Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Chronicles 14:1

"And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar-trees, and masons, and carpenters, to build him a house." — 1 Chronicles 14:1 (ASV)

Hiram. —Thus the Hebrew text of Chronicles spells the name, and the Septuagint and all the other ancient versions of both Samuel and Chronicles also render it this way. However, the Hebrew margin of Chronicles writes “Huram.”

Messengers. —Ambassadors.

Timber of cedars. —Felled from the Lebanon, and sea-borne to Joppa (2 Chronicles 16:0).

With masons and carpenters. —Literally, and craftsmen of walls, and craftsmen of timber. 2 Samuel 5:11 has craftsmen of wood, and craftsmen of stone of wall.

To build him a house. —Samuel has, and they built a house for David. (2 Samuel 5:11).

House. —Palace. Thus, the Temple was called “the house” (hab-bayith) as well as “the palace” (h ç k ç l; compare the Akkadian e-gal, “great house”). We may think of the numerous records of palace building which the Assyrian and Babylonian sovereigns have left us. The cedar of Lebanon (Labnânu) was a favourite material with them.