And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre, saying, As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him a house to dwell therein [so do for me].
Solomon's first act as temple-builder is not to lay a stone. He writes to a foreign king, asking for the same help his father once had. That message raises the chapter's questions: whose idea was this house, and why is a Gentile king supplying its timber?
Kings and Chronicles record many of the same events. So why does Chronicles pass over Solomon's faults?
We know very well that Solomon's horses, and above all his many wives, became a great snare to him. But Chronicles does not set out to record the king's responsibility and the ways he broke down. It sets out to bear witness that he was the witness of God's purpose. In Kings we have the question of responsibility; in Chronicles, of divine counsel. That is the difference between the two books. They are not a mere repetition of each other.
Solomon's plan to build was not ambition dressed up as devotion. God had made the decision first and told David so.
He had resolved to build the house of the Lord because God had so decreed, communicating His will beforehand to David. Such is the true character of the decision of faith. Faith decides because God has determined. This point is important. Often we know the will of God beforehand. Instead of saying "I have determined" to do it, we look for excuses and good reasons to avoid it. At the very least, we avoid putting our whole heart into it.
Who is this king, and why do some Bibles call him Huram?
King of Tyre, who loved David and was a friend of Solomon. By his servants he supplied both timber and stone for the temple and the palaces of Solomon... He is called Huram in 2 Chronicles 2:3-12.
Hiram had once sent his workmen to David without being asked. Solomon now builds his appeal on that old friendship.
Of his own free will he had come to offer his services to Solomon's father, and his carpenters had built him a house. The same willing spirit led him to send his servants to David's son, because he had always loved his father. How could he fail to be welcomed by the king of glory when he had always loved the king of grace?
The link back to David is more than courtesy. The plan and the materials both came from the earlier reign.
All that had been prepared during the reign of grace is brought to adorn the house of the Lord under the reign of glory. The entire plan came from David, and not from Solomon — even less from Hiram, as rationalists would suppose. The first reign prepared the glory of the second. A suffering, rejected Christ precedes a glorious Christ. What David had done looked smaller than the work of Solomon, and the materials looked less than the glorious workmanship. But in reality David's work was the necessary basis of what pictures the whole of the millennial blessing.
Hiram's cedars preview a coming day. But do they set the pattern for worship now?
So it will be in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus by and by. He, the head of Israel, will make use of the Gentiles. The Gentiles, represented here by the king of Tyre, will bring all their means, their wealth, their glory. They will bring it in allegiance to the King of kings and Lord of lords. But it would be a great mistake to confuse the character of that day with the principle of this one. I know many dear children of God think grand, imposing architecture honours God. They think the same of the finest music to please the ear... But this is really the Jewish way of honouring God, not the Christian one.
- Purpose — Chronicles retells Solomon's reign to show God's plan at work. It does not list where the king failed.
- Decided — Solomon did not build out of self-will. He built because God had decided first. That is how faith decides.
- Inherited — Solomon asks Hiram to treat him as he "dealt with David my father." The reign of grace gathered what the reign of glory would spend.
- Widened — a Gentile king sends cedar. It pictures the day when the nations bring their wealth to the King of kings.
- Distinguished — that coming splendour is not the model for worship today. Grand buildings and fine music belong to the older way.
Behold, I build a house unto the name of Jehovah my God to dedicate it to him, to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual arrangement [of the shewbread], and for the morning and evening burnt-offerings [and] on the sabbaths and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Jehovah our God. This is [an ordinance] for ever to Israel.
Solomon's message to Huram, king of Tyre, does more than order timber. Before any wood is cut, Solomon says why the house exists. It belongs to the name of the LORD, and it is built for a settled round of worship that Israel must keep.
Chronicles tells Solomon's reign with a purpose. One writer compares it with the account in Kings:
The object of Chronicles is not to record the king's responsibility and the ways in which he broke down. It is to bear witness that he was the witness of God's purpose. In Kings we have the question of responsibility; in Chronicles, of divine counsel. That is the difference between the two books... David was kept from the desire of his heart to build a temple. That work was kept for Solomon. So the Spirit of God soon lets us know that the great purpose of Solomon's reign was the building of the LORD's house.
The verse names incense, bread, burnt offerings and set feasts. Each one pictures something.
He said this house would be dedicated to the Lord for the burning of sweet incense, which speaks of worship. It was for the continual showbread, which speaks of communion with God through the person of the Lord Jesus. It was for burnt offerings morning and evening, picturing the sacrifice of Christ as bringing glory to His God and Father. Such offerings were also for special occasions — Sabbaths, New Moons and set feasts, as seen in Leviticus 23:4.
Notice what is missing from Solomon's list. There is no mention of an offering for sin — and one commentator treats that silence as deliberate:
Here the temple is the place where people come to God in worship. It is open not only to Israel, but also to the nations whom Huram represents. In Solomon's mind the temple is so much the place of worship that he mentions only burnt offerings here, with no reference to sin offerings. Sweet incense of fragrant spices, the symbol of praise, comes first. In Ezekiel 45, where the subject is the temple service during Christ's coming reign, whether for Israel or for the "prince" of the house of David, Christ's deputy on the earth, we find the sin offering, for all are in need of it. Here the thought is more general.
The same writer notes the place Solomon takes in this worship:
He presents himself as king and priest, with no mediator of his own. He offers pure incense himself, as the people's mediator, and it rises with the smoke of the burnt offering, a perfect, pleasing fragrance to God.
Solomon says this is ordained forever for Israel. That steady rhythm marks every stage of Israel's worship:
A third thing in the law of the burnt offering was that it must be perpetual, not occasional — a continual offering throughout their generations. This continual burnt offering, morning and night and all through the night, was a leading feature of Jewish worship. When Solomon set up his temple, he provided a continual burnt offering. When Ezra set up his temple, again they offered the continual burnt offering, even before the rebuilding. Why? Because the LORD claims that this should be the main feature of the worship of His people.
Solomon explains all this to a foreign king, and the man he is writing to supplies the workmen. Writers see something significant in that:
The Gentile has the privilege of having a little share in the building of that house. He has not 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 subordinate, but sharing in Israel's blessedness.
One writer warns against copying this splendour in Christian worship today:
I know there are many dear children of God who think it is for the glory of God to have grand and imposing architecture, and music of the finest quality to please the ear, and everything else to match. But this is the Jewish way of honouring God, not the Christian one. What is proper to us is prayer and singing in the Spirit and in the understanding. Whatever the Holy Spirit does not mark, and whatever the Spirit does not take up to witness for the Lord Jesus Christ — whatever is not of faith now — is a total failure.
- Purpose. Solomon builds for the name of the LORD; Chronicles keeps God's purpose, not the king's failures, at the centre.
- Content. Incense pictures worship. The continual bread pictures communion with God through Christ. The morning and evening burnt offerings picture the sacrifice of Christ that brings glory to God.
- Character. Praise comes first, and Solomon names no sin offering. Here the temple is the place of worship, not of need.
- Constancy. The burnt offering was perpetual, not occasional. It returned when Ezra rebuilt, because God claims continual worship from His people.
- Reach. A foreign king shares in the work. It points on to a house of prayer for all nations — though its splendour is not the Christian pattern.
And the house that I will build is great; for great is our God above all gods.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
But who is able to build him a house, seeing the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? And who am I that I should build him a house, except to burn sacrifice before him?
Solomon's letter to Hiram of Tyre is a business order for materials and workers. Then the king stops to admit that the house he is paying for could never hold God — so what is a temple for?
Solomon tells Hiram two things at once. The house will be great, and the house will still be far too small. One commentator traces both to the same fact: God's greatness.
Solomon told Hiram the temple will be great because the God of Israel is greater than all the idolatrous gods of the nations (v. 5). He also saw how unworthy he was to build a temple for One so great. The heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. So the temple could not be a representation of Him. The only true representation of God is the Lord Jesus. Solomon was building the temple only as a place of sacrifice to God (v. 6).
The verse piles heaven on top of heaven. One writer draws out the picture.
What a vivid idea that expression gives us of how infinite God is! All created things are finite. The spaces they fill may look unlimited to us — heavens stretching beyond heavens, one after another, seemingly without end. Yet by their very nature they are limited. God is not like that; He is infinite.
Solomon does not drop the project. He redefines it. The house is not a container but a place of approach, and the offerings he lists set the tone.
Here the temple is the place where people come to God in worship. It is open not only to Israel, but also to the nations that Huram represents. In Solomon's mind the temple is so much the place of worship that he mentions only burnt offerings here, with no reference to sin offerings. Sweet incense of fragrant spices, the symbol of praise, comes first. … As for Solomon himself, he knows that he is only a weak human likeness of the King in God's plan. He asks who he is, that he should build God a house. Even so, he stands there to burn sacrifice before Him. He presents himself as king and priest.
Hiram — also spelled Huram — is the Gentile king of Tyre, supplying materials and workers. One writer weighs what his share in the work was worth.
The Gentile has the privilege of a small 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 nations (Mark 11:17).
Later generations made the temple itself the object of their pride. One commentator points out that Israel's own temple-builder had already ruled that out.
Exalting the temple in a superstitious way takes away from the glory of the One who gives it all its distinctive splendour. The Lord did stoop to make it holy and glorify it, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud. The glory of the Lord had filled the house of God. But Solomon himself, at that great dedication, had admitted that heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him — much less the house he had just built!
Solomon's admission leaves a question hanging. Would God live with people on earth at all? One commentator answers with one word: grace.
For God to dwell with men on earth would take an astounding act of grace, because the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. He is infinite, without limits, and omnipresent, present everywhere at all times. We cannot understand the greatness of His being. Nothing can confine Him. Yet in a very real sense He lived in the temple, in the holiest place of all, though in thick darkness. This is a paradox in which we may rejoice.
That grace is what makes the verse move rather than merely humble. As one writer puts it, the wonder is not that God is beyond measure, but where He chooses to stop.
Who would have dared to hope for this? The One whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain would live with the poor and needy, to revive their contrite hearts and hold them up in their troubles.
- Great God — Solomon plans a great house for one reason. The God of Israel is greater than all the gods of the nations.
- Small builder — The heavens cannot hold God, so Solomon counts himself unworthy of the job. His house can never represent God. Only the Lord Jesus does that.
- Real purpose — The house cannot hold God, but people can come to Him there. Sacrifice, incense, praise — and praise comes first. The nations, represented by Hiram, have a place there too.
- Standing warning — Prizing the building above the One who gives it its splendour robs Him. Solomon's own words stand against anyone who makes the temple an idol.
- Answered wonder — The God no heaven can hold still chose to live in the darkness of the holy place. He chooses to live with the poor and contrite too. That is a paradox to rejoice in.
And now send me a man skilful to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in iron, and in purple and crimson and blue, and experienced in carving, besides the skilful men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.
Solomon is building the temple in Jerusalem, and he writes to Hiram, king of Tyre, for help. Verse 7 is his ask: send one man skilled in metal, in dyed cloth and in engraving, to work beside the craftsmen David had already provided.
Solomon does not ask for a labourer. He asks for many rare skills in one person. Israel had seen such a man before, and one commentator makes the link:
To find an expert in all these skills would certainly be amazing, but in Exodus 31:1-5 we read that God had given such ability to a man of Judah, Bezalel, to supervise the building of the tabernacle. Each of these men is a picture of the Holy Spirit of God, who is in control of all the activities of the house of God. The tabernacle was temporary, so the man chosen for that work came from Judah. But the temple speaks of the display of God's glory in the millennial age, when Gentiles will share with Israel in great blessing. So the working of the Spirit of God will include Gentiles.
The tabernacle was the tent of worship Israel carried before the temple was built. The millennial age is the coming age of blessing on earth.
Hiram's reply names the same skills. The same writer gives each metal a meaning:
This master craftsman is certainly a picture of the working of the Spirit of God in Jewish and Gentile believers. He was skilled to work in gold, which speaks of the glory of God. He worked in silver, which pictures the great truth of redemption through the sufferings of Christ. He worked in bronze, or copper, which signifies the holiness of God. And he worked in iron, which symbolizes the power of God.
The dyed fabrics carry meaning as well. One writer gives each colour its own sense:
Blue is always a symbol of what is heavenly — the colour itself points to this meaning. The purple is a picture of Gentile royalty. John's gospel records that soldiers mocked the claims of Jesus to be the King. With rough cruelty they put a purple robe on Him. (John 19:2.) The scarlet stands for human glory, and it may stand at the same time for Jewish royalty… Applying all this to Christ, the meaning is striking. It gives us Christ in His heavenly character, Christ as King of Israel, given all human glory, and, last of all, Christ reigning also over the Gentiles.
One detail is easy to miss. Chronicles asks for crimson where the tabernacle accounts say scarlet — and one writer treats the change as deliberate:
There is a remarkable change of colour found in 2 Chron. 2:7, 14, and 3:14, where Solomon uses not scarlet, but crimson on the veil of the temple. The account of the temple in Chronicles seems to look on to the millennial age, and this changed colour fits that exactly — it may even point to it. In earlier days Israel had no link with the Gentile nations, and purple and scarlet did not properly mix… So it seems that Israel will no longer be marked by scarlet, but by scarlet tinged with purple, which is crimson, while the purple of the Gentiles stays unchanged.
The colour comes from a dye made from an insect that lives on a kind of oak, giving crimson or deep scarlet (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
Solomon's ask ends by placing the man from Tyre beside the workers David had provided. One writer sees in Hiram's help the picture of a day dawning:
Again we may say, "Watchman, what of the night?" — for Hiram, king of Tyre, is a willing servant. He lays the forests of Lebanon at the feet of Solomon, with cedar trees, fir trees and algum trees in plenty. He also sends a skilled man of understanding, able to work in gold, in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone and in timber. He works in purple too, and in blue, in fine linen and in crimson. For the Lord was coming out into this kingdom and its costly temple.
That partnership has a meaning for today:
Today, both Jewish and Gentile believers are joined together as the Church of God, one building growing into a holy temple in the Lord, for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Eph. 2:19-22). So the Spirit of God produces a unity of Jewish and Gentile believers in the Church, far deeper than any unity that will be seen between Jews and Gentiles in the millennium.
- Skill is given. The craftsman Solomon wants matches Bezalel, the man God equipped for the tabernacle. God supplies the skill for His own house.
- Skill pictures the Spirit. Both craftsmen picture the Holy Spirit, who controls all that happens in God's house.
- The materials preach. Gold speaks of God's glory, silver of redemption, bronze of His holiness, iron of His power. Blue speaks of heaven, purple of Gentile royalty, scarlet of human glory.
- The colour shifts. Crimson is scarlet tinged with purple: Israel and the nations no longer held apart.
- The workforce widens. A man from Tyre works beside David's men. Jew and Gentile stand together — already true in the church, one temple where God lives.
Send me also cedar-trees, cypress-trees, and sandal-wood trees, out of Lebanon; for I know that thy servants are experienced in cutting timber in Lebanon; and behold, my servants shall be with thy servants,
Solomon's letter to Hiram, king of Tyre, now turns from skilled men to raw material. He asks for timber from Lebanon, cut by Hiram's men, with his own workers alongside them. Two questions follow. Why does a king of Israel need the trees and the skill of a foreign nation? And what do these particular trees mean?
Cedar and cypress are well known. Algum is not, and where it grew raises a problem. One reference work weighs it:
2 Chronicles 2:8 presents a difficulty, for it seems to say that algum trees came from Lebanon, and the same trees could scarcely grow naturally in places so unlike each other as Lebanon and Ophir. In this last passage the several trees sent by Huram may be named together without meaning that they were all cut from Lebanon. It is supposed that sandal wood is meant.
Solomon admits that Hiram's men have the skill. One writer notes how much the king of Tyre supplies, and how willingly:
Hiram, king of Tyre, is a willing servant, and lays the forests of Lebanon at the feet of Solomon, with cedar trees, cypress trees, and algum trees in abundance. He provides also a skilled man, gifted with understanding, able to work in gold, and in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, and in timber.
Solomon's own men are not left out. "My servants will be with your servants" puts two nations at one task, and one writer looks ahead from it:
He would also have his servants join with Hiram's servants in this work, another picture of the friendship between Jews and Gentiles in the millennium.
The outsider's share is real, but not the leading one:
The Gentile has the privilege of having a little share in the building of that house; he has not 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 subordinate, but sharing in Israel's blessedness.
Cutting and hauling cedars was huge labour. Writing on the parallel account in 1 Kings, one commentator weighs it against what Solomon put into the temple:
Sometimes what we do for the Lord looks like something. The cedars of Lebanon and all the effort to transport them were no little thing, but Solomon uses many other materials besides Hiram's cedars and cypresses to construct the temple: the great costly stones and the gold that overlaid everything were more important for the foundation and the glory of the building than the products of Lebanon. … The Lord could do without us, but He does not want to do so; He well knows that to use us in His service gives joy to our hearts and blesses them — but we cannot do without Him.
Across Scripture the cedar stands for more than good timber:
In Scripture its typical use is always to denote power or exaltation, if not pride. When the king of Israel would pour contempt on the king of Judah, he compared himself to a cedar and Judah's king to a thistle (2 Kings 14:9). The Psalmist uses it to express the prosperity of the righteous, "He shall grow as the cedar in Lebanon" (Psalm 92:12). When judgment comes on the great of the earth, the prophet Isaiah says it is the day of Jehovah upon the cedars of Lebanon (2:13).
Every tree named here took one route to Jerusalem. One writer follows it from the axe to the temple:
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 be taken out of the water at Joppa. And it must be put into the water, and taken out of the water, before it can be carried up to Jerusalem's temple. There was no overland route for a single tree.
- Named — Cedar and cypress came from Lebanon. Algum is likely sandalwood, and may not have been cut on that mountain at all.
- Felled — The cedar stands in Scripture for height, power and pride; for this house it had to come down first.
- Floated — No tree reached Jerusalem overland. Axe, then water, then the ascent: one road only.
- Joined — Solomon's servants worked beside Hiram's. The outsider had a real place in God's house, though not the leading one.
- Needed — Hiram's cedars cost real labour, yet stone and gold mattered more. God can do without our service. He chooses to use it, and blesses us in it.
even to prepare me timber in abundance for the house that I build shall be great and wonderful.
Solomon asks Huram — Hiram in some translations — for cedar, cypress and algum logs, and he wants a huge amount of them. Why did the size of this house matter so much, and why did foreign timber, cut by foreign hands, belong in the house of the God of Israel?
Solomon had already given his reason a few verses earlier, and it was not national pride.
Solomon told Hiram the temple will be great because the God of Israel is greater than all the false gods of the nations (v. 5). He also realized that he was not worthy to build a temple for One so great, whom even the highest heaven cannot contain. So the temple could not be a representation of Him. The only true representation of God is the Lord Jesus. Solomon was building the temple only as a place of sacrifice to God (v. 6).
The same conviction had shaped his father's worship before him, and it is the note Solomon strikes as the work begins.
As we read such Scriptures we are led to exclaim with David — "Great is the Lord (Jehovah) and greatly to be praised" (1 Chronicles 16:25). "He also is to be feared above all gods." Such holy sentiments engaged also the heart of Solomon his son as he started to build the House of God — "The house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods" (2 Chronicles 2:5).
Solomon does not just place an order. He sends his own men to work beside Huram's woodcutters.
Solomon also asked Hiram for cedar, cypress and algum logs from Lebanon, since he knew that Hiram's servants had great skill with timber. He would also have his own servants join Hiram's servants in this work. That is another picture of the friendship between Jews and Gentiles in the millennium (vv. 8-9).
Huram's men were foreigners, not Israelites. Their share in the work was real, but smaller.
The Gentile has the privilege of a small share in the building of that house. He does not have the readiness and free giving of an Israelite. Yet 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 subordinate, but participating in Israel's blessedness.
The temple was built of two kinds of material, and both were chosen deliberately by God as pictures.
First, look at the materials of the temple. Great stones and tall trees. In this way God chooses to picture the two conditions of those whom He brings, and builds, in Christ the heavenly temple. Man is a great sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, and yet he is a towering pharisee.
Getting the timber to the building site took one fixed path, and every log took it.
So there was only one way for every tree used in building the temple. The axe, the axe; stroke after stroke, until the tall 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, and come out of the water at Joppa, before anyone can carry it up to Jerusalem's temple. There was no overland route for a single tree.
Stanley points to Saul of Tarsus as the clearest case of a tall tree brought down this way.
Saul of Tarsus was not only a great sinner — he calls himself "the foremost of sinners" — he was also the most towering pharisee who ever raised 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"... But the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. When it entered his soul — when Jesus said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" — the tall cedar fell flat on the ground. Then he found that even his religious zeal was his greatest wickedness. 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, holding new life, one with the risen Christ.
The felled timber of Lebanon points forward to a building that is not made of wood at all.
Believers "are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone; in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit." (Eph. 2:20-22.) What a building! and what a builder! "You are God's building."
- Great God, great house. The greatness of the One it was for set the scale of the house — not Solomon's wealth or ambition.
- Great God, borrowed hands. Solomon's own servants worked side by side with a foreign king's woodcutters.
- Great God, wider reach. The shared work gave the outsider a real share, though a smaller one, in a house that would be called a house of prayer for all nations.
- Great God, felled trees. The tall cedars stand for tall men; Saul of Tarsus was the cedar of cedars, and he came down flat.
- Great God, one road. Axe first, then the water, then Jerusalem — the path of death and resurrection, and no tree could skip it.
And behold, I will give to thy servants the hewers that fell timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.
Solomon ends his message to Hiram, king of Tyre, with a payment: four staple foods, twenty thousand measures of each, for the men who would cut the cedars of Lebanon. Why does Israel feed a foreign king's workmen, and what do such generous wages say about the God whose house they were building?
One writer looks at where Solomon stands as he asks for the timber:
Here we see Solomon not only at the head of Israel, but also controlling the Gentiles and using them as servants for these great purposes. So he asks for timber in abundance.
The men who cut the timber were outsiders to Israel, yet their work went into God's house:
The Gentile has the privilege of 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 still to come. For that house is to be a house of prayer for all nations (Mark 11:17)... The Gentile's place was lower, but he shared in Israel's blessedness.
Another writer traces the same purpose through the whole temple story:
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 amongst His people. "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (Isaiah 56:7). Just a hint in advance of how large and universal God's grace is in this Gospel day.
One writer sets this promise beside 1 Kings 5:11:
1 Kings 5:11 tells us that besides this gift to the workers in timber, Solomon gave twenty thousand measures of wheat and oil every year to the household of Hiram.
Hiram had forests, but forests feed nobody. One writer weighs what each side brought:
Sometimes what we do for the Lord looks like something. The cedars of Lebanon and all the effort to move them were no small thing. But Solomon uses many other materials to build the temple besides Hiram's cedars and cypresses... 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... And what abundance there is among the servants of the king of Tyre after that! Four million eight hundred thousand litres of wheat every year! One might own cedar trees and cypresses and yet die of hunger.
Grain, wine and oil appear together in Scripture. One writer names what each one stands for:
The grain plainly points to the person of Christ Himself, the One who is the fine flour of the meal offering, and the bread of God. The wine points to His work of redemption... And the oil points to the Holy Spirit poured out — the holy anointing oil.
The verse names two grains, not one. One writer separates them:
The grain speaks of the Lord Jesus as the food of the believer. It may be barley, which pictures His character of lowly humiliation on earth, or wheat, which pictures the higher truth of Christ glorified at God's right hand. Both are valuable in providing the nourishment the Christian life needs.
Payment on this scale, for cutting trees, says something about the king who pays it:
This pictures the generosity of the Lord toward those who work for the good of the building of the house of God today as well. He does provide everything they need for their support and enjoyment, and much more. The Lord will more than repay, in grace, any work done for Him.
- The King calls. Solomon stands over the Gentiles as well as Israel, using them as servants for his great purpose.
- The King includes. The foreign woodcutter had a lower place, but a real one — a share in the house God would call a house of prayer for all nations.
- The King supplies. Hiram had cedars and still needed bread. A man can own forests and starve. Life, nourishment, strength and growth all come from the Lord.
- The King feeds richly. Grain, wine and oil point to Christ as food, to His work of redemption, and to the Spirit poured out. Barley and wheat together hold His humiliation and His glory.
- The King repays. Twenty thousand measures each, for cutting timber. No labour done for the Lord goes unrewarded; He gives everything needed, and much more.
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.