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1Solomon ordered the building of a Templea to honor the Lord and a royal palace for himself.
2He allocated 70,000 men as laborers, 80,000 as stone cutters in the mountains, and 3,600 as foremen.
3Solomon sent a message to Hiram,b king of Tyre, telling him,
4“Please do as you did with my father David when you sent him cedar timber for him to build a palace to live in. I'm about to start building a Temple to honor the Lord my God, dedicated to him, where he will be offered sweet-smelling incense, where the showbread will be always set out in rows, and where burnt offerings will be made every morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, at new moon festivals, and at the feasts of the Lord our God—this to be done forever in Israel.
5This Temple I am about to build must be impressive, because our God is greater than all gods.
6But who can build a Temple for him to live in, for the heavens, even highest heaven, cannot contain him, and who am I that I should dare to build him a house, except to burn incense to him?
7So please send me a master craftsman who is skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, and iron; and in purple, scarlet, and blue fabrics. He must also know how to engrave, working together with my expert craftsmen from Judea and Jerusalem provided by my father David.
8Also send me cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that your workers are skillful in cutting down the trees of Lebanon. I will send men to help your workers
9to produce a large quantity of timber because the Temple I'm building will be really large and very impressive.
10I will pay your workers, the wood-cutters, 20,000 cors of crushed wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil.”
11King Hiram of Tyre responded to Solomon by letter: “It's because the Lord loves his people that he has made you their king.”
12Hiram went on, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth! He has given King David a wise son with insight and understanding who is going to build a Temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.
13I'm sending you Hiram-Abi, a master craftsman who knows and understands what he's doing.
14His mother is from the tribe of Dan and his father is from Tyre. He's an expert in working with gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple, blue, and crimson fabric, and fine linen. He can do all kinds of engraving and can make any design he's given. He'll work with your craftsmen and with the craftsmen of my lord, your father David.
15Now my lord, please send to us his servants the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine he spoke about.
16We will cut all timber you need from Lebanon and take it to you by sea in rafts to Joppa. From there you can transport it to Jerusalem.”
17Solomon had a census taken of all the foreigners in the land of Israel, like the census his father David had conducted, and found there were 153,600.
18He allocated 70,000 as laborers, 80,000 as stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 as foremen.
Footnotes:
1 aThe words “Temple” and “palace” translate the usual word for “house.”
3 b“Hiram,” here spelled “Huram,” also 2:11. (See 1 Kings 5).
- Adam Clarke
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Keil-Delitzsch
- Matthew Henry
- Tyndale
Introduction
Solomon determines to build a temple, Ch2 2:1. The number of his workmen, Ch2 2:2. Sends to Huram for artificers and materials, Ch2 2:3-10. Huram sends him a favorable answer, and makes an agreement with him concerning the labor to be done, and the wages to be paid to his men, Ch2 2:11-16. The number of strangers in the land, and how employed, Ch2 2:17, Ch2 2:18.
Verse 1
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.
Verse 3
Solomon sent to Huram - This man's 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 Kg1 5:2 (note).
Verse 6
Seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens - "For 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 house?" - 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.
Verse 7
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.
Verse 11
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; "All 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 +." - See Wilkins' Concilta.
Verse 13
I have sent a cunning man - His name appears to have been Hiram, or Hiram Abi: see the notes on Kg1 7:13, Kg1 7:14.
Verse 16
In floats by sea to Joppa - See the note on Kg1 5:9, and on the parallel places, for other matters contained in this chapter.
Introduction
SOLOMON'S LABORERS FOR BUILDING THE TEMPLE. (Ch2 2:1-2) Solomon determined to build--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 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.
Verse 3
HIS MESSAGE TO HURAM FOR SKILFUL ARTIFICERS. (Ch2 2:3-10) Solomon sent to Huram--The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (Ch2 2:11; also see on Kg1 5:8). As thou didst deal with David my father--This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was David's friend (see on Kg1 5:1-6). 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 "whom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not contain," it was explained that Solomon's 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.
Verse 7
Send me now therefore a man cunning to work--Masons and carpenters were not asked for. Those whom David had obtained (Ch1 14:1) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem, and had instructed others. But he required a master of works; a person capable, like Bezaleel (Exo 35:31), 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. "The graving," probably, included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework, as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments.
Verse 8
Send me . . . cedar trees, &c.--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 Kg1 10:11).
Verse 10
behold, I will give to thy servants . . . beaten wheat--Wheat, stripped of the husk, boiled, and saturated with butter, forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare Kg1 5:11). There is no discrepancy between that passage and this. The yearly supplies of wine and oil, mentioned in the former, were intended for Huram's court in return for the cedars sent him; while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon.
Verse 11
HURAM'S KIND ANSWER. (Ch2 2:11-18) Because the Lord hath loved his people, &c.--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 Kg1 5:7).
Verse 13
I have sent a cunning man--(See on 1Ki. 7:13-51).
Verse 17
Solomon numbered all the strangers, &c.--(See on Kg1 5:13; Kg1 5:18). Next: 2 Chronicles Chapter 3
Introduction
INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 2 Solomon intending to build a temple for God, and a palace for himself, sent to Hiram, king of Tyre, to furnish him with materials and workmen, Ch2 2:1, to which Hiram returned an agreeable answer, Ch2 2:11, and for this service Solomon numbered all the strangers in Israel, Ch2 2:17.
Verse 1
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.
Verse 2
And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men,.... Of whom, and the difference of the last number in this text from Kg1 5:15, see the notes there. See Gill on Kg1 5:15. See Gill on Kg1 5:16. . 2 Chronicles 2:3 ch2 2:3 ch2 2:3 ch2 2:3And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre,.... The same with Hiram, Kg1 5:1 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 house to dwell therein; see Ch1 14:1, even so deal with me; which words are a supplement.
Verse 3
Behold, I build an house to the name of the Lord my God,.... Am about to do it, and determined upon it, see Ch2 2:1, 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.
Verse 4
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 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.
Verse 5
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: seeing the heaven, and heaven of heavens, cannot contain him? see Kg1 8:27, 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.
Verse 6
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 Ch1 22:15.
Verse 7
Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon,.... Of the two first of these, and which Hiram sent, see Kg1 5:10. The algum trees are the same with the almug trees, Kg1 10:11 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 Kg1 5:6. (c) In Targum in loc.
Verse 8
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.
Verse 9
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 Kg1 5:11, 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 12:20, and twenty thousand measures of barley; the measures of both these were the cor, of which see Kg1 5:11, 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). (d) Apud Kimchium in loc. (e) So Kimchi, "pro" "ineuria librariorum", Schindler, Lex. Pentaglott. col. 73. (f) Ludolf. Lexic. Ethiop. p. 197.
Verse 10
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 Kg1 5:8. 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 Kg1 10:9.
Verse 11
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 Kg1 5:7. that might build an house for the Lord, and for his kingdom; as in Ch2 2:1.
Verse 12
And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding,.... In such things as Solomon required he should, Ch2 2:7. of Huram my father's; a workman of his, whom he employed, and so might be depended upon as a good artificer; though rather Huram is the artificer's 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, Kg1 7:13, and so he is called "Huram his father, or Huram Abif", Ch2 4:16. (g) Luther. Emanuel Sa, Piscator, Schmidt, Beckius in Targum in loc.
Verse 13
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 Kg1 7:14; see Gill on Kg1 7:14. . 2 Chronicles 2:15 ch2 2:15 ch2 2:15 ch2 2:15Now therefore, the wheat, and the barley, the oil, and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of,.... In his letter to him, Ch2 2:10 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.
Verse 14
And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shall need,.... Both cedar and fir, Kg1 5:8, 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 Kg1 5:9, and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem; in land carriages, about forty miles off.
Verse 15
And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel,.... Which, according to Kimchi, were the remains of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites, see Ch2 8:8, yet not idolaters, or they would not have been suffered by David and Solomon to have dwelt in the land, but were such as were become proselytes of the gate: after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; not at the time Israel was numbered by him, but in order to provide workmen for the building of the temple, Ch1 22:2, and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and six hundred; men able to bear burdens, and hew timber.
Verse 16
And he set threescore and ten thousand of them,.... Which is repeated from Ch2 2:2, to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of; 70,000 of them bearers of burdens, 80,000 of them hewers of wood, and 3,600 overseers of the workmen, in all 153,600; an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple, the church, Zac 6:15. Next: 2 Chronicles Chapter 3
Introduction
The Building of the Temple - 2 Chronicles 3-5:1 (Cf. 1 Kings 6; 7:13-51.) The description of the building begins with a statement of the place where and of the time when the temple was built (Ch2 3:1-2). Then follows an account of the proportions of the building, a description of the individual parts, commencing on the outside and advancing inwards. First we have the porch (Ch2 3:3, Ch2 3:4), then the house, i.e., the interior apartment or the holy place (Ch2 3:5-7), then the holiest of all, and cherubim therein (Ch2 3:8-13), and the veil of partition between the holy place and the most holy (Ch2 3:14). After that we have the furniture of the court, the pillars of the porch (Ch2 3:15-17), the brazen altar (Ch2 4:1), the brazen sea (Ch2 4:2-5), the ten lavers (Ch2 4:6), the furniture of the holy place, candlesticks and tables (Ch2 4:7, Ch2 4:8), and of the two courts (Ch2 4:9, Ch2 4:10), and finally a summary enumeration of the brazen and golden utensils of the temple (Ch2 4:11, Ch2 4:12). The description in 1 Kings 6 and 7 is differently arranged; the divine promise which Solomon received while the building was in progress, and a description of the building of the palace, being inserted: see on 1 Kings 6 and 7.
Introduction
Solomon's trading, which we read of in the close of the foregoing chapter, and the encouragement he gave both to merchandise and manufacturers, were very commendable. But building was the work he was designed for, and to that business he is here applying himself. Here is, I. Solomon's determination to build the temple and a royal palace, and his appointing labourers to be employed herein (Ch2 2:1, Ch2 2:2, Ch2 2:17, Ch2 2:18). II. His request to Huram king of Tyre to furnish him both with artists and materials (Ch2 2:3-10). III. Huram's obliging answer to, and compliance with, his request (Ch2 2:11-16).
Verse 1
Solomon's 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 (Ch2 2:1): 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 Kg1 5:2, 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 father's interest in Huram, and the kindness he had received from him (Ch2 2:3): 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 (Ch2 2:4), 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 under the control of the God of Israel; and therefore, [1.] "The 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 God." [2.] "Yet, 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 17:24. 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 him." [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. 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 (Ch2 2:7): Send me a man. He had cunning men with him in Jerusalem and Judah, whom David provided, Ch1 22:15. Let them not think but that Jews had some among them that were artists. But "send 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 got." (2.) With good materials to work on (Ch2 2:8), cedar and other timber in abundance (Ch2 2:8, Ch2 2:9); for the house must be wonderfully great, that is, very stately and magnificent, no cost must be spared, nor any contrivance wanting in it. 3. Here is Solomon's engagement to maintain the workmen (Ch2 2:10), 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.
Verse 11
Here we have, I. The return which Huram made to Solomon's 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 (Ch2 2:11): 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 God's favour. He does not say, Because he loved thee (though that was true, Sa2 12:24) 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, Ch2 2:12. 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, Ch2 2:14, but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali, Kg1 7:14), 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 mother's 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, Kg1 5:8, Kg1 5:9. 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 (Ch2 2:17), 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 money's worth: the law was, Thou shalt not oppress a stranger. The distribution of them we have here (Ch2 2:2, and again Ch2 2:18), in all 150,000. 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. Paul's.
Verse 1
2:1 The Temple is immediately introduced as the first priority among Solomon’s building projects, although the work actually began in the fourth year of his reign (3:2). Solomon used the intervening years to negotiate with King Hiram (2:3) for materials and skilled workers.
Verse 5
2:5-6 a magnificent Temple: The greatness of the Temple and the greatness of God were not of the same order, since not even the highest heavens can contain God.
Verse 8
2:8 The cedar is Cedrus libani (“cedar of Lebanon”), a tree renowned for its beauty, impressive height (sometimes reaching 100 feet), and fragrant wood. Kings from Egypt, Phoenicia, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece used cedar timber from Lebanon for building temples and palaces. • Red sandalwood was used to make supports for the Temple (possibly pillars or balustrades) as well as musical instruments (see 1 Kgs 10:11). Often mentioned in ancient writings, the exact identity of this hard, reddish-brown wood is uncertain.
Verse 13
2:13-14 The skill and knowledge of Huram-abi, a master (literally wise) craftsman, was required for building the Temple. Huram-abi had expertise in metals (gold, silver, bronze, and iron), in stone and wood, and in textiles (purple, blue, and scarlet cloth and fine linen). Similarly, God had chosen Bezalel as the master craftsman of the Tabernacle and had endowed him with wisdom to carry out the work (Exod 31:1-5).
Verse 17
2:17-18 The book of Kings explains that all those left from the seven nations were conscripted for labor. Further, no Israelites were conscripted, and Israelites were placed in charge of the laborers (1 Kgs 9:20-23).