2 Chronicles 2:18

And 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) And he set . . .—Literally, and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens, and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains. This exactly agrees with 1Kings 5:15.

And three thousand and six hundred overseers.—The same number was given in 2Chronicles 2:2. In 1Kings 5:16 we read of 3,300 officers. In the Hebrew, three (shālôsh) and six (shêsh) might easily be confused; our reading appears right. The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30,000 Israelites, which the parallel passage records (1Kings 5:13-14); whether by an oversight, or from disapproval, we cannot say. Adding that number to the 70,000 and 80,000 other labourers, we get a grand total of 180,000, which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3,600 overseers.

Overseers.—Heb. mĕnaççĕhîm. Only here and in 2Chronicles 2:2 supra, and 2Chronicles 34:13. It is the plural of a participle which occurs only in the titles of the Psalms (including Habakkuk 3:19), while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 3:8-9. (See Note on 1Chronicles 15:21.)

To set the people a work—i.e., on work or a-working. (Comp. “I go a-fishing,” John 21:3.) Literally, to make the people work.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 2:18. To be hewers in the mountain — He would not employ the free- born Israelites in this drudgery, but the strangers that were proselytes, who, having no lands, applied themselves to trades, and got their living by their industry or ingenuity.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-18 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

On the numbers, see the 1 Kings 5:16 note.

To set the people a work - Or, "to set the people to work" - i. e., to compel them to labor. Probably, like the Egyptian and Assyrian overseers of forced labor, these officers carried whips or sticks, with which they quickened the movements of the sluggish.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17, 18. Solomon numbered all the strangers, &c.—(See on [412]1Ki 5:13; [413]1Ki 5:18).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he set threescore and ten thousand of them,.... Which is repeated from 2 Chronicles 2:2, to show how the above number of strangers were disposed of; 70,000 of them bearers of burdens, 80,000 of them hewers of wood, and 3,600 overseers of the workmen, in all 153,600; an emblem of the Gentiles employed in building the spiritual temple, the church, Zechariah 6:15.

Geneva Study Bible

And 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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. three thousand and six hundred overseers] In 1 Kings 5:16, three thousand and three hundred. Three in Hebrew (which may be represented in English by the letters SLS) is easily corrupted into six (= SS in English). Cp. also 2 Chronicles 8:10 (= 1 Kings 9:23).

a work] i.e. on work, to work.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - Three thousand and six hundred. Adding to these the 250 of 2 Chronicles 8:10, infra, the total 3850 of 1 Kings 5:16 is exactly reached. That total, however, is reached by a somewhat different classification, the division being into 3300 "strangers," and 500 "chief of the officers" (1 Kings 9:23). The explanation probably is that of the 3600 "stranger" overseers, the small proportion of 300 were of much higher grade in office than the rest, and were ranked by the writer in Kings with those overseers (250) of Solomon, who were probably Israelites.



2 Chronicles 2:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In 2 Chronicles 2:17 and 2 Chronicles 2:18 the short statement in 2 Chronicles 2:2 as to Solomon's statute labourers is again taken up and expanded. Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers, viz., the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated, "according to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered them." This remark refers to 1 Chronicles 22:2, where, however, it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled. But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple, he doubtless caused them to be numbered; and to this reference is here made. The numbering gave a total of 153,000 men, of whom 70,000 were made bearers of burdens, 80,000 חצב, i.e., probably hewers of stone and wood בּהר, i.e., on Lebanon, and 3600 foremen or overseers over the workmen, את־העם להעביד, to cause the people to work, that is, to hold them to their task. With this cf. 1 Kings 5:15., where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300. This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers, of higher and lower rank, is given, while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers. Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite), - cf. 1 Kings 9:23; and of these, 250 were Israelites, who alone are mentioned in 2 Chronicles 8:10, while the remaining 300 were Canaanites. The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts, - 3850; who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish, in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1 Kings 5:16). It is, moreover, stated in 1 Kings 5:12. that Solomon had levied a force of 30,000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel, with the design that a third part of them, that is, 10,000 men, should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon, looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months. This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle.