2 Chronicles 3:2

2Ch 3:2 And he began to build in the second [day] of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

Ver. 2. In the fourth year of his reign.] Temple work meets with many problems, and goes not on too hastily.

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 3:2. He began to build in the second day, &c. — Concerning the contents of this verse, and the rest of the chapter, see notes on 1 Kings 6.

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

3:2 The book of Kings dates the beginning of the Temple construction in relation to the exodus from Egypt (1 Kgs 6:1). Chronicles consistently omits references to the Exodus, perhaps to emphasize the continuous and abiding bond between the people, the land, and God.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(2) In the second day of the second month.—Heb., in the second month in the second. The versions omit the repetition, which is probably a scribe’s error. “On the second day” would be expressed in Hebrew differently. Read simply, “And he began to build in the second month,” i.e., in Zif (or April—May). See 1Ki_6:1.

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

2. in the second day] The words are absent from 1 Kings and should probably be omitted here. The year according to 1 Kings was the four hundred and eightieth after the Exodus.

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.

Second. Hebrew adds, (Du Hamel) "in the second day of the second month." (Protestants, &c.) (Haydock)

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).

Of this verse, and the rest of this chapter, See Poole "1Ki 6:1".

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In the second day. The word "day" as italicized in our Authorized Version type is of course not found in the Hebrew text. Several manuscripts fail also to show the other words of this clause, viz. "In the second;" and that they are probably spurious derives confirmation from the fact that neither the Arabic nor Syriac Versions, nor the Septuagint nor Vulgate translations, produce them. In the second month, in the fourth year. Reading the verse, therefore, as though it began thus, the most interesting but doubtful question of fixing an exact chronology for what preceded Solomon"s reign is opened. In our present text there is little sign of anything to satisfy the offers to do so, if only again to disappoint the more grievously. There we read of "four hundred and eighty years" from the Exodus to this beginning of the building of Solomon"s temple. Now, this latter date can be determined with tolerable accuracy (viz. as some twenty years before B.C. 1000) by travelling backwards from the date (n.c. 536) of Cyrus taking Babylon, and the beginning of the return from the Captivity (B.C. 535), making allowance for the seventy years of the Captivity, the duration of the line of separate Judah-kings, and the remanet, a large one, of the years of Solomon"s reign. All this, however, helps nothing at all the period stretching from the Exodus to the beginning of the building of the temple. And the events of this period, strongly corroborated by other testimony (see Canon Rawlinson, "Speaker"s Commentary," vol. it. pp. 575, 576), seem to show convincingly that no faith can be reposed in the authenticity of the chronological statement of our parallel.

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

second month

i.e. May.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he commenced to build in the second month This is explained at the beginning of Tractate Rosh Hashanah Yerushalmi (1:1), and the meaning is: the second of Iyar. Since he wished to say, “in the fourth year of his reign,” he had to repeat and say, “in the second.” A similar instance is (Gen. 8: 5): “And the waters continued to diminish until the tenth month, etc.” Another similar instance is (I Kings 6:1): “in the fourth year in the month Ziv, which was the second month of Solomon’s reign, etc.” This refers back to “the fourth year,” and then in the fourth year of his reign he commenced in the second [month], because all the days of the winter he could not [build] because of the cold, and in Nissan he could not [build] because of Passover.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.