The First Book of Kings


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The First Book of Kings
Chapter Five

Hiram and Solomon Make Contact
The Discretion of Solomon
Cedars of Lebanon
Divisions of Labor





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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.






 
1-Kings ch.4
harp 1-Kings ch.6