“1 When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. 2 Solomon sent back this message to Hiram: 3 “You know that because of the wars waged
against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD put his enemies under his feet. 4 But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. 5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God, as the LORD told my father David, when He said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’ 6 “So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will
pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”
7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the LORD today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.” 8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon: “I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and pine logs. 9 My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household.” 10 In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and pine logs he wanted, 11and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths, of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year. 12 The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
13 King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, 16 as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workmen. 17 At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of quality stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. 18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and the men of Gebal cut and prepared
the timber and stone for the building of the temple.”
I was held back in pre-school. I couldn’t use a scissors with my left hand. I also have a September birthday and they almost always hold September birthdays back; that’s at least what I tell myself… every day in the mirror. “It was the birthday Adam. It was the birthday.”
I couldn’t cut with my left hand. There are other more important categories by which they assess whether you are ready to move on. If you’ve ever seen a report card of a small child, you know them. Perhaps the most important of them is “plays well with others.” I have no idea how I scored in that category my first time through pre-school. Given that I am still coming to terms with behind held back forty years later, I’m afraid to find out.
I’ve never needed to cut anything with a scissors with my left hand. I have, however, needed to play well which is part of learning to work with others. That’s a developmental skill in which we can all continue to grow well after pre-school and that’s part of wisdom. Wisdom learns to work with others. It is humble enough to learn its role and responsibility and negotiation and sacrifice and boundaries. Wisdom sees the end result as worth the process and the process as worth the process; that’s what we see with Solomon tonight. He was wise enough to play well with others. He was wise enough to work well with others. Wisdom works well with others towards God’s goals; that’s the claim of this sermon.
We will study this in three points. First: Solomon’s desire. Second: Hiram’s role. Third: Israel’s labor. First, in verses 1-6, we see Solomon’s desire. Second, in verses 7-12, we see Hiram’s role. Third, in verses 13-18, we see Israel’s labor.
We see this in our first point: Solomon’s desire. We are beginning a new section in 1 Kings. We’ve seen the gift of Solomon’s wisdom. Now we see this wisdom applied to fulfilling God’s goals. Over and over again in Deuteronomy, God spoke of a temple that must be built in the city He would determine. Now, over four hundred years later, it is time. Solomon was given wisdom for this as well. He didn’t know that when he prayed for wisdom. We rarely know what it is that God plans to do even with our prayers. God is not simply one or two steps ahead of us. He’s all the steps ahead of us and with us as we go through each of the steps.
We begin with some Ancient Near East politics; verse 1, “When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David.” This was standard practice. When a king like David died, treaties needed to be renewed. It’s a way of maintaining friendly relations. Hiram is the ruler of the region of Lebanon with was ruled from Tyre. It was a client state of Israel meaning they paid taxes and tribute to Solomon. So there is etiquette in Hiram sending condolences and there is politics; there is wisdom. Hiram is wise. Solomon isn’t the only wise king in that day. Wisdom isn’t a zero-sum game. Wisdom is never a competition.
Solomon responds graciously to Hiram’s envoys. He wants to work with Hiram. He wants raw materials from Hiram’s territory. Lebanon’s wood was one of the primary resources for the entirety of the ancient near east. It’s like the Middle East’s oil or the Great Plain’s grain. Now given Solomon’s power over Lebanon, Solomon could have demanded this wood, but he’s wise. He seeks a mutually advantageous arrangement. He is willing to pay; verse 6, “My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set.” Solomon shows honor to Hiram’s people as Hiram showed honor to him; that’s “you know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”
Both Hiram and Solomon are wise enough to play well with others. That’s sadly not a given for those in power. Some play very poorly with others. Some spouses do. There are international bullies, playground bullies, and household bullies. They would get a check-minus and get held back for playing well with others. Wisdom isn’t held back. It is able to move forward in life, in projects, in relationship. Get wisdom.
Solomon is wise enough to recognize that now is the time to tackle this project. He notes that his father David couldn’t given his wars. God said that David shouldn’t given all his wars. There are unique tasks for unique seasons. You focus on enforcing authority early in parenting and establishing boundaries later. You don’t make certain decisions until you are married but afterwards you must make those decisions to move the marriage forward. David’s reign wasn’t the time to build the temple. Solomon’s is.
It was time because as verse 4 puts it, “now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster.” Solomon has a plan for this peace. After World War Two, the men returning home wanted had a plan for the peace. They raised families, created civic organizations. The government build the interstates. These men who fought in the war wanted to make good on the peace. So did Solomon.
Wisdom is knowing what to do with the resources before you. David had the wisdom to fight and conquer the land. That was his gift set. Solomon had the wisdom to build this temple. Mordechai had the wisdom to recognize that Esther was made queen for “such a time as this.” Wisdom wants to make good on what’s in front of it—not what it wishes were there.
There is a purpose for it all. You see this in Jesus. He just plugged away at carpentry for thirty years before beginning his ministry. That time wasn’t somehow less God’s plan than the time of which we read in the gospels. Jesus also focused on the territory of Israel knowing that the apostles would focus on the nations. Even God in the flesh works with seasons. It’s impatience and ego within us that wants to do otherwise.
We need to learn our role. We see that in our second point: Hiram’s role. We return to the world of Ancient Near East politics with verse 7, “When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased.” This being “greatly pleased” implies that this meeting could have gone otherwise. When David sent envoys to the new king of Ammon, they were seized, shaved, and sent back humiliated. Solomon wanting to buy their chief export is ten times better than that.
Hiram sighs with relief and says, “Praise be to the Lord today, for He has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.” This isn’t not an indication of Hiram’s faith allegiance to the Lord. Rather, it is exactly the sort of statements kings made to each other about each other. You honor the king. You honor their god. You get down to business.
Still, though, it is worth noting that here, like last week, we have foreign powers expressing admiration of the Lord because of Solomon. Last week it was in regard to Solomon’s wisdom as to human nature and science. This week it is in regard to Solomon’s wisdom in regard to business and international relations. The nations coming to see the glory of God in the king and kingdom is a consistent theme throughout the Old Testament. It’s the reality in the New Testament including now. Here we have a Gentile helping with a building project for the Lord. Who knows how many millions of Gentiles since have helped with millions of building projects for the worship of the Lord? You are worshipping in a beautiful example of one right now. Don’t imagine that Bible times are a thing of the past. God is still fulfilling His goals.
Hiram responds to Solomon’s proposal to work together and lays out specifics as to how, for his part, he thinks it should go. “My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away.” These men are negotiating how best to get the job done. “One gains the impression of great enterprising activity with passion, care for effectiveness, and brilliant organization,” as one commentor put it. Solomon and Hiram know their desires and resources well enough to know what would work well. One of the joys of life is seeing people who know how to work well working well. It’s satisfying to watch a roofer move up and down that ladder with those shingles like he’s not ten feet in the air. It’s inspiring to a watch a nurse check on a patient, check on their vitals, all while smiling like she’d rather be there than anywhere else. Knowing your field and excelling at it is a genuine good in God’s world and Solomon and Hiram did that.
Part of that was Hiram’s negotiatating; verse 9, “And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household.” This specific wasn’t part of Solomon’s proposal, but Hiram believes that Solomon wants the arrangement to be mutually advantageous so he makes this stipulation. This is a bit delicate because Hiram is the junior partner. They are negotiating, though, and they are doing so in good faith. There is a proper self-interest and other-interest that help makes the world go round. That might not seem like much to some. “Wisdom is seldom flashy,” as Davis puts it here. If all is going well, no one notices this wisdom. Think about our admin committee. They do Solomon-Hiram type work regularly. That’s why this morning we pray for them for wisdom. We want them to have the sort of wisdom we see in this passage because that will set us up for good to happen.
God had given Hiram this wisdom. The Lord arranged the geopolitical situation of the day in such a way that His temple would be built through those who knew Him and those who didn’t. The Lord is never waiting passively for the right time. He causes the right time. You need to beware of language that limits God in the way we are limited. He didn’t wait for conditions to be right for the Exodus. He made conditions right for the Exodus. He made conditions right for His Son to come. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption.” God Himself enters into His own situations which He is working out for His ends. That should be encourage to us as we too are living in this situation which God is working out for His ends.
It’s been sunshine to this point with this working together but now we get our hands dirty with our last point: Israel’s labor. It’s one thing to plan. It’s another thing to do. Solomon is wise but even the wisest man is only one man. Wisdom entails working well with others because you can get more done together and so we come to the complexity of verse 13, “King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men.” In addition Solomon “had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills…” Solomon conscripts 180,000 men for this project many of whom were likely conquered peoples. That’s a mammoth work force to direct and so we are told that Solomon had “thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workmen.”
In a division of labor the labor is divided. People had their own lanes and the managers kept the lanes. It worked, as with the military, because everyone knew their part and did their part. The Spirit applies the same wisdom to the church. “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” Just like these men had roles to play in this grand project so we have roles to play in God’s project of church.
Working together gives shared purpose. These men building the temple likely talked about this project for the rest of their lives. “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” They would take their children and grandchildren to see what they themselves helped build. There is a room in my parents’ church with a plaque with my dad’s name on it because he did the stone for that room before passing away. The pastor knows what stones he helped my dad place. A couple of my children remember helping him on that project. Working together toward a goal builds memories and camaraderie. That’s the mystery of togetherness. You find yourself in being part of something. You have your own experiences from businesses, mission trips, music, and sports. Learning to play well with others so you can work with others has more to do with wisdom than we know. It helps us find ourselves in something greater than ourselves.
There is a downside to this, though. It is hard to make an omelet without breaking some eggs and there were broken eggs. The men who were conscripted to go up to Lebanon went for a month at a time and stayed then home for two months. These people were pushed and pressed into these roles. “This imposition on commoners was used by many ancient nations,” as House explains.
This conscription system started out with the best of intentions—building God’s house. We will see that it soon becomes some quite different; “the economic-temple project takes on a life of its own, makes its own demands, and enacts its own appetites in uncaring ways,” as Bruggemann put it. That’s often how it goes with great projects. There is genuine grandeur and purpose as well broken bodies and broken men in the aftermath. That’s the song Driving the Last Spikeabout building the transnational railroad. There is the grandeur and glory, “We came from the north and we came from the south with picks and with spades and a new kind of order showing no fear of what lies up ahead they’ll never see the likes of us again.” Those men on the temple could say something similar. On other days they could say, “I gave everything that they wanted but still they wanted more. We sweat and we toiled. Good men lost their lives. I don’t think they knew what for.” Both are true with projects that thrill and crush. Read about the building of the skyscrapers of New York, the carving of the Panama Canal, or the Space Race. It’s a hopeful, hazardous world and exerting our will upon it has costs and benefits. That’s the stuff of this life.
With all its mangled magnificence, this was the season in which God had planned this goal’s fulfillment. Sometimes that is as far as we get in understanding something a season of life. If you were a freed slave after the Civil War, you’d be thankful and also wonder “why not earlier?” Regarding the building of this temple, David had wondered “why not now? Why not me?” The sons of these men doing this temple project likely wondered, “why not me?” while the men themselves wondered, “why me? Why not my dad?” Paul responds to such philosophizing in Athens by saying God “marked out… appointed times in history.” You never get deeper than God’s will.
This was the Lord’s timing just as it was the Lord’s timing to send His Son when He did and it is the Lord’s timing for you to live when you do. This is your time. The question for you is what is God calling for this season in which He’s appointed you to live and work? He tells you. He tells your chief task—what you are to do the way those stone cutters cut stone. He tells you in Hebrews, ‘“See to it… that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today.”’ That’s the work to which He calls you today. That’s what Jesus said too, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
That’s a grand project. That’s the grand project to which you are called alongside others—that’s church. That’s the togetherness in which we find ourselves. That’s why we’d be wise to learn play well with each other and work well with each other. More is going on that than we will understand until we look back from glory. Amen.