Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 5

Hiram is first mentioned in 2 Samuel 5:11 (and the parallel, 1 Chronicles 14:1) as having sent workmen and materials to David for the building of his house. He is described as a “lover of David.” Ancient tradition makes him a tributary or dependent monarch, and his attitude, as described in Scripture, towards both David and Solomon agrees with this. Josephus (100 Apion, i. 17, § 18) cites from Dios, a Phœnician historian, and Menander of Ephesus, a description of Hiram’s parentage, of his prosperous reign and skill in building; and quotes, as from the Tyrian archives (Ant. viii. 11, §§ 6, 7), letters passing between him and Solomon.

The embassy mentioned here from Hiram is clearly one of congratulation, perhaps of renewal of allegiance. (In 2 Chronicles 2:14–15, the phrases occur, my lord, my lord David your father.)

You know. —In the description (1 Chronicles 22:4) of David’s collection of materials for the Temple, it is noted that the Zidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar wood to David. Hence Hiram knew well his desire of building the Temple, and the care with which, when disappointed in it, he prepared for the happier experience of his successor.

Cedar trees out of Lebanon. The central range of Lebanon is bare; but in the lower ranges there is still—probably in ancient times there was to a far greater extent—a rich abundance of timber, especially precious to the comparatively treeless country of Palestine. The forest of Lebanon was proverbial for its beauty and fragrance (Song of Solomon 4:11; Hosea 14:6–7), watered by the streams from the snowy heights (Jeremiah 18:14), when all Palestine was parched up. The cedars which now remain—a mere group, at a height of about six thousand feet—are but a remnant of the once magnificent forest which the Lord had planted (Psalms 104:16).

Solomon’s request—couched almost in the language of command—is simply for cedar wood, or rather, for skilled labour in felling and working it, for which the Tyrians were proverbially famed in all ancient records. For this labour he offers to pay; while he seems to take for granted a right for his own servants to come and bring away the timber itself. Hiram’s answer (1 Kings 5:8) mentions timber of fir also, which agrees exactly with the fuller account of Solomon’s request given in 2 Chronicles 2:8. The pine still grows abundantly in the sandstone regions of Lebanon; but it is almost certain that the fir here named is the cypress.

Blessed be the Lord. —Hiram’s answer is one of deference, still more clearly marked in 2 Chronicles 2:12–16. His acknowledgment of Jehovah the God of Israel is a token rather of such deference to Israel, than of any acceptance of Him as the one true God.

Shall bring them. —The timber was to be carried down, or, perhaps, let down on slides along the face of the mountain towards the sea, and brought around by rafts to Joppa (2 Chronicles 2:16), to save the enormous cost and difficulty of land transport. The grant of food for his household in return (instead of hire) brings out what is recorded much later in Acts 12:20—that the country of the Tyrians was nourished by Palestine.

The commerce and wealth of the Tyrians sustained a large population; the narrow slip of land along the coast, backed by Lebanon, must have been, in any case, insufficient to maintain them; and, moreover, all their energies were turned, not to agriculture, but to seamanship. In the grand description in Ezekiel 27 of the imports of Tyre from all parts of the world, Judah and Israel are named as supplying wheat, and honey, and oil, and balm.