2 Chronicles 4:9

Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors of them with brass.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) The court of the priests.—See 1Kings 6:36; 1Kings 7:12, “the inner court;” Jeremiah 36:10, “the higher court.”

And the great court.—‘Azārāh, “court,” a late word, common in the Targums for the classical hāqēr, which has just occurred. The ‘azārāh was the outer court of the temple. It is not mentioned at all in the parallel narrative. The LXX. calls it “the great court;” the Vulg., “the great basilica.” The Syriac renders the whole verse: “And he made one great court for the priests and Levites, and covered the doors and bolts with bronze.” (Comp. Note on 2Chronicles 4:3 for this plating of the doors with bronze.) The bronze plated doors of Shalmaneser’s palace at Balawat were twenty-two feet high, and each leaf was six feet wide.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-22 The furniture of the temple. - Here is a further account of the furniture of God's house. Both without doors and within, there was that which typified the grace of the gospel, and shadowed out good things to come, of which the substance is Christ. There was the brazen altar. The making of this was not mentioned in the book of Kings. On this all the sacrifices were offered, and it sanctified the gift. The people who worshipped in the courts might see the sacrifices burned. They might thus be led to consider the great Sacrifice, to be offered in the fulness of time, to take away sin, and put an end to death, which the blood of bulls and goats could not possibly do. And, with the smoke of the sacrifices, their hearts might ascend to heaven, in holy desires towards God and his favour. In all our devotions we must keep the eye of faith fixed upon Christ. The furniture of the temple, compared with that of the tabernacle, showed that God's church would be enlarged, and his worshippers multiplied. Blessed be God, there is enough in Christ for all.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The number of the tables (see 2 Chronicles 4:19) and of the basins, is additional to the information contained in Kings.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. ten candlesticks—(See on [416]1Ki 7:49). The increased number was not only in conformity with the characteristic splendor of the edifice, but also a standing emblem to the Hebrews, that the growing light of the word was necessary to counteract the growing darkness in the world [Lightfoot].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

See Introduction to Chapter 4

Geneva Study Bible

Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great {f} court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors of them with brass.

(f) Called also the porch of Solomon, Ac 3:11. It is also taken for the temple where Christ preached, Mt 21:23.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9, 10. The Two Courts

9. the court of the priests, and the great court] There is a difficulty in this mention of two Temple courts by the Chronicler, for it may be doubted whether Solomon’s Temple, strictly speaking, had more than one court, for in “the other court” stood Solomon’s house (1 Kings 7:8). This “other court” seems to be called the “middle court” (2 Kings 20:4), and the “higher court” (Jeremiah 36:10). The “great court” (1 Kings 7:12) was perhaps a third court containing not only the king’s house, but all the royal buildings as well. The Heb. word for “court” in all the above passages is ḥâçer, but here the “court (ḥâççr) of the priests” is distinguished from a court called the “great court” (Heb. “great Azârâh”). Perhaps the Chronicler wishes to make the same distinction when he says that Solomon’s great prayer was offered (2 Chronicles 6:13) in “the court” (Heb. Azârâh).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - The court of the priests (comp. 1 Kings 6:36, where this court is denominated the inner court, and any other court an outer one, i.e. the great court only implicated thereby). The construction of this court of the priests, withheld here, given there, leaves it ambiguous whether the "three rows of hewed stones and one row of cedar beams "intends a description of fence, as the Septuagint seems to have taken it, or of a higher floor with which the part in question was dignified. The citation Jeremiah 36:10, though probably pointing to this same court, can scarcely be adduced as any support of J. D. Michaelis' suggestion of this latter, as its עֶלְיון (translated "higher") does not really carry the idea of the comparative degree at all. For once that it is so translated (and even then probably incorrectly), there are twenty occurrences of it as the superlative excellentiae. The introduction just here of any statement of these courts at all, which seems at first inopportune, is probably accounted for by the desire to speak in this connection of their doors and the brass overlaying of them (1 Kings 7:12; 2 Kings 23:12; 2 Chronicles 20:5; Ezekiel 40:28; Condor's 'Handbook to the Bible,' p. 370). It is worthy of note that the word employed in our text, as also 2 Chronicles 6:13, is not the familiar word חַצֵר of all previous similar occasions, but עֲזרָהַ, a word of the later Hebrew, occurring also several times in Ezekiel, though not in exactly the same sense, and the elementary signification of the verb-root of which is "to gird," or "surround." 2 Chronicles 4:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The two courts are not further described. For the court of the priests, see on 1 Kings 6:36 and 1 Kings 7:12. As to the great or outer court, the only remark made is that it had doors, and its doors, i.e., the folds or leaves of the doors, were overlaid with copper. In 2 Chronicles 4:10 we have a supplementary statement as to the position of the brazen sea, which coincides with 1 Kings 7:39; see on the passage. In 2 Chronicles 4:11 the heavier brazen (copper) utensils, belonging to the altar of burnt-offering, are mentioned: סידות, pots for the removal of the ashes; יעים, shovels, to take the ashes out from the altar; and מזרקות, basins to catch and sprinkle the sacrificial blood. This half verse belongs to the preceding, notwithstanding that Huram is mentioned as the maker. This is clear beyond doubt, from the fact that the same utensils are again introduced in the summary catalogue which follows (2 Chronicles 4:16).