SOLOMON’S PREPARATIONS FOR BUILDING THE TEMPLE.
=1, 2= [i. 18, ii. 1, Hebrew]
(= verses 17, 18 below; 1 Kings v. 15).
BEARERS AND HEWERS.
¹Now Solomon purposed to build an house for the name of the
LORD, and an house for his kingdom.
=1.= _for the name_] compare 1 Chronicles xxii. 7, 10, 19, xxviii. 3,
xxix. 16.
_an house for his kingdom_] See 1 Kings vii. 1‒8.
²And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear
burdens, and fourscore thousand men that were hewers in the
mountains, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.
=2.= _told out_] i.e. counted. The 150,000 bearers and hewers mentioned
here are said to have been _aliens_ (verse 17). This agrees with 1
Kings v. 15, which distinguishes them from a levy of 30,000 hewers
raised out of all Israel (1 Kings v. verse 13). The 30,000 Israelites
were subject to a corvée of one month in every three, the 150,000
aliens were presumably supposed to have been continuously engaged
on the work. The Chronicler makes no mention of the levy of 30,000
Israelites, recorded in Kings, for no doubt he thought it unfitting
that compulsory labour should be laid on the Israelites themselves. On
the other hand he holds that the 150,000 were _all_ aliens (see verses
17, 18), whereas the writer in Kings, not having that scruple before
his mind, does not make any such sweeping assertion (compare, however,
1 Kings ix. 20).
=3‒10= (compare 1 Kings v. 2‒6).
SOLOMON’S MESSAGE TO HURAM.
This passage is much fuller in Chronicles than in 1 Kings, which offers
no parallel to Solomon’s language with regard to the Temple; verses 4‒6.
Again, verse 7 (the request for a “cunning man”) has no nearer parallel
than 1 Kings vii. 13. For verse 10 also there is no strict parallel in
1 Kings.
³And Solomon sent to Huram¹ the king of Tyre, saying, As thou
didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to
build him an house to dwell therein, _even so deal with me_.
¹ In 1 Kings v. 1, _Hiram_.
=3.= _Huram_] Another form of _Hiram_ (1 Kings v. 1 [15, Hebrew]) which
is a shortened form of _Ahiram_ (Hebrew _Āḥ_, “brother” and _rām_,
“exalted”). Yet another form is _Hirom_ (1 Kings v. 10; see Revised
Version margin). The Phoenician language is written with even fewer
vowel signs than are found in ancient Hebrew; hence the uncertainty in
the form of this name.
_didst send him cedars_] See 1 Chronicles xiv. 1 = 2 Samuel v. 11.
⁴Behold, I build an house for the name of the LORD my God, to
dedicate it to him, and to burn before him incense of sweet
spices, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt
offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new
moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God. This is _an
ordinance_ for ever to Israel. ⁵And the house which I build is
great; for great is our God above all gods.
=4.= _the continual shewbread_] See 1 Chronicles ix. 32, notes;
Leviticus xxiv. 5‒9.
_on the set feasts_] Compare 1 Chronicles xxiii. 31, note.
⁶But who is able¹ to build him an house, seeing the heaven and
the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I
should build him an house, save only to burn incense before him?
¹ Hebrew _retaineth strength_.
=6.= _is able_] Literally _retaineth strength_] 1 Chronicles xxix. 14.
_cannot contain him_] verses 4‒6 are carefully framed to guard against
the careless imagination that the Temple is God’s dwelling: to the
Chronicler it is only the spot where worship is offered. Compare vi.
2, 18.
⁷Now therefore send me a man cunning to work in gold, and in
silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson,
and blue, and that can skill to grave _all manner of_ gravings,
_to be_ with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in
Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.
=7.= _can skill to grave_] Literally _knoweth how to grave_. To “grave”
is to “carve”; compare 1 Kings vi. 29.
_my father did provide_] See 1 Chronicles xxii. 15.
⁸Send me also cedar trees, fir¹ trees, and algum² trees, out of
Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber
in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,
⁹even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house which I
am about to build shall be wonderful great.
¹ Or, _cypress_.
² In 1 Kings x. 11, _almug trees_.
=8.= _cedar trees_] See 1 Chronicles xxii. 4.
_fir trees_] margin, _cypress trees_ (which however are not now
indigenous on Lebanon).
_algum trees_] called _almug trees_ in 1 Kings x. 11, 12 and there
described as coming from Ophir. According to 1 Kings v. 8 Solomon asked
for cedar and “fir” only; so that the mention of algum trees here is
probably incorrect. _Algum_ is perhaps _sandal-wood_.
¹⁰And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut
timber, twenty thousand measures¹ of beaten wheat, and twenty
thousand measures¹ of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine,
and twenty thousand baths of oil.
¹ Hebrew _cors_.
=10.= _measures_] Hebrew _cors_. A _cor_ was the same as a _homer_ =
about 11 bushels.
_beaten wheat_] 1 Kings v. 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 v. 11;
there wheat and oil only are mentioned.
_twenty thousand baths of oil_] In 1 Kings v. 11 (Hebrew) _twenty cors
of pure oil_. In liquid measure the _bath_ = about 8¼ gallons. As ten
_baths_ went to a cor, the amount stated in Chronicles is a hundred
times as much as the amount given in 1 Kings.
=11‒16= [10‒15, Hebrew] (compare 1 Kings v. 7‒9).
HURAM’S ANSWER TO SOLOMON.
Like the preceding verses 3‒10, these verses show considerable
variations from the parallel in Kings.
¹¹Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he
sent to Solomon, Because the LORD loveth his people, he hath
made thee king over them. ¹²Huram said moreover, Blessed be the
LORD, the God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath
given to David the king a wise son, endued with discretion and
understanding, that should build an house for the LORD, and an
house for his kingdom.
=12.= The sequence is greatly improved if this verse is read before
verse 11. Probably the transposition should be made.
_God of Israel_] The Chronicler feels no incongruity in making Huram
use the language of a worshipper of Jehovah.
¹³And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding,
of Huram¹ my father’s,
¹ Or, _even Huram my father_ See chapter iv. 16.
=13.= _I have sent_] According to 1 Kings vii. 13 Solomon himself sent
and fetched Hiram the artificer.
_of Huram my father’s_] Render either literally as margin, =even
Huram my father=, or better, =even Huram my trusted counsellor=. Huram
the king calls Huram the artificer _my father_ as a title of honour.
Compare iv. 16.
¹⁴the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was
a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass,
in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in
fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving,
and to devise any device: that there may be _a place_ appointed
unto him with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my
lord David thy father. ¹⁵Now therefore the wheat and the barley,
the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send
unto his servants:
=14.= _of Dan_] in 1 Kings vii. 14, _of Naphtali_. The reading of
Chronicles may have arisen from Exodus xxxi. 6 (Oholiab one of the
artificers of the _tabernacle_ was of the tribe _of Dan_).
¹⁶and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt
need: and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa¹;
and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.
¹ Hebrew _Japho_.
=16.= _Joppa_] Hebrew _Japho_, modern _Jaffa_ (_Yāfā_).
=17, 18= [16, 17, Hebrew] (compare verse 2 above).
BEARERS AND HEWERS.
¹⁷And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land
of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had
numbered them; and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand
and three thousand and six hundred.
=17.= _David his father_] See 1 Chronicles xxii. 2.
¹⁸And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to bear burdens,
and fourscore thousand that were hewers in the mountains, and
three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people awork.
=18.= As the separate numbers given in this verse equal the total
(150,000) given in verse 17, evidently the Chronicler thought that all
the aliens in the land were forced to take part in the work!
_three thousand and six hundred overseers_] In 1 Kings v. 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 letters). Compare also viii. 10 (= 1 Kings
ix. 23).
_awork_] i.e. _on work, to work_.