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2 Chronicles 2

KJV · Chapter 2/36

1And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the Lord, and an house for his kingdom.

2And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.

3And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein, even so deal with me.

4Behold, I build an house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel.

5And the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods.

6But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?

7Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.

8Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,

9Even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great.

10And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.

11Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the Lord hath loved his people, he hath made thee king over them.

12Huram said moreover, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, that might build an house for the Lord, and an house for his kingdom.

13And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, of Huram my father’s,

14The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.

15Now therefore the wheat, and the barley, the oil, and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants:

16And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need: and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.

17And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred.

18And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Solomon plans the construction of the temple and sends a message to Hiram, king of Tyre, asking for cedar wood and a skilled craftsman. Hiram responds favorably, praising Solomon's wisdom and sending the requested resources and craftsman.

Explanation

The international cooperation depicted here shows that building the temple was not an isolated project, but involved trade, diplomacy, and technical knowledge shared between neighboring nations. Hiram, a pagan king, publicly acknowledges the greatness of the God of Israel, saying, 'Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, that made heaven and earth' — another example of how Israel's faith made an impression even on foreigners. The craftsman sent, Huram-Abi, had a mixed heritage (an Israelite mother, a father from Tyre), symbolizing how advanced technical skills often came from cultural exchange rather than isolation.

Fun facts

  • The city of Tyre, in present-day Lebanon, was famous in antiquity for its excellence in navigation, maritime trade, and cedar woodworking, making it one of the most important commercial powers of the eastern Mediterranean.
  • The number of workers mobilized for the project — 70,000 carriers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hills — gives a sense of the magnitude of the temple's construction, comparable to the great building projects of empires of that era.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Chronicles 2:1Solomon decides to build two projects at the same time: a house for the name of the Lord (the temple) and a palace for himself — the project that dominates the chapters that follow.
  2. 2 Chronicles 2:2Seventy thousand carriers, eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountains, and over three thousand overseers: that is the size of the operation Solomon sets up just to gather material and labor before he even starts building the temple.
  3. 2 Chronicles 2:3Solomon asks Huram of Tyre for help the same way David, his father, had asked before — showing that this trade partnership between the two courts goes back a long way.
  4. 2 Chronicles 2:4Solomon explains to Huram what the temple is for: incense, the showbread, daily sacrifices, sabbaths, new moons, and feasts — Israel’s entire calendar of worship depends on this building.
  5. 2 Chronicles 2:5Solomon justifies the temple’s ambitious size with simple logic: since his God is greater than any other god, the house must be great too.
  6. 2 Chronicles 2:6In the middle of his own request for help, Solomon admits that no building can truly “contain” God — he is only asking for a place to burn incense before Him.
  7. 2 Chronicles 2:7Solomon asks Huram for a craftsman skilled in metals, colored fabrics, and carving — qualified labor that Israel did not have, but Tyre did.
  8. 2 Chronicles 2:8Besides the craftsman, Solomon asks for cedar and other timber from Lebanon, admitting that Tyre’s workers are better at that kind of cutting than his own.
  9. 2 Chronicles 2:9Solomon repeats that the work will be great and “wonderful” — stressing the project’s scale to justify the request for so much material and labor.
  10. 2 Chronicles 2:10As payment for the work, Solomon offers an enormous quantity of wheat, barley, wine, and oil to Tyre’s woodcutters — the deal is commercial, not a free favor.
  11. 2 Chronicles 2:11Huram answers by letter accepting the request, opening with a compliment: the reason Solomon is king is God’s love for His own people, Israel.
  12. 2 Chronicles 2:12Huram blesses the Lord, the God of Israel, acknowledging that it was He who gave David a wise son capable of building both the temple and the kingdom itself.
  13. 2 Chronicles 2:13Huram announces that he is sending the requested craftsman, called Huram-abi — a name that appears in two slightly different forms between Chronicles and Kings.
  14. 2 Chronicles 2:14This craftsman is the son of an Israelite mother (from the tribe of Dan) and a father from Tyre, and he masters practically every kind of artistic work — metals, stone, wood, colored fabrics, carving.
  15. 2 Chronicles 2:15Huram asks Solomon to keep his end of the deal and send the wheat, barley, oil, and wine that were agreed on.
  16. 2 Chronicles 2:16The logistical plan is to cut the timber in Lebanon, raft it by sea to the port of Joppa, and from there Solomon takes charge of hauling it inland to Jerusalem.
  17. 2 Chronicles 2:17This census of more than one hundred fifty thousand foreigners living in Israel — descendants of the peoples already in the land before the conquest — shows where much of the construction’s heavy labor came from. As with other counts in the book, such high numbers spark debate among scholars over the best way to read them.
  18. 2 Chronicles 2:18This verse repeats, with identical numbers, the organization of foreign labor already described at the start of the chapter — carriers, stonecutters, and overseers.

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