2 Kronik 2:18 Komentarz

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.

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.