Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Samuel 5:11

"And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar-trees, and carpenters, and masons; and they built David a house." — 2 Samuel 5:11 (ASV)

Hiram king of Tyre. This is the same Hiram, variously spelled Hirom and Huram, who was afterwards the friend of Solomon (1 Kings 5:1; 2 Chronicles 2:3), and was still living in the twenty-fourth year of Solomon’s reign (1 Kings 9:10–14; compare to 1 Kings 6:1, 38; 1 Kings 7:1). Therefore, he must either have had a reign of some fifty-seven years, or his embassy to David must have been some time after the capture of Jerusalem.

It is not unlikely that several years may have elapsed between the two events, during which David went on and grew great (2 Samuel 5:10), thereby attracting the attention and regard of Hiram.

But the statement quoted by Josephus from Menander (100 Apion, i. 18) that Hiram reigned only thirty-four years cannot be correct, because David was already in his house of cedar (2 Samuel 7:2) when he formed the purpose of building the Temple, and this was before the birth of Solomon (2 Samuel 7:12; 1 Chronicles 22:9). Huram’s father, however, was also named Huram (2 Chronicles 2:13).

The Israelites evidently had little skill in architecture, since they relied on the Phoenicians for workmen both for this palace and for Solomon’s, as well as for the Temple.