And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have heard the things which thou sentest to me for I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of cypress.
Hiram of Tyre has heard Solomon's request for timber, and here he answers it. His reply is short, warm and complete — so why would a foreign king give his own forests to build Israel's temple?
Hiram's answer begins in joy, not in negotiation.
Hiram rejoiced greatly when he heard the words of Solomon. He counted it an honour that his service could add to the glory of the God of Israel. This Gentile king said, "Blessed be the LORD this day" (v. 7). He regards the Lord, the God of Solomon, as his God, and thanks Him for giving David a son to reign over His people. Love for David, the rejected king, leads him to value the king of glory, to value God Himself, and to value the people of God.
Hiram holds nothing back. One writer weighs what Hiram gives against what he receives in return.
The fruit of a rejoicing heart is complete devotion to the service of Christ. "I am ready to do all you desire" (v. 8). And after all, what is Hiram's service next to what Solomon does for him? Sometimes what we do for the Lord looks like something. The cedars of Lebanon and all the work of moving them were no small thing. But Solomon uses many other materials to build the temple besides Hiram's cedars and cypresses. The great costly stones and the gold that covered everything mattered more to the foundation and the glory of the building than the products of Lebanon. Still, Solomon grants Hiram's desire because Hiram grants Solomon's (vv. 9, 10), and Hiram's desire is food for his household. The Lord could do without us, but He does not want to. He knows well that using us in His service brings joy and blessing to our hearts — but we cannot do without Him.
The verse names two timbers. Older versions call the second one "fir"; the ESV calls it "cypress". A Bible dictionary describes it:
berosh. People think it is one of the conifers, but no one knows which species it means. It came from Lebanon, and people used it to build houses and to make musical instruments. 2 Sam. 6:5; 1 Kings 5:8, 10; 1 Kings 6:15, 34; 2 Chr. 2:8; 2 Chr. 3:5. In the millennium it will grow in place of the thorn, and Israel, when she returns in blessing, will say, "I am like an evergreen cypress" (older versions: "a green fir tree"). Isa. 55:13; Hosea 14:8.
Commentators also see meaning in the two woods themselves:
Cedar does not decay, so it is an emblem of the incorruptible resurrection body. No one has ever seen a piece of worm-eaten cedar. The sap of the cedar is death to the worm; instead of the worm destroying the cedar, the cedar destroys the worm. Fir, or cypress, served where strength and durability were needed, and it pictures resurrection strength.
Hiram's plan is practical: his men will cut, and the sea will carry.
There were no snags at all in this arrangement. Everything went ahead in full agreement. Hiram answered Solomon's request gladly, willing to provide cedar and cypress logs for him. His servants would cut them down, then float them along the sea-coast in rafts to the port in Israel closest to Jerusalem. From there the logs went by land up to Jerusalem (vs. 8-9).
This alliance with Tyre serves a purpose larger than timber.
In 1 Kings 5 we see Solomon act with the Gentiles — not by marriage ties, but by alliance. They become the servants of his purposes. We can even say they serve God's purposes for the earth, so far as Solomon himself served those purposes.
Another writer sees the whole world's wealth drawn in — and looks past Solomon to the reign it pictures:
Solomon's rule is marked, as we have said, by an earthly glory. Every natural resource the whole world can supply feeds into it. But this glory was meant for the glory of God. It was to give Him, among His people, a temple that would lift up His holiness and His greatness. So it will be in the glorious reign of the Messiah.
- Joy first. Hiram's service starts with a rejoicing heart — he counts it an honour to add anything to the glory of Israel's God.
- Joy gives all. That heart produces an unreserved answer: everything Solomon asked, Hiram would do.
- Joy receives more. The cedars cost real effort, yet stone and gold mattered more to the building. And Hiram's own household ate from Solomon's land.
- Joy travels. Cut in Lebanon, floated down the coast, carried up to Jerusalem — a willing heart came with a workable plan, and the whole arrangement ran without a snag.
- Joy foreshadows. Nations served Solomon's purposes then. In the Messiah's reign the world's resources will serve the glory of God.
My servants shall bring [them] down from Lebanon to the sea; and I will convey them by sea [in] rafts to the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and thou shalt receive them. And thou shalt accomplish my desire in giving food for my household.
Hiram's answer closes the deal: the timber will be cut in Lebanon, floated down the coast, and paid for in food, not silver. One verse holds a trade agreement, a picture of God supplying His house, and the road every cedar had to travel.
Hiram spells out the route from the mountain to the port.
He responded favourably to Solomon's request, willing to provide cedar and cypress logs for him. Hiram's servants would cut them down. Then they would float them along the sea-coast in rafts (or what we may call "booms") to the port in Israel closest to Jerusalem. There the rafts would be broken up, and the logs carried by land to Jerusalem (vs. 8-9). He accepted Solomon's word too that he would provide food for Hiram's household.
Hiram names his price, and it is not gold. He asks for food. One writer weighs what each king gives the other.
And after all, what is Hiram's service in comparison to what Solomon does for him? Sometimes what we do for the Lord looks like something. The cedars of Lebanon and all the effort of moving them were no small thing. But Solomon uses many other materials to build the temple besides Hiram's cedars and cypresses. The great costly stones and the gold that covered everything mattered more to the foundation and the glory of the building than the products of Lebanon. Still, Solomon accomplishes Hiram's desire because Hiram accomplishes his (vv. 9, 10), and Hiram's desire is the feeding of his house. The Lord could do without us, but He does not want to. He knows well that using us in His service gives joy to our hearts and blesses them — but we cannot do without Him. It is He who gives life, nourishment, strength, and growth. The food of Hiram's country, the wheat his merchants traded in, came from Palestine (Ezek. 27:17). It is the Lord's land that supplies what we need to live. So Hiram depended on Solomon for this: "providing food for my household" (v. 9).
The same writer turns the wheat supply into a warning about self-sufficiency:
One might own cedar trees and cypresses and still die of hunger. Certainly one does not die of hunger when one places them into the service of Solomon!
One writer dwells on what each tree went through.
So there was only one way for every tree used in building the temple. The axe, the axe; stroke after stroke, until the lofty tree lies flat and dead, cut off from every root of nature. And then down, down, down the slopes of Lebanon, right down into the water. It must go into the water at the foot of Lebanon before it can come out of the water at Joppa. And it must go into the water, and come out of the water, before it can go up to Jerusalem's temple. There was no overland route for a single tree.
The same writer names a man who took that road:
Saul of Tarsus was not only a great sinner — he calls himself "the foremost of sinners." He was also the loftiest Pharisee that ever waved his head on the moral Lebanon of man. He was a cedar tree of the cedar trees, a fir tree of the fir trees, "a Hebrew of Hebrews." Then the word of God entered his soul. When Jesus said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" the lofty cedar fell flat on the ground. What a felling! The trees went into the water at the foot of Lebanon and came out at Joppa. In the same way, Saul was buried with Christ in death, and the new man Paul was raised out of death, possessing the new life, one with the risen Christ.
The wood for God's house came from a foreign king's forest. That was not an accident of supply.
We note also that the temple was to be built on the threshing floor of a Gentile. Hiram, king of Tyre, another Gentile, worked closely with both David and Solomon in the great work (1 Kings 5). So Israel's God had Gentiles before His mind, to share the blessedness of His presence on earth among His people. "For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (Isa. 56:7). Just a hint in advance of the largeness and universality of God's grace in this gospel day.
One writer reads this friendly treaty as a preview of a settled world under Christ.
This friendliness between Solomon and Hiram pictures the peace established between Israel and the Gentile nations in the millennium. Gentiles will come to Israel's light and the wealth of the Gentiles will come to Israel (Isa. 60:3-5). God knew how to turn Hiram's heart toward Solomon. He knows how to change the hearts of other Gentiles too, from hatred to friendliness toward Israel, as He will in the latter days.
- Felled — no tree reached the temple standing; the axe came first, cutting it off from every root of nature.
- Floated — every log went into the water and came out again. There was no shortcut by land, and none past death and resurrection.
- Fed — Hiram asked for food, not gold. The one who supplies God's house lives on what God's land grows.
- Fetched from abroad — foreign hands cut the timber. It was an early hint that God's house would be a house of prayer for all peoples.
- Foreshadowed — the peace between the two kings sketches the day when the nations bring their wealth to Israel's light.