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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.
“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?
“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.
“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, even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build will be great and wonderful. 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.”
Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, “Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over them.” Huram continued, “Blessed be Yahweh, 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 Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom. Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, of Huram my father’s, the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, in timber, and 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.
“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.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 Or, Hiram.
Or, Hiram.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–16 2Ch 2:3 And Solomon sent to Huram the king…
2Ch 2:3 And 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].
Ver. 3. And Solomon sent to Huram.] See on 1Ki 5:1.
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As thou didst deal with David my father.] By this thankful acknowledgment he seeketh to ingratiate. Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, 14 Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature…
Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing, and from the following words, such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew. Or, without any ellipsis, the sense, being here suspended, is completed 2Ch 2:7, so send me, &c., the 4th, 5th, and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis, to usher in and enforce his following request.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v11 Here we have, I. The return which Huram made…
Here we have, I. The return which Huram made to Solomon's embassy, in which he shows a great respect for Solomon and a readiness to serve him. Meaner people may learn of these great ones to be neighbourly and complaisant. 1. He congratulates Israel on having such a king as Solomon was (Ch2 2:11): Because the Lord loved his people, he has made thee king. Note, A wise and good government is a great blessing to a people, and may well be accounted a singular token of God's favour. He does not say, Because he loved thee (though that was true, Sa2 12:24) he made thee king, but because he loved his people. Princes must look upon themselves as preferred for the public good, not for their own personal satisfaction, and should rule so as to prove that they were given in love and not in anger. 2. He blesses God for raising up such a successor to David, Ch2 2:12. It should seem that Huram was not only very well affected to the Jewish nation, and well pleased with their prosperity, but that he was proselyted to the Jewish religion, and worshipped Jehovah, the God of Israel (who was now known by that name to the neighbouring nations), as the God that made heaven and earth, and as the fountain of power as well as being; for he sets up kings. Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God, and so preserved their honour, the neighbouring nations were as willing to be instructed by them in the true religion as Israel had been, in the days of their apostasy, to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours. This made them high, that they lent to many nations and did not borrow, lent truth to them, and did not borrow error from them; as when they did the contrary it was their shame. 3. He sent him a very ingenious curious workman, that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing, one that had both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him; for his mother was an Israelite (Huram though she was of the tribe of Dan, and therefore says so here, Ch2 2:14, but it seems she was of the tribe of Naphtali, Kg1 7:14), but his father was a Tyrian - a good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple, as it was afterwards when the building of the second temple was greatly furthered by Darius (Ezra 6), who is supposed to have been the son of Esther - an Israelite by the mother's side. 4. He engaged for the timber, as much as he would have occasion for, and undertook to deliver it at Joppa, and withal signified his dependence upon Solomon for the maintenance of the workmen as he had promised, v. 15, 16. This agreement we had, Kg1 5:8, Kg1 5:9.
II. The orders which Solomon gave about the workmen. He would not employ the free-born Israelites in the drudgery work of the temple itself, not so much as to be overseers of it. In this he employed the strangers who were proselyted to the Jewish religion, who had not lands of inheritance in Canaan as the Israelites had, and therefore applied to trades, and got their living by their ingenuity and industry. There were, at this time, vast numbers of them in the land (Ch2 2:17), who, if they were of any of the devoted nations, perhaps fell within the case, and therefore fell under the law, of the Gibeonites, to be hewers of wood for the congregation: if not, yet being in many respects well provided for by the law of Moses, and put upon an equal footing with the native Israelites, they were bound in gratitude to do what they could for the service of the temple. Yet, no doubt, they were well paid in money or money's worth: the law was, Thou shalt not oppress a stranger. The distribution of them we have here (Ch2 2:2, and again Ch2 2:18), in all 150,000. Canaan was a fruitful land, that found meat for so many mouths more than the numerous natives; and the temple was a vast building, that found work for so many bands. Mr. Fuller suggests that the expedient peculiar to this structure, of framing all beforehand, must needs increase the work. I think it rather left so much the more room for this vast multitude of hands to be employed in it; for in the forest of Lebanon they might all be at work together, without crowding one another, which they could not have been upon Mount Sion. And, if there had not been such vast numbers employed, so large and curious a fabric, which was begun and ended in seven years, might, for aught I know, have been as long in building as St. Paul's.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–16 Behold, I build an house to the name of…
Behold, I build an house to the name of the Lord my God,.... Am about to do it, and determined upon it, see Ch2 2:1,
to dedicate it to him; to set it apart for sacred service to him:
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and to burn before him sweet incense; on the altar of incense:
and for the continual shewbread; the loaves of shewbread, which were continually on the shewbread table; which, and the altar of incense, both were set in the holy place in the tabernacle, and so to be in the temple:
and for the burnt offerings morning and evening; the daily sacrifice: on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God: at which seasons, besides the daily sacrifice, additional burnt offerings were offered, and all on the brasen altar in the court: this is an ordinance
for ever unto Israel: to offer the above sacrifices, even for a long time to come, until the Messiah comes; and therefore Solomon suggests, as Jarchi and Kimchi think, that a good strong house ought to be built.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 12, 14 Great - For though the temple strictly so called,…
Great - For though the temple strictly so called, was but small, yet the buildings belonging to it, were large and numerous.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3, 6, 7, 11, 13, 16 Verse 3. Solomon sent to Huram] This man's name…
Verse 3. Solomon sent to Huram] This man's name is written חירם Chiram in Kings; and in Chronicles, חורם Churam: there is properly no difference, only a י yod and a ו vau interchanged. See on 1Kg 5:2.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14 2Ch 2:3. And Solomon sent to Huram — Or…
2Ch 2:3. And Solomon sent to Huram — Or Hiram, as he is called in the first book of Kings where we learn that he first sent to Solomon to congratulate him on his accession to the throne, and then Solomon sent to him.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 Huram, the form used throughout Chronicles (except 1Ch 14:1)…
Huram, the form used throughout Chronicles (except 1Ch 14:1) for the name both of the king and of the artisan whom he lent to Solomon 2Ch 2:13; 2Ch 4:11, 2Ch 4:16, is a late corruption of the true native word, Hiram (marginal note and reference).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16 Before him. For this purpose do I design to…
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)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13 HIS MESSAGE TO HURAM FOR SKILFUL ARTIFICERS. (Ch2 2:3-10)
HIS MESSAGE TO HURAM FOR SKILFUL ARTIFICERS. (Ch2 2:3-10)
Solomon sent to Huram--The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (Ch2 2:11; also see on Kg1 5:8).
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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 Kg1 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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3, 7, 13 3. Huram — The original and more correct form…
3. Huram — The original and more correct form of the name was Hiram. Comp. 2Sa_5:11.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16 3. Huram] Another form of Hiram (1Ki_5:1 [15, Heb.])…
3. Huram] Another form of Hiram (1Ki_5:1 [15, Heb.]) which is a shortened form of Ahiram (Hebrew, Aḥ “brother” and râm “exalted”). Yet another form is Hirom (1Ki_5:10; see R.V. mg.). The Phœnician language is written with even fewer vowel signs than are found in ancient Hebrew; hence the uncertainty in the form of this name.
didst send him cedars] See 1Ch_14:1 = 2Sa_5:11.
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3–10 [2–9, Heb.] (= 1Ki_5:2-6). Solomon’s Message to Huram
This passage is much fuller in Chron. than in 1 Kings, which offers no parallel to Solomon’s language with regard to the Temple; 2Ch_2:4-6. Again 2Ch_2:7 (the request for a “cunning man”) has no nearer parallel than 1Ki_7:13. For 2Ch_2:10 also there is no strict parallel in 1 Kings.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–16 (3) And Solomon sent to Huram.—Comp. 1Ki_5:2-11, from which…
(3) And Solomon sent to Huram.—Comp. 1Ki_5:2-11, from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession. The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work. The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources.
Huram.—In Kings the name is spelt Hiram (1Ki_5:1-2; 1Ki_5:7) and Hirom (1Ki_5:10; 1Ki_5:18, Hebr.). (Comp. 1Ch_14:1.) Whether the Tyrian name Sirômos (Herod. vii. 98) is another form of Hiram, as Bertheau supposes, is more than doubtful. It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II., to whom he paid tribute (B.C. 738), along with Menahem of Samaria. (Assyr. Hi-ru-um-mu, to which the Hîrôm of 1Ki_5:10; 1Ki_5:18 comes very near.)
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As thou didst deal . . . dwell therein.—See 1Ch_14:1. The sense requires the clause, added by our translators, in italics, “Even so deal with me,” after the Vulg. “sic fac mecum.” 1Ki_5:3 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 Huram. So the name is spelt, whether of Tyrian…
Huram. So the name is spelt, whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman, in Chronicles, except, perhaps, in 1Ch_14:1. Elsewhere the name is written yhi, or sometimes instead of Geseuius draws attention to Josephus"s Greek rendering of the name, Eirwmov, with whom agree Menander, a historian of Ephesus, in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus, "Contra Apion," 1:18); and Dius, a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon and Hiram, Josephus also is the means of preserving ("Contra Apion,"1:17). The Septuagint write the name Ciram; the Alexandrian, Ceiram; the Vulgate, Hiram. The name of Hiram"s father was Abibaal. Hiram himself began to reign, according to Menander, when nineteen years of age, reigned thirty-four years (B.C. 1023-990), and died therefore at the age of fifty-three. Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon. The city of Tyre is among the most ancient. Though it is not mentioned in Homer, yet the Sidonians, who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians, are mentioned there ("Iliad.," 6:290; 23. 743; "Odys., " 4:84; 22:424), whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city, Sidon being twenty miles distant ("AEn.," 1:12, 677; 4:545). The modern name of Tyre is Sur. The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean, in Phoenicia, about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa, while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles. The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Jos_19:29. After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2Sa_5:11, with all its parallels; 2Sa_24:7 Isa_23:1, 7 Eze_26:2 Eze_27:1-8; Zec_9:2, Zec_9:3. Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass, and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling. The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history, without leaving us dependent on doubtful history, or tales of such as Josephus ("Ant.," 8:5. "Contra Apion," 1:17). For the timber, metals, workmen, given by Hiram to Solomon, Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil, ceded to him some cities, and the use of some ports on the Red Sea (1Ki_9:11-14, 1Ki_9:25-28; 1Ki_10:21-23. See also 1Ki_16:31) As thou didst deal with David and didst send him cedars. To this vers. 7 and 8 are the apodosis manifestly, while vers. 4, 5, 6 should be enclosed in brackets.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv5, 7 And this house which I build is great: for…
2Ch_2:5-6
And this house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods.
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The house of God
1.The worship of God, the creator and governor of the world, commenced with the creation of man; but in the patriarchal ages it partook not of that formal and settled character which it afterwards, by Gods direction, assumed. Nor, as far as we can learn from ancient history, does it appear that there were ever any regular buildings erected as temples before the Jewish tabernacle was set up. Noah, and the other patriarchs, appear simply to have erected altars for their sacrifices, and these often only for immediate and temporary use; or to have planted groves, as Abraham did in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. But when God had chosen a people to be called by His name, and had given them His law, and taught them to offer Him regular stated services, He further commanded that there should be a particular building set apart for the same. Now, the objects of all such buildings are twofold. They are to be built to the honour of Him who is to be worshipped therein, and they are to be used by those who are to meet there for the purpose of joining in that worship.
2. And this feeling which led Solomon to build a great house because God was great above all gods has had its proper influence in all ages and countries, and is based upon true and proper principles of religion, as well under the dispensation of the gospel as under that of law. History, no doubt, tells us that in the days of persecution the faithful were wont to meet for Divine worship amidst the tombs and burial.places of the dead, or in the secret eaves of the earth. But, when persecutions cease, and days of prosperity come round, when, as David says, they themselves begin to dwell in houses of cedar, then surely it is no longer meet that the ark of the covenant of the Lord should remain under curtains. When mansions of costly price, and embellished within and without with all the skill of experienced artists, grow up on every side--when the halls of justice, the palatial buildings of the money-changers, the marketplaces, and public works which denote and advance the worldly greatness and prosperity of our citizens, are multiplying around us, then too, surely, it is meet that the house which we build for the service of God should be great and, as nearly as we can make it, the chief glory of all; reminding us, by its beauty and magnificence, of the greatness of our God, who is above all gods.
3. It has been too much the custom, in the age in which we live, to endeavour in every way to serve God at as cheap a rate as possible, at the same time that men serve themselves willingly at the costliest sacrifice. While in your private lives luxury has been increasing, any expenditure in connection with the building of a church or the service of God is too often denounced, very much in the spirit of Judas, as a waste of that which might have been turned to better account in some other way. Now, for myself, I wish loudly to protest against such a system.
4. What use are we going to make of the house of God, now that we have built it? If there is one thing more than another for which we have a perfect loathing, says an able lay member of the Church, it is that most disgusting of all unrealities which attempts to make things external and earthly the substitute for what is internal and heavenly--which considers fine churches and complex services a sufficient compensation for general laxity of morals--the formalism of lip-worship an atonement for deadness of hearts and unrestrained luxurious living. All the outward acts of s religious life may be performed, where there is an established character, and yet every one of them be an offence to God. They hear sermons, join in a litany, join in Divine worship, come to the communion once a month--all like a decent garment: things outside, nothing within. God forbid that such should be our case: that we should allow any self-complacency on account of this house which God has permitted us to build for Him, or any admiration of the services to be offered therein, to blind us to the depths of our sad spiritual necessities, or make us indifferent about these necessities being supplied. And when we draw nigh to offer our own sacrifices, let us ever bear fresh in our stricken hearts the recollection of that One Great Sacrifice once offered up as a peace-offering for us all, and which alone gives any of us sinners the right of access to the throne of grace. (Bp. Fulford.)
A great house
The house is great, for great is our God--that is the reason. That is the key of all Christian life. Our conception of God controls everything. A little God means a little life, a little morality, a little service, a little petty, miserable effort altogether; but a great conception of God is a great life--great loving, great service for others. I do not fear about God in the Church. God is great. We have dismissed Him from our thought. We are agnostics without the courage of our convictions. We say God; but do we mean it in all its light and music and beauty and moral necessity? Is not the Word of God a mere convenience in speech? We must put it in. Is it the ruling thought, the dominating idea, the sovereign force? Christ never ignored God. Christ lifted up the Father, the God, the Sovereign, When you get a real conception of God you will preach well. There will be no fear of man before you. Do not sit back and say, We cannot know Him. That is intellectually true; it is sympathetically false--we cannot know God intellectually. No mans eyes can accommodate the whole sky, but we know God lovingly, pityingly, healingly, forgivingly; we know Him intuitively. The sun rules all things. Haste thou, take heed of that, O man! It is the sun that tells them what coat to put on; the sun tells them what to eat; the sun cures and smites, and rebukes thy poor botanies and minor sciences, showing them that the Kew Gardens of one nation are the weeds of another. The sun tells you when to go out and when to hasten home again. And as that teaches you, so the great Teacher of the mind, the Spirit of God, will teach them, control them, guide them! We live and move and have our being in God. The house is great, for great is our conception of God. God is greater than our conception--we struggle towards Him, and our struggle is victory. A great God means a great morality: Shall I tell you of the knaves that are trying to carve morality for the people? They have schedules and stipulations and social arrangements and indications and manifold endeavour and effort after something that is to be millennial and glorious. If that is morality, we can make it, shape it, manufacture it, sell it, appreciate it, prize it, barter it, nail it to the wall like a wooden idol. Talk they of morals? Oh, Thou bleeding Lamb, true morality is love of Thee! If that were morality which I have just described in my own words, it would be worthy of its own little etymology--an attitude, a manner, a posture, a trick. Away! It is a soul, an inspiration, a flame, an incarnate holiness. Mr. So-and-so is a good man, though he is not a Christian. No! he is not a good man. My neighbour is an excellent man, though he does not believe anything about God. No! he is not an excellent man. There thou art in the little etymological morality, the manner, the attitude, the posture. All thou seest is silver, but the base metal is inside. To be silver-covered is not to be silver. He only is good who is the temple of God by consent, by honour, by daily worship, by continued trust in His name and service in His kingdom. A great God means a great service--not a little service written out on the paper as to what shall come first, and next, and last, but an enthusiasm that dares the sea, the wilderness, and the place of danger, the cannibal, the savage, the devil Why, missionary, dost thou so go forth? Remain at home. I cannot. Why not? God is great; my service for Him must be great also. Your house exists for one thing--you must find out what that one thing is. You shut the window for some one, you keep up the house for some one. It is always an impulse. We must find the motive and governing thought. Only let that be worthy, and all the rest will come. Oh, my Father, the message preached was poor and feeble, but Thy broken-down old servant could not do better. He says, That was the best discourse thou didst ever deliver; it shall be made mightier than the others on which thou hast lavished thy poor vanity. It was the best thou couldst do, and weakness may be strength, poverty may be wealth. Oh, to do the best you can! that is to do a great thing in the esteem of God. And that mumbling, stumbling prayer of thine at the family altar--only God knows what that prayer cost. Can you tell me the meaning of the word great? I will ask my young friends to tell me what great means, and to illustrate it in some general way. I hear the answer already--the mountains are great, the sky is great, the sun is great! There is the great mountain, and here at its base is a little child picking springs first daisy. Which is great? The child! And a man standing on the great mountain says, That is greatness. What am I, a poor little creature compared with that great rock? Why, that great rock is insignificant, and thou art majestic. Thou canst tunnel it, bore it, climb it--that is greatness, not magnitude. Get the right definition of greatness, and all your troubles will subside and all your love will fall into its right prospective, and you shall say the Lord reigneth. Now I will tell you where greatness is to be found. It is to be found in compassion. You said great mountain; I say great pity--And his father saw him whilst he was yet a great way off, and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. All the consolidated planets never totalled up to that greatness. And thou canst be great in that way. I will tell you what is great--great patience, patience that sits up all night and says, He will be here in the morning; he has been mistaken as to distance, but he will be here in the morning--a patience that looks at the midnight clock as if by chance, as if it did not mean to look, but simply got its tearful eye on that significant dial. Patience says, The child will do well by and by. He is poor at his learning now, but he is going to be a good scholar in a year or two. Ay, that is greatness; not the rocky mountains of the Alpine heights--not these, but heights of patience, depths of love, rivers of tears. The house is great, for great is our God. This house will be famous for the deliverance of great messages. This house has no small message to deliver. The messages delivered here will deal with great subjects, with God, and blood, and sin, and pardon, and holiness, and destiny--themes that cannot be discussed anywhere else. They would be out of place in the Lyceum, in the political hall, in the House of Parliament. I speak of this house not in its locality, but in its typical relations. This house must be unique in its messages. Men must hasten to Gods house to hear Gods Word which they can hear nowhere else in the same sense, degree, and quality. My brother ministers, you are not hardly driven for subjects; the Cross still stands. You need not look up a paper to see what is the question of the day. The question of the day is, How can a man be forgiven, how can a broken heart be healed, how can the lost be brought home?--that is the question of the day. This house will be great in its welcomes. There will be as it were a genius, a spirit at all the doors, saying, Come and welcome; O every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Great welcomes will make the house warm--people love welcomes. Speak Gods welcomes to human hearts, and men will bless thee and mothers say there never was such a man. And this house will be known as great for its great remedies--the house of God treats nothing superficially. There be those in the world who cry Peace, peace! where there is no peace. There be those who say, There, that will do, when they have not touched the heart-sore, the devil-spot. The remedy declared here will be the old, old remedy of blood. And this house, though great, is not final. Nature hates all buildings. Nature hates everything that does not grow. We know Mother Nature is very gentle to a nettle, and gives a nettle room and says, Let this nettle grow; but Nature has already begun to take off your roof. Long before you have paid half of your £9,000 you will have a bill sent in for repairs. Nature will not let the place alone--she will take it down. Build thou in God, build thou the temple-life. Every man is the living temple of God that cannot be taken down--that is a house not made with hands. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Sermons in stones
So far as we are able to discover from archaeological research and the details in Scripture, it seems beyond controversy that the temple of Solomon was the most splendid and magnificent building the world has ever seen. There have been larger buildings, but no building represented in itself so much splendour. The gold and silver and precious stones, besides the marble and timber and workmanship, amounted to about £100,000,000 sterling, equal to the annual revenue of this kingdom. And so far as we know, with all this luxurious outlay, there was no one in the congregation of Jerusalem who raised the Judas cry: To what purpose is this waste? Solomon said, The house which I build is great, and he gave as a reason, because great is our God above all gods. What did this temple mean to Solomon?
I. The temple was great to Solomon because it stood for the visible sign of Gods presence among the people. God had forbidden the children of Israel to make any image representing Himself. Yet there is an underlying spirit of worship that is inherent in all of us, a longing for some objective thing upon which we can cast our eye. Out of that desire, which seems to be a very part of our nature, and not a result of superstition, has grown, by the misdirection of it, all idolatry. God manifested Himself early in the garden of Eden with a flame of fire. When He spake with Moses He appeared in a burning bush. It was an objective sign of His presence. Consider how natural it is to build such signs as these in the land. We have on the Embankment a great Parliament House, a magnificent building, one of the finest in the world. That Parliament House is the visible sign of the sovereignty of the people. In the same way Buckingham Palace stands as the visible sign of royalty. The Courts of Justice in the Strand are a visible sign of the rights of man and the defence of man in his rights. So we might go all through the land and note that the great manor houses and castles are the embodiment of that subtle thing which we call nobility. Everything in this world has its concrete sign. We look upon the things that are seen, not as being the actual thing, but as the sign of the thing.
II. When Solomon said, The house I build is great, the inadequacy of his ability to express his idea was also present with him. How shall I build a house great enough for the great God? The only justification of the Infinite falling short of any house is that it shall be a place where we shall come into His presence and offer sacrifices to His great name. That purpose sanctifies the inadequate efforts we make to embody our ideal. God does not receive thanks from us because they are worthy of acceptance, but because they are responses to His grace. Little things become big, and sometimes great things become very small, just as their attitude is towards God. Bethlehem, for instance, was the least of all the cities, and yet it became great because it was sanctified and glorified by the birth of the Son of God. It was not the town, but what was associated with it. Nazareth was a despised, contemptible, mean little village; so contemptible that it came to be a byword, and yet Nazareth is one of the famous towns in the history of the world, and always will be. The things we offer to God are great, not because of the money they cost, not by the splendour of them that may meet the eye, but because they are given to God. God makes them great.
III. The temple was great because of what it symbolised. It was the great type of the Incarnation. There is instinctively in man a spirit which craves for an objective representation of God. But for us Christ is the real Incarnation. Our churches stand as an embodiment of our thankful recognition of promises fulfilled. We meet for instruction, for prayer, for praise, for fellowship and goodwill, and to give forth our witness to God. It would be an irreparable loss to us if Westminster Abbey were rased to the ground; and so with all the old cathedrals of England. They are an embodiment of doctrine in a sense. A true cathedral is laid out on the plan of the Cross, the nave and the transepts making a cross. The spire tells of the aspirations of worship, and if we come into the choir we have an expression of praise. The old mediaeval idea was to work out in stone and in building the foundations of our faith. I would fill the land with buildings that should be in the highest sense great buildings, expressing the great inheritance which has come to us from God by Jesus Christ. (G. F. Pentecost, D.D.)
Solomons conception of God
By the sentence, the heaven and heaven of heavens, that is the heaven in its most extended compass, cannot contain God, Solomon strikes down all rationalistic assertions that the Israelites imagined Jehovah to be only a finite national God. The infinitude and super-mundane exaltation of God cannot be more clearly and strongly expressed than it is in these words. That, however, Solomon was addicted to no abstract idealism is sufficiently apparent from this, that he unites this consciousness of the infinite exaltation of God with the firm belief of His real presence in the temple. The true God is not merely exalted above the world, has not only His throne in heaven (1Ki_8:34; 1Ki_8:36; 1Ki_8:39; Psa_2:4; Psa_11:4; Psa_103:19; Isa_66:1; Amo_9:6), He is also present on the earth (Deu_4:39), has chosen the temple for the dwelling-place of His name in Israel, from which He hears the prayers of His people. (C.F. Keil.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v4 (See Scofield "Exo 25:30").
shewbread
(See Scofield "Exo 25:30").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v11 Huram’s Kind Answer
Huram’s Kind Answer
v. 11. Then Huram, the king of Tyre, having received Solomon’s message delivered to him in the form of a letter, answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the Lord hath loved His people, He hath made thee king over them; for wise and good kings are a gift of His merciful goodness.
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v. 12. Huram said moreover. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, with whose worship he was evidently familiar, having accepted the true God in faith, that made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, not a dead knowledge, but one which readily adjusted itself to any situation, that might build an house for the Lord and an house for his kingdom.
v. 13. And now I have sent a cunning man, an artist such as Solomon desired accompanied the embassy to Jerusalem, endued with understanding, of Huram, my father’s, the master’s name itself being Huram, like that of the king, 1Ki 7:13,
v. 14. the 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, to work out any pattern, which shall be put to him with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David, thy father. The artist selected by Huram not only met all the requirements of Solomon, but even exceeded them.
v. 15. Now, therefore, the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants;
v. 16. and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need; and we will bring it to thee in floats, huge rafts, by sea to Joppa, along the shores of the Mediterranean; and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem, the distance which the lumber had to be hauled over land being some thirty miles.
v. 17. And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, the members and descendants of heathen nations in the midst of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David, his father, had numbered them, 1Ch 22:2; and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred.
v. 18. And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain, both to hew stones and to fell timber, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work, this being the total number, of which three thousand were non-Israelites, the others, both of the lower and of the higher rank, being Israelites. Note: Solomon is a type of Christ, who also built a great temple to the Lord, not of wood and stone and precious metals, but of believers in His blood. And all servants of Christ are called to assist in erecting this wonderful temple of the Lord.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15 I am about to build a house for the…
I am about to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God
Here "name" represents the person. See how you translated a similar phrase in 2 Chronicles 2:1. AT: "I am about to build a house where Yahweh my God may live" or "I am about to build a house where people may worship Yahweh my God" (See: Metonymy)
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I am about to build
Solomon would command his people to build the house. AT: "I am about to command my people to build" (See: Metonymy)
the bread of the presence
This is a reference to the 12 loaves of bread that were placed in front of the altar.
new moons
This was the time of a festival coinciding with the movement of the moon.
This is forever, for Israel
Here "This" refers back to all the ways the people will worship Yahweh at his temple. AT: "These are the things Yahweh has commanded Israel to do forever"
God is greater
This is a reference to God being more important and more powerful than other gods, not to being larger than other gods.
translationWords
God
set apart
incense
bread
burnt offering
Sabbath
new moon
festival
eternity
Israel
false god
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 8, 13 2:5-6 a magnificent Temple: The greatness of the Temple…
2:5-6 a magnificent Temple: The greatness of the Temple and the greatness of God were not of the same order, since not even the highest heavens can contain God.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.