Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 5:1. Hiram king of Tyre— It was at the beginning of Solomon's reign that Hiram sent ambassadors, to condole with Solomon upon the death of his father, and to renew the league of friendship which he had with him. Josephus assures us, that in his time the letters which passed between Hiram and Solomon were preserved in the Archives of Tyre. This Hiram appears to have been the son of him who sent David timber and artificers to build his palace. Note; (1.) When we are at rest from outward trials, we should give greater diligence to build up the spiritual temple within. (2.) We may put our hands comfortably to that work, in which we have the Divine promise to encourage us. (3.) They have often most of this world's ingenuity, who have no knowledge of Israel's God. (4.) God can employ those in building his church, who have themselves no part nor lot in it. (5.) Every country has its staple commodity; by exchange of which, intercourse is maintained with its neighbours. It is our happiness, that with the corn of Canaan we possess also the shipping of Tyre.

1 Kings 5:11. Twenty measures of pure oil— In the parallel place, 2 Chronicles 2:10 it is twenty thousand baths of oil, which has the sanction of many of the versions, and seems the most probable reading in this place: and so in the 16th verse, instead of three hundred, it is six hundred in the Chronicles; to which reading the LXX give their authority.

1 Kings 5:12. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, &c.— There can be no reason why any Christian prince may not make a league and peace with the Great Turk, Mogul, or the Tartar, as well as David and Solomon did with Hiram; the latter of whom renewed the same league that his father had made, according to the wisdom which God had given him. And, no doubt, the elements of the Christian religion advise and enjoin a peace with all men; that is, to refrain from and avoid all acts of hostility with all the world, who will live peaceably with us, as the best, if not the only way to propagate the true religion, and all manner of truth; and it is very strange, that they who do believe that the conscience cannot be compelled by war or violence, can believe that there are any people in the world with whom we should not preserve peace; except they think that there are men whom God has so reprobated, that he would by no means have them drawn from their error, and instructed in the knowledge of him; and that those men are to beget others of the same infidelity to the end of the world; a conclusion, which, how inevitably soever it must follow from such propositions, no man is arrived at the madness and wickedness to avow.

1 Kings 5:18. And the stone-squarers— Calmet and Houbigant, after the Vulgate, understand the Hebrew here as a proper name, הגבלים haggibliim, the Giblites: so it is rendered in the Margin of our Bibles. The people of Giblos were celebrated for their works in stone and wood. See Ezekiel 27:9 and Psalms 83:7. Note; 1. Where the heart is set upon the work of building up God's church, we shall do it with all our might. 2. The stones being prepared, the foundation of the temple is laid: they were rich and costly, to support the glorious superstructure. Christ is this precious foundation; built upon him, every believer's soul exceeds even Solomon's temple in all its glory, as being the everlasting habitation of God through the Spirit.