2 Chronicles 2:5

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) And the house which I build is great.—1Chronicles 29:1.

Great is our God above all gods.—Exodus 18

11; Deuteronomy 10:17; Psalm 77:13; Psalm 95:3. According to modern notions of magnitude, the Temple of Solomon was a small building. (See on 1Kings 6:2-3.) Shelley’s

“There once proud Salem’s haughty fane

Reared high to heaven its thousand golden domes,

is pure fancy.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 2:5. The house which I build is great — Though the temple, strictly so called, was small, yet the buildings belonging to it were large and numerous. For great is our God above all gods — Above all idols, above all princes. Idols are nothing, princes are little, and both are under the control of the God of Israel. Therefore the house must be great; not indeed in proportion to the greatness of that God to whom it is to be dedicated, for between finite and infinite there can be no proportion; but in some proportion to the exalted conceptions we have of him, and the great esteem we have for him.

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

See 1 Kings 6:2 note. In Jewish eyes, at the time that the temple was built, it may have been "great," that is to say, it may have exceeded the dimensions of any single separate building existing in Palestine up to the time of its erection.

Great is our God ... - This may seem inappropriate as addressed to a pagan king. But it appears 2 Chronicles 2:11-12 that Hiram acknowledged Yahweh as the supreme deity, probably identifying Him with his own Melkarth.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 2:3-10. His Message to Huram for Skilful Artificers.

3-6. Solomon sent to Huram—The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (2Ch 2:11; also see on [407]1Ki 5:8).

As thou didst deal with David my father—This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was David's friend (see on [408]1Ki 5:1-6). In opening the business, Solomon grounded his request for Tyrian aid on two reasons: 1. The temple he proposed to build must be a solid and permanent building because the worship was to be continued in perpetuity; and therefore the building materials must be of the most durable quality. 2. It must be a magnificent structure because it was to be dedicated to the God who was greater than all gods; and, therefore, as it might seem a presumptuous idea to erect an edifice for a Being "whom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not contain," it was explained that Solomon's object was not to build a house for Him to dwell in, but a temple in which His worshippers might offer sacrifices to His honor. No language could be more humble and appropriate than this. The pious strain of sentiment was such as became a king of Israel.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The house which I build is great; for though the temple strictly so called, was but small, yet the buildings belonging to it, both above and under ground, were large and numerous.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the house which I build is great,.... Not so very large, though that, with all apartments and courts belonging to it, he intended to build, was so; but because magnificent in its structure and decorations:

for great is our God above all gods; and therefore ought to have a temple to exceed all others, as the temple at Jerusalem did.

Geneva Study Bible

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 5, 6. - The contents of these verses beg some special observation, in the first place, as having been judged by the writer of Chronicles matter desirable to be retained and put in his work. To find a place for this subject amid his careful selection, and rejection in many cases, of the matter at his command, is certainly a decision in harmony with his general design in this work. Then, again, they may be remarked on as spoken to another king, who, whether it were to be expected or no, was, it is plain, a sympathizing hearer of the piety and religious resolution of Solomon (ver. 12). This is one of the touches of history that does not diminish our regret that we do not know more of Hiram. He was no "proselyte," but he had the sympathy of a convert to the religion of the Jew. Perhaps the simplest and most natural explanation may just be the truest, that Hiram for some long time had seen "the rising" kingdom, and alike in David and Solomon in turn, "the coming" men. He had been more calmly and deliberately impressed than the Queen of Sheba afterwards, but not less effectually and operatively impressed. And once more the passage is noteworthy for the utterances of Solomon in themselves. As parenthetically testifying to a powerful man, who could be a powerful helper of Solomon's enterprise, his outburst of explanation, and of ardent religious purpose, and of humble godly awe, is natural. But that he should call the temple he purposed to build "so great," as we cannot put it down either to intentional exaggeration or to sober historic fact, must the rather be honestly set down to such considerations as these, viz. that in point of fact, neither David nor Solomon were "travelled men," as Joseph and Moses, for instance. Their measures of greatness were largely dependent upon the existing material and furnishing of their own little country. And further, Solomon speaks of the temple as great very probably from the point of view of its simple religious uses (note end of ver. 6) as the place of sacrifice in especial rather than as a place, for instance, of vast congregations and vast processions. Then, too, as compared with the tabernacle, it would loom "great," whether for size or for its enduring material. Meantime, though Solomon does indeed use the words (ver. 5)," The house.., is great," yet, throwing on the words the light of the remaining clause of the verse, and of David's words in 1 Chronicles 29:1, it is not very certain that the main thing present to his mind was not the size, but rather the character of the house, and the solemn character of the enterprise itself (1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 6:18). Who am I... save only to burn sacrifice before him? The drift of Solomon's thought is plain - that nothing would justify mortal man, if he purported to build really a palace of residence for him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain, but that he is justified all the more in "not giving sleep to his eyes, nor slumber to his eyelids, until he had found out a place" (Psalm 132:4, 5) where man might acceptably, in God's appointed way, draw near to him. If "earth draw near to heaven," it may be confidently depended on that heaven will not be slow to bend down its glory, majesty, grace, to earth. 2 Chronicles 2:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In order properly to worship Jahve by these sacrifices, the temple must be large, because Jahve is greater than all gods; cf. Exodus 18:11; Deuteronomy 10:17.

No one is able (כּוח עצר as in 1 Chronicles 29:14) to build a house in which this God could dwell, for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. These words are a reminiscence of Solomon's prayer (1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 6:18). How should I((Solomon) be able to build Him a house, scil. that He should dwell therein? In connection with this, there then comes the thought: and that is not my purpose, but only to offer incense before Him will I build a temple. הקטיר is used as pars pro toto, to designate the whole worship of the Lord. After this declaration of the purpose, there follows in Deuteronomy 10:6 the request that he would send him for this end a skilful chief workman, and the necessary material, viz., costly woods. The chief workman was to be a man wise to work in gold, silver, etc. According to 2 Chronicles 4:11-16 and 1 Kings 7:13., he prepared the brazen and metal work, and the vessels of the temple; here, on the contrary, and in 2 Chronicles 2:13 also, he is described as a man who was skilful also in purple weaving, and in stone and wood work, to denote that he was an artificer who could take charge of all the artistic work connected with the building of the temple. To indicate this, all the costly materials which were to be employed for the temple and its vessels are enumerated. ארגּון, the later form of ארגּמן, deep-red purple, see on Exodus 25:4. כּרמיל, occurring only here, 2 Chronicles 2:6, 2 Chronicles 2:13, and in 2 Chronicles 3:14, in the signification of the Heb. שׁני תּולעת, crimson or scarlet purple, see on Exodus 25:4. It is not originally a Hebrew word, but is probably derived from the Old-Persian, and has been imported, along with the thing itself, from Persia by the Hebrews. תּכלת, deep-blue purple, hyacinth purple, see on Exodus 25:4. פּתּוּהים פּתּח, to make engraved work, and Exodus 28:9, Exodus 28:11, Exodus 28:36, and Exodus 39:6, of engraving precious stones, but used here, as כּל־פּתּוּח, 2 Chronicles 2:13, shows, in the general signification of engraved work in metal or carved work in wood; cf. 1 Kings 6:29. עם־החכמים depends upon לעשׂות: to work in gold ..., together with the wise (skilful) men which are with me in Judah. הכין אשׁר, quos comparavit, cf. 1 Chronicles 28:21; 1 Chronicles 22:15.