contains a supplementary remark, and the ו relat. expresses only the connection of the thought, and the verb is to be translated in English by the pluperfect. For the rest, compare on 2Ch 7:4-10 the commentary on 1Ki 8:62-66.
Verses 11-22
The Lord's answer to Solomon's dedicatory prayer. Cf. 1Ki 9:1-9. The general contents, and the order of the thoughts in the divine answer in the two texts, agree, but in the Chronicle individual thoughts are further expounded than in the book of Kings, and expressions are here and there made clear. The second clause of 2Ch 7:11 is an instance of this, where “and all the desire of Solomon, which he was pleased to do,” is represented by “and all that came into Solomon's heart, to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house, he prosperously effected.” Everything else is explained in the Com. on 1 Kings 9.
Chap. 8
Verse 1
Solomon's City-Building, Statute Labour, Arrangement of Public Worship, and Nautical Undertakings - 2 Chronicles 8
The building of the temple was the most important work of Solomon's reign, as compared with which all the other undertakings of the king fall into the background; and these are consequently only summarily enumerated both in the book of Kings and in the Chronicle. In our chapter, in the first place, we have, (a) the building or completion of various cities, which were of importance partly as strongholds, partly as magazines, for the maintenance of the army necessary for the defence of the kingdom against hostile attacks (2Ch 8:1-6); (b) the arrangement of the statute labour for the execution of all his building works (2Ch 8:7-11); (c) the regulation of the sacrificial service and the public worship (2Ch 8:12-16); and (d) the voyage to Ophir (2Ch 8:17, 2Ch 8:18). All these undertakings are recounted in the same order and in the same aphoristic way in 1 Kings 9:10-28, but with the addition of various notes, which are not found in our narrative; while the Chronicle, again, mentions several not unimportant though subordinate circumstances, which are not found in the book of Kings; whence it is clear that in the two narratives we have merely short and mutually supplementary extracts from a more elaborate description of these matters.
2Ch 8:1
