2 Chronicles 2:17

Solomon's Work Force

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreign men in the land of Israel, after the census that his father David had conducted,^[a] and the total was 153,600.

2 Chronicles 2:17 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 2:17

And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land
of Israel
Which, according to Kimchi, were the remains of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites, see ( 2 Chronicles 8:8 ) , yet not idolaters, or they would not have been suffered by David and Solomon to have dwelt in the land, but were such as were become proselytes of the gate:

after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them;
not at the time Israel was numbered by him, but in order to provide workmen for the building of the temple, ( 1 Chronicles 22:2 ) ,

and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and six hundred;
men able to bear burdens, and hew timber.

2 Chronicles 2:17 In-Context

15 Now, let my lord send the wheat, barley, oil, and wine to his servants as promised.

16 We will cut logs from Lebanon, as many as you need, and bring them to you as rafts by sea to Joppa. You can then take them up to Jerusalem.

17 Solomon took a census of all the foreign men in the land of Israel, after the census that his father David had conducted, and the total was 153,600.

18 Solomon made 70,000 of them porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors to make the people work.

Footnotes

• [a]. 2 Sm 24:1-9