Charles Ellicott Commentary


Charles Ellicott Commentary
"And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him a house to dwell therein, [even so deal with me]." — 2 Chronicles 2:3 (ASV)
And Solomon sent to Huram. —Compare 1 Kings 5:2–11, from which we learn that Huram or Hiram had first sent to congratulate Solomon upon his accession. The account here agrees generally with the parallel passage of the older work. The variations which present themselves only prove that the chronicler has made independent use of his sources.
Huram. —In Kings the name is spelled Hiram (1 Kings 5:1–2; 1 Kings 5:7) and Hirom (1 Kings 5:10; 1 Kings 5:18, Hebrew). (Compare 1 Chronicles 14:1.) Whether the Tyrian name Sirômos (Herodotus vii. 98) is another form of Hiram, as Bertheau supposes, is more than doubtful. It is interesting to find that the king of Tyre bore this name in the time of Tiglath-pileser II., to whom he paid tribute (B.C. 738), along with Menahem of Samaria. (Assyrian Hi-ru-um-mu, to which the Hîrôm of 1 Kings 5:10; 1 Kings 5:18 comes very near.)
As thou didst deal ... dwell therein. —See 1 Chronicles 14:1. The sense requires the clause, added by our translators, in italics, “Even so deal with me,” after the Vulgate “sic fac mecum.” 1 Kings 5:3 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple.