And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the account that David his father had taken of them, and there were found a hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred.
Solomon needed a vast workforce to build the temple. The men he drafted were not Israelites, and that one fact shapes how commentators read the verse — as history, and as a picture of a kingdom still to come.
The people counted here were not newcomers. They were what was left of the nations Israel never drove out of the land.
The men who carry the loads, the stone cutters, and the overseers are all taken from the Canaanites living among Israel, whom the people had never managed to drive out. So under this glorious reign a state of things comes about which had never existed before, because the people had been unfaithful. All their old mixing with the Canaanites has disappeared. From now on the Lord's people are a free people who cannot be brought into servitude.
Solomon drafted no Israelite for this work. One writer finds the future in that detail.
"But of the children of Israel Solomon made no servants for his work." A very remarkable statement. He made the Gentiles servants. The Jews will then be lords on the earth, not slaves. The Gentiles will have to take the place of the tail, while Israel is at the head, as the prophet said.
The verse looks back to a count David had already made. One writer describes what the king did with these men, and what their work was worth.
The king gathers the strangers living in the land of Israel and appoints them to work together at putting up the future temple. There are 153,600 of them, as we learn in 2 Chronicles 2:2, 17-18. They work as carriers of loads and as stone cutters… Their work is the work of servants. Yet we know how valuable the stones of the temple were.
The same writer looks past the borders of Israel, and past Solomon's day.
We also see that the call went out to the nations beyond the land of Israel to join in this great work, and that they threw themselves into it with zeal and complete good will. It will be the same when the millennial temple is built.
Solomon also raised a levy from Israel itself. Set the two workforces side by side, and one writer sees Christ.
He raised a levy out of Israel of thirty thousand… And of the strangers that were in Israel he set seventy thousand to be bearers of burdens, eighty thousand to be stone cutters in the mountains… It was under Solomon that we see this remarkable combination of JEW and GENTILE in the work. So it is with CHRIST JESUS, risen and glorified, the one Solomon pictured. He builds the temple of God. He has reconciled both Jew and Gentile to God in one body by the cross, and He employs those who are His own, called out from both, in His service.
One writer links the 153 in this count to a catch of 153 fish in the Gospels. He gives it as his own conviction, not as settled teaching.
The passage, as usually taken, is prophetic, and refers to the great Gentile gathering in the last days. I have no doubt the 153 fish refer to 2 Chronicles 2:17-18. All is on earth, of course… They had toiled all night, and the risen Saviour stood on the shore in the early morning.
One writer looks at the wider pattern. Gentiles appear in Israel's story in two very different ways.
There appears to have been a body of Gentiles living among Israel at all times. They take a lower rank than Israel, though they enjoy blessings and ordinances along with them. But there was also a line of distinguished Gentiles. Whenever they appear in the history, they were called into scenes and services that raised them far above the level of Israel. Both of these things are, I judge, very significant. They show the plans then held in God's counsels for the Gentiles and strangers. The great body of them will later, in the kingdom, take a place below Israel, though sharing Israel's joy. But there will also be a chosen and distinguished body among them: those who are now called out to form the Church of God. Their place and dignity will be far above the place and dignity of Israel.
- Counted. The 153,600 were what remained of the nations Israel never drove out. Now they are numbered and given a place in building God's house.
- Freed. Solomon made no Israelite a slave for the work. Commentators see a reign in which the Lord's people can never again be brought into servitude.
- Employed. The work was lowly — loads and stone. Yet the stones were costly, so humble hands handled precious material.
- Combined. Jew and Gentile on one building pictures the risen Christ. He reconciles both in one body and puts both to work.
- Gathered. Writers point on to a future gathering of the nations. One even ties the 153 fish of the resurrection morning back to this count.
And he set seventy thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and eighty thousand to be stone-masons in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people to work.
Chapter 2 closes with a count: Solomon puts 153,600 foreigners living in Israel to work on the temple, in three groups. The numbers raise real questions — why foreigners rather than Israelites, what the carrying and quarrying picture, and why a house of worship needed so many hands.
The numbers look huge until you remember that the workers did every job by hand.
In numbering these, Solomon found a total of 153,000. This may seem a large number of men to find work for, especially when it meant putting up only two buildings. But the size and the elaborate details of these buildings required such numbers. We may think that construction methods today would not need such numbers. But all the labour at that time was done by hand, which is much slower and harder work than building today. 70,000 of these Gentiles were to carry burdens. That would include carrying lumber from Joppa to Jerusalem, and carrying stone from the quarries to the site of the temple and Solomon's house. 80,000 worked as stone-cutters in the mountains. Of course, these worked in shifts. The remaining 3,600 were used as supervisors of the work.
Solomon took these workers only from the peoples Israel had failed to drive out of the land.
The men who carried burdens, the stone cutters, and the overseers all came from the Canaanites living among Israel, whom the people had failed to drive out: "But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves for his work." So this glorious reign reaches a state of things that had never existed before, because the people had been unfaithful. Their old mixing with the Canaanites is gone. From now on the Lord's people are a free people, and no one can make them slaves.
Commentators differ on how to read this. Another writer notes that the foreigners still shared in what Israel enjoyed: "The Gentile's place was subordinate, but they shared in Israel's blessedness."
The silence at the building site says something about the God the house was for.
It was to be the temple of the God of peace, so no iron tool must be heard in it. Quietness and silence both suit and help religious exercises. God's work should be done with as much care and as little noise as possible. The temple was torn down with axes and hammers, and those who did it roared in the middle of the congregation (Ps. 74:4, 6). But it was built up in silence. Noise and violence often hinder, but never advance the work of God.
The hidden work in the quarry has a meaning for God's house today.
Those who quarried stone had hard underground work. Little by little they shaped stones that were then built into the temple, with no tools needed and no noise. This pictures the work of bringing souls out of the darkness of their sins. It means dealing with them to shape their character, so that they fit exactly with the rest of believers as a holy temple in the Lord. This is God's workmanship, but He uses believers to carry out His work.
Carriers, stone-cutters and overseers were not rivals. The house needed every one of them.
So it is in our day. God has varied workmen in His house and in His vineyard. The original terms of service are that the Holy Spirit gives to each one as He wills. He has quarrymen, stone-squarers, masons, and builders. Are all quarrymen? Surely not. But each has his work to do, and the building is carried forward by each one doing his own appointed work. Should a quarryman despise a builder, or a builder look down with contempt upon a quarryman? Certainly not. The Master wants them both.
Solomon's mixed workforce pictures a later and greater building.
Under Solomon we see this remarkable combination of Jew and Gentile in the work. In the same way it is Christ Jesus, risen and glorified, of whom Solomon was a picture, who builds the Temple of God. He has reconciled both Jew and Gentile to God in one body by the Cross, and He employs those who are His own, called out from both, in His service.
- Counted — Solomon numbered 153,600 foreigners living in Israel. He gave each one a place: 70,000 carrying, 80,000 quarrying, 3,600 supervising.
- Cut — the hardest labour happened out of sight in the mountains. Workers shaped the stones there, so the house itself rose without the sound of a tool.
- Quiet — care, not clamour, marks work done for the God of peace; noise and violence hinder God's work rather than help it.
- Varied — the Master wants quarrymen and builders alike, and the building moves forward only as each does his own appointed task.
- Combined — the union of Israelite and outsider on one site points to the risen Christ, who builds His temple out of both.