(14) In my trouble.--Rather, by my toil or pains. (Comp. 1Chronicles 29:2 : "I have prepared with all my might.") In Genesis 31:42 the same expression is equated with "the labour of my hands." The LXX. and Vulg. wrongly render "in" or "according to my poverty."

An hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver.--The gold talent is usually valued at 6,000, the silver talent at 400 sterling. If this reckoning be approximately correct, the numbers of the text are incredibly large. It is noticeable that the sums are given as round numbers, and expressed in thousands. Further, the figures are such--a hundred thousand and a million--as might easily and naturally be used in rhetorical fashion to suggest amounts of extraordinary magnitude. As David is said to have amassed 100,000 talents of gold and 1,000,000 talents of silver, so he is said, in the same hyperbolical strain, to have hoarded iron and bronze "without weight," and gold and silver "without number" (1Chronicles 22:16): phrases which nobody would think of taking literally. Doubtless, a modern historian would not handle exact numbers in this free manner; but we are not, therefore, bound to construe these vivid Oriental exaggerations according to the strict letter rather than the spirit and general intention. Of course, the numerals may have been corrupted in transmission; but their symmetry is against this hypothesis. (Comp. Daniel 7:10; Genesis 24:60; Micah 6:7, for a like rhetorical use of "thousands.") To take an Egyptian illustration, in the famous poem of Pentaur, Ramses II., beset by the Hittites, calls thus upon his god Amen: "Have I not built thee houses for millions of years? I have slain to thee 30,000 bulls." When the god helps him, he exclaims: "I find Amen worth more than millions of soldiers, one hundred thousand cavalry, ten thousand brothers, were they all joined in one." There are plenty of numerals here, but who would insist on taking them literally?

And thou mayest add thereto.--i.e., to the stores of timber and stone. Solomon did so (2Chronicles 2:3; 2Chronicles 2:8).

Hewers.--See 1Chronicles 22:2.

Workers of stone and timber--See 1Chronicles 22:4 and 2Chronicles 2:7.

All manner of cunning men . . . work.--Literally, and every skilful one in every work. The word rendered "cunning" is the technical term for a master-craftsman, like Bezaleel, the architect of the Tabernacle (Exodus 31:3, h?k?m; comp. Turkish hakim, a doctor).

Verse 14. - Now, behold, in my trouble. The Septuagint, Vulgate, and Luther's translation adopt here our marginal reading, "poverty." Keil, Bertheau, and others translate, with much greater probability, "by severe effort," which translation may be fortified, not only by such references as Genesis 31:43 and Psalm 132:1 (where the same root is found in Pual infinitive), but by the expression evidently answering to the present one in 1 Chronicles 29:2 (בּכָלאּכּוח), "with all my strength." Moreover, David could not with correctness speak of poverty as characterizing his condition during the time that he had been collecting for the object of his heart's desire. And scarcely with any greater correctness could he speak of the necessary anxieties and responsibilities of his royal office as at all specially marking this period. A hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver. Our sense of dissatisfaction in being able neither heartily to accept nor conclusively to reject this statement of the quantities of gold and silver prepared by David, may be lessened in some degree by the statement found in ver. 16, that "of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number." Milman, in his 'History of the Jews' (1. 266, 267, edit. 1830), says upon the general subject of this verse, "But enormous as this wealth (i.e. that of Solomon) appears, the statement of his expenditure on the temple, and of his annual revenue, so passes all credibility, that any attempt at forming a calculation, on the uncertain data we possess, may at once be abandoned as a hopeless task. No better proof can be given of the uncertainty of our authorities, of our imperfect knowledge of the Hebrew weights of money, and, above all, of our total ignorance of the relative value which the precious metals bore to the commodities of life, than the estimate made by Dr. Prideaux of the treasures left by David, amounting to eight hundred millions, nearly the capital of our national debt." It must be noted, however, that Milman himself proceeds, when speaking of "the sources of the vast wealth which Solomon undoubtedly possessed," to bring very enormous sums (whether somewhat less or even somewhat more than the above estimate of Dr. Prideaux) more within the range of the possible, to our imagination. He justly remarks, for instance, that it is to be remembered that "the treasures of David were accumulated rather by conquest than traffic, that some of the nations he subdued, particularly the Edomites, were very wealthy. All the tribes seem to have worn a great deal of gold and silver, both in their ornaments and in their armour; their idols were often of gold; and the treasuries of their temples, perhaps, contained considerable wealth. But during the reign of Solomon, almost the whole commerce of the world passed into his territories." After substantiating by details these and similar positions (pp. 267-271), he sums up, "It was from these various sources of wealth that the precious metals and all other valuable commodities were in such abundance that, in the figurative language of the sacred historian, 'silver was in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees as sycamores." Since the date of Milman's words just quoted, however, investigation of ancient weights and measures, and of those of Scripture, has made some advance, yet not sufficient to enable us to arrive at any certainty as to those of our present passage. Assuming that the text of our present verse is not corrupt, and that the figures which it gives are correct, the weight and the value of the gold and silver mentioned are very great, whatever the talent in question. This assumption, however, cannot be relied upon, and it seems scarcely legitimate to interpret the talent as any than the Hebrew talent, considering the silence observed as regards any other. It need not be said here that the exchanges of money value were estimated in these times by so much weight of gold or silver. Further, "the shekel of the sanctuary" (Exodus 30:13; Leviticus 27:3), possibly the same with "the shekel after the king's weight" (2 Samuel 16:26), and which was kept in the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple - was presumably the standard. The gold talent was double the weight of the silver talent. It weighed 1,320,000 grains, instead of 660,000. The silver talent contained 50 manehs, of 60 shekels each; but the gold talent contained 100 manehs, of 100 shekels each. The modern money equivalents of these weights are very uncertain. Both the silver and the gold talent have been very variously calculated in this relation. Some of the best authorities put the silver talent at £342 3s. 9d., and the gold at £5475. This would make the money value described by this verse nearly nine hundred millions of our money. Other estimates are considerably in excess of this sum, and but few fall below it. Vast as the sum is, we may be helped in some degree to accept it by the statement of Pliny, who ('Nat. Hist.,' 32:15) tells us that Cyrus, in his subjugation of Asia, took half as many talents of silver as are here mentioned, and thirty-four thousand pounds of gold (see articles in Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' on "Money," and on" Weights and Measures"). Among the most valuable works on these subjects are De Saulcy's 'Numismatique Judaique,' and F. Madden's 'Jewish Coinage.'

22:6-16 David gives Solomon the reason why he should build the temple. Because God named him. Nothing is more powerful to engage us in any service for God, than to know that we are appointed thereto. Because he would have leisure and opportunity to do it. He should have peace and quietness. Where God gives rest, he expects work. Because God had promised to establish his kingdom. God's gracious promises should quicken and strengthen our religious service. David delivered to Solomon an account of the vast preparations he had made for this building; not from pride and vain-glory, but to encourage Solomon to engage cheerfully in the great work. He must not think, by building the temple, to purchase a dispensation to sin; on the contrary, his doing that would not be accepted, if he did not take heed to fulfil the statutes of the Lord. In our spiritual work, as well as in our spiritual warfare, we have need of courage and resolution.Now, behold, in my trouble,.... Or affliction, which had attended him, through the greater part of his reign, partly through wars abroad, and partly through rebellions and insurrections at home: or:

in my poverty (a); living in a frugal way, as if he had been a poor man, in order to lay up money for this purpose:

I have prepared for the house of the Lord; for the building of it, and for things to be used in it:

an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; a prodigious sum, be it reckoned as it will; the gold, according to Scheuchzer (b) was answerable to 1,222,000,000 ducats of gold; according to Waserus (c) the talents of gold made six hundred millions of Hungarian pieces of gold, or 6000 tons of gold; our Brerewood (d) makes them to amount to 450,000,000 pounds; but this being a sum so excessive large as what exceeds the riches of any monarch read of in history, he thinks (e) the word "kikkar" signifies a mass or cake of gold of an uncertain value; or that this talent was of a lesser value than the Mosaic one, as there were small talents in the times of Homer (f), as he observes, and some of different worth in various countries. The silver, taking gold to be in proportion to silver as ten to one, as it formerly was, is just of the same value with the gold; but Brerewood, who takes it to be as twelve to one, computes it at 375,000,000 pounds; but the proportion of gold to silver is now grown, as Bishop Cumberland observes (g), to above fourteen to one. According to Scheuchzer the silver talents amounted to 4,500,000,000 imperials or rix dollars; according to Witsius (h) the gold and silver both amounted to 3000 and nine hundred millions of pieces of gold; but Josephus (i) has reduced these sums very much, making them to be 10,000 talents of gold, and 100,000 of silver. Dr. Prideaux (k) says that what is said to be given by David here, and in 1 Chronicles 29:3 and by his princes, 1 Chronicles 29:6 if valued by the Mosaic talent, exceeded the value of eight hundred million of our money, which was enough to have built the whole temple of solid silver:

and of brass and iron without weight, for it is in abundance; there was so much of both, that it was too much trouble to take the weight and value of them:

timber also and stone have I prepared; see 1 Chronicles 22:2.

and thou mayest add thereunto; which might easily be obtained, there being not a sufficiency of either of them prepared for the work.

(a) "in paupertate mea", V. L. (b) Physica Sacra, vol. 4. p. 631. (c) De Antiqu. Num. Heb. l. 2. c. 13. (d) De Pond. & Pret. Vet. Num. c. 5. (e) De Pond. & Pret. Vet. Num. c. 6. (f) Vid. Suidam in voce (g) Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 4. p. 121. (h) Miscell. Sacr. 2. Exercit. 10. sect. 17. (i) Antiqu. l. 7. c. 14. sect. 2.((k) Connection, part 1. p. 6.