And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men ,.... Of whom, and the difference of the last number in this text from 1 Kings 5:15 , see the notes there. See Gill on 1 Kings 5:15 . See Gill on 1 Kings 5:16 . read more
And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre ,.... The same with Hiram, 1 Kings 5:1 and from whence it appears, that Huram first sent a letter to Solomon to congratulate him on his accession to the throne, which is not taken notice of here: as thou didst deal with my father, and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein ; see 1 Chronicles 14:1 , even so deal with me; which words are a supplement. read more
Behold, I build an house to the name of the Lord my God ,.... Am about to do it, and determined upon it, see 2 Chronicles 2:1 , to dedicate it to him ; to set it apart for sacred service to him: and to burn before him sweet incense ; on the altar of incense: and for the continual shewbread ; the loaves of shewbread, which were continually on the shewbread table; which, and the altar of incense, both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle, and so to be in the temple: ... read more
Solomon sent to Huram - This man's name is written חירם Chiram in Kings; and in Chronicles, חורם Churam : there is properly no difference, only a י yod and a ו vau interchanged. See on 1 Kings 5:2 ; (note). read more
A great project: the building of a temple. I. THE PROJECT CONCEIVED . ( 2 Chronicles 2:1 .) A project: 1 . Not new, but old. Not taken up by Solomon for the first time, but one his father David had years before meditated, though not permitted to execute it, because he had been "a man of war, and had shed blood '( 1 Chronicles 28:3 ). 2 . Not self-devised, but delegated, Not assumed out of vanity or from purely political motives, but handed down to him in circumstances... read more
This chapter, in a homiletic point of view, invites attention to Those methods (or some of them) of religious enterprise which go to ensure success and to issue in real usefulness. For we may notice here— I. THE REPEATED RECORD , ON THE PART OF SOLOMON , OF HIS RESOLUTION OR DETERMINATION . "Solomon determined." The enterprise "of building a house to the Name of the Lord" had been set before him. He knew it had been in his father's mind. He had heard it in... read more
The presence of this verse here, and the composition of it, may probably mark some corruptness of text or error of copyists, as the first two words of it are the proper first two words of 2 Chronicles 2:17 , and the remainder of it shows the proper contents of 2 Chronicles 2:18 , which are not only in other aspects apparently in the right place there, but also by analogy of the parallel ( 1 Kings 5:15 , 1 Kings 5:16 ). The contents of this verse will therefore be considered with 2... read more
Human labour. Concerning the work in which we are engaged as men of action and production, we have here four suggestions. I. THE AMPLITUDE OF MATERIAL WITH WHICH GOD HAS SUPPLIED US . We have mention made ( 2 Chronicles 2:7 ) of different metals—gold, silver, brass, iron; and this enumeration is far from being exhaustive. We have reference ( 2 Chronicles 2:8 ) to different trees; and these are only a reminder of all the kinds of timber to be had in the forests... read more
Huram . So the name is spelt, whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman, in Chronicles, except, perhaps, in 1 Chronicles 14:1 . Elsewhere the name is written הִירָם , or sometimes חִירוֹם , instead of חוּרָם . Geseuius draws attention to Josephus's Greek rendering of the name, εἵρωμος , with whom agree Menander, an historian of Ephesus, in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus, 'Contra Apion,' 1 Chronicles 1:18 ); and Dius, a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Chronicles 2:1-10
Solomon's wisdom was given him, not merely for speculation, to entertain himself (though it is indeed a princely entertainment), nor merely for conversation, to entertain his friends, but for action; and therefore to action he immediately applies himself. Observe, I. His resolution within himself concerning his business (2 Chron. 2:1): He determined to build, in the first place, a house for the name of the Lord. It is fit that he who is the first should be served?first a temple and then a... read more