(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 1 Kings 5:15.
And three thousand and six hundred overseers.--The same number was given in 2 Chronicles 2:2. In 1 Kings 5:16 we read of 3,300 officers. In the Hebrew, three (sh?losh) and six (shesh) 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 (1 Kings 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.
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.
2:1-18 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.
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.
And three thousand and six hundred overseers.--The same number was given in 2 Chronicles 2:2. In 1 Kings 5:16 we read of 3,300 officers. In the Hebrew, three (sh?losh) and six (shesh) 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 (1 Kings 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. m?nacc?him. Only here and in 2 Chronicles 2:2 supra, and 2 Chronicles 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 1 Chronicles 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.