'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. 2. And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,
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. 4. But now
the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is
neither adversary nor evil occurrent. 6. 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. 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. 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. 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. 9. My servants shall bring them
down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I 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. 10. So Hiram
gave Solomon cedar trees, and fir trees, according to all his desire.
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. 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 v. 1-12.
The building of the Temple was begun in the fourth year of Solomon's
reign (1 Kings vi. 1). The preparations for so great a work must have
taken much time, so that the arrangement with Hiram recorded in this
passage was probably made very early in the reign. That probability is
strengthened if we suppose, as we must do, that the embassy from Hiram
mentioned in verse I was sent to congratulate Solomon on his accession.
If so, the latter's proposal to get timber and stones from the Lebanon
would be made at the very commencement of the reign. Three years would
not be more than enough to get the material ready and transported.
Great designs need long preparation. Raw haste wastes time;
deliberation is as needful before beginning as rapid action is when we
have begun.
I. Verses 3-5 set forth very forcibly the motives which impelled the
young king to the work, and may suggest to us the motives which should
urge us to diligence in building a better temple than he reared. He
begins by reference to his father's foiled wish, and to the reason why
David could not build the house. Not only was it inappropriate that a
warlike king should build it, but it was impossible that, whilst his
thoughts were occupied and his resources taxed by war, he should devote
himself to such a work. In Assyria and Egypt the great warrior kings
are the great temple-builders, but a divine decorum forbade it to be so
in Israel.
Solomon next thankfully describes his own happier circumstances.
Observe his designation of Jehovah in verse 4 as 'my God,' and compare
with verse 3, where He is called David's God. The son had inherited the
divine protection and the father's sense of personal relation to
Jehovah. That is a better legacy than a throne. Well had it been for
Solomon if he had held by the faith of his first days of royalty! Such
a sense of a personal bond of love protecting on the one hand, and love
trusting and obeying on the other, is the spring of all true service of
God, whether it is busied in temple-building or in anything else.
We note also the grateful recognition of benefits received, and the
tracing of peace and outward prosperity to God's care. There was not a
cloud in the sky. The horizon was clear all round, and it was 'the Lord
my God,' who had made this ease for Solomon. We are often more ready to
recognise God's hand in sorrows than in joys. When He smites, we try to
say 'It is the Lord!' Do we try to say it when all things are smooth
and bright?
The effect of blessings should be thankfulness, and the proof of
thankfulness is service. So Solomon did not take prosperity as an
inducement to selfish luxurious repose, but heard in it God's call to a
great task. If all the rich men and all the leisurely women who call
themselves Christians would do likewise, there would be plenty of
workers and of resources for Christ's service, which now sorely lacks
both. How many of such 'lay up treasure for themselves, and are not
rich toward God'! How many fritter away their leisure in vanities,
having time for any amusement or folly, but none for Christian service!
The man whom Jesus called 'Thou fool!' not the wise king, is the
pattern for a sad number of professing Christians. 'Thou hast much
goods laid up for many years.' What then? 'I purpose to build an house
for the name of the Lord'? By no means. 'I will build greater barns,
and that will give me something to do, and then I will take mine ease.'
We note, too, that Solomon was impelled to his great work by the
knowledge that God had appointed him to do it. The divine word
concerning himself, spoken to his father, sounded in his ears, and gave
him no rest till he had set about obeying it (v. 5). The motives of the
great temple-builders of old, as they themselves expound them in
hieroglyphics and cuneiform, were largely ostentation and the wish to
outdo predecessors; but Solomon was moved by thankfulness and by
obedience to his father's will, and still more, to God's destination of
him. If we would look at our positions and blessings as he looked at
his in the fair dawning of his reign, we should find abundant
indications of God's will regarding our work.
Solomon uses a remarkable expression as to the purpose of the Temple.
It is to be 'an house for the _name_ of the Lord.' That is not the same
as 'for the Lord.' Pagan temples might be intended by their builders
for the actual residence of the god, but Solomon knew that the heaven
of heavens could not contain Him, much less this house which he was
about to build. We are fairly entitled, then, to lay stress on that
phrase, 'the Name.' It means the whole self-revelation of God, or,
rather, the character of God as made known by that self-revelation.
The Temple was, then, to be the place in which the God who fills earth
and heaven was to manifest Himself, and where His servants were to
behold and reverence Him as manifested. The Shechinah was the symbol,
and in one aspect was a part, of that self-revelation. However, in
common speech the Temple was spoken of as the house of Jehovah. The
same thought which is expressed in Solomon's fuller phrase underlay the
expression,--_He_ dwelt 'not in temples made with hands' but His _name_
was set there, and the structure was reared, not so much for Him as
that worshippers might there meet Him.
II. The rest of the passage deals with Solomon's request to Hiram, and
the preparation of the material for the Temple. Solomon's first care
was to secure timber and stone. His own dominions can never have been
well wooded, and there are many indications that the great central knot
of mountainous land, which included the greater part of his kingdom,
was comparatively treeless. He therefore proposed to Hiram to supply
timber from the great woods on Lebanon, which have now nearly died out,
and offered liberal payment.
The parallel account in 2 Chronicles makes Solomon offer specified
quantities of provisions for Hiram's workmen, and makes Hiram accept
the terms. Verse 11 of this chapter says that the provisions named
there were for the Tyrian king's 'household.' This may possibly mean
the workmen, who would be regarded as Hiram's slaves, but, more
probably, 'household' means 'court,' and Solomon had not only to feed
the army of workmen, but to supply as much again for the great
establishment which Hiram kept up. The little slip of seacoast, with
the mountain rising sharply behind, which made Hiram's kingdom, could
not grow enough for his people's wants. His country was 'nourished' by
Palestine, long centuries after this time (Acts xii. 20), and the same
was the case in Solomon's period. In verse 11, the quantity of oil is
impossibly small as compared with that of wheat. 2 Chronicles reads
'twenty thousand' instead of 'twenty,' and the Septuagint inserts
'thousand' in verse 11, which is probably correct.
With all his Oriental politeness and probably real wish to oblige a
powerful neighbour, Hiram was too true a Phoenician not to drive a good
bargain. He was king of 'a nation of shopkeepers,' and was quite worthy
of the position. 'Nothing for nothing' seems to have been his motto,
even with friends. He would love Solomon, and send him flowery
congratulations, and talk as if all he had was his ally's, but when it
came to settling terms he knew what his cedars were worth, and meant to
have their value.
There are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work, and
talk as if it were very near their hearts, who have as sharp an eye to
their own advantage as he had. The man who serves God because he gets
paid for it, does not serve Him. The Temple may be built of the timber
and stones that he has supplied, but he sold them, and did not give
them, therefore he has no part in the building.
How different the uncalculating lavishness of Solomon! He knows no
better use for treasures than to expend them on God's service, and 'all
for love, and nothing for reward.' That Is the true temper for
Christian work. He to whom Christ has given Himself should give himself
to Christ; and he who has given himself should and will keep back
nothing, nor seek for cheap ways of serving the Lord, He who gives all,
be it two mites, or a fishing-boat and some torn nets, or great wealth
like that which Solomon found in his father's treasuries and devoted to
building the Temple, gives much; and he who gives less than he can
gives little.
Solomon's work was, after all, outward work, and fitter for that early
age than the imitation of it would be now. The days for building
temples and cathedrals are past. The universal religion hallows not
Gerizim nor Jerusalem, but every place where souls seek God The
spiritual religion asks for no shrines reared by men's hands; for Jesus
Christ is the true Temple, where God's name is set, and where men may
behold the manifested Jehovah, and meet with Him. But we have work to
do for Christ, and a temple to build in our own souls, and a stone or
two to lay in the great Temple which is being built up through the
ages. Well for us if we use our resources and our leisure, for such
ends with the same promptitude, thankful surrender, and sense of
fulfilling God's purpose, as animated the young king of Israel!