---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  1 Kings 5"
description: "CHAPTER 5   :-. HIRAM SENDS
TO CONGRATULATE
SOLOMON. 1. Hiram . . . sent his servants
unto Solomon—the grandson of David"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/1-kings/5"
---

CHAPTER 5

. HIRAM SENDS
TO CONGRATULATE
SOLOMON.

**1. Hiram . . . sent his servants
unto Solomon**—the grandson of David's contemporary [KITTO];
or the same Hiram [WINER
and others]. The friendly relations which the king of Tyre had
cultivated with David are here seen renewed with his son and
successor, by a message of condolence as well as of congratulation on
his accession to the throne of Israel. The alliance between the two
nations had been mutually beneficial by the encouragement of useful
traffic. Israel, being agricultural, furnished corn and oil, while
the Tyrians, who were a commercial people, gave in exchange their
Phoelignician manufactures, as well as the produce of foreign lands.
A special treaty was now entered into in furtherance of that
undertaking which was the great work of Solomon's splendid and
peaceful reign.

**6. command thou that they hew me
cedar trees out of Lebanon**—Nowhere else could Solomon have
procured materials for the woodwork of his contemplated building. The
forests of Lebanon, adjoining the seas in Solomon's time, belonged to
the Phoelignicians, and the timber being a lucrative branch of their
exports, immense numbers of workmen were constantly employed in the
felling of trees as well as the transportation and preparation of the
wood. Hiram stipulated to furnish Solomon with as large a quantity of
cedars and cypresses as he might require and it was a great
additional obligation that he engaged to render the important service
of having it brought down, probably by the Dog river, to the seaside,
and conveyed along the coast in floats; that is, the logs being bound
together, to the harbor of Joppa (), whence they could easily find the means of transport to
Jerusalem.
**my servants shall be with thy
servants**—The operations were to be on so extensive a scale that
the Tyrians alone would be insufficient. A division of labor was
necessary, and while the former would do the work that required
skilful artisans, Solomon engaged to supply the laborers.
. FURNISHES
TIMBER TO BUILD
THE TEMPLE.

**7. Blessed be the Lord**—This
language is no decisive evidence that Hiram was a worshipper of the
true God, as he might use it only on the polytheistic principle of
acknowledging Jehovah as the God of the Hebrews (see on ).

**8. Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I
have considered the things . . . and I will do**—The contract was
drawn out formally in a written document (), which, according to JOSEPHUS,
was preserved both in the Jewish and Tyrian records.

**10. fir trees**—rather, the
cypress.

**11. food to his household**—This
was an annual supply for the palace, different from that mentioned in
[2 Chronicles 2:10](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/2/10), which was for the
workmen in the forests.
[2 Chronicles 2:10](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/2/10). SOLOMON'S
WORKMEN AND LABORERS.

**13. Solomon raised a levy out of all
Israel**—The renewed notice of Solomon's divine gift of wisdom
([1 Kings 5:12](../../../kjv/1-kings/5/12)) is evidently
introduced to prepare for this record of the strong but prudent
measures he took towards the accomplishment of his work. So great a
stretch of arbitrary power as is implied in this compulsory levy
would have raised great discontent, if not opposition, had not his
wise arrangement of letting the laborers remain at home two months
out of three, added to the sacredness of the work, reconciled the
people to this forced labor. The carrying of burdens and the irksome
work of excavating the quarries was assigned to the remnant of the
Canaanites ([1 Kings 9:20](../../../kjv/1-kings/9/20); [2 Chronicles 8:7-9](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/8/7-9))
and war prisoners made by David—amounting to 153,600. The
employment of persons of that condition in Eastern countries for
carrying on any public work, would make this part of the arrangements
the less thought of.

**17. brought great stones**—The
stone of Lebanon is "hard, calcareous, whitish and sonorous,
like free stone" [SHAW].
The same white and beautiful stone can be obtained in every part of
Syria and Palestine.
**hewed stones**—or neatly
polished, as the *Hebrew* word signifies (). Both Jewish and Tyrian builders were employed in hewing
these great stones.

**18. and the stone squarers**—The
*Margin*, which renders it "the Giblites" (), has long been considered a preferable translation. This
marginal translation also must yield to another which has lately been
proposed, by a slight change in the *Hebrew* text, and which
would be rendered thus: "Solomon's builders, and Hiram's
builders, did hew them and bevel them" [THENIUS].
These great bevelled or grooved stones, measuring some twenty, others
thirty feet in length, and from five to six feet in breadth, are
still seen in the substructures about the ancient site of the temple;
and, in the judgment of the most competent observers, were those
originally employed "to lay the foundation of the house."

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