1 Chronicles 22:3

22:1-5 On occasion of the terrible judgment inflicted on Israel for the sin of David, God pointed out the place where he would have the temple built; upon which, David was excited to make preparations for the great work. David must not build, but he would do all he could; he prepared abundantly before his death. What our hands find to do for God, and our souls, and those round us, let us do it with all our might, before our death; for after death there is no device nor working. And when the Lord refuses to employ us in those services which we desired, we must not be discouraged or idle, but do what we can, though in a humbler sphere.

And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings,.... Great plenty of iron to make nails of for joining the boards together, of which the doors and gates were to be made, and for the fastening of the hinges of them: and brass in abundance without weight; for making the altar of brass, and the laver of brass, and other vessels. Brass was much used by the Heathens in sacred things, as Macrobius (p) observes. (p) Saturnal. l. 5. c. 19.

Verse 3. - Iron... the joinings; and brass . The very first Bible mention of metals ( Genesis 4:22 ) places these two together. Whence Solomon got his "abundance" of the latter we have read in 1 Chronicles 18:8 ; for the "abundance' of the former he would not necessarily go further than his own land. Although the expression, "the land whose stones are iron" ( Deuteronomy 8:9 ), is possibly enough a poetical figure where it stands, yet some of the force of the figure may have sprung from its nearness to fact. The abundant use of iron in a great variety of tools, implements, weapons, and the knowledge of it in bar and sheet, might be illustrated from a large number of quotations from Scripture ( Deuteronomy 19:5 ; Deuteronomy 27:5 ; 2 Samuel 12:31 ; 2 Kings 6:5 ; Isaiah 10:34 ; Amos 1:3 ; and many others). The "joinings" were the clamps and plates of various size and shape, which held strongly together, whether beams of wood or blocks of stone. 1 Chronicles 22:3

(3) For the nails. — Mismĕrîm happens to occur only in the later books of the Old Testament, but may well be an ancient word. (Comp. the Assyrian asmarê “spears,” which derives from the same root.) For the doors of the gates.—he doors were to be what we call folding-doors (1Kings 6:34-35). For the joinings.—Literally, things that couple, or connect (feminine participle): i.e., iron clamps and hinges. In 2Chronicles 34:11 the same term is used of wooden clamps or braces. And brass.—Bronze, which was much used in the ornamental work of ancient buildings. Comp. the plates of bronze which once adorned the doors of the temple of Shalmaneser II. (B.C. 854), at Balawât, and are now in the British Museum. Sennacherib, in a later age (B.C. 700), describes the doors of his palace at Nineveh as “overlaid with shining bronze.” Without weight.—A natural hyperbole. The actual amounts would, of course, be known to the royal treasurers. (Comp. the common use of the phrases la niba, la mani “without number,” “without measure,” in Assyrian accounts of spoils and captives.)

Iron and brass he prepared in abundance: the iron for the nails of the doors, i.e., for the folding-doors of the gates, i.e., partly for the pivots (Zapfen) on which the folding-doors turned, partly to strengthen the boards of which doors were made; as also for the מחבּרות, literally, things to connect, i.e., properly iron cramps.

Ch. 2. Solomon’s Preparations for Building the Temple 1, 2 (= 2 Chronicles 2:17-18 [1:18, 2 Chronicles 2:1 , Heb.] below ; 1 Kings 5:15 ). Bearers and Hewers 1 . determined ] R.V. purposed , as in 1 Kings 5:5 . for the name ] cp. 1 Chronicles 22:7 ; 1 Chronicles 22:10 ; 1 Chronicles 22:19 ; 1 Chronicles 28:3 ; 1 Chronicles 29:16 . a house for his kingdom ] See 1 Kings 7:1-8 .