1 Kings 5:16

Besides the chief of Solomon's officers which [were] over the work,.... Over the whole work, preparatory for the building of the temple; though it seems chiefly to have respect to that of hewing the

And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy. No JFB commentary on these verses.

Whereof 3000 were set over the 150,000, expressed , each of these over 50 of them, and the odd 300 were set ever these 3000, each of these to have the oversight of ten of them, to take an account of the work from them. But in , these overseers are said to be 3600. Answ. The 300 added in 2Ch 2 might be a reserve, to supply the places of the other 3000; yea, or of the 3300; as any of them should be taken off from the work by death, or sickness, or weakness, or necessary occasions; which was a prudent provision, and not unusual in such-like cases. And so there were 3600 commissioned for the work, but only 3300 employed at one time; and therefore both computations may fairly stand together. Some learned men add, that those 3600 were strangers, which indeed is manifest from ; and that those 3330 were a distinct number of men, and Israelites, which were set over all the rest, both strangers and Israelites; who therefore are here called the chief of Solomon’ s officers, and are said to rule over the workmen; whereas all that is said of those 3600, , is, that they were overseers to set the people a work; which may deserve further consideration. Others say, that the 300 added in 2 Chron. were overseers of the Tyrian workmen in Mount Lebanon, and the rest in all other places; or that they were set over some particular and more curious and considerable parts of the work.

1 Kings 5:16 Beside the chief of Solomon’ s officers which [were] over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work.Ver. 16. Which ruled over the people.] And three hundred more to rule over these rulers, and all little enough to make the work to go forward as it should.

(16) The chief of Solomon’s officers we should certainly have supposed to have been taken from the Israelites (as clearly were the 550 named in 1 Kings 9:23). But the passage in Chronicles (2 Chronicles 2:18)—reckoning them at 3,600—seems to imply that they were, like the overseers of Israel in the Egyptian bondage (Exodus 5:14-15), taken from the subject races.

Verse 16. Besides - three thousand and three hundred which ruled over the people] In the parallel place, 2 Chronicles 2:18, it is three thousand six hundred. The Septuagint has here the same number.

16. three thousand and three hundred] This number differs by 300 from that given in the Chronicles. If the total of the census of the strangers there given be correct, then we ought to read 3600 as the number of the overseers. The LXX. has τρεῖςχιλιάδεςκαὶἑξακόσιοι, and adds that they were employed for 3 years in preparing the stones and the wood. The stone work was most probably given to the levy of strangers and the work of cutting and dressing timber to the 10,000 Israelites who came month and month about. The word rendered ‘hewers’ in 1 Kings 5:15 is so regularly used of workers in stone, that the LXX. nearly always renders the verb by λατομέω and its participle by λατόμοι (stone cutters). which ruled over the people] The root-sense of the verb, which is ‘to trample on,’ or ‘break down,’ gives the idea that the ruling was after the fashion of taskmasters.

Comparing this verse and 1 Kings 9:23 with 2 Chronicles 2:18; 2 Chronicles 8:10, the entire number of the overseers will be seen to be stated by both writers at 3,850; but in the one case

16. Besides the chief of Solomon’s officers — Which numbered in all 550, (chap. 1 Kings 9:23,) of which, however, 250 seem to have been Israelites, (2 Chronicles 8:9-10,) and the other 300 foreigners.