2 Chronicles 2

Solomon Petitions the King of Tyre

1 ^[a] And Solomon planned to build a house for the name of Yahweh and a {royal palace for himself}.^[b]

2 And Solomon assigned seventy thousand men {to bear burdens}^[c] and eighty thousand {quarriers} in the hill country, and three thousand six hundred [men] to supervise them.

3 And Solomon sent [word] to Huram king of Tyre, saying, "As you have dealt with David my father and sent cedar to him to build for himself a house in which to live, [please deal with me].

4 Look, I am building a house for the name of Yahweh my God to dedicate to him, to offer sweet spices of incense before him, and [for] the regular rows [of bread], and burnt offerings for mornings, evenings, Sabbaths, and new moon festivals, and for appointed feasts of Yahweh our God which [are] everlasting for Israel.

5 And the house that I am building [will be] great, for our God [is] greater than all gods.

6 Now who indeed has adequate strength to build a house for him? For the heavens and {the highest heavens} are not able to contain him. Now who [am] I that I would build a house for him, except to burn incense before him?

7 So then, send to me skilled men to work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue fabric, knowledgeable in engraving, with the skilled men who [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father has established.

8 Send me trees of cedar, cypress, and algum from Lebanon, for I myself know that your servants [are] knowledgeable in cutting the trees of Lebanon. Now see, my servants [will be] with your servants

9 to prepare trees in abundance for me, for the house that I am building [will be] great and wonderful.

10 Now see, I will provide twenty thousand dry measures of crushed wheat, twenty thousand dry measures of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil to the woodcarvers and those who cut timber."

11 Then Huram king of Tyre answered in a letter, and he sent [word] to Solomon: "Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over them."

12 Then Huram said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who has made the heavens and the earth, who has given to King David a wise son knowing discretion and understanding, who will build for Yahweh a house and a royal palace for himself.

13 So now I have sent a skilled man, knowledgeable [and with] understanding: my master Huram,

14 a son of a woman from the daughters of Dan, and his father [was] a man of Tyre, knowledgeable for working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and with purple, blue, and crimson fabric, and with fine linen, for engraving any engraving and devising any plan that is given to him, with your skilled men and the skilled men of my lord David your father.

15 Now as for the wheat, barley, oil, and wine that my lord mentioned, let him send [that] to his servants.

16 And we ourselves will cut trees from Lebanon according to all your need, and we will bring them to you on rafts over the sea to Joppa, so that you may bring them up to Jerusalem."

17 Then Solomon counted all the resident alien men who [were] in the land of Israel after the census that David his father had taken of them. And there were found one hundred and fifty-three thousand.

18 And he appointed from them seventy thousand {to bear burdens}, eighty thousand {to quarry} in the hill country, and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work.

2 Chronicles 2 Commentary

Chapter 2

Solomon's message to Huram respecting the temple, His treaty with Huram.

- Solomon informs Huram of the particular services to be performed in the temple. The mysteries of the true religion, unlike those of the Gentile superstitions, sought not concealment. Solomon endeavoured to possess Huram with great and high thoughts of the God of Israel. We should not be afraid or ashamed to embrace every opportunity to speak of God, and to impress others with a deep sense of the importance of his favour and service. Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God, the neighbouring nations were willing to be taught by them in the true religion, as the Israelites had been willing in the days of their apostacy, to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours. A wise and pious king is an evidence of the Lord's special love for his people. How great then was God's love to his believing people, in giving his only-begotten Son to be their Prince and their Saviour.

Footnotes

• [a]. 2 Chronicles 2:1-18 in the English Bible is 1:18-2:17 in the Hebrew Bible
• [b]. Literally "house for his kingdom"
• [c]. Literally "carriers"
• [d]. Literally "stone craftsmen"
• [e]. This is the spelling in Hebrew, though many translations have "Hiram"
• [f]. Literally "the heavens of the heavens"
• [g]. This is the spelling in Hebrew, though many translations have "Hiram"
• [h]. This is the spelling in Hebrew, though many translations have "Hiram"
• [i]. Or "my father"
• [j]. Literally "carriers"
• [k]. Literally "stone craftsmen"

Chapter Summary

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, 2Ch 2:1-10, to which Hiram returned an agreeable answer, 2Ch 2:11-16, and for this service Solomon numbered all the strangers in Israel, 2Ch 2:17,18.