6 Now therefore command H6680 thou that they hew H3772 me cedar trees H730 out of Lebanon; H3844 and my servants H5650 shall be with thy servants: H5650 and unto thee will I give H5414 hire H7939 for thy servants H5650 according to all that thou shalt appoint: H559 for thou knowest H3045 that there is not among us any H376 that can skill H3045 to hew H3772 timber H6086 like unto the Sidonians. H6722
So he built H1129 the house, H1004 and finished H3615 it; and covered H5603 the house H1004 with beams H1356 and boards H7713 of cedar. H730 And then he built H1129 chambers H3326 H3326 against all the house, H1004 five H2568 cubits H520 high: H6967 and they rested H270 on the house H1004 with timber H6086 of cedar. H730
G2532 For G1063 the body G4983 is G2076 not G3756 one G1520 member, G3196 but G235 many. G4183 If G1437 the foot G4228 shall say, G2036 Because G3754 I am G1510 not G3756 the hand, G5495 I am G1510 not G3756 of G1537 the body; G4983 is G2076 it therefore G3756 G3844 G5124 not G3756 of G1537 the body? G4983 And G2532 if G1437 the ear G3775 shall say, G2036 Because G3754 I am G1510 not G3756 the eye, G3788 I am G1510 not G3756 of G1537 the body; G4983 is G2076 it therefore G3756 G3844 G5124 not G3756 of G1537 the body? G4983 If G1487 the whole G3650 body G4983 were an eye, G3788 where G4226 were the hearing? G189 If G1487 the whole G3650 were hearing, G189 where G4226 were the smelling? G3750 But G1161 now G3570 hath G5087 God G2316 set G5087 the members G3196 every G1538 one G1520 of them G846 in G1722 the body, G4983 as G2531 it hath pleased him. G2309 And G1161 if G1487 they were G2258 all G3956 one G1520 member, G3196 where G4226 were the body? G4983 But G1161 now G3568 G3303 are they many G4183 members, G3196 yet but G1161 one G1520 body. G4983 And G1161 the eye G3788 cannot G3756 G1410 say G2036 unto the hand, G5495 I have G2192 no G3756 need G5532 of thee: G4675 nor G2228 again G3825 the head G2776 to the feet, G4228 I have G2192 no G3756 need G5532 of you. G5216
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Kings 5
Commentary on 1 Kings 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
1Ki 5:1-6. Hiram Sends to Congratulate Solomon.
1. Hiram … sent his servants unto Solomon—the grandson of David's contemporary [Kitto]; or the same Hiram [Winer and others]. The friendly relations which the king of Tyre had cultivated with David are here seen renewed with his son and successor, by a message of condolence as well as of congratulation on his accession to the throne of Israel. The alliance between the two nations had been mutually beneficial by the encouragement of useful traffic. Israel, being agricultural, furnished corn and oil, while the Tyrians, who were a commercial people, gave in exchange their Phœnician manufactures, as well as the produce of foreign lands. A special treaty was now entered into in furtherance of that undertaking which was the great work of Solomon's splendid and peaceful reign.
6. command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon—Nowhere else could Solomon have procured materials for the woodwork of his contemplated building. The forests of Lebanon, adjoining the seas in Solomon's time, belonged to the Phœnicians, and the timber being a lucrative branch of their exports, immense numbers of workmen were constantly employed in the felling of trees as well as the transportation and preparation of the wood. Hiram stipulated to furnish Solomon with as large a quantity of cedars and cypresses as he might require and it was a great additional obligation that he engaged to render the important service of having it brought down, probably by the Dog river, to the seaside, and conveyed along the coast in floats; that is, the logs being bound together, to the harbor of Joppa (2Ch 2:16), whence they could easily find the means of transport to Jerusalem.
my servants shall be with thy servants—The operations were to be on so extensive a scale that the Tyrians alone would be insufficient. A division of labor was necessary, and while the former would do the work that required skilful artisans, Solomon engaged to supply the laborers.
1Ki 5:7-12. Furnishes Timber to Build the Temple.
7. Blessed be the Lord—This language is no decisive evidence that Hiram was a worshipper of the true God, as he might use it only on the polytheistic principle of acknowledging Jehovah as the God of the Hebrews (see on 2Ch 2:11).
8. Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things … and I will do—The contract was drawn out formally in a written document (2Ch 2:11), which, according to Josephus, was preserved both in the Jewish and Tyrian records.
10. fir trees—rather, the cypress.
11. food to his household—This was an annual supply for the palace, different from that mentioned in 2Ch 2:10, which was for the workmen in the forests.
1Ki 5:13-18. Solomon's Workmen and Laborers.
13. Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel—The renewed notice of Solomon's divine gift of wisdom (1Ki 5:12) is evidently introduced to prepare for this record of the strong but prudent measures he took towards the accomplishment of his work. So great a stretch of arbitrary power as is implied in this compulsory levy would have raised great discontent, if not opposition, had not his wise arrangement of letting the laborers remain at home two months out of three, added to the sacredness of the work, reconciled the people to this forced labor. The carrying of burdens and the irksome work of excavating the quarries was assigned to the remnant of the Canaanites (1Ki 9:20; 2Ch 8:7-9) and war prisoners made by David—amounting to 153,600. The employment of persons of that condition in Eastern countries for carrying on any public work, would make this part of the arrangements the less thought of.
17. brought great stones—The stone of Lebanon is "hard, calcareous, whitish and sonorous, like free stone" [Shaw]. The same white and beautiful stone can be obtained in every part of Syria and Palestine.
hewed stones—or neatly polished, as the Hebrew word signifies (Ex 20:25). Both Jewish and Tyrian builders were employed in hewing these great stones.
18. and the stone squarers—The Margin, which renders it "the Giblites" (Jos 13:5), has long been considered a preferable translation. This marginal translation also must yield to another which has lately been proposed, by a slight change in the Hebrew text, and which would be rendered thus: "Solomon's builders, and Hiram's builders, did hew them and bevel them" [Thenius]. These great bevelled or grooved stones, measuring some twenty, others thirty feet in length, and from five to six feet in breadth, are still seen in the substructures about the ancient site of the temple; and, in the judgment of the most competent observers, were those originally employed "to lay the foundation of the house."