Hiram’s Reply to Solomon

Hiram replies in writing and blesses the LORD, reading Solomon’s kingship and wisdom as gifts given for the sake of God’s people. The correspondence opens with recognition before it moves to logistics.

T¹¹hen Hiram king of Tyre wrote a letter in reply to Solomon: ¹²And Hiram added:

Hiram sends Huram-abi, a master craftsman skilled across materials and design, and confirms that Lebanon’s logs will be cut and floated to Joppa. He also asks Solomon to send the promised provisions to Tyre’s servants.

¹³So now I am sending you Huram-abi, a skillful man endowed with creativity. ¹⁴He is the son of a woman from the daughters of Dan, and his father is a man of Tyre. He is skilled in work with gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple, blue, and crimson yarn, and fine linen. He is experienced in every kind of engraving and can execute any design that is given him. He will work with your craftsmen and with those of my lord, your father David. ¹⁵Now let my lord send to his servants the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine he promised. ¹⁶We will cut logs from Lebanon, as many as you need, and we will float them to you as rafts by sea down to Joppa. Then you can take them up to Jerusalem.”

Solomon counts the foreign men in Israel and appoints them as porters, stonecutters, and supervisors. The chapter ends with the labor force fixed in place for the temple work.

¹⁷Solomon numbered all the foreign men in the land of Israel following the census his father David had conducted, and there were found to be 153,600 in all. ¹⁸Solomon made 70,000 of them porters, 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, and 3,600 supervisors.