And Huram king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because Jehovah loved his people, he made thee king over them.
Solomon is getting ready to build the temple, and he asks Hiram, the king of Tyre, for help. Hiram writes back with a reason for Solomon's crown: God loves His people Israel.
Hiram was a neighbouring king with every reason to feel threatened by a rising power. Instead his reply carries no trace of competition.
Hiram's answer to Solomon was favourable and lovely. He wrote, "Because the LORD loves His people, He has made you king over them" (v. 11). No thought of rivalry appears in his words. Instead there is heartfelt thankfulness that God had given David a wise and understanding son to reign over Israel. He recognised that Israel's God is the Maker of heaven and earth. And he was glad at Solomon's plan to build a temple for this sovereign God, as well as a house for himself (v. 12).
Hiram's logic runs from God's love for Israel to Solomon's crown — the throne exists for the sake of those under it. The same pattern had already appeared in David's day, and it was foreigners who noticed it first. Commenting on David's realisation that God had established him "for the sake of his people Israel," one writer observes:
The effect upon the Gentiles showed how truly it was the LORD who had exalted David. Nobody ever thought of that when Saul was there.
Solomon himself had grasped this before Hiram put it in writing. When he asked for wisdom, he asked as a steward, not an owner:
Solomon entered into this in his measure. He did not regard the people as his people, his to govern, his to serve God in, but God's people entrusted to him. This gives seriousness; and, further, it exercises conscience. So he asked for wisdom, for he surely needed it. Had they been his own people, he might have had wisdom enough; but, being God's people, he required wisdom from God.
Hiram — spelled Huram in some translations — was not the only outsider to say this. Later in Solomon's reign, the queen of Sheba said it too.
The LORD's love for Israel was well known to the nations. The Queen of Sheba said to Solomon, "Because the LORD loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness" (1 Kings 10:9). Huram, king of Tyre, said the same thing, as recorded in 2 Chronicles 2:11.
One writer draws a line from Solomon's day to ours:
The Queen of Sheba perceived that it was love that prompted the LORD to give Israel such a king… The same love has provided us with a wonderful Saviour and glorious Head. It has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Him. Every favour that we now enjoy, and all that awaits us in "God's eternal day," is the fruit of His great heart of love.
Hiram blesses the God of Israel, and he blesses Him as the Maker of heaven and earth. He also puts it in writing.
Huram (v. 11) acknowledges in writing that "the LORD loves His people" in establishing Solomon as king over them. What is written is a lasting declaration, always available for reference. He blesses "the LORD, the God of Israel," but as Creator of the heavens and the earth. It is a lovely picture of the praise of the nations. In the age yet to come they will submit to the universal rule of the Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth. He will be represented by the true Son of David among His people Israel. So blessing will rise up to God Himself from those who were once idolaters, and who will come under the rule of Christ, the King of the nations.
After the letter, Hiram sends materials and craftsmen. So a Gentile — someone outside Israel — has a hand in the building.
The Gentile has the privilege of a small share in building that house. He does not have the readiness and free giving of an Israelite. But he has a place there — and we may say a blessed place. And a more blessed place is yet to come. For that house is to be a house of prayer for all nations (Mark 11:17)… The Gentile's place was a lesser one, but he shared in Israel's blessedness.
- Love first. Hiram does not explain the throne by Solomon. He explains it by God's love for the people.
- Love gives a king. God gives a king for the sake of the people. Solomon saw Israel as God's people entrusted to him, so he asked God for wisdom.
- Love that reached us. The same love gave Israel such a king. It has given believers a Saviour and every spiritual blessing in Him.
- Love seen by outsiders. Hiram said it, and so did the queen of Sheba. Outsiders could see how God loved His people.
- Love's result. A foreign king blesses the Maker of heaven and earth and helps build the house. It is a preview of the nations, once idolaters, praising God under the true Son of David.
And Huram said, Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel, that made the heavens and the earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, who will build a house for Jehovah and a house for his kingdom.
Solomon's letter to Hiram asked for timber and a skilled craftsman; what came back was a letter of praise. Hiram, the foreign king of Tyre, opens the temple project by blessing Israel's God as Maker of heaven and earth.
Nothing in Hiram's reply sounds like a rival. He is glad about Solomon's God, Solomon's throne, and the two houses Solomon means to build — one for the LORD, one for himself.
Hiram's response to Solomon was favorable and lovely. There is no hint of rivalry in his words. Instead there is heartfelt thankfulness that God had given David a wise and understanding son to reign over Israel. He recognized that Israel's God is the Maker of heaven and earth. He was glad that Solomon planned to build a temple for this sovereign God, and a house for himself as well (v. 12).
Hiram does not stop at "the God of Israel." He adds the Creator title — the God of one nation is the God who made everything. Commentators read that combination as a preview of how the nations will one day speak.
Huram puts it in writing (v. 11), and what is written is a lasting declaration, always there to be checked: "the LORD loved His people" in making Solomon king over them. He blesses "the LORD, the God of Israel," but he blesses Him as Creator of the heavens and the earth. It is a lovely picture of the praise of the nations. In the age to come they will submit to the universal rule of the Most High, Possessor of the heavens and the earth. The true Son of David will represent Him among His people Israel. So blessing will rise up to God Himself from those who were once idolaters and will come under the rule of Christ, the King of the nations.
Hiram's goodwill did not begin with Solomon. His friendship with David came first, and the son inherited it.
In Solomon's time Tyre had not yet taken on the pride that Isaiah, and especially Ezekiel, denounced — a pride that went so far as to make a god of human intelligence. Hiram, the friend of David, still ruled this people. Of his own free will he had come to offer his services to Solomon's father. His carpenters had built David a house (2 Samuel 5:11). The same willing spirit led him to send his servants to David's son, because he had always loved his father (v. 1). How could the king of glory fail to welcome him, when he had always loved the king of grace?
Hiram blesses God for a son with discretion and understanding, given for one work: building. That wisdom reached Solomon in stages, and each stage fitted the task in front of him.
"And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him" (v. 12). He had received wisdom (1 Kings 2:6) to purify his kingdom by judgment. Then (1 Kings 3:12) he received wisdom to discern rightly, so that he could govern his people. Then (1 Kings 4:29) he received wisdom to lead and instruct the nations, the peoples, and the kings of the earth. Last of all, he received wisdom to build the temple, the great work that was to mark his glorious reign.
(This comment is on the parallel account in 1 Kings 5, where Hiram's letter is also recorded.)
The temple was Israel's, yet Tyre's king blessed its God and Tyre's workers had a hand in building it. That share was small, but it was real.
The Gentile has the privilege of having a little share in the building of that house. He does not have the readiness and free giving of an Israelite, but he has a place there — and we may say a blessed place. And a more blessed place is yet to come. For that house is to be a house of prayer for all the nations (Mark 11:17)... The Gentile's place was lower, but he shared in Israel's blessedness.
- Love first. Hiram's help for Solomon grew out of his love for David. The man who loved the father was welcomed by the son.
- Confession next. He blesses the God of Israel as Creator of heaven and earth. An outsider names Israel's God as the God of everything.
- Gift named. He praises God for a son with wisdom, discretion and understanding. That wisdom came in stages, and the last stage was wisdom to build.
- Share granted. Tyre's workers had a real, if lower, place in the work. The house was meant to become a house of prayer for all the nations.
- Result foreshadowed. Commentators read this letter as a preview of a coming age. Then the nations will submit to the Most High under the true Son of David.