What Does 2 Chronicles 2:7 Mean?
And now send me a skilled man to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in iron, and in purple, and in blue, and in crimson, and skilled to devise engravings with the skilled ones who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father set in place.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.THE KEY
The same Hebrew root names both the requested artisan and the craftsmen beside him, presenting practical skill as wisdom that joins a shared work.
THE MEANING
Skilled making appears as wisdom in action: the artisan shapes metals and color, then joins capable hands already gathered around the work. Expertise is both individual craft and contribution to something held in common.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that wisdom belongs only to ideas or speech: here wisdom is visible in skilled hands and joined labor.
THE ROOT
חָכָם
ḥākām ḥăkāmîm
GROWS FROM
חכם
ḥ-k-m
To be wise; to have discernment, skill, or craft.
“skilled man” in this verse is ḥākām ḥăkāmîm. The requested artisan and the craftsmen already with him are described by forms of the same root. English can make cunning sound like cleverness and craftsmen sound like a separate category, while the Hebrew presents their practical skill as wisdom they share.
ALSO GROWS
ḥokhmāh: Wisdom or skill.
חָכְמָה
This branch names the quality embodied in the artisan’s ability to work with materials.
ḥăkāmîm: Wise or skilled people.
חֲכָמִים
This is the word used for the craftsmen already working alongside the speaker.
שְׁלַח
shelaḥ imperative of
GROWS FROM
שלח
sh-l-ḥ
To send, dispatch, or release.
The verse’s first action is to send a skilled person into work that is already underway. The root makes the artisan’s arrival a movement into shared labor, not simply a request for an isolated expert.
ALSO GROWS
shālūaḥ: One sent; a dispatched person or messenger.
שָׁלוּחַ
It shares the root of the command to send and casts the artisan as someone sent to contribute.
shillūaḥ: Sending away or dismissal.
שִׁלּוּחַ
This branch shows the root’s range of sending someone forth from one place toward another.
פִּתּוּחִים
pittūḥîm
GROWS FROM
פתח
p-t-ḥ
To open; this word family also includes carving or engraving.
“grave” in this verse is pittūḥîm. The word for engravings belongs to the same root family as opening. English presents engraving only as a technique; the Hebrew family also holds the image of opening a surface into a visible mark.
ALSO GROWS
pātaḥ: To open.
פָּתַח
This is the root verb behind the word family used for the engravings.
petaḥ: An opening or doorway.
פֶּתַח
It shows the concrete sense of opening that sits alongside the craft word for engraving.
THE PATTERN
Shared work takes form when practical skill is entrusted to capable makers and joined with distinct contributions.
And I have filled him with the breath of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of work.There are portions of gifts, but the same breath. There are portions of service, but the same Lord. There are portions of workings, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the showing of the breath is given to each one, for what carries us together.THE THREAD
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here I am; send me.The word translated “send” shares its root with the command here. In this verse it sends an artisan into a shared work; in Isaiah, the same word names a person’s own willingness to be sent.
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