BaptistWay Press® Premium Commentary By Dr. Gene Wilkes President, B. H. Carroll Theological Institute Plano, Texas Studies in Solomon: No Ordinary Kind of Wisdom (1 & 2 Chronicles) Lesson Five Ready to Build Focal Text 2 Chronicles 2:1-12 Background 1 Kings 3:9-14 Main Idea Working together reflects the greatness of our God. Question to Explore What do I do with the people God sends to me, who have different gifts and talents? Quick Read Solomon began with modesty and understanding that what he himself had or what he himself knew was limited. This is evidence of his great wisdom; that he knew his own limitations. Introduction “Teamwork makes the dream work,” is the title of John Maxwell’s book of stories and illustrations about how teams accomplish greater things than individuals. Solomon wrote millennia earlier, Page 1 of 8 Premium Commentary. Solomon: No Ordinary Kind of Wisdom--Lesson Five. Copyright © 2021 BAPTISTWAY PRESS©. A MINISTRY OF THE Baptist General Convention of Texas. Go to www.baptistway press.org or call 1-866-249-1799 toll-free for additional Bible study materials for all ages. This lesson is not to be sold or distributed beyond the subscription agreement. The copyright notice and identifying information in this note must be included on any copies made. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations in Premium Commentary are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 2 Chronicles 2:1-12, Ready to Build Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil…And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9, 12) Solomon was not simply a sage who said and wrote wise sayings, he lived out the truths he wrote down. We will see in this lesson that Solomon knew his strengths and limitations and called upon others to aid him in the work given to him to complete. He would partner with others to realize the vision of a beautiful and magnificent Temple to God. One of his first acts after ordering the building of the Temple was to turn to an ally of Israel who aided his father before him. All was set for the building of the temple by Solomon who was now solely king of Israel. 2 Chronicles 2:1-7:22, which we will study, is central to the story of Solomon. The building and dedication of the Temple, the symbol of God’s presence among his people, was a fulfilled promise of God to the people of Israel. Since God walked in the Garden in the cool of the day with creation, the Lord has dwelled among the chosen people. (Genesis 3:8) His presence came in the form of natural phenomenon and heavenly beings until God directed Moses to build the “tent of meeting,” or, tabernacle after he delivered them from Egypt. The tabernacle said God was present. The Temple would symbolize the same thing until Jesus of Nazareth, who was named Emmanuel, God with Us, “moved into the neighborhood.” (John 1:14; MSG) See 1 Kings 5:1-16 for a parallel account of the events described in the focal text for this lesson. While some details differ, the accounts are similar in recording how Solomon began the project by adding to the laborers and materials David had provided him and calling upon an ally to aid in supplying more than what he had at hand. We will see the humble wisdom of a king who knew his limitations and called upon others to help him in the things God called him to do. Commentary A Time to Build (2:1-2) All the preparations for construction of the Temple were made. Solomon wrote in his reflections on life that there was a “time to tear down and a time to build.” (Ecclesiastes 3:3) Now was the time to build. The king gave the orders to build the Temple “for the name of the Lord.” (v. 1) The name of the Lord, Yahweh, represented the person of God. The temple would be for worship of the God of Israel. The king added orders to build “a royal palace for himself” (2:12, 7:11; 8:1 etc.) David had built a palace for himself but not a “house” for Yahweh, the God of Israel. Solomon would build both. Page 2 of 8 Premium Commentary. Solomon: No Ordinary Kind of Wisdom--Lesson Five. Copyright © 2021 BAPTISTWAY PRESS©. A MINISTRY OF THE Baptist General Convention of Texas. Go to www.baptistway press.org or call 1-866-249-1799 toll-free for additional Bible study materials for all ages. This lesson is not to be sold or distributed beyond the subscription agreement. The copyright notice and identifying information in this note must be included on any copies made. 2 Chronicles 2:1-12, Ready to Build As part of Solomon’s orders to begin construction he conscripted men to be “carriers,” stone cutters in the hills throughout Judah and supervisors to see the work was done properly. (v. 2) Later in the chapter we learn that Solomon took a census of all the “resident aliens” living in Israel. (v. 17) A resident alien, or “foreigner” (NASB) was a non-citizen who lived among the people of Israel. Special laws were made to provide food and clothing for those living there because the Israelites were once aliens in Egypt. (Exodus 23:9; Deuteronomy 24:19-20) Boaz, the Israelite, made such provisions for Ruth, the Moabite, when harvesting his fields. (Ruth 2:14-16) It is from this portion of the population Solomon may have selected the laborers. The numbers of workers recorded in verse 2 are repeated in verse 18 of the chapter. Hiram, King of Tyre (2:3-4) Solomon, knowing the enormity of the project before him, reached out to an ally of his father, Hiram, King of Tyre, for help. (v. 3) When David conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites, Hiram sent materials and workers to help him build a palace. (2 Samuel 5:11, 12; 1 Chronicles 14:1) When Solomon became king, we are told that Hiram sent envoys to the new king “because he had always been on friendly terms with David.” (1 Kings 5:1; NIV) We know of Hiram primarily through his relationship with David and Solomon in the biblical narrative. Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian, added that he was the son of Abibal and nineteen years old when he succeeded his father as king of Tyre. [HIBC, Hiram, Hugh Tobias] The king demonstrated his friendship by suppling materials for Israel’s kings. Tyre was a port city on the coast of Phoenicia, north of Israel. Sidon, its sister city, combined to provide ports of commerce to the world. During Roman rule, the cities remained active ports, but importance shifted to Caesarea under Herod’s enhanced construction there. Jesus referenced Sidon and Tyre as those whose judgement would be “more bearable” than that of Chorazin and Bethsaida. (Matthew 11:20-22) Paul stayed in Tyre for seven days after his third missionary journey. (Acts 21:3-4) The port cities profited from the inland trade routes governed by Solomon, and Israel benefitted by the goods that came through the ports from around the known world. Both kings showed wisdom to share resources and personnel with one another. Solomon made a specific ask for Hiram to send him “cedar logs” (NIV) as he had to David for his palace. Solomon wanted the same quality wood for “a house for the name of [Yahweh] my God,” which would be dedicated to God for worship. Solomon then enumerated the prescribed activities of worship that would take place in the Temple as they were observed in the tabernacle. (v. 4) God established each practice, festival and furnishing with Moses in the design of the tabernacle. These included: incense (Ex 25:6), the “regular arrangement” of the showbread (Ex 25:30; Lev 24:5-9), and the morning and evening burnt offerings (Numbers 28-29) on the Sabbath and New Moons (Numbers 28:1—29:40). The king wrote the Temple would be the site Page 3 of 8 Premium Commentary. Solomon: No Ordinary Kind of Wisdom--Lesson Five. Copyright © 2021 BAPTISTWAY PRESS©. A MINISTRY OF THE Baptist General Convention of Texas. Go to www.baptistway press.org or call 1-866-249-1799 toll-free for additional Bible study materials for all ages. This lesson is not to be sold or distributed beyond the subscription agreement. The copyright notice and identifying information in this note must be included on any copies made. 2 Chronicles 2:1-12, Ready to Build for the “appointed festivals” God gave Israel to observe annually. God established seven “festivals,” which marked the calendar for God’s people, beginning with Passover. The seven observances are spelled out generally in Leviticus 23. These festivals were “ordained forever for Israel.” The Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths will be noted later in our study of Solomon. (2 Chronicles 5:3) Who Is Able to Build a Temple for God? (2:5-6) The King of Israel wrote to his ally that the Temple would be “great.” (v. 5) The reason he said was because the God of Israel was “greater than all gods,” a confession of praise King David gave the Levites to declare. (1 Chronicles 16:25) Solomon continued to praise the greatness of Yahweh by asking a rhetorical question of who could build a temple for God since the “highest heavens” could not contain him.