2 Chronicles 2
Cambridge2 Chronicles 2:1
Ch. 2. Solomon’s Preparations for Building the Temple 1, 2 (= 2 Chronicles 2:17-18 [1:18, 2 Chronicles 2:1, Heb.] below; 1 Kings 5:15). Bearers and Hewers
- determined] R.V. purposed, as in 1 Kings 5:5. for the name] cp. 1 Chronicles 22:7; 1 Chronicles 22:10; 1 Chronicles 22:19; 1 Chronicles 28:3; 1 Chronicles 29:16. a house for his kingdom] See 1 Kings 7:1-8.
2 Chronicles 2:2
- told out] The 150,000 bearers and hewers mentioned here are said to have been aliens (2 Chronicles 2:17). This statement is confirmed by 1 Kings 5:15 which distinguishes them from the levy of 30,000 hewers raised out of all Israel (ib. 1 Kings 5:13). The 30,000 Israelites were subject to a corvée of one month in every three, the 150,000 aliens were apparently always at work. Cp. 2 Chronicles 8:9, note. in the mountain] R.V. in the mountains. The Hebrew expression is indefinite.
2 Chronicles 2:3-10
3–10 [2–9, Heb.] (= 1 Kings 5:2-6). Solomon’s Message to Huram This passage is much fuller in Chron. than in 1 Kings, which offers no parallel to Solomon’s language with regard to the Temple; 2 Chronicles 2:4-6. Again 2 Chronicles 2:7 (the request for a “cunning man”) has no nearer parallel than 1 Kings 7:13. For 2 Chronicles 2:10 also there is no strict parallel in 1 Kings.
2 Chronicles 2:4
- the continual shewbread] See 1 Chronicles 9:32, notes; Leviticus 24:5-9. on the solemn feasts) R.V. on the set feasts. Cp. 1 Chronicles 23:31, note.
2 Chronicles 2:6
- is able] Lit. retaineth strength; 1 Chronicles 29:14. Cp. 2 Chronicles 6:2; 2 Chronicles 6:18. to burn sacrifice] R.V. to burn incense.
2 Chronicles 2:7
- can skill to grave] Literally, knoweth how to grave. to grave with the cunning men] R.V. to grave all manner of gravings, to be with the cunning men. To grave is “to carve.” Cp. 1 Kings 6:29. my father did provide] See 1 Chronicles 22:15.
2 Chronicles 2:8
- fir trees] R.V. mg., cypress trees (which however are not now indigenous on Lebanon). algum trees] called almug trees in 1 Kings 10:11-12 and there described as coming from Ophir. According to 1 Kings 5:8 Solomon asked for cedar and “fir” only; so that the mention of algum trees here is probably incorrect. Algum is perhaps sandal wood.
2 Chronicles 2:10
- measures] Hebrew, cors. A cor was the same as a homer = 393.9 litres. beaten wheat] 1 Kings 5:11, 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 5:11; there wheat and oil only are mentioned. twenty thousand baths of oil] in 1 Kings 5:11 (Heb.) twenty cors of pure oil. As ten baths went to a cor, the amount stated in Chron. is a hundred times as much as the amount given in 1 Kings (7878 litres).
2 Chronicles 2:11
11–16 [10–15, Heb.] (= 1 Kings 5:7-9). Huram’s Answer to Solomon 11. hath loved] R.V. loveth. Cp. 2 Chronicles 9:8.
2 Chronicles 2:12
- prudence and understanding] R.V. discretion and understanding (as in 1 Chronicles 22:12, R.V.). that might build] R.V. that should build.
2 Chronicles 2:13
- I have sent] According to 1 Kings 7:13 Solomon himself sent and fetched Hiram the artificer. of Huram my father’s) Better as R.V. mg., even Huram my father. Huram the king calls Huram the artificer my father as a title of honour. Cp. 2 Chronicles 4:16.
2 Chronicles 2:14
- of Dan] in 1 Kings 7:14, of Naphtali. The reading of Chron. may have arisen from Exodus 31:6 (Oholiab one of the artificers of the tabernacle was of the tribe of Dan). to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men] R.V. to devise any device: that there may be a place appointed unto him with thy cunning men.
2 Chronicles 2:16
- Joppa] Hebrew, Japho, modern Jaffa (Yâfâ).
2 Chronicles 2:17
17, 18 [16, 17, Heb.] (cp. 2). Bearers and Hewers 17. David his father] See 1 Chronicles 22:2.
2 Chronicles 2:18
- three thousand and six hundred overseers] In 1 Kings 5:16, 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). Cp. also 2 Chronicles 8:10 (= 1 Kings 9:23). a work] i.e. on work, to work.