(10) And, behold, I will give . . . barley.--Rather, And, behold, for the hewers, that is, for the woodcutters, I will give wheat as food for thy servants, viz., twenty thousand kors, and barley twenty thousand kors, &c. "For the hewers" may mean "as for the hewers," or perhaps "on account of the hewers" (Genesis 4:23). The latter sense would bring the verse into substantial harmony with 1Kings 5:11, where we read: "And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors" (LXX., 20,000 baths) "of pure o: so used Solomon to give to Hiram year by year," i.e., during his building operations.

Beaten wheat.--The Hebrew (hittim makkoth) is literally wheat--strokes. But it is obvious that makkoth is a misreading for makk?leth, food, the word used in 1Kings 5:11; and so the LXX. renders. The expression "thy servants" here seems to correspond with the phrase" his household "there; and the drift of the whole passage is that, in return for the services of the Tyrian artificers, Solomon engages to supply Hiram's royal household with provisions of corn and wine and oil.

Others assume, without much likelihood, that the two passages relate to two distinct agreements, by one of which Solomon undertook to supply Hiram's court, and by the other his Tyrian workmen, with provisions.

Hewers (hot?bim).--An old word, not recurring in the chronicle, and therefore explained by the writer.

Measures (k?rim).--The kor was a dry measure = one quarter. (Syriac, reb'e, "quarters.") The bath, a liquid measure, of six or seven gallons' capacity. Both words occur in the Greek of Luke 16:6-7.

Verse 10. - Beaten wheat. In 1 Kings 5:11 the language is "wheat for food" (מַכֹּלֶת), while the Septuagint gives καὶ μαχεὶρ. In our present passage the Septuagint gives εἰς βρώματα, suggesting at once that our Hebrew מִכּות is an error for מַכֹּלֶת. The former Hebrew word is that constantly employed for "plagues," "strokes," etc., and it is nowhere but in this place rendered "beaten." I will give to thy servants. This passage is hard to reconcile with what is said in 1 Kings 5:11; but meantime it is not certain that it needs to be reconciled with it. It is possible that the two passages are distinct. The contents of the present verse, at all events, need not be credited with any ambiguity, unless, indeed, we would wish it more definite, whether the expression, "I will give to thy servants," may not be quite as correctly understood, "for thy servants," i.e. to thee as the hire of them. If this be so, it would enable us to give at once all the wheat, and two hundred out of the 20,000 baths of oil, for the consumption, not of the literal workmen, but of the royal household. Then this granted, the verse, though not identical with 1 Kings 5:11, is brought into harmony with it. Reverting to the statement in 1 Kings 5, what we learn is that Solomon, in his application to Hiram, offers payment for the hire of his servants such as he shall appoint (ver. 6). Hiram's reply is that he shall be satisfied to receive as payment "food for his household" (ver. 9), the amount of it and the annual payment of it being specified in ver. 11. This is the whole case, the discrepancies in which are plain, but they do not amount to contradictions. The appearance that is worn on the face of things is that the writer in Chronicles gives what came to be the final arrangement as to remuneration, though confessedly it is placed as much as the account in Kings in the draft of Solomon's original application to Hiram. Measures. These were cots, and the cot was the same as the homer. From a calculation of some doubtfulness, however, made under the suggestions of 1 Kings 4:22, it has been said that the consumption of the royal household of Solomon was above 32,000 measures. The cor, or homer, was the largest of the five dry measures of capacity, being equal to 180 cabs, 100 omers, 30 seahe, 10 ephahs (see Dr. Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' 3.1741), though what was the exact value of any one of these in modern measures has only been uncertainly and very approximately arrived at. Baths. The bath was the largest of the three liquid measures of capacity, being equal to 6 bins and 72 logs (see same 'Dictionary,' 3:1740).

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.Behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat,.... Meaning, not what was beaten out of the husk with the flail, as some; nor bruised or half broke for pottage, as others; but ground into flour, as R. Jonah (d) interprets it; or rather, perhaps, it should be rendered "food" (e) that is, for his household, as in 1 Kings 5:11, and the hire of these servants is proposed to be given in this way, because wheat was scarce with the Tyrians, and they were obliged to have it from the Jews, Acts 12:20,

and twenty thousand measures of barley; the measures of both these were the cor, of which see 1 Kings 5:11,

and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil; which measure was the tenth part of a "cor". According to the Ethiopians, a man might consume four of these measures in the space of a month (f).

(d) Apud Kimchium in loc. (e) So Kimchi, "pro" "ineuria librariorum", Schindler, Lex. Pentaglott. Colossians 73. (f) Ludolf. Lexic. Ethiop. p. 197.