1 Kings 5: 1 – 18
That’s what friends are for
5 Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, because he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had always loved David. 2 Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying: 3 You know how my father David could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the wars which were fought against him on every side, until the LORD put his foes under the soles of his feet. 4 But now the LORD my God has given me reston every side; there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence. 5 And behold, I propose to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to my father David, saying, “Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he shall build the house for My name.” 6 Now therefore, command that they cut down cedars for me from Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants, and I will pay you wages for your servants according to whatever you say. For you know there is none among us who has skill to cut timber like the Sidonians. 7 So it was, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly and said, Blessed be the LORD this day, for He has given David a wise son over this great people! 8 Then Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have considered the message which you sent me, and I will do all you desire concerning the cedar and cypress logs. 9 My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you indicate to me, and will have them broken apart there; then you can take them away. And you shall fulfill my desire by giving food for my household. 10 Then Hiram gave Solomon cedar and cypress logs according to all his desire. 11 And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors of pressed oil. Thus, Solomon gave to Hiram year by year. 12 So the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together. 13 Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men. 14 And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the labor force. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone in the mountains, 16 besides three thousand three hundred from the chiefs of Solomon’s deputies, who supervised the people who labored in the work. 17 And the king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple. 18 So Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Gebalites quarried them; and they prepared timber and stones to build the temple.
Marie Dionne Warwick (born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress and television show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health.
Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest hit makers of the entire rock era, based on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts. She is second only to Aretha Franklin as the most-charted female vocalist of all time, with 56 of Warwick's singles making the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998 and 80 singles making all Billboard charts combined.
In 1985, Warwick recorded the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) benefit single "That's What Friends Are For" alongside Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder. The single, credited to "Dionne and Friends", was released in October and eventually raised over three million dollars for that cause. The tune was a triple #1 — R&B, Adult Contemporary, and four weeks at the summit on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1986 — selling close to two million 45s in the United States alone. "Working against AIDS, especially after years of raising money for work on many blood-related diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, seemed the right thing to do. You have to be granite not to want to help people with AIDS, because the devastation that it causes is so painful to see. I was so hurt to see my friend die with such agony," Warwick told the Washington Post in 1988. "I am tired of hurting and it does hurt." The single won the performers the NARAS Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Bacharach and Bayer Sager. It also was ranked by Billboard magazine as the most popular song of 1986. With this single Warwick also released her most successful album of the 1980s, titled Friends, which reached #12 on Billboard's album chart.
I want to share with you the lyrics of the song "That's What Friends Are For"
And I never thought I'd feel this way
And as far as I'm concerned
I'm glad I got the chance to say
That I do believe, I love you
And if I should ever go away
Well, then close your eyes and try
To feel the way we do today
And then if you can remember
Keep smiling, keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for
Well, you came and opened me
And now there's so much more I see
And so by the way
I thank you
Oh and then for the times when we're apart
Well, then close your eyes and know
The words are coming from my heart
And then if you can remember
Keep smiling and keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
In good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for
Keep smiling, keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for
Keep smiling, keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
'Cause I tell you, that's what friends are for
Whoa, good times and the bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for
Surely, we see in today’s scripture a king from a foreign nation was a good friend of David. He then also became a good friend of David’s son Solomon for we will see when Solomon calls upon Hiram king of Tyre will kindly fulfill all of Solomon’s requests.
The next example of Solomon’s glory and splendor is shown in the building of a Temple to YHWH. Despite God’s initial lack of enthusiasm for the project, He was at the same time allowing it with reservations. Underneath all the splendor He could already see the cracks appearing.
For the house that YHWH had really wanted Solomon to build had been a spiritual house made up of his sons and descendants, not a house of wood and stone. We will notice that in 2 Samuel chapter 7 that the concentration throughout is not on the building of a Temple, but on the building of a dynastic house which would result finally in the arrival of the Coming King. ‘YHWH tells David that he will make him a house (dynasty) -- your seed -- he will build a house (a dynasty) for My Name and I will establish the throne of his kingship forever -- and your house (dynasty) and your kingship will be established forever before you, your throne will be established for ever’. YHWH’s emphasis was thus on the promise of the foundation of a dynasty which would finally result in the everlasting King. The truth is that in building the physical house and being satisfied with it and putting too much emphasis on it, Solomon did in fact miss out on the need to build a spiritual house. It would only be because of God’s activity that that spiritual house would come to a reality in our Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, God did in His graciousness accept the physical house from their hands, simply because He knew that they were bringing it to Him from a right attitude of heart. He recognized and made allowance for man’s weakness.
5 Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, because he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had always loved David.
On hearing that Solomon had been anointed king of all Israel, and of the empire beyond, Hiram, king of Tyre, hastened to send his servants to Solomon to offer him his congratulations, a normal courtesy extended by friendly kings on the accession of another. And the writer tells us that it was because of his love and respect for David. But it was unquestionably also very expedient. Solomon was now the king of the strongest country around, with the possible, but marginal, exception of Egypt, and had control of the main trade routes which fed Tyre’s maritime trade. Israel was also an important source of grain and olive oil. There was therefore within his gesture a determined attempt to maintain the treaty between the two countries to the advantage of both.
Tyre was at this time mainly an island city, built on an island a short distance off shore, but with some of its environs established on the mainland. The island city itself was almost impregnable (until Alexander the Great came along later).
2 Then Solomon sent to Hiram, saying: 3 You know how my father David could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the wars which were fought against him on every side, until the LORD put his foes under the soles of his feet.
Solomon was delighted to receive Hiram’s messengers and accept his good wishes, for his plans for building the Temple included the need to obtain help from Hiram. So, he explained to Hiram what he wanted to do. He names the addressee, refers to previous contacts, and makes the opening moves towards an economic treaty. Hiram, who had previously helped David to build his palace (2 Samuel 5.11) no doubt already knew about the plans for the Temple because it had originally been David’s intention to build it (2 Samuel 7.2), and even had we not read about it in 1 Chronicles 22, we would have suspected that David had begun preparing for it.
However, both David and Solomon wrongly interpreted YHWH’s words in a physical fashion, and in His Graciousness Yahweh went along with them because He could see that they desired it and that it was from the right attitude of heart (just as God often goes along with us in our plans).
Solomon then explained to Hiram his view that David had been unable to build the house ‘for the Name of YHWH his God’ because of the wars that were about him on every side. But that again was something that Solomon was, at least to some extent, giving a misleading impression about (we must ever remember that Solomon’s words, while an accurate record of what he said, do not necessarily always themselves express Scriptural truth, any more than Satan’s words do elsewhere). For we have specifically been told that David himself had wanted to build the Temple himself precisely because the wars had ceased (2 Samuel 7.1, 11). In other words, his enemies had been put under his feet at that time, and thus that could not be the basic reason for his failing to build the Temple.
It was, however, politic of Solomon to suggest that as the reason, rather than saying that it was because his father was ‘a man of blood’. And 1 Chronicles 22.9 does reveal that there was enough truth in it for it not to be totally false. In fact, however, 1 Chronicles 22.8 tells us that the main reason that David did not build the Temple was because the word of YHWH came to him saying ‘You have shed blood abundantly and have made great wars. You shall not build a house to My Name because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight’. After which Yahweh had then yielded to David’s desire for his son to build it and had gone on to permit a physical interpretation of the prophecy first given in 2 Samuel 7.13.
YHWH’s allowing of the building of the Temple would have caused no problem if only Israel (and later the Jews) had recognized that the physical Temple was but a symbol of the ‘spiritual house’ that YHWH would establish in the Coming King. How different history would have been in that case. But while they did partly grasp it in the idea of the coming of the Messiah, they had totally wrong ideas about Him, and overall both failed to recognize Him when He came, or to recognize that His coming signaled the demise of the Temple which had lost its significance with His coming. They had become wedded to the Temple. To them the Temple had become more important than the Messiah. Similar blindness to some extent pervades much of the church today. They too are looking for the building of a physical Temple, where non-Scriptural sacrifices of their own invention will be offered, and have failed to recognize that the physical Temple has outlived its usefulness and is no longer a valid option, and that it has been more than fully replaced by:
• 1). Jesus Christ Himself (John 2.19).
• 2). The spiritual Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3.16).
The impression given in 2 Samuel 7 is that God did not want a Temple built to His Name, which is why He initially dissuaded David from doing so. It is very doubtful whether 2 Samuel 7.13 initially had in mind the building of a physical Temple for the emphasis in the whole passage is on the coming ‘house of David’ made up of his son and his descendants. But once the idea had become lodged in David’s mind he found it difficult to dismiss. To him it seemed logical that Yahweh should have a Temple, and the best Temple possible. He would not see that it simply brought Yahweh down to the same level as other (false) gods.
4 But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence.
Solomon then basically cited the promise made to David as per 1 Chronicles 22.9. Yahweh had given him rest on every side from the start, with the result that there was peace and quietness in his day. For he had at the time no known adversaries (they had all been dealt with, and others had not yet arisen) and nothing physically ‘evil’ was threatening.
5 And behold, I propose to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to my father David, saying, “Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he shall build the house for My name.”
So, he explained to Hiram that because of the situation brought about by Yahweh, he purposed to build a house for the name of YHWH his God as (in his view) YHWH had originally declared to David. Unable to grasp the whole glorious significance of 2 Samuel 7 he selected out from it the little that he thought that he did understand, and which would bring the greatest glory to him. Had he put as much effort into building up his spiritual house as Yahweh had wished, instead of into building up a physical house for Yahweh, history would have been very different. And from the Temple would eventually grow up the iniquitous doctrine of the inviolability of the Temple, a doctrine that would finally contribute to Israel’s downfall, for by it they had made YHWH into a little God firmly tied to earth. Solomon would prove to be the perfect exemplar of the fact that man loves to thrust his outward religious formalities into the limelight, and having then fulfilled them to his own satisfaction, considers that he can live the remainder of his life as he pleases. It is the story both of later Judaism, and of the physical monstrosity which was built up and called itself the church in the middle ages, and whose legacy still hangs on in many places today.
6 Now therefore, command that they cut down cedars for me from Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants, and I will pay you wages for your servants according to whatever you say. For you know there is none among us who has skill to cut timber like the Sidonians.
His major need was the right kind of timber, selected and dressed by experienced timber experts, and he called on Hiram to provide this for him in return for adequate compensation. On hearing this Hiram replied with the right responses (he stood to gain a good deal from the venture), and arranged for the timber to be cut, delivered and dressed, in response to which Solomon paid him the first instalment of the agreed payment. Meanwhile Solomon himself arranged for the cutting out of stones suitable for the Temple by using huge amounts of forced labor. Then Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites (expert carpenters from Gebal/Byblos) got together to prepare the timber and the stones, ready for building the Temple.
7 So it was, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly and said, blessed be the LORD this day, for He has given David a wise son over this great people!
When Hiram heard this, he was delighted. It would not only put him in well with one of the most powerful kings of the day, who also had control of the major trade routes (a major consideration for a trading power), but it would also prove very profitable. So, he replied to Solomon’s request with pleasing words. He would not have been a worshipper of YHWH himself, but he was quite prepared to acknowledge that Israel’s God YHWH had given to David a wise son over God’s great and numerous people.
8 Then Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have considered the message which you sent me, and I will do all you desire concerning the cedar and cypress logs. 9 My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you indicate to me, and will have them broken apart there; then you can take them away. And you shall fulfill my desire by giving food for my household.
Hiram’s ‘servants’ (in this case his timber experts, in combination with bearers, and with his seamen) would bring the timber from the mountains of Lebanon to the sea and would then make them into rafts and tow them along the coast to the place that Solomon appointed, and would break up the rafts of timber and deliver the timber to Solomon and his workmen so that they could do what they liked with them. And in return Solomon would provide payment in the form of large amounts of food for Hiram’s whole court, his ‘household’. This did not simply mean that he would expect food for his workers. It was a requirement for large quantities of grain and pure beaten olive oil (a staple Israelite luxury export) which would be paid to Hiram in exchange for what he had provided (possibly along with an agreement allowing Hiram to purchase several Israelite cities as we shall see later in chapter 9).
10 Then Hiram gave Solomon cedar and cypress logs according to all his desire.
The contract having been agreed Hiram then supplied Solomon with all his timber requirements, providing him with as much cedar and pine as he desired. It is interesting to me that you witnessed the same thing that Hiram did in our country. Men cut down trees and they slide down into a river and are transported to a saw mill downstream.
11 And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors of pressed oil. Thus, Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.
In return Solomon gave Hiram ‘twenty thousand measures of wheat for food for his household, and twenty measures of pure oil’ each year over several years. The number of years was possibly determined by the number of years in which Solomon required assistance, that is, for the length of time that it took to build the Temple.
12 So the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together.
YHWH gave Solomon wisdom as He had promised him, and part of that wisdom consisted in his political and negotiating ability which resulted in peace and concord between the two great countries and a firm treaty between them. By this time Tyre and Sidon were becoming even more important because they were beginning to rule the waves and trade far and wide by sea
13 Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men.
For building the Temple Solomon raised a compulsory levy of Israelite men. To his credit he did not want foreigners building a Temple to the Most High God of Israel.
14 And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the labor force.
Each group of ten work units would spend one month working in the Lebanon, and two months back at their homes. They were thus very much not seen as slave labor, which would have been required to work permanently, and Solomon (like any politician who did not have to get his hands dirty) probably thought that they should feel privileged to be doing such work. They were, however, under Adoniram’s control and, as we know from what happened later, he was not very much admired because of the way in which he treated them.
15 Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone in the mountains 16 besides three thousand three hundred from the chiefs of Solomon’s deputies, who supervised the people who labored in the work.
As well as these thirty work units working in Lebanon there were seventy work units who ‘bore burdens’ (were shifters and carriers), and eighty work units of quarrymen. These were Canaanite bond-slaves (2 Chronicles 2.17-18). Over all these were the general Canaanite overseers who were directly supervising the work, who numbered three thousand three hundred, a figure which seemingly excluded three hundred senior Canaanite overseers who were included in the figure of three thousand six hundred in 2 Chronicles 2.2.
17 And the king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple.
At the king’s command the Canaanite levies hewed out, from the quarries in the hills, stones which were especially valued, being of a type which could be easily dressed and shaped, and then became hardened, for them to be delivered to the Israelite workers at the quarry. Presumably as this was simply seen as the extraction of rough unshaped stones the use of Canaanites was not seen as profaning them. But they would not be allowed to dress or shape them.
18 So Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Gebalites quarried them; and they prepared timber and stones to build the temple.
Solomon’s builders then worked alongside Hiram’s builders, and with specialists brought in from Gebal (Greek - Byblos) further up the coast, to fashion and shape the stones, and prepare the stones and timber for building the Temple.
All this is a reminder to us that if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well. As Paul reminds us, whatever we do, we should do it heartily to the Lord and not to men (Colossians 3.21). Nevertheless, it was unnecessary effort which could have been better put into building up the spiritual life of Israel.
