1 Now, Hiram King of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in place of his father. For David had always been Hiram’s friend.
2 Solomon then sent this message to Hiram,
3 “You know that David my father could not build a temple for Yahweh his God because his enemies were at war with him until the time when Yahweh gave him victory over them.
4 But now Yahweh my God has given me peace on all sides and there is no enemy or calamity that afflicts us.
5 And so I intend to build a temple for Yahweh my God as Yahweh told David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set upon your throne, shall build the House for my Name.’
6 Now, therefore, give orders to have cedars of Lebanon cut for me. My servants will join yours and I will pay your servants the wages you set, for you know that none of us can cut timber like the Sidonians.”
7 When Hiram heard the answer of Solomon, he was exceedingly glad and said, “Blessed be Yahweh this day who has given David a wise son to rule over this great people.”
8 Then Hiram sent a messenger to Solomon with these words, “I have heard the message you sent me and I am ready to do whatever you want concerning the cedar and cypress timber.
9 My servants shall have it sent down to the sea from Lebanon. I will make it into rafts and deliver them by sea to the place you choose. I will have the rafts broken up there and you can take the timber away. You, for your part, will provide food for my household.”
10 So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber that he wanted,
11 while Solomon gave Hiram every year twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty thousand cors of pure oil.
12 Yahweh gave wisdom to Solomon as he had promised him, and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon who bound themselves by a treaty.
13 King Solomon conscripted thirty thousand men from all Israel for forced labor.
14 He sent them to Lebanon in relays of ten thousand a month, so that they would be in Lebanon for a month and at home for two months. Ado niram was in charge of the draft of laborers.
15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stone cutters in the hill coun try,
16 in addition to three thousand three hun dred overseers in charge of the people engaged in the work.
17 By order of the king, they quarried large and expensive stones to give the temple a foundation of hewn stones.
18 Solo mon’s builders and Hiram’s builders, along with the Gebalites did the hewing and prepared both timber and stone to build the temple.
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Comments 1 Kings, Chapter 5
• 5.1 Wise in his judgment, wise in administering his territory, wise in composing proverbs, sayings and psalms.
Solomon brings writers together in his court to gather and write down the traditions of Israel, which until this time were scattered or transmitted merely by word of mouth. This was the time when the most ancient books of the Bible were written. (See Introduction to Genesis.)
From Solomon, or from his writers comes the nucleus of the Book of Proverbs. Later, whoever would write a book on Wisdom would attribute the work to Solomon: hence, in the Bible, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs and Wisdom are attributed to Solomon though they were in fact written later.