1Ch 22:2-4 | KD | STEP | Workmen and materials for the building of the temple . - 1Ch 22:2. In order to procure the necessary workmen, David commanded that the strangers in the land of Israel should be gathered together, and, as we learn from , also numbered. הגּרים, the strangers, are the descendants of the Canaanites whom the Israelites had not destroyed when they took possession of the land, but had reduced to bondage ( ; 1Ki 9:20-22). This number was so considerable, that Solomon was able to employ 150,000 of them as labourers and stone-cutters (1Ki 5:15.; 2Ch 2:16.). These strangers David appointed to be stone-cutters, to hew squared stones, גזית אבני (see on 1Ki 5:18).

‏ 1 Chronicles 22:2-4

1Ch 22:2 Workmen and materials for the building of the temple. - 1Ch 22:2. In order to procure the necessary workmen, David commanded that the strangers in the land of Israel should be gathered together, and, as we learn from 2Ch 2:16, also numbered. הגּרים, the strangers, are the descendants of the Canaanites whom the Israelites had not destroyed when they took possession of the land, but had reduced to bondage (2Ch 8:7-9; 1Ki 9:20-22). This number was so considerable, that Solomon was able to employ 150,000 of them as labourers and stone-cutters (1Ki 5:15.; 2Ch 2:16.). These strangers David appointed to be stone-cutters, to hew squared stones, גזית אבני (see on 1Ki 5:18). 1Ch 22:3

Iron and brass he prepared in abundance: the iron for the nails of the doors, i.e., for the folding-doors of the gates, i.e., partly for the pivots (Zapfen) on which the folding-doors turned, partly to strengthen the boards of which doors were made; as also for the מחבּרות, literally, things to connect, i.e., properly iron cramps. 1Ch 22:4

The Tyrians sent him cedar trees or beams in abundance, probably in exchange for grain, wine, and fruit of various sorts, which the Phoenicians obtained from the Israelites; cf. Movers, Phönizier, iii. 1, S. 88ff. Sidonians and Tyrians are named to denote the Phoenicians generally, as in Ezr 3:7. When Solomon began to build the temple, he made a regular treaty with Hiram king of Tyre about the delivery of the necessary cedar wood, 1Ki 5:15.