Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:
“You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the Lord his God until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’
“So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”
When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the Lord today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”
So Hiram sent word to Solomon:
“I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and juniper logs. My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household.”
In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted, and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year. The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers. At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and workers from Byblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.

• 1 Kings 5:1-18

To read 1 Kings 6, click the link HERE.

To read 1 Kings 7, click the link HERE.

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

1 Kings 5:1 ‘Hiram king of Tyre’: ”Tyre was an important port city on the Mediterranean Sea N of Israel. Two towering mountain ranges ran within Lebanon’s borders, and on their slopes grew thick forests of cedars. Hiram I ruled there ca. 978–944 B.C. He had earlier provided building materials and workers for David to build his palace (2 Sam. 5:11). Solomon maintained the friendly relations with Hiram established by David. They were beneficial to both as Israel exchanged wheat and oil for timber (see vv. 9–11).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 5:4 ‘rest’: “The guarantee of peace with the peoples surrounding Israel allowed Solomon to build the temple (cf. 4:24).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 5:5, 17 ‘Foundations of Stone’: “Solid foundations are critical in all aspects of life, whether it is constructing a building, learning the fundamentals in a sport, or mastering another new skill. Did you notice that Solomon used ‘high-quality stone’ for the foundation of the Temple? That high-quality stone would not be noticed by the people who came to worship, but it was critically important for the integrity of the building. It was also important to Solomon because he felt he was doing something necessary to honor the name of the Lord.
“The same is true for you. You can strive to be the best role model possible by volunteering at the soup kitchen or participating in charitable events, but your real influence comes from the foundation of your character. People will see how you handle things when problems tackle you and notice the difference.”

• Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker, Uncommon Life – Daily Challenge (excerpt from devotion for 8 September)

1 Kings 5:7 ‘Blessed by the Lord’: ”Perhaps Hiram was a worshiper of the true God, but it is equally possible that he was only acknowledging Jehovah as the God of the Hebrews (cf. 2 Chr. 2:16). a wise son. Hiram recognized Solomon’s wisdom in seeking to honor his father David’s desires.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 5:14 ‘one month of work, two months at home’: “Solomon did not demand that any Israelite should toil in the mountains and quarries for years and leave his own fields to lie waste, but he decreed that the workers should have one month in Lebanon at work on the temple and two months at home for their own affairs. I will draw from this two lessons: first, that we ought to be rendering service to the Lord our God and assisting to build up his spiritual temple. But second, that while we labor abroad, we must be doubly careful to watch over our own households and our own souls. Marthas must also be Marys. We are bound to serve, but we must not be burdened with much serving. We must work with Martha and yet sit with Mary at the Master’s feet. There must be one month in Lebanon and two months at home.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

1 Kings 5:17 ‘A firm foundation’: “Much of foundation work is out of sight, and the temptation is to pay only small attention to its finish. It was not so with Solomon. Although it was out of sight, the king took care that the underground portion of the temple should be worthy of the rest of the edifice. Builders in these days would think it absurd to spend time and labor in the hewing of stones that would never be seen. Foundations may call for something firm and solid but certainly for nothing costly and hewn with care. Out of sight, out of mind. And therefore no one will spend time and trouble with it. Not so with the wise king engaged in the service of God. He paid great attention to underground work. ’Large, costly stones’ were brought at his command to form the foundation of the temple. He designed to make it all of a piece; it was to be as magnificent in its foundation as in its roof. There was to be no poverty of material, no skimping of any portion of the work. It was for God, and it was to be built by the king of Israel. And it would neither honor God nor the king to have a bad foundation. All our work for God should be done thoroughly, and especially that part of it that lies lowest and is least observed by people. I will first say this is God’s method-he builds all his works with good foundations. Second, this should be our method in all work for God. And, third, this is a wise method.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

1 Kings 6:1 ‘four hundred and eightieth year’: “Solomon began to build the temple by laying its foundation (v. 37) 480 years after the Exodus from Egypt. The 480 years are to be taken as the actual years between the Exodus and the building of the temple, because references to numbers of years in the book of Kings are consistently taken in a literal fashion. Also, the literal interpretation correlates with Jephthah’s statement recorded in Judg. 11:26. fourth year. I.e., 966 B.C. Thus, the Exodus is to be dated 1445 B.C.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 6:5 ‘chambers’: “Another attached structure surrounded the main building, excluding the vestibule. It provided rooms off of the main hall to house temple personnel and to store equipment and treasure (cf. 7:51).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 6:7 ‘stone finished at the quarry’: “The erection of the temple went much faster by utilizing pre-cut and pre-fitted materials moved on rollers to the temple site. In addition, the relative quiet would be consistent with the sacredness of the undertaking.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 6:11-13 ‘Solomon Prompted to Remain Obedient’: “During the construction of the temple, the Lord addresses Solomon with both encouragement and exhortation. God’s blessing on Israel and personal presence within the temple would be dependent upon the King’s obedience to the Torah.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

1 Kings 6:19 ‘the ark of the covenant of the Lord’: “The ark was a rectangular box made of acacia wood. The ark was made at Sinai by Bezalel according to the pattern given to Moses (Ex. 25:10–22; 37:1–9). The ark served as the receptacle for the two tablets of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 25:16, 21; 40:20; Deut. 10:1–5) and the place in the ‘inner sanctuary’ or Most Holy Place where the presence of the Lord met Israel (Ex. 25:22).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 6:23 ‘cherubim’: “These two sculptured winged creatures, with human faces overlaid with gold (cf. Gen. 3:24; Ezek. 41:18, 19), stood as guards on either side of the ark (see 2 Chr. 3:10–13) and are not to be confused with the cherubim on the mercy seat (see Ex. 25:17–22). The cherubim represented angelic beings who were guardians of God’s presence and stood on either side of the ark (8:6, 7) in the Most Holy Place. They were 15 ft. tall and 15 ft. between wing tips (v. 24–26). See … Ex. 25:18.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 6:38 ‘seven years’: “From foundation to finishing, the temple took 7 years and 6 months to build. See … 2 Chr. 5:1.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 7:1 ‘thirteen years’: “Having built the house for the Lord, Solomon then built one for himself. Solomon’s ‘house’ was a complex of structures that took almost twice as long to build as the temple. The time involved was probably because there was not the same preparation for building nor urgency as for the national place of worship. The temple and Solomon’s house together took 20 years to complete (cf. 9:10).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 7:8 ‘house … court … house’: “Behind the Hall of Judgment was an open court. Within this court, Solomon built his own personal residence, a palace for his harem, and royal apartments for the Egyptian princess he had married.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 7:18 ‘pomegranates’: “One of the fruits of the Promised Land (Num. 13:23; Deut. 8:8), these were popular decorative motifs used on the hem of Aaron’s priestly garment (Ex. 28:33, 34).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 7:23 ‘the Sea’: “A huge circular bronze basin corresponding to the laver of the tabernacle. According to v. 26, this great basin’s capacity was about 12,000 gal. (see note on 2 Chr. 4:5). The Sea stood in the courtyard on the temple’s SE side and provided the priests water to wash themselves and their sacrifices (2 Chr. 4:6). It probably also supplied water for the 10 movable basins (vv. 38, 39). See … 2 Chr. 4:2.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Kings 7:51 ‘David had dedicated’: “Solomon deposited that which David had dedicated to the Lord (2 Sam. 8:7–12) in the side rooms of the temple.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

My Thoughts

King Hiram of Tyre and King Solomon struck a deal.  Solomon needed cedars of Lebanon to build the temple.  Hiram, with Tyre as an island off the Phoenician coast, needed food.

The twenty thousand cors of wheat is equal to about 125,000 bushels.  But with that and an appropriate supply of olive oil to make bread, Solomon received the cedar in which to build the temple.  Tyre and Sidon were sister cities in Phoenicia.  Tyre was an island offshore, and Sidon was not far up the coast on land, north of Tyre.  Sidon had the skilled workers to fell the trees and bring them to the Mediterranean Sea where they could be floated to the port of Solomon’s choosing.  It would be up to Solomon to transport the trees from sea level to Jerusalem.  Jerusalem is nearly a half mile above sea level and these trees would have been massive.

Hiram and Solomon had a peace treaty between each other.  Note the curse of Tyre in Ezekiel, likening the king of Tyre with Satan himself.  Being offshore, it was hard to surround the city to besiege it.  Sidon was a different matter.  Babylon bombarded the city, but Alexander the Great finally totally destroyed Tyre, building a causeway to the city so that the city could not be rebuilt with offshore strength.  But here, Hiram is cooperating with Solomon due to Israel’s relative strength at the time.

Solomon sent men under the supervision of Adoniram to Lebanon to help with the work.  They were to spend one month on the job and then two months back home.  This gave them time to see to the needs of their families.  The men were conscripted, like a military draft.  Thus, the men had no say so.  They had to comply with the king’s orders, but Solomon looked out for their needs while still getting the wood that he needed.  Hiram also promised juniper wood.  With Cedar and juniper being used, the structure of the temple would on its own accord be fragrant.

The tree harvesting work was done by people from Byblos.  Modern day Byblos, Lebanon is about 50 miles north of Sidon, along the coast.

In the description of the building of the temple, the dimensions are interesting.  Solomon’s temple is grandiose, but Herod’s temple was twice that big, built to glorify Herod and keep the people under control instead of glorifying God.

But the various scholars focus mostly on the foundation.  It took them four years to build the foundation and another seven years to build the temple.  Rev. MacArthur is being a bit disingenuous when he says it took Solomon nearly twice as long to build his palace, but adding the foundation and the temple atop that foundation was eleven years.  Eleven versus thirteen is not significant, but still, the palace took longer.  But the palace was more than a residence.  The temple was a place of worship designed for people from Dan to Beersheba, to use a biblical phrase.  But there was one purpose, possibly two when you consider all the side rooms used to store things that had been dedicated to God, the stuff from David being mentioned.

But let us look at the Western Wall, or Wailing Wall.  Indeed, when you take extra time to ensure the foundation is properly built, the structure will stand up.  This wall is supposedly a wall of Herod’s temple, but the emphasis on the foundation is still important.

And our foundation in our beliefs is found in God Himself and His Holy Word.

But the palace was a residence for Solomon, a residence for his harem, a courthouse to adjudicate decisions of justice, and much more.  Pharoah’s daughter is mentioned.  I am sure that he had to treat her in a special way, giving her a private palace similar to his.  His treaty with Pharoah depended on such a treatment.  She was not going to be one of seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines in a large set of rooms designated for the harem.  I say set of rooms in that I cannot imagine with the materials of construction that were available in that day that one thousand women under one single roof would work.

There might be some confusion between Huram and Hiram.  Huram was half Hebrew, with his mother of the tribe of Naphtali.  He is described with the same skills as Bezalel (Exodus 31), and I feel certain that the Holy Spirit used him in a similar way.  He was loaned to Solomon by Hiram to ensure things were done properly and to the highest quality standards.  As I have written about Bezalel, Huram was probably shown the finished product that resides in Heaven through visions and dreams.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

I Kings 5 1. What would you like to construct tor God? How must you prepare for this endeavor? Whose assistance do you need to enlist?
“2. What ‘enemies’ has the Lord recently ‘put under your feet’? What new opportunities has this opened for you?
“3. Have you ever had to force others to do things they didn’t like, in order to get an important job done? What feelings did the project evoke? What prayers?
“4. Do you find the government’s financial demands a burden? If taxes were voluntary, would you pay the same amount you do now? What else might you do with your money?
1 Kings 6 1. Are church buildings as important today as the Temple was in Solomon’s time? Why or why not?
“2. What percentage of your church’s resources go to building facilities? If you can obtain a budget statement from your church, calculate the percentage of money going to the mortgage and upkeep of the building and property. What percentage goes to the poor or missions?
“3. Is the promise God gave the Israelites (vv.12-13) relevant today? Has your church fulfilled the terms of the promise?
“4. What kind of ‘temple’ is God building (see Eph 2:19-22}? How is the progress in the corner of the project assigned to you? To your small group? To your church?
“5. Is the project ‘noise-free’ or full of static? Explain. How will the laborers be supported? What sacrifices will be needed?
“6. What do you think of religious art? Is it okay to depict Jesus in paintings? Stained glass? Statues? What would this chapter say to that, if anything?
1 Kings 7:1-12 Solomon Builds his Palace 1. Are you involved in a project taking years to finish? Does faith make a difference?
“2. Do you resent people in power ‘living like kings’? Why? Is it important that governments project wealth and power to other nations?
“3. What does Jesus say about such power displays (see Mt 20:25-28)?
1 Kings 7:13-51 The Temple’s Furnishings 1. Has God-given you any ‘heavy’ assignments lately? At what are you ‘highly skilled’, so that you could do ‘all the work assigned’? What would you like to be skilled at?
“2. Solomon wanted one place of worship for the entire people of Israel, whereas we of­ ten see ‘a church on every corner.’ Does this suggest we have lost his vision? Explain.
“3. What would you like to ‘dedicate’ to the Lord and why?
“4. If you could tackle any task for the Lord, what would you like to do and why?
“5. What inscription or message do visitors to your church see when they enter? Does the message offer hope? Judgment? Mercy? Other: ____?
“6. Is your place of worship plainer than this one? What do ‘plain’ churches suggest to you: People are not as skilled? They are unwilling to give? Not eager to build as in Solomon’s day? Does God care that much about art? Isn’t creativity dangerous?
“7. Do you feel a need to be ‘cleansed’ in any way? How will you go about this?
“8. Do you have all your wealth in one lo­ cation (or all your eggs in one basket)? How so? Do you worry at all about your being attacked and wiped out in one fell swoop? Why or why not?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There is one set of questions each for 1 Kings 5 and 6. First Kings 7 has two sets of questions as noted.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.