2 Chronicles 2:17 Komentář

Solomon's trading, which we read of in the close of the foregoing chapter, and the encouragement he gave both to merchandise and manufacturers, were very commendable. But building was the work he was designed for, and to that business he is here applying himself. Here is, I. Solomon's determination to build the temple and a royal palace, and his appointing labourers to be employed herein (Ch2 2:1, Ch2 2:2, Ch2 2:17, Ch2 2:18). II. His request to Huram king of Tyre to furnish him both with artists and materials (Ch2 2:3-10). III. Huram's obliging answer to, and compliance with, his request (Ch2 2:11-16).

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 2 Solomon intending to build a temple for God, and a palace for himself, sent to Hiram, king of Tyre, to furnish him with materials and workmen, Ch2 2:1, to which Hiram returned an agreeable answer, Ch2 2:11, and for this service Solomon numbered all the strangers in Israel, Ch2 2:17.

Now the overseers who were in charge of each operation are the writers of sacred Scripture by whose teaching authority we are instructed in all things as to how best to teach the ignorant and correct the contemptuous, to bear each other’s burdens so that we may fulfill the law of Christ. But the more each one labors in giving his neighbors support in their needs or in correcting their mistakes, the more surely may he expect in the life to come the rewards whether of peace of soul after death or of blessed immortality of body. Consequently, the aforesaid overseers are rightly recorded as numbering 70, and 80,000: 70, because of the sabbath rest of souls for the seventh day is consecrated to the sabbath, that is, rest; 80, because of the hope of resurrection on the eighth day, that is, after the sabbath, has already taken place in the Lord, and, it is hoped, will take place in us also on the eighth day and in the eighth age to come. The overseers, on the other hand, were 3,300, doubtless because of faith in the holy Trinity that the holy Scriptures proclaim to us. But the fact that in the book of Paralipomenon the number 3, is written instead of 3, has to do with the very same perfection of people of sublime virtue. For because the Lord completed the adornment of the world in the number six, the perfect works of good people are rightly apt to be symbolized by the same number, and because holy Scripture teaches that we must have the works of piety as well as true faith, the overseers of the temple works are rightly said to be 3,600. Nor should we pass over the fact that these 70, and 80, hod carriers and stonemasons with their overseers were not from Israel but from among the proselytes, that is, strangers who sojourned among them. For it is written in the book of Paralipomenon, “And Solomon took a census of all the proselytes resident in the land of Israel, on the model of the census that David his father had taken; and it was found that they numbered 153,600. And he put 70, of them carrying burdens on their shoulders,” and so forth.

Solomon determines to build a temple, Ch2 2:1. The number of his workmen, Ch2 2:2. Sends to Huram for artificers and materials, Ch2 2:3-10. Huram sends him a favorable answer, and makes an agreement with him concerning the labor to be done, and the wages to be paid to his men, Ch2 2:11-16. The number of strangers in the land, and how employed, Ch2 2:17, Ch2 2:18.

SOLOMON'S LABORERS FOR BUILDING THE TEMPLE. (Ch2 2:1-2) Solomon determined to build--The temple is the grand subject of this narrative, while the palace--here and in other parts of this book--is only incidentally noticed. The duty of building the temple was reserved for Solomon before his birth. As soon as he became king, he addressed himself to the work, and the historian, in proceeding to give an account of the edifice, begins with relating the preliminary arrangements.

Solomon numbered all the strangers, &c.--(See on Kg1 5:13; Kg1 5:18). Next: 2 Chronicles Chapter 3

The Building of the Temple - 2 Chronicles 3-5:1 (Cf. 1 Kings 6; 7:13-51.) The description of the building begins with a statement of the place where and of the time when the temple was built (Ch2 3:1-2). Then follows an account of the proportions of the building, a description of the individual parts, commencing on the outside and advancing inwards. First we have the porch (Ch2 3:3, Ch2 3:4), then the house, i.e., the interior apartment or the holy place (Ch2 3:5-7), then the holiest of all, and cherubim therein (Ch2 3:8-13), and the veil of partition between the holy place and the most holy (Ch2 3:14). After that we have the furniture of the court, the pillars of the porch (Ch2 3:15-17), the brazen altar (Ch2 4:1), the brazen sea (Ch2 4:2-5), the ten lavers (Ch2 4:6), the furniture of the holy place, candlesticks and tables (Ch2 4:7, Ch2 4:8), and of the two courts (Ch2 4:9, Ch2 4:10), and finally a summary enumeration of the brazen and golden utensils of the temple (Ch2 4:11, Ch2 4:12). The description in 1 Kings 6 and 7 is differently arranged; the divine promise which Solomon received while the building was in progress, and a description of the building of the palace, being inserted: see on 1 Kings 6 and 7.

In Ch2 2:17 and Ch2 2:18 the short statement in Ch2 2:2 as to Solomon's statute labourers is again taken up and expanded. Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers, viz., the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated, "according to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered them." This remark refers to Ch1 22:2, where, however, it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled. But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple, he doubtless caused them to be numbered; and to this reference is here made. The numbering gave a total of 153,000 men, of whom 70,000 were made bearers of burdens, 80,000 חצב, i.e., probably hewers of stone and wood בּהר, i.e., on Lebanon, and 3600 foremen or overseers over the workmen, את־העם להעביד, to cause the people to work, that is, to hold them to their task. With this cf. Kg1 5:15., where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300. This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers, of higher and lower rank, is given, while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers. Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite), - cf. Kg1 9:23; and of these, 250 were Israelites, who alone are mentioned in Ch2 8:10, while the remaining 300 were Canaanites. The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts, - 3850; who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish, in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on Kg1 5:16). It is, moreover, stated in Kg1 5:12. that Solomon had levied a force of 30,000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel, with the design that a third part of them, that is, 10,000 men, should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon, looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months. This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle.