2 Chronicles 2:17

And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17, 18) Solomon’s levy of Canaanite labourers. (A return to the subject of 2Chronicles 2:2.)

(17) All the strangers.—The indigenous Canaanite population. (Comp. the use of the term in Genesis 23:4; Exodus 22:21; Leviticus 17:8.)

After the numbering.—The word sĕphâr, “reckoning,” “census,” occurs here only in the Old Testament.

Wherewith David his father.—The former census of the native Canaanites, which had taken place by order of David, is briefly recorded in 1Chronicles 22:2. (Comp. 2Samuel 20:24, “and Adoram was over the levy,” from which it appears that the subject population was liable to forced labour under David; comp. also 1Kings 4:6; 1Kings 5:14; 1Kings 12:4-18.)

And they were found.—The total of the numbers here given is 153,600, which is the sum of the figures assigned in the next verse, viz., 70,000 + 80,000 + 8.600.

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 2:17. Solomon numbered all the strangers — For David had not only numbered his own people, but afterward the strangers, that Solomon might have a true account of them, and employ them about his buildings. Yet Solomon numbered them again, because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since David’s numbering.

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

The strangers are the non-Israelite population of the holy land, the descendants (chiefly) of those Canaanites whom the children of Israel did not drive out. The reimposition of the bond-service imposed on the Canaanites at the time of the conquest Judges 1:28, Judges 1:30, Judges 1:33, Judges 1:35, but discontinued in the period of depression between Joshua and Saul, was (it is clear) due to David, whom Solomon merely imitated in the arrangements described in these verses.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17, 18. Solomon numbered all the strangers, &c.—(See on [412]1Ki 5:13; [413]1Ki 5:18).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Wherewith David his father had numbered them; for David had not only numbered his own people, for which he smarted, 2 Samuel 24; but afterward he numbered the strangers, not out of vanity, but that Solomon might have a true account of them, and employ them about his buildings, as he saw fit. Yet Solomon thought fit to number them again, because death might have made a considerable alteration among them since David’s numbering of them; and it behoved him to have an exact account of them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel,.... Which, according to Kimchi, were the remains of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites, see 2 Chronicles 8:8, yet not idolaters, or they would not have been suffered by David and Solomon to have dwelt in the land, but were such as were become proselytes of the gate:

after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; not at the time Israel was numbered by him, but in order to provide workmen for the building of the temple, 1 Chronicles 22:2,

and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and six hundred; men able to bear burdens, and hew timber.

Geneva Study Bible

And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17, 18 [16, 17, Heb.] (cp. 2). Bearers and Hewers

17. David his father] See 1 Chronicles 22:2.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - Strangers. By these are meant those of the former inhabitants and possessors of the land, who had not been extirpated or driven out. Special regulations respecting them are recorded in Judges 1:21-28, 33-36. But these had largely lapsed till, as it appears, David revived them rather trenchantly, and David is now followed by Solomon (2 Chronicles 8:7, 8; 1 Kings 9:20, 21). The very much milder enforcement of labour upon the Israelites themselves is evident from 1 Kings 5:13-16. After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them. Of this transaction on the part of David we do not possess any absolutely distinct statement. But the place of it is sufficiently evident, as indicated in 1 Chronicles 22:2. 2 Chronicles 2:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In 2 Chronicles 2:17 and 2 Chronicles 2:18 the short statement in 2 Chronicles 2:2 as to Solomon's statute labourers is again taken up and expanded. Solomon caused all the men to be numbered who dwelt in the land of Israel as strangers, viz., the descendants of the Canaanites who were not exterminated, "according to the numbering (ספר occurs only here) as his father David had numbered them." This remark refers to 1 Chronicles 22:2, where, however, it is only said that David commanded the strangers to be assembled. But as he caused them to be assembled in order to secure labourers for the building of the temple, he doubtless caused them to be numbered; and to this reference is here made. The numbering gave a total of 153,000 men, of whom 70,000 were made bearers of burdens, 80,000 חצב, i.e., probably hewers of stone and wood בּהר, i.e., on Lebanon, and 3600 foremen or overseers over the workmen, את־העם להעביד, to cause the people to work, that is, to hold them to their task. With this cf. 1 Kings 5:15., where the number of the overseers is stated at 3300. This difference is explained by the fact that in the Chronicle the total number of overseers, of higher and lower rank, is given, while in the book of Kings only the number of overseers of the lower rank is given without the higher overseers. Solomon had in all 550 higher overseers of the builders (Israelite and Canaanite), - cf. 1 Kings 9:23; and of these, 250 were Israelites, who alone are mentioned in 2 Chronicles 8:10, while the remaining 300 were Canaanites. The total number of overseers is the same in both accounts, - 3850; who are divided in the Chronicle into 3600 Canaanitish and 250 Israelitish, in the book of Kings into 3300 lower and 550 higher overseers (see on 1 Kings 5:16). It is, moreover, stated in 1 Kings 5:12. that Solomon had levied a force of 30,000 statute labourers from among the people of Israel, with the design that a third part of them, that is, 10,000 men, should labour alternately for a month at a time in Lebanon, looking after their own affairs at home during the two following months. This levy of workmen from among the people of Israel is not mentioned in the Chronicle.