2 Chronicles 8:18

2Ch_8:12; 2Ch_8:18

Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord.

Solomons burnt offerings

Solomon was great in burnt offerings. Do not men sometimes make up in burnt offerings what they lack in moral consistency? Is not an ostentatious religion sometimes the best proof of internal decay? It ought not to be so. The outward and inward should correspond. The action should be the incarnation of the thought. It is beautiful to look upon the Church engaged in much church-building and in strenuous endeavours against public sin; yet we must never forget that all this may possibly coexist with internal loss, decay, corruption. All action does not spring from life. Sometimes we try to make up by complex mechanism what is wanting in real vitality. It is often easier to offer burnt offering than to do some deed of moral heroism. (J. Parker, D. D.)

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

Which sum is thought to mount to three million and six hundred thousand crowns, for here is mention made of thirty more than are spoken of, 1 Kings 9:28.

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

Huram sent him . . . ships--either sent him ship-men, able seamen, overland; or, taking the word "sent" in a looser sense, supplied him, that is, built him ships--namely, in docks at Eloth (compare Kg1 9:26-27). This navy of Solomon was manned by Tyrians, for Solomon had no seamen capable of performing distant expeditions. The Hebrew fishermen, whose boats plied on the Sea of Tiberias or coasted the shores of the Mediterranean, were not equal to the conducting of large vessels laden with valuable cargoes on long voyages and through the wide and unfrequented ocean.

four hundred and fifty talents of gold--(Compare Kg1 9:28). The text in one of these passages is corrupt.

Next: 2 Chronicles Chapter 9

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 18. Knowledge of the sea] Skilful sailors. Solomon probably bore the expenses and his friend, the Tyrian king, furnished him with expert sailors; for the Jews, at no period of their history, had any skill in maritime affairs, their navigation being confined to the lakes of their own country, from which they could never acquire any nautical skill. The Tyrians, on the contrary, lived on and in the sea.

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

(18) And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships.—When Solomon began to evince an interest in maritime affairs, his Tyrian ally presented him with a number of vessels and their crews of trained seamen. To what port the vessels were sent is not expressly stated. Probably they put in at Joppa (2Ch_2:16). Others assume the meaning to be that the ships were sent from Tyre to Ezion-geber, and then ask whether they were dragged across the desert which divides the Mediterranean from the gulf of Akaba, or whether they circumnavigated Africa. The dilemma is only apparent. The Greek historians of later times often speak of the transport of ships overland; and the galleys of Solomon’s age were probably small. Even the circumnavigation of Africa was achieved by a Phœnician expedition sent out by Necho about four centuries later (Herod, iv. 42). But neither alternative seems necessary. If Huram provided Solomon with skilled mariners, they would naturally sail from Tyre to Joppa in their own ships. The Tyrian vessels may have been left at Joppa, while a portion of their crews proceeded, by Solomon’s order, to Ezion-geber. In short, “ships and servants” means “ships with servants,” or “ships conveying servants.”

And they went.—Huram’s mariners. Comp. 1Ki_9:27 : “And Huram sent in the fleet (which Solomon had built) his servants, men of ships that had knowledge of the sea.” So the Syr. and Arab. here.

To Ophir.—See 1Ki_9:28. LXX., Sophira.

Fifty.—Kings, twenty. The difference may be due to a scribe’s error, the letter kaf being confused with nun.

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

18. sent him by the hand of his servants ships] The natural interpretation of these words is that Huram had ships transported overland from the Phœnician coast to the Gulf of Akaba, a difficult but not impossible task. In 1 Kin. however it is merely said that Solomon built ships in Ezion-geber—probably with the help of Huram—and that Huram helped to man them. Probably the text of Chron. should be corrected here from the text of Kings.

18. Ophir] The situation of this oft-mentioned place is not known. It has been identified with some part of the coast (a) of India, (b) of Africa, (c) of Arabia. The last identification is most probable; Ophir appears as the name of an Arabian tribe (Gen_10:29). The name is variously written in the LXX. but usually with an initial “S,” Sophir(a). This form may one day help to identify the place.

four hundred and fifty talents] So LXX., but in 1 Kin. “four hundred and twenty” (so Heb., in LXX. B “a hundred and twenty”).

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.

It has been supposed that these ships were conveyed from Tyre to Ezion-geber, either

(1) round the continent of Africa, or

(2) across the isthmus of Suez.

But the writer probably only means that ships were given by Hiram to Solomon at this time, and in connection with the Ophir enterprise. These vessels may have been delivered at Joppa, and have been there carefully studied by the Jewish shipwrights, who then preceeded to Ezion-geber, and, assisted by Phoenicians, constructed ships after their pattern.

Four hundred and fifty talents - “Four hundred and twenty talents” in Kings 1Ki 9:28. One or other of the two texts has suffered from that corruption to which numbers are so especially liable.

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

Ships; not perhaps from Tyre, but from the Red Sea. (Calmet) --- Others think that he sent them by a canal, which opened a communication between the Mediterranean and Suez, (Huet) the distance of about ninety miles. (Pliny, [Natural History?] ii. 68.) --- But this canal seems to have been made after the age of Solomon. Hence others imagine that the ships were taken in pieces, or conveyed by land, as has been sometimes done. Mahomet II transported ships across the isthmus of Corinth. Alexander the Great conveyed on chariots the ships which had been used to cross the Indus, as far as the Hydaspes. (Arrian vii.) (Calmet) --- Skilful mariners. They were the most expert, and the inventers of navigation. Prima ratem ventis tradere docta Tyrus. (Tibul.) See Wisdom xiv. 6. --- Ophir, the kingdom of Pegu, in the East Indies, (Tirinus) or some other distant land. (Haydock) --- Fifty. Thirty are omitted, 3 Kings ix. 28., as they were expended in the voyage. (Calmet) --- Yet the Hebrew letters for twenty and fifty are extremely similar. (Du Hamel)

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).

The first impression created on reading this verse no doubt would he that Hiram sent ships to Solomon, at Ezion-geber and Eloth. But it is almost impossible to see how he could do so. The parallel much helps us, by saying that "Solomon made a navy," and Hiram assisted. by manning it with competent sailors; he "sent in the navy his servants," etc.. (1Ki_9:26, 1Ki_9:27) Some have suggested that the explanation is that Hiram gave materials, workmen, and models for Solomon"s ships, possibly having ships lying in the Red Sea. The parallel, however, meets all difficulties, and saves the necessity of going far for farfetched explanations. Ophir. This was the name of the son of Joktan, (Gen_10:25-29) who, it is supposed, gave his name to the place or land in the south of Arabia. It is still quite an unsettled question, however, where Ophir was situated, though an Arabian situation is on every account the most probable (see Exposition 1Ch_29:4; and Dr. Smith"s "Bible Dictionary," 2:637-642). Our four hundred and fifty talents of gold reads in the parallel (1Ki_9:28) as "four hundred and twenty."

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