2 Chronicles 2 Study Notes

2:8-9 Not only did the Phoenicians have ready access to the wood that Solomon asked for, but they had more experience than the Israelites in working with it. Solomon sent Israelite servants to help with the labor and perhaps to assure the quality of the logs.

2:10 Tyre excelled in trade, but largely depended on other nations for food (Ac 12:20).

2:11-12 Hiram’s response showed he understood that he was not just dealing with Solomon but with Solomon’s God. Hiram’s praise of the Lord should not be taken to mean that he was a true follower of God. People of that time generally believed that each nation had its own god who was effective for his people, but who would have no jurisdiction over other geographic areas (2Kg 5:17). Hiram probably sincerely applauded the God of the Israelites, though the Lord would have had no personal value to him as a non-Israelite.

2:13-14 Hiram proposed to send Solomon a man named Huram-abi. Son of an Israelite mother and a Tyrian father, Huram-abi was competent in all the skills specified by Solomon and presumably understood Israelite religion. Solomon was in ultimate control of the building project, and Huram-abi, the Phoenician, was next in charge. A number of Israelite supervisors oversaw the large force of non-Israelites and their foremen.

2:15 This verse mentions the price Solomon was paying for Hiram’s help.

2:16 The Phoenicians were among the early pioneers of seafaring. They were willing to risk the dangerous but efficient method of shipping logs as rafts along the Mediterranean coast. Then they would be transported overland to Jerusalem.

2:17-18 On Solomon’s forced laborers, see note at v. 2.