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1 Kings 5

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Alliance with Hiram of Tyre 1–12

1
And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David. ​
2
And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,
3
Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the LORD his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet. ​
4
But now the LORD my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. ​
5
And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name. ​
6
Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians. ​
7
And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the LORD this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people. ​
8
And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.
9
My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household. ​
10
So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire.
11
And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year. ​
12
And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together. ​

Organization of the Temple Workforce 13–18

13
And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men. ​
14
And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy. ​
15
And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains; ​
16
Beside the chief of Solomon's officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work.
17
And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house. ​
18
And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Kings 5

Verse 1

Hiram was ever a lover of David — Ahab, to love. Hiram had ‘sent messengers to David’ (2 Sam 5:11), and now sends his servants to Solomon on hearing that Solomon had been anointed ‘in the room of his father’. His name is spelled Huram in Chronicles (2 Chr 2:3).

Verse 3

until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet — Solomon gives the reason David did not build: ‘the wars which were about him on every side’. The LORD’s own word to David was, ‘Thou hast shed blood abundantly… thou shalt not build an house unto my name’ (1 Chr 22:8). The enemies under the feet recall Ps 110:1 and 1 Cor 15:25.

Verse 4

neither adversary nor evil occurrent — ‘Adversary’ is satan, an opponent. It is the word used when the LORD later ‘stirred up an adversary unto Solomon’, Hadad the Edomite (1 Kgs 11:14) and Rezon (11:23). The ‘rest on every side’ answers the promise that Solomon would be ‘a man of rest’ (1 Chr 22:9).

Verse 5

I purpose to build an house — Literally ‘I say’: Solomon announces the plan as the carrying out of a promise. The LORD had said to David, ‘He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever’ (2 Sam 7:13).

Verse 6

cedar trees out of Lebanon — Solomon asks for the cedars to be felled and offers ‘hire’ for Hiram’s servants, his own working alongside them. ‘Sidonians’ are the people of Sidon, Tyre’s neighbour, named here for Hiram’s skilled woodmen. In Chronicles the request adds fir and algum trees (2 Chr 2:8).

Verse 7

Blessed be the LORD this day — Hiram, king of Tyre, names the LORD and ascribes Solomon’s succession to him: ‘which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people’. Chronicles gives his words more fully: ‘Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, that made heaven and earth’ (2 Chr 2:12).

Verse 9

in floats — Dobrah, a raft, found only here. The timber is cut in Lebanon, brought down to the sea, floated to the place Solomon names, and ‘discharged’ there; Chronicles names the port, ‘to Joppa’ (2 Chr 2:16). Hiram asks ‘food for my household’ in return.

Verse 11

twenty thousand measures of wheat — This is the payment for the timber, given ‘year by year’. Chronicles lists more: wheat, barley, wine and oil (2 Chr 2:10). Tyre’s dependence on Israel’s harvests is later stated outright: Judah and Israel ‘traded in thy market wheat of Minnith’ (Ezek 27:17), and ‘their country was nourished by the king’s country’ (Acts 12:20).

Verse 12

made a league together — ‘League’ is berith, the common word for covenant. It is cut (‘made’) as the covenant of Abimelech and Abraham at Beersheba (Gen 21:32). Wisdom ‘as he promised him’ refers to 1 Kgs 3:12. Amos 1:9 later charges Tyre that they ‘remembered not the brotherly covenant’.

Verse 13

a levy out of all Israel — Mas is a tax in the form of forced labour. The levy was ‘for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem’ (1 Kgs 9:15). Thirty thousand men are taken out of Israel, on the rotation of the next verse.

Verse 14

ten thousand a month by courses — Chaliphah, a change, a turn: one month in Lebanon, two at home, so each man worked one month in three. Israel’s service to the king had been ordered by monthly courses (1 Chr 27:1). ‘Adoniram was over the levy’, as he was in 1 Kgs 4:6.

Verse 15

threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens — The seventy thousand bearers and eighty thousand hewers are counted in 2 Chr 2:17–18 from ‘the strangers that were in the land of Israel’, numbered as David had numbered them. ‘Of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen’ (1 Kgs 9:22).

Verse 17

costly stones — Yaqar, precious: the word of the ‘precious corner stone’ that the LORD lays in Zion as ‘a sure foundation’ (Isa 28:16), quoted of Christ in 1 Pet 2:6. These stones were dressed at the quarry, so that ‘neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron’ was heard in the house (1 Kgs 6:7).

Verse 18

the stonesquarers — The Hebrew is a name, Gibli, people of Gebal, the Phoenician city whose land is named in Josh 13:5 and whose ‘ancients… and wise men’ served Tyre in Ezek 27:9. Israel’s builders and Hiram’s worked together, preparing both ‘timber and stones to build the house’.