History · Chapter 2 of 36
2 Chronicles 2
Solomon resolves to build a house for the LORD's name and a royal palace. He organizes a vast labor force and writes to Huram king of Tyre for cedar timber and a master craftsman skilled in metal, stone, and fabric. Huram blesses Israel's God, sends the skilled worker Huram-abi, and agrees to the exchange of timber for food. Solomon numbers the resident foreigners as laborers.
What happens in 2 Chronicles 2
Solomon determines to build a temple for the name of the LORD and a house for his own kingdom. He conscripts seventy thousand burden-bearers, eighty thousand stonecutters, and thirty-six hundred overseers. He writes to Huram king of Tyre, recalling how Tyre supplied David with cedar, and asks for timber and a skilled craftsman able to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, and colored fabrics. Solomon confesses that no house can truly contain God, since heaven itself cannot hold Him, and that he builds only to burn offerings before Him.
Huram answers in writing, blessing the LORD who made heaven and earth for giving David so wise a son. He sends Huram-abi, a gifted man whose mother was an Israelite and father a Tyrian, and agrees to float cedar by sea to Joppa in exchange for wheat, barley, wine, and oil. Solomon numbers the resident foreigners for the work.
2 Chronicles 2 in context
Chronicles now turns to the central act of Solomon's reign, building the temple David longed to raise. Ancient kings often built by alliance and trade, and Solomon partners with Tyre, a Gentile power, for materials and craftsmanship.
The Chronicler highlights Solomon's reverence: even the grandest house cannot contain God. The involvement of Huram and a craftsman of mixed parentage hints that the nations, too, have a part in the worship of Israel's God.
Main themes of 2 Chronicles 2
2 Chronicles 2 (KJV)
1And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the LORD, and an house for his kingdom. 2And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them. 3And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein, even so deal with me. 4Behold, I build an house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel. 5And the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods. 6But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him? 7Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide. 8Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants, 9Even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great. 10And, 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. 11Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the LORD hath loved his people, he hath made thee king over them. 12Huram said moreover, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, that might build an house for the LORD, and an house for his kingdom. 13And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, of Huram my father’s, 14The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father. 15Now therefore the wheat, and the barley, the oil, and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto his servants: 16And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need: and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem. 17And 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. 18And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work.
Verses to carry from 2 Chronicles 2
“And the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods.”2 Chronicles 2:5
“But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?”2 Chronicles 2:6
“Huram said moreover, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, that might build an house for the LORD, and an house for his kingdom.”2 Chronicles 2:12
Christian typology
How 2 Chronicles 2 points to Jesus
Solomon builds a house for God's name yet admits the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, so how much less a building of stone. The tension finds its answer in Jesus, in whom, Paul says, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. He is the true temple, the meeting place of God and man, who said of His own body, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' Solomon's temple served for a season and then fell, but Christ's risen body abides forever.
Even the Gentile craftsman here foreshadows the gospel age, when people from every nation are built together into a holy temple, a dwelling of God in the Spirit. What Solomon began in cedar and gold, Christ completes in living stones.
Questions about 2 Chronicles 2
How can Solomon build a house for God while saying no house can contain Him?
Solomon holds both truths at once. God is infinite and cannot be housed, yet He graciously chooses to place His name in a particular place so His people can seek Him. The temple is not God's container but His condescension, a meeting point He grants out of mercy. Right worship keeps this balance, honoring God's greatness while gladly receiving His nearness.
Why does Chronicles emphasize Huram and his craftsman from Tyre?
The Chronicler, writing to a small post-exilic community, notes that even Israel's greatest act of worship drew on Gentile help and blessing. Huram praises Israel's God, and the skilled Huram-abi has a Tyrian father. This detail signals that God's purposes always reached beyond Israel, preparing readers to see the nations included in the worship of the one true God.
Reflection
We build careers, homes, and reputations, but for whose name? Solomon's greatness came from directing his best work toward God rather than himself. Consider what you are constructing with your energy and skill, and whether its purpose points beyond you to the God who cannot be contained yet chooses to dwell with the humble.
A prayer from 2 Chronicles 2
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