CHAPTER 5

(1014 B.C.)

SOLOMONS AGREEMENT WITH HIRAM

¹And 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. (The Hiram during the time of Solomon was the son of Hiram who reigned during the time of David. There was never a record of any type of conflict between Lebanon and Israel during the time of David or Solomon. The Hebrews were always at peace with the Phoenicians. They would now share in the great Blessing of God that would come upon Israel. Hiram is a type of the Gentile kings, presidents, and world leaders during the time of the Kingdom Age, who will ever be lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ.)

²And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying (according to Josephus, he wrote a letter, which, together with Hirams reply, was preserved among the public archives of Tyre),

³You know 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 (Hiram could not fail to know this, as his relations with David had been close and intimate Spence).

⁴But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. (Since the Garden of Eden, Planet Earth has suffered and labored under the curse of sin. Satan has ruled as a prince of the powers of the air. The results have been chaos, murder, hatred, pain, starvation, and war. When Jesus comes back, there will be rest on every side. As well, there will be neither adversary nor evil occurrent. Sickness, suffering, starvation, and want will no longer be.)

⁵And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the Name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke unto David my father, saying, Your son, whom I will set upon your throne in your room, he shall build an house unto My Name. (Spence says, He thus gives Hiram to understand that he is carrying out his fathers plans, and plans which had the Divine sanction, and that this is no fanciful project of a young prince.)

⁶Now therefore command you that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with your servants: and unto you will I give hire for your servants according to all that you shall appoint (whatever their wages should be): for you know that there is not among us any who can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians (the Zidonians constructed their houses of wood, and were celebrated from the earliest times as skillful builders).

HIRAM REJOICES GREATLY

⁷And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the LORD this day, which has given unto David a wise son over this great people (from the historic accounts, there seems to be no record that Hiram had accepted Jehovah, but that he did believe that Jehovah existed, and used language here that he knew would be acceptable to Solomon; it is a shame, as so many others, he came close, but not close enough!).

⁸And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which you sent to me for: and I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir (it is said that the art of writing was communicated to the Greeks by the Phoenicians).

⁹My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea; and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that you shall appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and you shall receive them: and you shall accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household (this was no small task, conveying these huge timbers from Lebanon to Israel; this was at least one of the reasons that this Temple, which would be built by Solomon, would be the most expensive building ever constructed).

¹⁰So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire.

¹¹And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household (about 4,000 bushels), and twenty measures of pure oil (about 60 gallons): thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year (so long as the construction lasted, and its possible that the agreement may have been for a still longer period).

¹²And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together (cut a covenant; Hiram did not have nearly the wisdom that Solomon had, but he had enough sense to look to the one who had wisdom).

¹³And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

¹⁴And 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 (not a great hardship at all!).

¹⁵And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand (70,000) who bore burdens, and fourscore thousand (80,000) hewers in the mountains (these 150,000 were not Israelites, but Canaanites; we learn from II Chron. 2:17-18 that all the strangers who were in the land of Israel were subjected to forced labor by Solomon; these occupied a very different position from that of the 30,000 Hebrews);

¹⁶Beside the chief of Solomons officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people who wrought in the work.

¹⁷And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house (it is said that the largest stone that has been found in modern Jerusalem, which may have come from the Temple of Solomon, is 38 feet, 9 inches long, and weighs a little bit over 100 tons; no doubt, there were many stones like this).

¹⁸And Solomons builders and Hirams builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house. (Understanding that there were at least 183,300 laborers and overseers who worked on the Temple, and considering the length of time it took to build the Temple [7 years], along with the costly materials, one can understand the reason for the price tag in 2004 inflated dollars. To duplicate the Temple now, and to build it in the same manner as it was then built, using the same type of equipment, etc., the price tag would be over $1 trillion [$1,000,000,000,000].)