2 Chronicles 2:10

And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) And, behold, I will give . . . barley.—Rather, And, behold, for the hewers, that is, for the woodcutters, I will give wheat as food for thy servants, viz., twenty thousand kors, and barley twenty thousand kors, &c. “For the hewers” may mean “as for the hewers,” or perhaps “on account of the hewers” (Genesis 4:23). The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1Kings 5:11, where we read: “And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors” (LXX., 20,000 baths) “of pure oü: so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by year,” i.e., during his building operations.

Beaten wheat.—The Hebrew (hittîm makkôth) is literally wheat—strokes. But it is obvious that makkôth is a misreading for makkōleth, food, the word used in 1Kings 5:11; and so the LXX. renders. The expression “thy servants” here seems to correspond with the phrase” his household “there; and the drift of the whole passage is that, in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers, Solomon engages to supply Hiram’s royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil.

Others assume, without much likelihood, that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements, by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiram’s court, and by the other his Tyrian workmen, with provisions.

Hewers (hôtĕbîm).—An old word, not recurring in the chronicle, and therefore explained by the writer.

Measures (kōrîm).—The kor was a dry measure = one quarter. (Syriac, reb‘e, “quarters.”) The bath, a liquid measure, of six or seven gallons’ capacity. Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 16:6-7.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 2:10. Behold, I will give thy servants twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, &c. — Solomon would not feed his workmen with bread and water, but with plenty of provisions, and of the best kind. They that employ labourers ought to take care that they be not only well paid, but well provided for, with sufficient of that which is wholesome and proper for them. Let rich masters do for their poor servants and workmen as they would be done by it the tables were turned.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Beaten wheat - The Hebrew text is probably corrupt here. The true original may be restored from marginal reference, where the wheat is said to have been given "for food."

The barley and the wine are omitted in Kings. The author of Chronicles probably filled out the statement which the writer of Kings has given in brief; the barley, wine, and ordinary oil, would be applied to the sustenance of the foreign laborers.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. behold, I will give to thy servants … beaten wheat—Wheat, stripped of the husk, boiled, and saturated with butter, forms a frequent meal with the laboring people in the East (compare 1Ki 5:11). There is no discrepancy between that passage and this. The yearly supplies of wine and oil, mentioned in the former, were intended for Huram's court in return for the cedars sent him; while the articles of meat and drink specified here were for the workmen on Lebanon.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat,.... Meaning, not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail, as some; nor bruised or half broke for pottage, as others; but ground into flour, as R. Jonah (d) interprets it; or rather, perhaps, it should be rendered "food" (e) that is, for his household, as in 1 Kings 5:11, and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way, because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians, and they were obliged to have it from the Jews, Acts 12:20,

and twenty thousand measures of barley; the measures of both these were the cor, of which see 1 Kings 5:11,

and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil; which measure was the tenth part of a "cor". According to the Ethiopians, a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f).

(d) Apud Kimchium in loc. (e) So Kimchi, "pro" "ineuria librariorum", Schindler, Lex. Pentaglott. Colossians 73. (f) Ludolf. Lexic. Ethiop. p. 197.

Geneva Study Bible

And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty {d} thousand baths of oil.

(d) Of bath read 1Ki 7:26. It is also called ephah, but an ephah measures dry things as a bath is a measure for liquids.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. measures] Hebrew, cors. A cor was the same as a homer = 393.9 litres.

beaten wheat] 1 Kings 5:11, wheat for food. The text is doubtful, and the phrase beaten wheat occurs nowhere else and is uncertain in meaning.

of barley] The barley and wine are not mentioned in 1 Kings 5:11; there wheat and oil only are mentioned.

twenty thousand baths of oil] in 1 Kings 5:11 (Heb.) twenty cors of pure oil. As ten baths went to a cor, the amount stated in Chron. is a hundred times as much as the amount given in 1 Kings (7878 litres).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Beaten wheat. In 1 Kings 5:11 the language is "wheat for food" (מַכֹּלֶת), while the Septuagint gives καὶ μαχεὶρ. In our present passage the Septuagint gives εἰς βρώματα, suggesting at once that our Hebrew מִכּות is an error for מַכֹּלֶת. The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for "plagues," "strokes," etc., and it is nowhere but in this place rendered "beaten." I will give to thy servants. This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 5:11; but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it. It is possible that the two passages are distinct. The contents of the present verse, at all events, need not be credited with any ambiguity, unless, indeed, we would wish it more definite, whether the expression, "I will give to thy servants," may not be quite as correctly understood, "for thy servants," i.e. to thee as the hire of them. If this be so, it would enable us to give at once all the wheat, and two hundred out of the 20,000 baths of oil, for the consumption, not of the literal workmen, but of the royal household. Then this granted, the verse, though not identical with 1 Kings 5:11, is brought into harmony with it. Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 5, what we learn is that Solomon, in his application to Hiram, offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (ver. 6). Hiram's reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment "food for his household" (ver. 9), the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in ver. 11. This is the whole case, the discrepancies in which are plain, but they do not amount to contradictions. The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration, though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomon's original application to Hiram. Measures. These were cots, and the cot was the same as the homer. From a calculation of some doubtfulness, however, made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 4:22, it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32,000 measures. The cor, or homer, was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity, being equal to 180 cabs, 100 omers, 30 seahe, 10 ephahs (see Dr. Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' 3.1741), though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at. Baths. The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity, being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs (see same 'Dictionary,' 3:1740). 2 Chronicles 2:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The infinitive וּלהכין cannot be regarded as the continuation of לכרות, nor is it a continuation of the imperat. לי שׁלח (2 Chronicles 2:7), with the signification, "and let there be prepared for me" (Berth.). It is subordinated to the preceding clauses: send me cedars, which thy people who are skilful in the matter hew, and in that my servants will assist, in order, viz., to prepare me building timber in plenty (the ו is explic). On 2 Chronicles 2:8 cf. 2 Chronicles 2:4. The infin. abs. הפלא is used adverbially: "wonderfully" (Ew. 280, c). In return, Solomon promises to supply the Tyrian workmen with grain, wine, and oil for their maintenance - a circumstance which is omitted in 1 Kings 5:10; see on 2 Chronicles 2:14. להטבים is more closely defined by העצים לכרתי, and ל is the introductory ל: "and behold, as to the hewers, the fellers of trees." חטב, to hew (wood), and to dress it (Deuteronomy 29:10; Joshua 9:21, Joshua 9:23), would seem to have been supplanted by חצב, which in 2 Chronicles 2:2, 2 Chronicles 2:18 is used for it, and it is therefore explained by העצים כּרת. "I will give wheat מכּות to thy servants" (the hewers of wood). The word מכּות gives no suitable sense; for "wheat of the strokes," for threshed wheat, would be a very extraordinary expression, even apart from the facts that wheat, which is always reckoned by measure, is as a matter of course supposed to be threshed, and that no such addition is made use of with the barley. מכּות is probably only an orthographical error for מכּלת, food, as may be seen from 1 Kings 5:11.