
Solomon’s levy of Canaanite labourers. (A return to the subject of 2 Chronicles 2:2.)... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SET... — Literally, _and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens, and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains._ This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 5:15. AND THREE THOUSAND AND SIX HUNDRED OVERSEERS. — The same number was given in 2 Chronicles 2:2. In 1 Kings 5:16 we read of 3,300 of... [ Continue Reading ]