2 Chronicles 3

2 Chronicles 3:1

JL HEN Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah. See what I have noted concerning Moriah upon Gen. xxii. 2. To which may be here added, that part of this mountain was in the tribe of Judah, and part of it in the tribe of Benjamin: so that the temple is ascribed to them both. To Judah, in Psal. lxxviii. 68, 69. to Benjamin, Deut. xxxiii. 12. For the greatest part of the courts was in the tribe of Judah: but the altar, the porch, the most holy part of the temple, where the ark and the chcrubims were, in the tribe of Benjamin,. Where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the thrashing-floor of Or* nan the Jebusite.] The Targum here derives the sanctity of this place from many noble things that were done there in ancient times. For in this place, saith he, Abraham worshipped the name of the Lord, and here he offered up his son Isaac, but he was delivered by the Memra, the Word of the Lord, and a ram substituted in his place. Here Jacob prayed when ho fled from his brother Esau; and hero the angel appeared to David, and ordered him to offer sacrifice in the thrashing-floor of Oman. By which appearance and sacrifice this mountain was consecrated to be a place where the temple should be built. (See 1 Chron. xxi. 26.) But Maimonides(in his treatise of the building of the temple).carries this a great deal higher. For here, saith, he, Noah built an altar when he came out of the ark (as Abraham did when he offered his son); yea, here Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices, as xVdam the first man had done before them. And more than that, he will havo it, that he was created in this place; whence the saying of.their wise men, Man was made in the very place of his expiation. But thisjs unworthy of Maimonidcs, who is not wont to follow such conceits as this, which is borrowed from a foolish book called Pirkc Eliezcr. •

2 Chronicles 3:2

And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. Sec 1 Kings vi. 1. In the preceding winter it was not fit to build, and in the first month the paschal feast hindered, as Jarchi herd observes: and Dr. Alix takes to have been a sabbatic year, in whieji the people were free from the tillage of their ground. k,,_.,….,.*

2 Chronicles 3:3

Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. He had been instructed by David his father, who gave him a model, according to which he built it. (See 1 Chron. xxviii. 11, &c.) The Targum translates these words very clearly, which in the Hebrew arc a little obscure, These are the dimensions of the foundation of the temple, which Solomon begair to build. So in-our margin wo translate the word, not in* structed, but founded. And thus, Beckius thinks, it is most properly to be understood; because Solomon did not receive from his father a delineation. of the whole fabric of the temple, but only of the porch, and of the courts, and some other things:, as the forcnamed place tells us. Tlte length by cubits after the first measure.was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.] He projected the sanctuary and the oracle both together; and in their first description they were to be in length sixty cubits: that is, forty for the sanctuary, and twenty for the most holy place. Or, as some think, by the first measure, is here meant that measure which Moses followed in building of the tabernacle; for, in process of time, the cubits altered, and wcrc.larger. (See 1 Kings vi. 2.) But this is doubtful.

2 Chronicles 3:4

And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits. So we read expressly, 1 Kings vi. 2. that the breadth was twenty cubits.,. * And the height was a hundred and twenty.] This is a very different account from that in the book of the Kings, where it is said to be thirty cubits. But Abendana hath briefly summed up what their authors say to reconcile these two places. Some think it probable, that the porch was but thirty cubits high, but the whole temple higher. Thus Kimehi. Others, that the porch and all were of the same height: but from the foundation to the roof was but thirty cubits: though above the roof there were vTrtpya, upperrooms, which were ninety cubits high. (See upon 1 Kings vi. 3.) And, indeed, it is notlikely, that this house was lower than the second temple, which, by the command of Cyrus, was to be threescore cubits. (Ezra vi. 3. and sec Josephus, lib. vii. cap. 8.). « And he overlaid it within with pure gold.] As he did the rest of the house., Vcr. 5. And the greater house he ceiled with fir-tree, xvhich he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm-trees and chains.] By the greater house he means the sanctuary, or holy place: which was larger than the most holy, as was before noted. Ver. G. And he garnislted the house with precious stones for beauty.] This shews the use to which the precious stones, that were dedicated by David, and by his princes, were employed; (1 Chron. xxix. 2. 8.) which served not merely for the garments of the high-priest, but for the house’ itself, which was garnished with them. Though I do not CHAP. III.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. know, but the observation of Bochartus may be true, that these stones are called precious stones, though they were common, because they excelled the rest in greatness, fineness, and in their polishing. (Hieroz. par. ii. lib. v. cap. 7.) And the gold was gold of Parvaim.] It is a* great mistake of Abraham Mylius, and others, who take this place to have been Peru: which the great man now mentioned hath proved to be Taprobana, (see upon 1 Kings ix. 28.) which was called Parvaim, and, with a small change, Parvam, and Provan: from whence he conjectures came the name of Taprobana; wuicli is compounded 6(Taph (which in Arabic signifies a shore or coast) and Parvan,‘Qib. ii. Phaleg. cap. 28.) The Jews, after their manner/ say the gbld was called the gold of Parvaim, because it wa’s of a deep red coIout, like the blood of parim, that. is, bullocks, and signifies the most excellent gold; as L’Empereur notes upon Middoth: though others of them say it was a place.

2 Chronicles 3:7

He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls. See 1 Kings vi. 21, 22.29. •• -’,’ 1 n

2 Chronicles 3:8

And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to tlie breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it icith fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents*] The very same is said 1 Kings vi. 20. only here is added the quantity of gold, which he expended upon this place, which was very great.

2 Chronicles 3:9

And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. - Each nail, I suppose, whereby the plates of gold were fastened to the boards, cost fifty shekels.* And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.] These seem to be the chambers mentioned 1 Chron. xxviii. 11. of which David gave him a model. But Dr. Lightfoot thinks, that over the holy place there were no chambers at all in the temple of Solomon, but it was all open to the roof. Over the most holy place, indeed, there was an upper room often cubits high; but why that should be called chambers, in the plural number, and why it should be overlaid with gold, since there was none came into it, nor any way to come there, is not easy to apprehend. And as for the side chambers that were on the outside of the house, there was no reason they should be overlaid with gold, since they were places wherein their corn, and wine, and tithes, and first-fruits, and such-like things, were laid up. Therefore, by the Hebrew word eljoth, we are not to understand upper chambers, but the upper floor, or th$ roof, of the holy and most holy places; which were overlaid with gold every where; both the floor on which they trod, and the walls round about, and the roof over-head. (See his Temple Service, chap. 15. sect. 3.)

2 Chronicles 3:10

And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image-work. I do not know why we thus translate the last words, for the Hebrew, which we translate image, hath nothing of that signification in it: unless we take the word zaazum to be the same with zeeazim, which some of the Jews say, signifies their faces were like to boys’. And accordingly many understand these words, They had the figure of youths, or boys. But Beckius, upon the Targum, in this place, seems to me to have given a more rational account of the word, which he derives from the root zaa, and translates it the work of motions, or moveable work, for they stood upon their feet, (ver. 13.) as Teady to. move. In which he follows Forsterus and Buxtorfius. Arid overlaid them with gold.] For they were made of olive-wood, and were not like those of Moses, of beaten gold. (See upon 1 Kings vi. 23. 28.)

2 Chronicles 3:11

And tlie icings of the cherubims were twenty cubits long; one wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reach* ing to the wall of the house; and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub…..

2 Chronicles 3:12

And one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub.

2 Chronicles 3:13

And the wings of these cherubims spread forth themselves twenty cubits. See these three verses explained, 1 Kings vi. 24 — 2G. where the height of these cherubims is also set down. And they stood on their feet.] See 1 Kings vi. 26.. And their faces were inward.] In the Hebrew, t owards the house: that is, towards the inner house, or holy place, as Jarchi expounds it: whose words are, Their heads were not erect, that they should look outwards; but they bended down, that they might look one upon another.

2 Chronicles 3:14

And he made a veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen; and tvrought cherubims thereon. That is, the veil before the most holy place; which is the partition mentioned in 1 Kings vii. 21.?. * */ ♦

2 Chronicles 3:15

Also he made before the house. Before the entrance into the sanctuary. Two pillars of thirty and five cubits high.] They were not each of them thus high, but both of them together, as it is explained 1 Kings vii. 15. And the chapiter that was on the top of each of them tvas five cubits.] In the form of a crown, as the Targum expresses it. (Seel Kings vii. 16.)

2 Chronicles 3:16

And he made chains, as in the oracle. See 1 Kings vi. 23. And put them on the heads of the pillars; and made a hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.] There were - a hundred in two rows, two hundred in all. (See 1 Kinss vii. 20.) ;\

2 Chronicles 3:17

And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right handJachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.] See 1 Kings vii. 21. The Targum on these words makes this commentary; He called the one Jachin, because Nachon, the kingdom of the house of David, was established; and the other Boaz, from the name of the patriarch of that royal house of Judah, from whom all their kings were derived.