Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Solomon makes a pact with Hiram concerning timber and workmen for the construction of the temple.
Vulgate Text: 3 Kings 5:1-18
1. And Hiram, king of Tyre, also sent his servants to Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, because Hiram had been a friend of David at all times. 2. And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying: 3. You know the will of David my father, and that he was not able to build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the wars that were pressing upon him on every side, until the Lord should place them under the soles of his feet. 4. But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; and there is no adversary, nor any evil occurrence. 5. I therefore intend to build a temple for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spoke to David my father, saying: Your son, whom I will give in your place upon your throne, he shall build a house for My name. 6. Command therefore that your servants cut cedars of Lebanon for me, and my servants shall be with your servants; and I will give you whatever wages you ask for your servants, for you know that there is no one among my people who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.
7. When therefore Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said: Blessed be the Lord God this day, who has given David a most wise son over this very great people. 8. And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have heard all that you have commanded me; I will do all your will regarding cedar and fir timber. 9. My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I shall arrange them in rafts on the sea to the place which you shall indicate to me, and I shall land them there; and you shall take them and provide what I need, that food may be given to my household. 10. So Hiram gave Solomon cedar timber and fir timber, according to all his desire. 11. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat for food for his household, and twenty cors of the purest oil; this Solomon gave to Hiram every year. 12. And the Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, as He had spoken to him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they both struck a covenant. 13. And King Solomon chose workmen from all Israel, and the levy was thirty thousand men. 14. And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by turns, so that they were two months in their homes; and Adoniram was over this levy. 15. And Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain, 16. besides the overseers who presided over each of the works, numbering three thousand three hundred, who directed the people and those who did the work. 17. And the king commanded that they quarry great stones, precious stones, for the foundation of the temple, and square them, 18. which Solomon's masons and Hiram's masons hewed; and the Giblites prepared the timber and stones to build the house.
Verse 1: Hiram King of Tyre Sent His Servants
1. And Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants to Solomon, to congratulate him as a new king on his inauguration. Josephus and Eupolemus, as cited by Eusebius in Book 9 of the Preparation, record the letters of Hiram and Solomon taken from the archives of the Tyrians. Their heading is: 'Suron to Solomon the great king, greeting,' where he calls him a great king, as king of kings, because of his wisdom as well as his riches and power. For Hiram in Hebrew and in the Septuagint is called Chiram or Churam, like Chirom or Tyrom, that is 'king of the Tyrians,' says Serarius. By the Phoenicians, Hiram is called Surom (for Tyre in Hebrew is called sor, that is 'rock,' because it is situated on a rock; hence Sarran purple is called Tyrian purple). By Theophilus of Antioch he is called Hieromus and Hieromenus, whose daughter Tatian asserts married Solomon. By Josephus, in Book 8 of the Antiquities, chapter 2, and in Book 1 Against Apion, he is called Iromus the son of Abibal.
Verse 4: The Lord Has Given Me Rest on Every Side
Verse 4. And there is no adversary — that is to say: There is no opponent, no enemy with whom I must wage war, or who might prevent me from building the temple.
Verse 7: Hiram Rejoiced Greatly
Verse 7. Blessed be the Lord God this day, who has given David a most wise son. Hence it appears that Hiram, partly from his familiarity with David and partly from Solomon's wisdom and prosperity, came to know the true God whom they worshiped. For he calls Him Yahweh (as the Hebrews have), which is the proper name of the God of Moses and the Hebrews. Hence he also vigorously cooperated with Solomon in building the temple of the true God, sending so many thousands of workers, timber, and stones — which he certainly would not have done if he had thought that the God of Solomon was not true but false, for then he would have built a temple for an idol. Seleucus, king of Asia, did something similar, 2 Maccabees 3:3. For previously Hiram had worshiped Hercules and Astarte, gods of the Tyrians, and had built temples for them, as Josephus asserts in Book 1 Against Apion. Perhaps Hiram also worshiped the God of the Hebrews alongside his ancestral gods, as did the Assyrians who were transported to Samaria, as we shall hear in Book 4, chapter 17.
Hence Eucherius and Angelomus allegorically understand by Hiram the kings of the nations, such as Constantine, Theodosius, Gratian, and Charlemagne, who assisted Christ and the Apostles in building and spreading the Church. Hence Hiram, or Chiram, in Hebrew means 'exalted of life,' or 'exaltation of life'; or 'principate,' 'nobility,' or 'brightness before,' says Pagninus in his Hebrew Names.
Verse 10: Hiram Gave Solomon Cedar and Fir Timber
Verse 10. So Hiram gave Solomon cedar timber and fir timber — that is, cedars and firs. 2 Chronicles 2:8 adds: 'cypress wood,' that is juniper wood, as the Septuagint translates — namely junipers, which grow there to great height and thickness, so that beams for construction can be made from them. For although David had prepared timber and other materials for the construction of the temple, as is said in 1 Chronicles 22:14, these were not sufficient for Solomon, who was planning greater things and more building projects for his palaces. So says Abulensis.
Allegorically, Eucherius and Angelomus say: 'The converted Gentile world sent to Christ certain men, illustrious according to the world, but already cast down and humbled from the mountain of their pride by the axe of the Lord's rebuke, who, instructed according to the norm of evangelical truth, were placed in the building of the Church each according to his merit or time. It also sent craftsmen: for the Gentile world offered to the Lord those philosophers converted to true wisdom, who by the grace of their learning would rightly be set over the governing of peoples, such as Dionysius the Areopagite was in the very times of the Apostles, such as afterwards the most gentle teacher and bravest martyr Cyprian, and very many others. It also sent gold, which is taken in nearly the same meaning, because it shows forth men outstanding in wisdom and talent, for all of whose offerings the Gentile world expects from God the gifts of heavenly grace.'
Verse 11: Solomon Gave Hiram Wheat and Oil
Verse 11. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat. For Tyre at that time was an island, surrounded by the sea on all sides, so that neither sowing nor reaping could be done there. Hence Hiram, asking Solomon for wheat in his letter according to Josephus, says: 'We have need of wheat, for we are islanders.' But afterwards Tyre, besieged by Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years, with earthen causeways heaped up into the sea so that it could be approached and conquered, became a peninsula, as I said on Ezekiel 29:17 and 18, and Isaiah 23:10.
Verse 13: Solomon Chose Workmen from All Israel
Verse 13. And King Solomon chose workmen from all Israel, and the levy was thirty thousand men. By 'workmen' understand the chief craftsmen and artisans, or overseers of the works. For as is said in chapter 9:22: 'Of the children of Israel Solomon made none to serve; but they were men of war, and his ministers, and princes, and captains, and overseers of chariots and horses.'
Verse 15: Seventy Thousand Who Carried Burdens
Verse 15. And Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountain — that is, quarrymen who would cut stones from the mountain or rock. For these were not Israelites, as I already said, but proselytes, as is clear from 2 Chronicles 2:17 and 18. These proselytes were therefore the Gibeonites and other Canaanites subject to the Hebrews and converted to Judaism. The total of proselyte burden-bearers and stonecutters in the construction of the temple was therefore 150,000, while of Hebrews there were 30,000, as stated in verse 13; add these to the 150,000 and you get 180,000. To these add the Tyrians and Sidonians, whom Solomon had requested from Hiram and whom Hiram had sent him, as is clear from verses 6 and 9, and the Egyptians whom Pharaoh, Solomon's father-in-law, had assigned to him — the total will exceed 200,000 of those who labored on the construction of the temple. Indeed, if we believe Eupolemus as cited by Eusebius in Book 2 of the Preparation, the total reaches 340,000; for Eupolemus asserts that Hiram sent Solomon 80,000 Tyrians and Pharaoh the same number of Egyptians, which together make 160,000. If you add these to the 180,000 assigned by Solomon, you get 340,000. But this number seems excessive and almost incredible. Hence some think that there is an error in the numbers of Eupolemus or Eusebius, and that 80,000 crept in instead of 8,000 or 18,000. Under stonecutters, that is quarrymen, understand also wood-cutters; but only stonecutters are numbered here because there were more quarrymen than wood-cutters. Likewise, under burden-bearers, understand chariot-drivers, sailors, mule-drivers, donkey-drivers, etc.
Verse 16: Three Thousand Three Hundred Overseers
Verse 16. Besides the overseers, etc., numbering three thousand three hundred. You will object: In 2 Chronicles 2, three thousand six hundred are counted. I reply that of the six hundred, there were three hundred who presided over the overseers themselves, whom the Book of Chronicles adds and supplies. So say Vatablus, Dionysius, Cajetan, and Salianus.
Verse 17: Great Stones for the Foundation of the Temple
Verse 17. That they quarry great stones, precious stones, for the foundation of the temple. Therefore these 'precious stones' were not diamonds, carbuncles, or emeralds, but marble; for these are hard and strong, suitable for being placed in foundations to support the entire structure. Moreover, marble is of great value and of various kinds. One kind is called Ophite because it has spots like serpents (for ophis means serpent). Another is called Porphyry because it is reddish and dotted with white spots. Another is Parian and white; another is dark; another is green. Another is called sphengites because it gleams and is translucent.
Verse 18: The Giblites Prepared the Timber and Stones
Verse 18. And the Giblites prepared the timber and stones. Some think these craftsmen are called Giblites from the Hebrew gebul, that is 'boundary' or 'limit,' because by cutting stones they gave them an elegant finished shape. But I say that the Giblites or Byblians (for the letter 'g' is sometimes interchanged with 'b') are so called from the city of Byblos, about which Adrichomius, page 185, number 41, says: 'Byblos, or Byblus, and Byblium, formerly called Eve or Evaea, now called Gibel, Giblec, and Bibleth, is a renowned Phoenician city, which is called Gebal and Gobel in Hebrew; its inhabitants are called Byblians or Giblites in the sacred writings. This city is situated toward the north, three miles from the Canis river, and toward the south, four miles from the city of Botrus, above the sea. It is said to have been founded by the Hivite, the sixth son of Canaan. About it we read in the Third Book of Kings as follows: And the Byblians prepared timber and stones (for Solomon) to build the house of the Lord.' Finally, in Byblos there were temples of Adonis, says Strabo in Book 16. Today it is called Gaeta.