2 Chronicles 2:3

And Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre,.... The same with Hiram, 1 Kings 5:1 and from whence it appears, that Huram first sent a letter to Solomon to congratulate him on his accession to the throne, which is not taken notice of here: as thou didst deal with my father, and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein; see 1 Chronicles 14:1, even so deal with me; which words are a supplement.

2:1-18 Solomon's message to Huram respecting the temple, His treaty with Huram. - Solomon informs Huram of the particular services to be performed in the temple. The mysteries of the true religion, unlike those of the Gentile superstitions, sought not concealment. Solomon endeavoured to possess Huram with great and high thoughts of the God of Israel. We should not be afraid or ashamed to embrace every opportunity to speak of God, and to impress others with a deep sense of the importance of his favour and service. Now that the people of Israel kept close to the law and worship of God, the neighbouring nations were willing to be taught by them in the true religion, as the Israelites had been willing in the days of their apostacy, to be infected with the idolatries and superstitions of their neighbours. A wise and pious king is an evidence of the Lord's special love for his people. How great then was God's love to his believing people, in giving his only-begotten Son to be their Prince and their Saviour.

3 . Huram ] Another form of Hiram ( 1 Kings 5:1 [15, Heb.]) which is a shortened form of Ahiram (Hebrew, Aḥ “brother” and râm “exalted”). Yet another form is Hirom ( 1 Kings 5:10 ; see R.V. mg.). The Phœnician language is written with even fewer vowel signs than are found in ancient Hebrew; hence the uncertainty in the form of this name. didst send him cedars ] See 1 Chronicles 14:1 = 2 Samuel 5:11 . 3–10 [2–9, Heb.] (= 1 Kings 5:2-6 ). Solomon’s Message to Huram This passage is much fuller in Chron. than in 1 Kings, which offers no parallel to Solomon’s language with regard to the Temple; 2 Chronicles 2:4-6 . Again 2 Chronicles 2:7 (the request for a “cunning man”) has no nearer parallel than 1 Kings 7:13 . For 2 Chronicles 2:10 also there is no strict parallel in 1 Kings.

Which words may be commodiously understood from the nature of the thing, and from the following words, such ellipses being frequent in the Hebrew. Or, without any ellipsis, the sense, being here suspended, is completed 2 Chronicles 2:7 , so send me, &c., the 4th, 5th, and 6th verses being inserted by way of parenthesis, to usher in and enforce his following request.

Verse 3. - Huram . So the name is spelt, whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman, in Chronicles, except, perhaps, in 1 Chronicles 14:1 . Elsewhere the name is written הִירָם , or sometimes חִירום , instead of חוּרָם . Geseuius draws attention to Josephus's Greek rendering of the name, Αἵρωμος , with whom agree Menander, an historian of Ephesus, in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus, 'Contra Apion,' 1:18); and Dius, a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon and Hiram, Josephus also is the means of preserving ('Contra Apion ,' 1:17). The Septuagint write the name Ξιράμ ; the Alexandrian, Ξειράμ ; the Vulgate, Hiram. The name of Hiram's father was Abibaal. Hiram himself began to reign, according to Menander, when nineteen years of age, reigned thirty-four years (B.C. 1023-990), and died therefore at the age of fifty-three. Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon. The city of Tyre is among the most ancient. Though it is not mentioned in Homer, yet the Sidonians, who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians, are mentioned there ('Iliad.,' 6:290; 23. 743; 'Odys.,' 4:84; 22:424), whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city, Sidon being twenty miles distant ('AEn.,' 1:12, 677; 4:545). The modern name of Tyre is Sur.

The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean, in Phoenicia, about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa, while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles. The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 19:29 . After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 5:11 , with all its parallels; 2 Samuel 24:7; Isaiah 23:1, 7 ; Ezekiel 26:2 ; Ezekiel 27:1-8 ; Zechariah 9:2, 3 . Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass, and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling. The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history, without leaving us dependent on doubtful history, or tales of such as Josephus ('Ant.,' 8:05. § 3; 'Contra Apion,' 1:17). For the timber, metals, workmen, given by Hiram to Solomon, Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil, ceded to him some cities, and the use of some ports on the Red Sea ( 1 Kings 9:11-14, 25-28 ; 1 Kings 10:21-23 . See also 1 Kings 16:31 ). As thou didst deal with David... and didst send him cedars. To this vers. 7 and 8 are the apodosis manifestly, while vers. 4, 5, 6 should be enclosed in brackets. 2 Chronicles 2:3

Huram, the form used throughout Chronicles (except 1 Chronicles 14:1 ) for the name both of the king and of the artisan whom he lent to Solomon 2 Chronicles 2:13 ; 2 Chronicles 4:11 , 2 Chronicles 4:16 , is a late corruption of the true native word, Hiram (marginal note and reference).

(3) And Solomon sent to Huram. —Comp. 1Kings 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 spelt Hiram (1Kings 5:1-2; 1Kings 5:7) and Hirom (1Kings 5:10; 1Kings 5:18, Hebr.). (Comp. 1Chronicles 14:1.) Whether the Tyrian name Sirōmos (Herod. 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. (Assyr. Hi-ru-um-mu, to which the Hîrôm of 1Kings 5:10; 1Kings 5:18 comes very near.) As thou didst deal . . . dwell therein.—See 1Chronicles 14:1. The sense requires the clause, added by our translators, in italics, “Even so deal with me,” after the Vulg. “sic fac mecum.” 1Kings 5:3 makes Solomon refer to the wars which hindered David from building the Temple.

2Ch 2:3-10. His Message to Huram for Skilful Artificers. 3-6. Solomon sent to Huram—The correspondence was probably conducted on both sides in writing (2Ch 2:11; also see on [407]1Ki 5:8). As thou didst deal with David my father—This would seem decisive of the question whether the Huram then reigning in Tyre was David's friend (see on [408]1Ki 5:1-6). In opening the business, Solomon grounded his request for Tyrian aid on two reasons: 1. The temple he proposed to build must be a solid and permanent building because the worship was to be continued in perpetuity; and therefore the building materials must be of the most durable quality. 2. It must be a magnificent structure because it was to be dedicated to the God who was greater than all gods; and, therefore, as it might seem a presumptuous idea to erect an edifice for a Being "whom the heaven and the heaven of heavens do not contain," it was explained that Solomon's object was not to build a house for Him to dwell in, but a temple in which His worshippers might offer sacrifices to His honor. No language could be more humble and appropriate than this. The pious strain of sentiment was such as became a king of Israel.

( 2 Chronicles 2:2-9 ). Solomon, through his ambassadors, addressed himself to Huram king of Tyre, with the request that he would send him an architect and building wood for the temple. On the Tyrian king Huram or Hiram, the contemporary of David and Solomon, see the discussion on 2 Samuel 5:11 . According to the account in 1 Kings 5 , Solomon asked cedar wood from Lebanon from Hiram; according to our account, which is more exact, he desired an architect, and cedar, cypress, and other wood. In 1 Kings 5 the motive of Solomon's request is given in the communication to Hiram, viz., that David could not carry out the building of the proposed temple on account of his wars, but that Jahve had given him (Solomon) rest and peace, so that he now, in accordance with the divine promise to David, desired to carry on the building ( 1 Kings 5:3-5 ). In the 2 Chronicles 2:2-5 , on the contrary, Solomon reminds the Tyrian king of the friendliness with which he had supplied his father David with cedar wood for his palace, and then announces to him his purpose to build a temple to the Lord, at the same time stating that it was designed for the worship of God, whom the heavens and the earth cannot contain. It is clear, therefore, that both authors have expanded the fundamental thoughts of their authority in somewhat freer fashion. The apodosis of the clause beginning with כּאשׁר is wanting, and the sentence is an anacolouthon.