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Now Solomon decided to build a house for the LORD’s name, and a house for his kingdom.
Verse 1. Himself, worthy of his great empire. He deemed that which David had built too mean, though that pious king had been ashamed to dwell in such a magnificent palace, while the ark of God was under skins. 2 Kennicott. 7:2. Calmet.
Solomon counted out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, eighty thousand men who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to oversee them.
Verse 2. Numbered, of the proselytes, verse 17. Tirinus.—Hew. The stones were made ready for use, as well as the wood, before it was brought to the temple. 3 Kennicott. 6:7.—Six. Only three are mentioned 3 Kennicott. 5:16. Calmet.—But three hundred overseers of higher order are here included. Tirinus.
Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, “As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build him a house in which to dwell, so deal with me.
Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, to burn before him incense of sweet spices, for the continual show bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.
“Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.
“The house which I am building will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.
But who is able to build him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain him? Who am I then, that I should build him a house, except just to burn incense before him?
Verse 6. Before him. For this purpose do I design to build. Menochius.—Temples are more for our use than for God’s, as none can be worthy of him. Calmet.
“Now therefore send me a man skillful to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave engravings, to be with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.
Verse 7. Purple. Hebrew argevan, ( Bible.) a Chal. word, of the same import as argueman, in Exodus.—Scarlet and blue were also species of purple. The finest sort was found between Tyre and Carmel. See Vitruv. vii. 13.
“Send me also cedar trees, cypress trees, and algum trees out of Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. Behold, my servants will be with your servants,
Verse 8. Pine. Hebrew algum, which rather denotes a species of fir, than the juniper-tree; though the domestic kind was tall, and used in edifices. Calmet.—Arceuthina, “juniper,” is taken from the Septuagint D.
even to prepare timber in abundance for me; for the house which I am about to build will be great and wonderful.
Verse 9. Exceedingly. Hebrew “wonderfully great.” Bible.
Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut timber, twenty thousand cors of beaten wheat, twenty thousand baths of barley, twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”
Verse 10. Wheat. Hebrew adds, “beaten.”—Barley and wine are not specified 3 Kennicott. 5:11. Calmet.—Measures, like the Roman amphora, contained 960 ozs. A. Lapide—Hebrew has, “batim,” in both places; but 3 Kennicott. we find, “twenty cores of oil.” The satum, “measure,” was only one-third of the bath or epha. Calmet.
1 cor is the same as a homer, or about 55.9 U. S. gallons (liquid) or 211 liters or 6 bushels, so 20,000 cors of wheat would weigh about 545 metric tons
1 bath is one tenth of a cor, or about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21 liters or 2.4 pecks. 20,000 baths of barley would weigh about 262 metric tons.
Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, “Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you king over them.”
Huram continued, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, who would build a house for the LORD and a house for his kingdom.
Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, Huram-abi,
Verse 13. Father. Hebrew Abi, is considered by some as the surname of Hiram. Pagnin, and so forth—But he might have that title in consideration of his great skill, as Solomon gives it him. Calmet. 4:16. We use master in the same sense. Septuagint have, “servant,” (παιδα) except the Roman edition, which agrees with the Hebrew and reads, πατερα. Calmet.—Prot. “of Huram, my father’s;” ( Bible.) supply servant, or architect. Tirinus.
or, Huram, my father
the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre. He is skillful to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, in timber, in purple, in blue, in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any kind of engraving and to devise any device, that there may be a place appointed to him with your skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.
Verse 14. Dan, the city, as the widow as of the tribe of Nephthali. D.—Whose. Hebrew “and his father,” ( Bible.) or “this Abi.” Calmet. See 3 Kennicott. 7:14.—Silk. Hebrew “byssus,” which is the silk extracted from a fish, and not the fine linen of Egypt, or cotton which as sometimes this appellation. 1 Chronicles 15:27.—My lord, a term of civility.
“Now therefore, the wheat, the barley, the oil, and the wine which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants;
and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you need. We will bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa; then you shall carry it up to Jerusalem.”
Verse 16. Floats. So the Septuagint well express the Hebrew raphsodoth, which seems to be borrowed from the Greek Ραψωδια, which denotes a collection of verses ( Calmet.) and was applied to Homer’s poems, before they were collected. Ælian xiii. 14. Joppe was a port much used, ( Calmet.) though dangerous. Joseph. Bel. iii. 15.
Solomon counted all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the census with which David his father had counted them; and they found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.
Verse 17. Had made, at the commencement of Solomon’s reign, when David put such immense treasures into his hands. The second list was taken when the temple was begun. The proselytes were the remnants of the nations of the natives of Chanaan. The Jews foolishly pretend, ( Calmet.) that no strangers were allowed to embrace the law of Moses, under David and Solomon, for fear lest they might be influenced by self-interest rather than by the love of religion. Seldon, Syn. iii. 2. 5.
He set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to assign the people their work.
Verse 18. Six. We read three, 3 Kennicott. 5:16.: people who where strangers, as the Israelites were not forced to work. Calmet. 8:9. Calmet.