2 Chronicles 3

2 Chronicles 3:1

Ch. 2 Chronicles 3:1-2 (= 1 Kings 6:1). The Temple Begun

1. in mount Moriah] Genesis 22:2. in the place that David had prepared] R.V. which he made ready in the place that David had appointed (following the Hebrew, whereas A.V. leaves the Hebrew and agrees with LXX.). Ornan the Jebusite] See 1 Chronicles 21:15 ff.

2 Chronicles 3:2

2. in the second day] The words are absent from 1 Kings and should probably be omitted here. The year according to 1 Kings was the four hundred and eightieth after the Exodus.

2 Chronicles 3:3

3 (= 1 Kings 6:2). The Measurements of the Temple 3. these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed] R.V. these are the foundations which Solomon laid. cubits after the first measure] There were apparently two cubits in use, the ordinary earlier cubit of about 17½ inches (Deuteronomy 3:11 “the cubit of a man”) and another later cubit of about 21½ inches, longer than the first by a handbreadth (Ezekiel 40:5).

2 Chronicles 3:4

4 (= 1 Kings 6:3). The Porch 4. And the porch that was in the front of the house] The Hebrew text is faulty, but the sense is probably correctly given in A.V. the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits] R.V. the length of it, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits. the height was an hundred and twenty] So LXX. If the measurement is correctly given, this building was rather a tower than a porch. In 1 Kings nothing is said about height.

2 Chronicles 3:5

5–7 (cp. 1 Kings 6:15; 1 Kings 6:21; 1 Kings 6:29-30). The Temple 5. the greater house] It was forty cubits long (1 Kings 6:17), whereas the shrine was twenty (1 Kings 6:16; 1 Kings 6:20). he cieled] i.e. lined or boarded. The same Hebrew word is translated overlaid in this same verse. set thereon] R.V. wrought thereon, perhaps in the form of reliefs. palm trees and chains] The “chains” perhaps connected one palm tree with another. In 1 Kings 6:29, “cherubim and palm trees and open flowers.”

2 Chronicles 3:6

6. precious stones] Not mentioned in the parallel account, but according to 1 Kings 5:17 costly stones (the same expression in Hebrew) were used for the foundations of the house. Probably here also costly rather than precious stones are meant. Parvaim] Apparently the name of a place, but nothing certain is known about it.

2 Chronicles 3:7

7. the posts] R.V. the thresholds. cherubims] Under what form these mysterious beings were represented in the Temple is not known. It has been said that the winged bull of the Assyrian sculptures was sometimes called kirubu in Assyrian. If this be true, then cherub is perhaps a word borrowed from the Assyrian, and the cherubs in the Temple may have had the form of winged bulls. But nothing is certainly known on this subject. The graving of the cherubim was not necessarily a breach of the Second Commandment, for they were not put up to “bow down to” or to “serve.”

2 Chronicles 3:10

10–13. The Cherubim 10. of image work] Both the meaning of the phrase and the reading are doubtful; LXX. ἔργονἐκξύλων; 1 Kings 6:23, of olive wood (R.V.). and overlaid] R.V. and they overlaid; but the singular is probably right; LXX. ἐχρύσωσεν: 1 Kings 6:28, and he overlaid.

2 Chronicles 3:11

11. one wing] R.V. the wing.

2 Chronicles 3:12

12. And one wing] R.V. And the wing.

2 Chronicles 3:13

13. twenty cubits] Extending across the width of the whole house. on their feet] Not “couchant” nor “rampant” but standing as the winged bulls of Assyria stand. inward] R.V. towards the house, as though to protect the Holiest Place from violation from anyone advancing through the house.

2 Chronicles 3:14

14 (cp. Exodus 26:31-32). The Vail No vail for Solomon’s Temple is mentioned in 1 Kings, but (1 Kings 6:31-32) doors of olive wood with cherubim carved upon them stood at the entrance of the Holy of Holies. The vail here described seems to have been borrowed by the Chronicler from the account of the tabernacle given in Exodus.

2 Chronicles 3:15

15–17 (= 1 Kings 7:15-22). The Pillars Jachin and Boaz 15. before the house two pillars] Cp. 1 Kings 7:21, he set up the pillars at the porch of the temple, and Jeremiah 52:17 (translate, the pillars … that belonged to the house). These pillars were immediately in front of the porch, but (it seems) detached from it. They were cast in brass (2 Chronicles 4:11-17), were hollow (Jeremiah 52:21), and were crowned with “chapiters” (capitals) in shape like bowls (1 Kings 7:41). The dimensions of the pillars (without the chapiters) are variously given thus:— Ch 3:15(Heb.) length 35 cubits. Ch 3:15(LXX.) height (ὕψος) 35 cubits. Jeremiah 52:21(Heb.) height (ὕψος) 18 cubits. Jeremiah 52:21(LXX.) height (ὕψος) 35 cubits. Ki 7:15(Heb. and LXX.) height (ὕψος) 18 cubits. Jeremiah 52:21(Heb. and LXX.) circumference 12 cubits. Ki 7:15(Heb.) circumference 12 cubits. Ki 7:15(LXX.) circumference 14 cubits. The purpose for which the pillars were erected is not certainly known. The fact that names were given them (2 Chronicles 3:17) suggests that they were symbols, perhaps of the presence of Jehovah; cp. Isaiah 19:19, where a pillar, maηηηbβh, is regarded (equally with an altar) as “a sign and witness unto the Lord.” Such a pillar might sometimes be used as an altar; cp. 1 Chronicles 11:22 (note) and Genesis 28:18; and the “bowls” of the chapiters of Solomon’s two pillars may have been meant to contain something to be burnt in sacrifice. See Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 191, note 1, and Additional Note L, where there is an illustration of a coin shewing two detached pillars standing in front of the temple of Aphrodite at Paphos. The two pillars in the temple of Heracles at Tyre, of which Herodotus (2:44) speaks, were perhaps simply votive offerings.

2 Chronicles 3:16

16. he made chains, as in the oracle] R.V. he made chains in the oracle. The words, in the oracle, though found in LXX., are probably a gloss introduced from 1 Kings 6:21 (chains … before the oracle). The Chronicler is here speaking of the outside of the Temple, having already described the “oracle,” i.e. the Holy of Holies, in 2 Chronicles 3:8-14. The Heb. word dìbîr was translated “oracle” because it was supposed to be derived from a word meaning “to speak.” It means, however, simply “the hindmost part” of the house (cf. 2 Chronicles 4:20, 2 Chronicles 5:7; 2 Chronicles 5:9).

2 Chronicles 3:17

17. he reared up] R.V. he set up (as in 1 Kings 7:21). Jachin … Boaz] R.V. mg. translates the two words; Jachin “he shall establish,” Boaz perhaps “In it is strength.” LXX. gives Κατόρθωσις (“setting up”) and Ἰσχύς (“strength”). The meaning of Boaz is quite uncertain.