And we will cut wood. — The we is emphatic, and we, on our part, the pronoun being expressed in the Hebrew.
Wood (= “timber,” 2 Chronicles 2:8-10; 2 Chronicles 2:14). — Properly trees.
As much as thou shalt need. — See margin. “Need” (çôrek) occurs here only in the Old Testament. The word is common in the Targums, and in Rabbinic writings; 1 Kings 5:8 has the classical phrase, “all thy desire.”
In flotes. — Heb., raphsôdôth. Another isolated expression. Rendered “rafts” by the LXX. and Vulgate, but omitted by Syriac and Arabic. 1 Kings 5:9 has dôbĕrôth, “rafts,” which settles the meaning.
To Joppa. — 1 Kings 5:9 has the less definite “unto the place that thou shalt appoint me.” Joppa (modern Jaffa) was the harbour nearest Jerusalem.
And thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem. — This interprets the curt phrase of 1 Kings 5:9, “and thou shalt take (them) away.”
A comparison of this and the parallel account of Huram’s letter makes it clear (1) that the chronicler has not written without knowledge of the older text; (2; that neither text has preserved the exact form of the original documents. From Josephus (Ant. viii. 2, 8) it would appear that some record of the negotiations between Huram and Solomon was still extant at Tyre in his day, if only we might trust his authority.