2 Chronicles 2:7

2Ch 2:7 Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that [are] with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.

Ver. 7. Send me now therefore a man.] See 1Ki 7:13-14.

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.

2Ch_2:7-16

Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold.

Huram and Solomon

Learn from this intercourse--

I. That friendship in life is helpful.

II. That co-operation among men is desirable.

III. That men may know God, yet not serve him.

IV. That when Gods people are consistent in their life, their influence upon others is for good. (J. Wolfendale.)

Co-operation

No temple should be built by any one man. Blessed be God, everything that is worth doing is done by co-operation, by acknowledged reciprocity of labour. Your breakfast-table was not spread by yourself, although it could not have been spread without you. Sometimes we may almost bless God that we cannot identify the authorship of some books in the Bible. It is better that many hands should have written the book than that some brilliant author should have retired into immortality on the ground of his being the only genius that could have written so marvellous a volume. (J. Parker, D.D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 2:7. Send me therefore a man cunning to work in gold, &c. — There were admirable artists, in all the works here referred to, at Tyre; some of whom Solomon desired to be sent to him, that they might assist those whom David had provided, but who were not so skilful as those of Tyre.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, scarlet.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Send me now therefore a man cunning to work--Masons and carpenters were not asked for. Those whom David had obtained (Ch1 14:1) were probably still remaining in Jerusalem, and had instructed others. But he required a master of works; a person capable, like Bezaleel (Exo 35:31), of superintending and directing every department; for, as the division of labor was at that time little known or observed, an overseer had to be possessed of very versatile talents and experience. The things specified, in which he was to be skilled, relate not to the building, but the furniture of the temple. Iron, which could not be obtained in the wilderness when the tabernacle was built, was now, through intercourse with the coast, plentiful and much used. The cloths intended for curtains were, from the crimson or scarlet-red and hyacinth colors named, evidently those stuffs, for the manufacture and dyeing of which the Tyrians were so famous. "The graving," probably, included embroidery of figures like cherubim in needlework, as well as wood carving of pomegranates and other ornaments.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. Send me - a man cunning to work] A person of great ingenuity, who is capable of planning and directing, and who may be over the other artists.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(7) Send me now . . .—And now send me a wise man, to work in the gold and in the silver (1Ch_22:15; 2Ch_2:13).

And in (the) purple, and crimson, and blue.—No allusion is made to this kind of art in 2Ch_4:11-16, nor in 1Ki_7:13 seq., which describe only metallurgic works of this master, whose versatile genius might easily be paralleled by famous names of the Renaissance.

Purple (’argĕwân).—Aramaic form. (Heb. ’argâmân, Exo_25:4.)

Crimson (karmîl).—A word of Persian origin, occurring only here and in 2Ch_2:13, and 2Ch_3:14. (Comp. our word carmine.)

Blue (tĕkçleth).—Dark blue, or violet (Exo_25:4, and elsewhere.)

Can skill.—Knoweth how.

To grave.—Literally, to carve carvings; whether in wood or stone. (1Ki_6:29; Zec_3:9; Exo_28:9, on gems.)

With the cunning men.—The Hebrew connects this clause with the infinitive to work at the beginning of the verse. There should be a stop after the words to grave.

Whom David my father did provide (prepared, 1Ch_29:2).—1Ch_22:15; 1Ch_28:21.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. can skill to grave] Literally, knoweth how to grave.

to grave with the cunning men] R.V. to grave all manner of gravings, to be with the cunning men. To grave is “to carve.” Cp. 1Ki_6:29.

my father did provide] See 1Ch_22:15.

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.

Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon,.... Of the two first of these, and which Hiram sent, see Kg1 5:10. The algum trees are the same with the almug trees, Kg1 10:11 by a transposition of letters; these could not be coral, as some Jewish writers think, which grows in the sea, for these were in Lebanon; nor Brazil, as Kimchi, so called from a place of this name, which at this time was not known; though there were trees of almug afterwards brought from Ophir in India, as appears from the above quoted place, as well as from Arabia; and it seems, as Beckius (c) observes, to be an Arabic word, by the article "al" prefixed to it:

for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; better than his:

and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants; to help and assist them in what they can, and to learn of them, see Kg1 5:6.

(c) In Targum in loc.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

See 1Ki 5:6, note; 1Ki 7:13, note.

Purple ... - “Purple, crimson, and blue,” would be needed for the hangings of the temple, which, in this respect, as in others, was conformed to the pattern of the tabernacle (see Exo 25:4; Exo 26:1, etc.). Hiram’s power of “working in purple, crimson,” etc., was probably a knowledge of the best modes of dyeing cloth these colors. The Phoenicians, off whose coast the murex was commonly taken, were famous as purple dyers from a very remote period.

Crimson - כרמיל karmı̂̂yl, the word here and elsewhere translated “crimson,” is unique to Chronicles and probably of Persian origin. The famous red dye of Persia and India, the dye known to the Greeks as κόκκος kokkos, and to the Romans as coccum, is obtained from an insect. Whether the “scarlet” שׁני shânı̂y of Exodus (Exo 25:4, etc.) is the same or a different red, cannot be certainly determined.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Purple. Hebrew argevan, (Haydock) a Chaldean word, of the same import as argueman, in Exodus. --- Scarlet and blue were also species of purple. The finest sort was found between Tyre and Carmel. See Vitruvius vii. 13.

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).

7. Send me… a man cunning to work in gold — A skilled artificer; a master workman. Here we have the specific request for such a workman, which is implied, but not explicitly stated, in Kings.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Send me a man cunning to work, etc. The parenthesis is now ended. By comparison of ver. 3, it appears that Solomon makes of Hiram"s services to David his father a very plea why his own requests addressed now to Hiram should be granted. If we may be guided by the form of the expressions used in 1Ch_14:1 and 2Sa_5:11, 2Sa_5:12, Hiram had in the first instance volunteered help to David, and had not waited to be applied to by David. This would show us more clearly the force of Solomon"s plea. Further, if we note the language of 1Ki_5:1, we may be disposed to think that it fills a gap in our present connection, and indicates that, though Solomon appears here to have had to take the initiative, an easy opportunity was opened, in the courteous embassy sent him in the persons of Hiram"s "servants." That the king of this most privileged, separate, and exclusive people of Israel (and he the one who conducted that people to the very zenith of their fame) should have to apply and be permitted to apply to foreign and, so to say, heathen help, in so intrinsic a matter as the finding of the "cunning" and the "skill" of head and hand for the most sacred and distinctive chef d oeuvre of the said exclusive nation, is a grand instance of nature breaking all trammels, even when most divinely purposed, and a grand token of the dawning comity of nations, of free-trade under the unlikeliest auspices, and of the brotherhood of humanity, never more broadly illustrated than when on an international scale. The competence of the Phoenicians and the people of Sidon and those over whom Hiram immediately reigned in the working of the metals, and furthermore in a very wide range of other subjects, is well sustained by the allusions of very various authorities. (already instanced 1Ch_14:1, and passim; Homer, "Iliad," 6:289-294; 23. 743; "Odys.," 4:614; 15:415-426; Herod., 3:19; 7:23, 44, 96; Strabo, 16:2. The man who was sent is described in vers. 13, 14, infra, as also 1Ki_7:13, 1Ki_7:14. Purple, ... crimson, ... blue. It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that the same Hiram, so skilled in working of gold, silver, brass, and iron, was the authority sent for these matters of various coloured dyes for the cloths that would later on be required for curtains and other similar purposes in the temple. So far, indeed, as the literal construction of the words go, this would seem to be what is meant, and no doubt may have been the case, though unlikely. The purple (wGda). A Chaldee form of this word (anwGra) occurs three times in Dan_5:7, Dan_5:16, Dan_5:29, and appears in each of those cases in our Authorized Version as "scarlet." Neither of these words is the word used in the numerous passages of Exodus, Numbers, Judges, Esther, Proverbs, Canticles, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, nor, indeed, in ver. 13, infra and 2Ch_3:14. In all these places, numbering nearly forty, the word is b; g; ra.The purple was probably obtained from some shell-fish on the coast of the Mediterranean. The crimson (lymirk). Gesenius says that this was a colour obtained from multitudinous insects that tenanted one kind of the flex (Coccus ilicis), and that the word is from the Persian language. The Persian kerm, Sanscrit krimi, Armenian karmir, German carmesin, and our own "crimson," keep the same framework of letters or sound to a remarkable degree. This word is found only here, ver. 13, infra, and 2Ch_3:14. The crimson of Isa_1:18 and Jer_4:30, and the scarlet of some forty places in the Pentateuch and other books, come as the rendering of the word yniv; The blue (tlkeT) This is the same word as is used in some fifty other passages in Exodus, Numbers, and in later books. This colour was obtained from a shell-fish ( Helix ianthina) found in the Mediterranean, the shell of which was blue. Can skill to grave. The word "to grave" is the piel conjugation of the very familiar Hebrew verb jtP "to open." Out of twenty-nine times that the verb occurs in some part of the piel conjugation, it is translated "grave" nine times, "loosed" eleven times, "put off" twice, "ungirded" once, "opened" four times, "appear" once, and "go free" once. Perhaps the "opening" the ground with the plough (Isa_28:24) leads most easily on to the idea of "engraving." Cunning men whom... David did provide, As we read in 1Ch_22:15 1Ch_28:21.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.