of our own time. 2. OJ labour. "I have sent a cunning man . . . to find out every device . . . with thy cunning men" (ver. 14). International exchange and co-opera- tion are of immense value, and will prove to be more and more so as the nations open their doorR, 11nd all peoples meet and mingle together (see homily on vers. 2, 3, 7-10). 11. A BENEFICENT APPEAL TO OUR INTELLIGENCE. (Ver. 14.) In the variety of mlterial with which God has supplied us we find a. striking instance of his creative kindness. It is conceivable that he might have piaced us on a planet which had little olementnl variety, and which did not therefore admit of many combinations. But on this earth there is practically no limit to the variety of productions, by the putting forth of our observation, ingenuity, and skill. Herein we have very much more, and very much better, than a. provision for our comforts; we have an effective appeal to our intelligence, a. constant development of our intellectual powers, an elevation of our manhood. It is a. rich and noble home, furnished with everything that meets the needs of our complex nature, in which our heavenly Father has placed us. III. THE POWER WE POSSESS OVER THE ELEMENTS OF NA'l'URE. (Ver. 16.) At that time and in that country men had learned to hew down the tall trees, to cut and carve them into what size and shape they liked, to carry them a.cross the land, and to employ the sea as a highway. "We will bring it to thee in flotes by sea.." The sea., w;th its depth and breadth, with its swelling billows and its fearful storms, may well have been regarded at first as an impassable barrier between land and land, as a. decisive limit put upon our progress. But we have made it a common highway on which to travel, by which to transport our treasures, and we can map our route and calculate our time with nearly as much regularity as on the still and solid land. Indeed, we can rule the 'llements of nature much more readily and constantly than we can govern the forces within our own breast. These too often baffle our skill and defeat our purpose. Our greatest difficulty and truest triumph is in turning to good account the elements of our own human nature. IV. AN UNCONSOIOUB ANTICIPATION OF GOSPEL BREADTH. (Vers. 17, 18.) Solomon employed "the strangers" to do the triple work, here specified, in the temple-building. Moreover, he had recourse to the King of Tyre and to his "cunning workmen." So that we have Gentiles as well as Jews engaged in this work which we may regard as the work of the Lord. Between that event and the present time there was to come a long period of exclusiveness which manifested itself in most ungracious forms in the days of our Lord. But this co-operation of those without and those within the sacred pa.le is predictive of the glorious breadth of these later times, when, in Christ Jesus, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, barbarian nor Scythia.n, bond nor free. There is an absolutely open way to the kingdom of God, and an equally open gate into the broad field of holy usefulness.-C.
Vers. 1-10.-.A great project: the building of a temple. I. THE PROJECT CON- CEIVED, (Ver. 1.) A project: 1. Not new, but old. Not ta.ken up by Solomon for the first time, but one his father David had years before meditated, though not permitted to execute it, ueca.use he had been "a. man of war, and had shed blood" (1 Chron. xxviii. 3). 2. Not self-devised, but delegated. Not assumed out of vanity or from purely political motives, but handed down to him in circumstances of great solemnity by his royal sire (1 Chron. xxviii. 1-10). 3. Not sinful, but approved. Not "proceeding from the sight of the temple service of the Phamicia.ns and Philistines and of their ostentatious cultus" (Duncker), but commanded by J ehova.h, who indicated his wish that it should be carried forward to completion by David's son (2 Sam. vii. 13). 4. Not subordinate, but principal. Not after he had built a pa.lace for himself, "a house for his kingdom," but before, so giving God 11nd religion the chief and foremost place in the thoughts of his mind and the activities of his reign. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God," etc. (Matt. vi. 33). II. THE PROJECT ANNOUNCED. (Ver. 4.) 1. The person informed. Hurnm, Hiram (1 Kings v. 1), Hirom (1 Kings vii. 40)-probably the original (Schrader), E1pwµ.os (Josephus, 'Contra. A pion,' i. 17), Hirummu (Assyrian), Chirom (Phcenician). The name, probably equivalent to Achirom, signifies "Brother or Friend of the high- ~es~" (s.c. of Daal). Whether this wns David's friend (1 Chron. xiv. 1), who had nego- t1at1ons with him prior to the building of his palaco (2 Sam. v. 11), and therefore 28 TlIE SECOND BOOR OF TltE CHRONICLES. [en. n. 1-18.