Labor, Timber and Huram

"Behold, I build an house to the name of the LORD my God… And the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods. But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him?"

Huram replies: "Because the LORD hath loved his people, he hath made thee king over them… Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, that made heaven and earth." He sends "Huram my father," "the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen."

"And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel… and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred. And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers."

Foreign labor, not Israelites

1 Kings 5:13 says Solomon raised a levy "out of all Israel" (30,000), and 1 Kings 9:22 says Israelites were not made slaves. Chronicles assigns the labor to resident foreigners only. Overseers number 3,600 here and 3,300 in 1 Kings 5:16; adding the chief officers (250 in 2 Chronicles 8:10, 550 in 1 Kings 9:23), both books total 3,850.

Huram-abi's mother

1 Kings 7:14 says his mother was a widow of Naphtali; Chronicles says a woman of Dan. Explanations include a Danite woman living in Naphtali's territory, or different traditions. Chronicles adds dyeing and textile skills, echoing Bezalel and Oholiab (Exodus 35:30–35; Oholiab was a Danite).

Numbering

Hebrew Bibles begin chapter 2 one verse later: English 2:1 is Hebrew 1:18, so English 2:2–18 are Hebrew 2:1–17. The library lines them up.