The Second Book of the Chronicles
2 Chronicles 2
Chapter II · Vol. II, pp. 847–848
1, 17 Solomon's labourers for the building of the temple. 3 His embassage to Huram for skilful artificers and timber. 11 Huram sendeth him a friendly answer.
1 And Solomon determined1 to build an house fora the name of the LORD, and an house forb his kingdom.
1 Many things may have prevented Solomon from determining sooner—such as the popular attachment to Gibeon, and the jealousy of chiefs and tribes.—C.
a De.28.58; 12.5,11. ver.5,9. Mat.6.9,10.
2 And Solomon ctold 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.2
c ver.18. 1 Ki.5.15,16. ch.8.7-9, all Canaanites, Is.60.10; 11.10.
2 There is no discrepancy between this passage and 1 Ki.5.15. The one passage gives the first appointment of overseers, the second gives the last.—C.
3 And Solomon sent to dHuram3 the king of Tyre, saying, As thou didst deal with David my father, and edidst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein, even so deal with me.
d Or, Hiram, 1 Ki.5.1. 2 Sa.5.11.
3 This mode of spelling the word occurs only in Chronicles. In 1 Ki.5.1 it is Hiram, while in ch.7.40 the Hebrew has Hirom, as it is in the margin of the English version. Menander, as quoted by Josephus, writes the name Heiromos; Herodotus has Siromos, which is evidently an error of a copyist.—P.
4 Behold, fI build an house to the name of the LORD my God, to gdedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense,4 and for the continual show-bread, 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.
5 And the house which I build is hgreat: for igreat is our God above all gods.5
h 1 Ki.9.8. 1 Ch.29.1. Eze.7.20.
i 1 Ch.16.25. Ex.15.11; 18.11. ch.20.6. Ne.9.6. Ps.86.8-10; 89.7.
5 There can be little doubt that this Huram was a believer in the true God (see ver. 12), whose glorious attributes Solomon here celebrates; but if an idolater, Solomon well sustains his character of a preacher of truth with a view to his conversion.—C.
6 Butk who is able6 to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? lwho am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?
7 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 mDavid my father did provide.
8 Sendn me also cedar-trees, fir-trees, and oalgum-trees,7 out of Lebanon: (for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon:8) and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,
n 1 Ki.5.6. ver.9,16.
o Or, Almuggim, 1 Ki.10.11,12. ch.9.10,11.
7 The precise kind of wood is unknown. Some suppose it the lignum vitæ, others the cypress; others sandal-wood, and this is the opinion of the Jewish rabbins.—C.
8 Every employment, even the most simple, requires practice and skill, both for facility and health. Even could Solomon have claimed or enforced a right to cut timber in the forests of Lebanon, his people were unprepared for the labours both of cutting and transport. He therefore bargains with Huram for this part of the work, and sends his own people as for assistants.—C.
9 Even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house which I am about to build shall be pwonderful great.9
10 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[≈ 440,000 litres · 12,000 bushels] of wine, and twenty thousand baths[≈ 440,000 litres · 12,000 bushels] of oil.1
1 There is no discrepancy between this statement and that of 1 Ki. 5. 10. The first passage records a present or payment in kind to Huram; the second the supplies for his workmen in Lebanon.—C.
11 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing,2 which he sent to Solomon, Because the LORD hath loved his people, he hath made thee king over them.
2 Although correspondence among persons of distinction was, in these early times, carried on by confidential messengers, yet we find that epistolary intercourse did exist, and that kings could read and write in what were called by the proud and insolent Greeks and Romans, barbarous nations. But nearly 2000 years after this we find a king in England who could not sign his own name.—I.
12 Huram said moreover, qBlessed be the LORD God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and 3understanding, that might build an house for the LORD, and an house for his kingdom.
14 The son of a woman of the daughters of sDan, 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,4 and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.
15 Now therefore the wheat, and the barley, the oil, and the wine, twhich my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants:
t ver.10. 1 Ki.5.11.
16 And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need:5 and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to uJoppa,6 and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.
5 Heb. according to all thy need.
u Heb. Japha, Jos.19.46. Ezr.3.7. Jonah 1.3. Ac.10.32.
6 A town in the tribe of Dan, and one of the most ancient seaports in the world, Jos.19.46. It is about 40 miles west of Jerusalem, so that the land carriage would be comparatively easy. It contains at present about 5000 inhabitants, and is surrounded with beautiful and productive gardens.—C.
17 Andx 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.7
x As ver.2. 1 Ki.9.20-23; 5.13-16. ch.8.7. 1 Ch.22.2. The building of the temple by accursed Gentiles, was typical of their chiefly constituting the New Testament church.
7 The relics of the ancient inhabitants (ch. 8. 7) and immigrants from the surrounding nations, and who had, most probably, become proselytes to Judaism.—C.
18 And he set ythreescore 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.
y ver.2. 1 Ki.5.15,16. But here 300 superior overseers are also mentioned.
Notes
[Ver. 13. The construction is here difficult, and expositors are not agreed as to the meaning. The Hebrew may be translated literally as follows:—'And now I have sent a skilled man, endued with understanding, Huram my father.' There can be no doubt that the artificer's name was Huram. The Hebrew prefix which is translated 'of' is only a sign of the accusative. But then the difficulty arises, why is the expression 'my father' added? Some reply that the Hebrew word so translated is part of the man's name, Huram-Abi; others say the king calls the artist my father, because of his great skill. Both the Septuagint and Vulgate read 'Huram my father.' Taking this verse in connection with ch. 4. 16, I conclude that the artist's full name was Huram-Abi. P.]
Ver. 17, 18. [Ver. 17, 18 explain 1 Ch. 22. 2. The strangers resident in Palestine were collected to perform the work to which they were originally devoted. They had been permitted to reside within the bounds of the land of Israel only on condition of becoming slaves or helots to the Israelites. Their labour was now turned to good account. The magnitude of the undertaking required them all. The mere erection of a temple would have been a small thing; but the site selected was such that a vast artificial platform had to be constructed by building walls round the shelving sides of Mount Moriah, in some places to the enormous height of 200 feet, and then filling up the interior. The platform was 1000 feet square. The stones for the building were of enormous size—some of them weighing upwards of 100 tons. They were hewn in the quarries in the mountains around Jerusalem. In addition to the mere building, there were enormous cisterns excavated in the solid rock, and aqueducts constructed to bring water from Etam. P.]
Reflections.—We should always prefer the honour of God, and the welfare of his church, to our own accommodations. It is very desirable to make our fathers' creditable friends our own: and if we have the knowledge of the true God, we should labour to make others acquainted with it. Revelation will recommend itself, on trial, to every wise man. But whatever we do for God is in itself unworthy of his regard. And we ought to avoid giving others any ground to misapprehend his greatness and glory; yea, should bring all that we can to admire and adore him, and use their help in promoting his honour. And let us now rejoice that the Gentiles are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.