II Solomon appoints men to build the temple and his own house, ver. 1-2. His message to Huram, ver. 3-10. Huram's obliging answer, ver. 11-16.

Verse 1. His kingdom - A royal palace for himself and his successors.

Verse 5. Great - For though the temple strictly so called, was but small, yet the buildings belonging to it, were large and numerous.

Verse 6. Contain - When I speak of building an house for our great God, let none think I mean to comprehend God within it, for he is infinite. To sacrifice - To worship him there where he is graciously present.

Verse 12. Made heaven and earth - It seems Huram was not only a friend to the Jewish nation, but a proselyte to their religion, and that he worshipped Jehovah, the God of Israel, (who was now known by that name to the neighbour-nations) as the God that made heaven and earth, and the fountain of power as well as of being.

Verse 14. Of Daniel, &c. - A good omen of uniting Jew and Gentile in the gospel-temple.

Verse 17. 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.