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.

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.

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 Chronicles 2:3 Parallel Commentaries
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