1 Kings 7:13

And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13-50) The exceedingly graphic and elaborate description of the work of Hiram on the vessels and furniture of the Temple, and on the great pillars, bears on the very face of it the most evident marks of historical accuracy and of the use of contemporary documents, and it has, moreover, great antiquarian interest. Looked at in itself, it shows that the Temple (like many other buildings in the comparative infancy of architecture) depended for its effect, not so much on size or proportion, as on rich material, elaborate decoration, and costly furniture, on which all the resources both of treasure and art were lavished. But besides this, the sense of the especial sacredness attached to all the vessels of the Temple, which was hereafter to degenerate into a Pharisaic superstition (see Matthew 23:16-18), suggested the most careful record of every detail, and reverently traced to “the Spirit of God” the gift of “wisdom of heart” “to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,” as in Bezaleel and Aholiab for the Tabernacle (Exodus 35:31-32), so also in Hiram for the Temple. There is something especially remarkable in this broad comprehensiveness of conception which recognises the illuminating and inspiring power of the Spirit of God, not only in the moral and religious teaching of the prophet and the devotional utterances of the psalmist, but in the warlike enthusiasm of the Judge, the sagacity of the statesman, the imaginative skill of the artist, and the wisdom of the philosophic thinker. Nothing could more strikingly illustrate the Apostolic declaration: “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit” (1Corinthians 12:4).

(13) And king Solomon sent.—The record in the Chronicles (2Chronicles 2:7; 2Chronicles 2:13-14) gives what is evidently a more exact description of the facts here briefly alluded to. In Solomon’s first letter to King Hiram he asks for “a man cunning to work,” and with the answer the artificer Hiram is sent. His mixed parentage would enable him to enter into the spirit of the Israelite worship, and yet to bring to bear upon it the practical skill of the Tyrian artificer.

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 7:13-14. Solomon sent and fetched Hiram — Though he was an Israelite by birth, yet he dwelt at Tyre; and, it is likely, had the privileges of that city, and so was one of King Hiram’s subjects. And therefore (2 Chronicles 2:13) that king says he had sent him to Solomon, that is, had granted Solomon’s request, who had requested that this man might come and serve him. His father was a man of Tyre — Whom his mother, when a widow, had married. A worker in brass — And in gold, and stone, and purple, and blue, 2 Chronicles 2:14. But his skill in brass is only mentioned here, because he speaks only of the brazen things which he made. And he was filled with wisdom, &c. — He had an excellent genius for and great skill in this work.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:13-47 The two brazen pillars in the porch of the temple, some think, were to teach those that came to worship, to depend upon God only, for strength and establishment in all their religious exercises. Jachin, God will fix this roving mind. It is good that the heart be established with grace. Boaz, In him is our strength, who works in us both to will and to do. Spiritual strength and stability are found at the door of God's temple, where we must wait for the gifts of grace, in use of the means of grace. Spiritual priests and spiritual sacrifices must be washed in the laver of Christ's blood, and of regeneration. We must wash often, for we daily contract pollution. There are full means provided for our cleansing; so that if we have our lot for ever among the unclean it will be our own fault. Let us bless God for the fountain opened by the sacrifice of Christ for sin and for uncleanness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hiram - A man who bore the same name as the king of Tyre, a master workman, known as Hiram Ab, i. e. Master Hiram 2 Chronicles 2:13; 2 Chronicles 4:16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1Ki 7:13-51. Hiram's Works.

13. Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre—The Tyrians and other inhabitants on the Phœnician coast were the most renowned artists and workers in metal in the ancient world.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. Not the king of Tyre, but an artificer in it, after described, whom Solomon had heard and upon his request Huram sent him to him, 2 Chronicles 2:13 his name is called Hyperon by Clemens of Alexandria (l).

(l) Stromat. l. 1. p. 332.

Geneva Study Bible

And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13–22. Hiram a Tyrian worker in brass casts the pillars Jachin and Boaz (2 Chronicles 2:4; 2 Chronicles 3:15-17)

13. sent and fet] ‘Fet’ is the old English past tense of the verb ‘fetch,’ and occurs several times in the version of 1611 (e.g. Genesis 18:7) but the more modern form has been introduced into our Bibles since 1750.

Hiram out of Tyre] The name of this workman is spelt Huram in 2 Chronicles 4:11. He was highly esteemed by the Tyrian king who in 2 Chronicles 2:13 calls him ‘Huram my father,’ and in a later verse (2 Chronicles 4:16) it is said ‘the vessels thereof did Huram his father make for king Solomon.’ So that he became as much treasured by the one king as by the other. For the expression cp. Genesis 45:8 where Joseph speaks of himself as a father to Pharaoh.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - And king Solomon sent [rather, had sent (2 Chronicles 2:13)] and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. [This is our historian's brief version of the transaction which is recorded in 2 Chronicles 2:7-14. He has not mentioned before (1 Kings 5:6) Solomon's request for a master builder. Hiram, like his namesake the king, is elsewhere (2 Chronicles 2:18; 2 Chronicles 4:11, 16) called Huram or Hirom (ver. 40). See note on 1 Kings 5:1. In the first of these passages the king calls him "Huram my father" (see note there); in the last he is designated "Huram his father." The title "Ab" (cf. Genesis 45:8, 41, 43; 2 Kings 2:12; 2 Kings 5:13; 2 Kings 6:21; cf. 1 Kings 8:9) shows the high esteem in which he was held. It can hardly be, as some have supposed, a proper name. It may signify "counsellor," or master, i.e., master builder. The Tyrians evidently regarded him with some pride.] 1 Kings 7:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Metallic Vessels of the Temple (compare 2 Chronicles 2:13-14, and 3:15-5:1). - 1 Kings 7:13, 1 Kings 7:14. To make these vessels king Hiram had sent to Solomon, at his request (2 Chronicles 2:6), a workman named Hiram of Tyre. 1 Kings 7:13 contains a supplementary remark, in which ויּשׁלח must be rendered in the pluperfect (compare the remarks on Genesis 2:19). King Solomon had sent and fetched Hiram from Tyre. This artisan bore the same name as the king, חירם or חירום (1 Kings 7:40), in 2 Chronicles 2:13 חוּרם (Huram), with the epithet אבי, i.e., my father, אב being a title of honour equivalent to master or counsellor, as in Genesis 45:8. He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was צרי אישׁ, i.e., a Tyrian by birth. According to 2 Chronicles 2:13, his mother was "of the daughters of Dan," i.e., of the tribe of Dan. Both statements may easily be united thus: she was a Danite by birth, and married into the tribe of Naphtali. When her husband died, she was married again as the widow of a Naphtalite, and became the wife of a Tyrian, to whom she bore a son, Hiram. This explanation is also adopted by Bertheau (on the Chronicles); and the conjecture of Lundius, Thenius, and others, that the mother was an Israelitish widow of the city of Dan in the tribe of Naphtali, which was quite close to Tyre, is less in harmony with the expression "of the daughters of Dan." נחשׁה חרשׁ, "a brass-worker," refers to הוּא (he), i.e., Hiram, and not to his father (Thenius). The skill of Hiram is described in almost the same terms as that of Bezaleel in Exodus 31:3., with this exception, that Bezaleel's skill is attributed to his being filled with the Spirit of God, i.e., is described rather as a supernatural gift, whereas in the case of Hiram the more indefinite expression, "he was filled with wisdom, etc.," is used, representing it rather as a natural endowment. In the account given here, Hiram is merely described as a worker in brass, because he is only mentioned at the commencement of the section which treats of the preparation of the brazen vessels of the temple. According to 2 Chronicles 2:14, he was able to work in gold, silver, brass, iron, stone, wood, purple, etc. There is nothing improbable in this extension of his skill to wood and to the art of weaving. Bezaleel also combined in himself all these talents. Of course Hiram was merely a foreman or leader of these different branches of art; and he certainly did not come alone, but brought several assistants with him, who carried out the different works under his superintendence. - The enumeration of them commences with the pillars of the temple-hall.