2 Chronicles 2:17 - Exposition

Strangers . By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land, who had not been extirpated or driven out. Special regulations respecting them are recorded in 1:21-28 , 1:33-36 . But these had largely lapsed till, as it appears, David revived them rather trenchantly, and David is now followed by Solomon ( 2 Chronicles 8:7 , 2 Chronicles 8:8 ; 1 Kings 9:20 , 1 Kings 9:21 ). The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 5:13-16 . After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them . Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement. But the place of it is sufficiently evident, as indicated in 1 Chronicles 22:2 .