Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Chronicles 2:18

"And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand that were hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people at work." — 2 Chronicles 2:18 (ASV)

And he set ... —Literally, and he made seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens, and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains. This exactly agrees with 1 Kings 5:15.

And three thousand and six hundred overseers. —The same number was given in 2 Chronicles 2:2. In 1 Kings 5:16 we read of 3,300 officers. In the Hebrew, three (shâlôsh) and six (shêsh) might easily be confused; our reading appears right.

The chronicler omits all notice of the levy of 30,000 Israelites, which the parallel passage records (1 Kings 5:13–14); whether by an oversight, or from disapproval, we cannot say. Adding that number to the 70,000 and 80,000 other labourers, we get a grand total of 180,000, which gives a company of 50 for each of the 3,600 overseers.

Overseers. —Hebrew mĕnaççĕhîm. Only here and in 2 Chronicles 2:2 (see above), and 2 Chronicles 34:13. It is the plural of a participle that occurs only in the titles of the Psalms , while the verb is read only in Chronicles and Ezra 3:8-9. (See Note on 1 Chronicles 15:21.)

To set the people a work — i.e., on work or a-working. (Compare I go a-fishing,John 21:3.) Literally, to make the people work.