The First Book of Kings
The First Book of Kings
Chapter Five
Hiram and Solomon Make Contact
The Discretion of Solomon
Cedars of Lebanon
Divisions of Labor
1-Kings 5
Hiram and Solomon Make Contact
[1-Kings 5:1] 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.
In Hebrew-language Bibles this is verse no.15 i.e. [1-Kings 5:15].
Hiram had already befriended David and had assisted him in building his own
monarchic residence
AND HIRAM KING OF TYRE SENT MESSENGERS TO DAVID, AND CEDAR TREES, AND
CARPENTERS, AND MASONS: AND THEY BUILT DAVID AN HOUSE [2-Samuel 5:11].
Hiram send a letter of congratulations and good wishes to Solomon on the
occasion of his coronation.
This gave Solomon an opportunity to strengthen the alliance with Hiram.
Hiram was King of Tyre. The two major Phoenician cities were Tyre and Sidon.
Sidon trditionally was considered the senior of the two but Tyre was by far the
most wealthy and powerful. The Phoenicians were the international traders of the
time.
[1-Kings 5:2] AND SOLOMON SENT TO HIRAM,
SAYING,
[1-Kings 5:3] 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.
David indeed was constantly fighting wars whether against foreign oppressors or
against his own rebellious subjects.
David wished to build the Temple but had been told not to but to leave it for
his son (1-Chronicles 17:11-12, 2-Samuel 7:11-13).
David was actually prevented from building the Temple because of the wars and
because of the bloodshed he had occasioned. This was despite the fact that the
conflicts had been imposed upon him it was implied that something about his
personality and his very propensity for war made him unsuitable to build the
Temple.
BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO ME, SAYING, THOU HAST SHED BLOOD ABUNDANTLY,
AND HAST MADE GREAT WARS: THOU SHALT NOT BUILD AN HOUSE UNTO MY NAME, BECAUSE
THOU HAST SHED MUCH BLOOD UPON THE EARTH IN MY SIGHT [1-Chronicles
22:8].
The Discretion of Solomon
[1-Kings 5:4] BUT NOW THE LORD MY GOD
HATH GIVEN ME REST ON EVERY SIDE, SO THAT THERE IS NEITHER ADVERSARY NOR EVIL
OCCURRENT.
Solomon tells the truth but does not get into personal details. He presents the
case that David had not built the temple because he had been fighting all the
time. From the way Solomon describes it one would understand that David never
built ther Temple because the warfare left him no time or peace of min for it.
Solomon neglects to mention the impairment of qualification occasion by the very
bellicosity that David had exercised for the sake of his
people.
[1-Kings 5:5] 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.
[1-Kings 5:6] 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.
[1-Kings 5:7] 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.
The letter of Solomon appears to us to be rather cut-and-dry but apparently
there was something in the way it was formualted that reveasled to Hiram that
Solomon was wise and good.
Cedars of Lebanon
[1-Kings 5:8] 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.
The Cedars of Lebanon (according to the "Daat Mikra" Commentary) are called
Cedrus Libani. They are tall (40 to 50 meters high) and impressive. The wood
does not breat or bend easily and is strong and solid and soaked with resin
giving it a pleasant smell smell and protection from rot. The tree grows
staight and it is possible to hew long planks from it.
The firs of Lebanon in Akkadian were known as birasu and in Latin are now called
Juniperus. It is also tall and strong (but less than the cedar of Lebanon) and
produce straight planks.
Ancient Inscriptions speak of both these trees being used together to build
temples and palaces and it could be that they had supplementary
qualities.
Divisions of Labor
[1-Kings 5:9] MY SERVANTS SHALL BRING
THEM DOWN FROM LEBANON UNTO THE SEA: AND 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.
FLOATS: Hebrew "Raphsodot" i.e. rafts.
[1-Kings 5:10] SO HIRAM GAVE SOLOMON
CEDAR TREES AND FIR TREES ACCORDING TO ALL HIS DESIRE.
[1-Kings 5:11] 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.
Wheat and oil were important export goods from Judah and Israel.
Ezekiel also lists various good that the Israelites were wont to trade with Tyre:
JUDAH, AND THE LAND OF ISRAEL, THEY WERE THY MERCHANTS: THEY TRADED IN THY
MARKET WHEAT OF MINNITH, AND PANNAG, AND HONEY, AND OIL, AND BALM [Ezekiel
27:17].
[1-Kings 5:12] 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.
[1-Kings 5:13] AND KING SOLOMON RAISED A
LEVY OUT OF ALL ISRAEL; AND THE LEVY WAS THIRTY THOUSAND MEN.
[1-Kings 5:14] 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.
Solomon raised from Israel 30,000 men who were probably chosen by lot.
They were divided into three groups of 10,000 each. Each group stayed at home
for two months and then went to Lebanon for a month.
When Israel was in Lebanon a few years back it was customary for soldiers
fulfilling their annual military service to do it there. I myself was in
Lebanon about four times, for a month each time. We however spent the time in
training, military exercises, patrols, or manning outposts. We never got around
to doing any timber-logging.
[1-Kings 5:15] AND SOLOMON HAD
THREESCORE AND TEN THOUSAND THAT BARE BURDENS, AND FOURSCORE THOUSAND HEWERS IN
THE MOUNTAINS;
Solomon in addition to the 30,000 Israelite timber workers thast for four months
(one month out of every three) of the year were in Lebanon had 70,000 porters
and 80,000 quarry workers. These were derived from the non-Israelite
inhabitants of the land of Israel.
[1-Kings 9:20] AND ALL THE PEOPLE THAT
WERE LEFT OF THE AMORITES, HITTITES,
PERIZZITES,
HIVITES,
AND JEBUSITES,
WHICH WERE NOT OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,
[1-Kings 9:21] THEIR CHILDREN THAT WERE
LEFT AFTER THEM IN THE LAND, WHOM THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL ALSO WERE NOT ABLE
UTTERLY TO DESTROY, UPON THOSE DID SOLOMON LEVY A TRIBUTE OF
BONDSERVICE
UNTO THIS DAY.
[1-Kings 9:22] BUT OF THE CHILDREN OF
ISRAEL DID SOLOMON MAKE NO BONDMEN: BUT THEY WERE MEN OF WAR, AND HIS SERVANTS,
AND HIS PRINCES, AND HIS CAPTAINS, AND RULERS OF HIS CHARIOTS, AND HIS
HORSEMEN.
[1-Kings 5:16] 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.
Solomon had 3,300 Israelites overseeing the various work projects he had
initiated.
[1-Kings 5:17] AND THE KING COMMANDED,
AND THEY BROUGHT GREAT STONES, COSTLY STONES, AND HEWED STONES, TO LAY THE
FOUNDATION OF THE HOUSE.
[1-Kings 5:18] AND SOLOMON'S BUILDERS
AND HIRAM'S BUILDERS DID HEW THEM, AND THE
STONESQUARERS:
SO THEY PREPARED TIMBER AND STONES TO BUILD THE HOUSE.
STONESQUARERS. Hebrew "Giblim" which coukld be understood to mean "Stone-quariers"
as the KJ renders it. Most modern commentatories however understand it to mean
workers from the Phoneiican city of Gebel (otherwise known as Byblos) who
apparently had their own expertise to provide.
