1 Kings5chapter 5

1 Kings 5:1

“Hiram, king of Tyre - Menander of Ephesus, who wrote a history of Tyre in Greek, founded upon native Tyrian documents, about 300 B.C., mentioned this Hiram as the son of Abibaal king of Tyre, and said that he ascended the throne when he was nineteen; that he reigned thirty-four years, and, dying at the age of fifty-three, was succeeded by his son Baleazar. Menander spoke at some length of the dealings of Hiram with Solomon. Sent his servants - This appears to have been an embassy of congratulation.”

1 Kings 5:2

“And Solomon sent to Hiram,.... A letter, either by the hand of his ambassadors when they returned, as Kimchi thinks, or by ambassadors Solomon sent on purpose. Josephus (w) appeals to the Tyrian archives for the genuineness of these letters that passed between Hiram and Solomon; and Eupolemus, an Heathen writer (x) has both this which Solomon sent to Hiram, and that which Hiram sent in answer to it, which agree with those in the sacred records: saying: as follows. (w) Antiqu. l. 8. c. 2. sect. 8. (x) Ut Supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 32, 34.)”

1 Kings 5:2

“Solomon sent to Hiram - Made an interchange of ambassadors and friendly greetings. Josephus tells us that the correspondence between Hiram and Solomon was preserved in the archives of the Tyrians even in his time. But this, like many other assertions of the same author, is worthy of little credit.”

1 Kings 5:3

“Solomon’s presumption that Hiram knew David’s design has not appeared in the previous history, but it is in accordance with 1Ch 22:4.”

1 Kings 5:4

“But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side,.... From foreign enemies; for Solomon had no wars with any: so that there is neither adversary; or Satan, no internal enemy in his kingdom, as well as no external ones, Adonijah, Joab, and other ill-designing persons, being cut off: nor evil occurrent; nothing that rose up, and met him, to discourage or hinder the prosecution of the good work he had in view.”

1 Kings 5:4

“There is neither adversary - אין שטן eyn satan, there is no satan - no opposer, nor any kind of evil; all is peace and quiet, both without and within. God has given me this quiet that I may build his temple. Deus nobis haec otia fecit.”

1 Kings 5:5

“And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God,.... For his worship, and for his honour and glory: as the Lord spake unto David my father; by the prophet Nathan, 2Sa 7:12; saying, thy son whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name; which was no small encouragement to Solomon to go about this work; in which he was a type of Christ, the builder of his temple, the church, see Zec 6:12.”

1 Kings 5:5

“A house unto the name of the Lord - The name of God is God himself. I purpose to build a house to that infinite and eternal Being called Jehovah.”

1 Kings 5:6

“For the servants of Hiram who cut down cedars from Lebanon for Solomon are the teachers chosen from among the Gentiles whose task is to fell those who enjoy the goods and glory of this world by correcting their pride and arrogance and convert their …”

1 Kings 5:6

“Any that can skill to hew timber - An obsolete and barbarous expression for any that know how to cut timber. They had neither sawyers, carpenters, joiners, nor builders among them, equal to the Sidonians. Sidon was a part of the territories of Hiram, and its inhabitants appear to have been the most expert workmen. It requires more skill to fell and prepare timber than is generally supposed. Vitruvius gives some rules relative to this, lib. ii., cap. 9, the sum of which is this:”

1 Kings 5:6

“They - That is, thy servants. And this assistance which these Gentiles gave to the building of Solomon's temple, was a type of the calling of the Gentiles, and that they should be instrumental in building and constituting Christ's spiritual temple.”

1 Kings 5:7

“This Hiram had been converted to [the worship of] God through his relationships with David, and "he rejoiced greatly, when he heard" that a house would be built for the Lord. He asks to be supplied with bread and oil in exchange for the wood …”

1 Kings 5:7

“Blessed be the Lord this day - From this, and indeed from every part of Hiram’s conduct, it is evident that he was a worshipper of the true God; unless, as was the case with many of the heathens, he supposed that every country had its own god, and every god his own country, and he thanked the God of Israel that he had given so wise a prince to govern those whom he considered his friends and allies: but the first opinion seems to be the most correct.”

1 Kings 5:7

“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 2Ch 2:11).”

1 Kings 5:8

“And Hiram sent to Solomon,.... A letter to him, to the following purpose: saying, I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for; whether he could, and whether it was fitting he should grant his request; which was acting like a wise and prudent prince: and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir; or of cypress, as in Josephus's copy of this letter, and which grew on Lebanon (c); these were odorous, sound, and durable timber, especially the cedar, and therefore chosen by Solomon for building. (c) Diodor. Sic. l.”

1 Kings 5:9

“See the marginal reference. The timber was first carried westward from the flanks of Lebanon to the nearest part of the coast, where it was collected into floats, or rafts, which were then conveyed southward along the coast to Joppa, now Jaffa, from where the land journey to Jerusalem was not more than about forty miles. A similar course was taken on the building of the second temple Ezr 3:”

1 Kings 5:10-18

“It is here said of Hiram their king that he was ever a lover of David; and we have reason to think he was a worshipper of the true God, and had himself renounced, though he could not reform, the idolatry of his city.”

1 Kings 5:11

“The number of measures of wheat was considerably less than Solomon’s own annual consumption, which exceeded 32,000 cors 1Ki 4:22; but the small amount of twenty cors of oil, which seems at first sight scarcely to match with the 20,000 cors of wheat, will not appear improbable, if we consider that the oil was to be” pure” - literally “beaten” - i. e., oil extracted from the olives by pounding, and not by means of the press. Year by year - i. e., during all the years that Solomon was engaged in building and was helped by Hiram.”

1 Kings 5:11

“Measures - Hebrew. twenty cors pure oil; but in 2Chr ii, 10, it is twenty thousand baths of oil. To which there is added twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine.”

1 Kings 5:11

“Thus let justice be followed (as the expression is, Deut. xvi. 20 ), justice on both sides, in every bargain. The confirmation of the friendship that was between them hereby.”

1 Kings 5:12

“And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him,.... Which, among other things, appeared in his preparations for building the temple, and in his agreements with Hiram for timber and workmen for that purpose and by continuing and confirming friendship between himself and Hiram, who was so serviceable to him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they two made a league together; in order to continue and establish peace and friendship between them, which Solomon might lawfully do, the Tyrians being no part of the seven nations with whom alliances were forbidden.”

1 Kings 5:13

“A levy out of all Israel - This was, apparently, the first time that the Israelites had been called upon to perform forced labor, though it had been prophesied 1Sa 8:16. David had bound to forced service “the strangers” 1Ch 22:2; but hitherto the Israelites had escaped. Solomon now, in connection with his proposed work of building the temple, with the honor of God as an excuse, laid this burden upon them.”

1 Kings 5:13

“If it seem strange, that so many thousands should be employed about so small a building as the temple was; it must be considered, 1. that the temple, all its parts being considered, was far larger than men imagine; 2. that it is probable, they were employed by turns, as the thirty thousand were, ver. 14, else they had been oppressed with hard and uninterrupted labours.”

1 Kings 5:13-14

“It was temple service, yet Solomon takes care that they shall not be over-worked. Great men ought to consider that their servants must rest as well as they.”

1 Kings 5:15-16

“Listen to even greater mysteries. At the time when Solomon built the temple, it was our peacemaker who says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you," "for he himself is our peace," "the peace of God that surpasses all understanding," who himself built the temple for God. Observe what Scripture says about the building of the temple by Solomon: "And there were seventy thousand quarrymen and eighty thousand carriers." Mark the number.”

1 Kings 5:15

“That bare burdens ... - Compare the marginal references. These laborers, whose services were continuous, consisted of “strangers” - “the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites” - whom Solomon, following the example of his father 1Ch 22:2, condemned to slavery, and employed in this way.”

1 Kings 5:16

“Besides - three thousand and three hundred which ruled over the people - In the parallel place, 2Ch 2:18, it is three thousand six hundred. The Septuagint has here the same number.”

1 Kings 5:16

“Three thousand &c. - Whereof three thousand were set over the fifteen hundred thousand, expressed ver. 15, each of these, over fifty of them, and the odd three hundred were set over these three thousand, each of these to have the oversight of ten of them, to take an account of the work for them. But in 2 Chron. ii, 18, these overseers are said to be thirty-six hundred.”

1 Kings 5:16

“He speaks of the vastness of his undertakings ( Eccl. ii. 4 , I made me great works ), which required this vast number of workmen. The laying of the foundation of the temple; for that is the building his heart is chiefly upon, and therefore he begins with that,”

1 Kings 5:17

“Some of these “great, hewed (no and) stones,” are probably still to be seen in the place where they were set by Solomon’s builders, at the southwestern angle of the wall of the Haram area in the modern Jerusalem. The largest found so far is 38 ft. 9 in. long, and weighs about 100 tons.”

1 Kings 5:17

“Work done without the Lord's command may be nothing more than mere will-worship, unacceptable with the Lord. Where the word of a king is, there is power. And you may expect that power to go forth with you when you go forth under the guidance and authority of the Divine command. Solomon began to build the temple at the foundation. You smile and wonder how he could have begun anywhere else. Ah, dear Friends! I wish common sense ruled people in religion as well as in building temples. For many Brethren begin their building at the top.”

1 Kings 5:17

“Great and costly - Marble and porphyry, or other stones of great size and value. The foundation - Where they could not afterward be seen: and therefore that this was done, is mentioned only as a point of magnificence, except it was intended for a type, or mystical signification of the preciousness of Christ, who is the foundation of the true temple, the church of God.”

1 Kings 5:17-18

“Christ, who is laid for a foundation, is an elect and precious stone ( Isa. xxviii. 16 ), and the foundations of the church are said to be laid with sapphires, Isa. liv. That sincerity which is our gospel perfection obliges us to lay our foundation firm and to bestow most pains on that part of our religion which lies out of the sight of men.”

1 Kings 5:18

"Furthermore the men of Biblos [i.e., the Giblites] prepared wood and stones to build the house." Biblos is a city in Phoenicia that Ezekiel mentions: "Your skilled men, Tyre, were your pilots. The elders of Biblos and its skilled men," for which [city] in Hebrew …

1 Kings 5:18

“And the stone-squarers - Instead of stone-squarers the margin very properly reads Giblites, הגבלים haggiblim; and refers to Eze 27:9, where we find the inhabitants of Gebal celebrated for their knowledge in ship-building. Some suppose that these Giblites were the inhabitants of Biblos, at the foot of Mount Libanus, northward of Sidon, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea; famous for its wines; and now called Gaeta. Both Ptolemy and Stephanus Byzantinus speak of a town called Gebala, to the east of Tyre: but this was different from Gebal, or Biblos.”

1 Kings 5:18

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."

1 Kings 5:18

“Stone-squarers - Hebrew. the Giblites, the inhabitants of Gebel, a place near Zidon, famous for artificers and architects, Josh. xiii, 5. These are here mentioned apart, distinct from the rest of Hiram's builders, as the most eminent of them.”