1 Kings 9:10-28
Solomon and Hiram Exchange Gifts
10 Now it happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king’s house 11 (Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold, as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him. 13 So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Cabul, as they are to this day. 14 Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.
Solomon’s Additional Achievements (2 Chronicles 8:3–16)
15 And this is the reason for the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the LORD, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) 17 And Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth Horon, 18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, 19 all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for his chariots and cities for his cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel— 21 that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely—from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day. 22 But of the children of Israel Solomon made no forced laborers, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his cavalry.
23 Others were chiefs of the officials who were over Solomon’s work: five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.
24 But Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo.
25 Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the LORD, and he burned incense with them on the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the temple.
26 King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 27 Then Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon. 28 And they went to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.
The cities given as gifts by Solomon to Hiram of Syria for all his gifts of cedar for building the temple and other houses, these were seen as “like nothing” to Hiram who was very disappointed in the worthless token gifts, but he still then provided Solomon one hundred and twenty talents of gold to keep the peace and relationship between them as with king David his father before him. Solomon had also used forced labor to build all these things from those left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, residents Israel had not been able to destroy completely as God had commanded them when claiming the land promised to them through Abraham by faith. The disobedience of Israel left them with thorns in their sides to harass them (Deuteronomy 20:17-18, Numbers 33:55, Judges 2:2-3), but they were also instrumental in constructing the house of the LORD and all the other buildings of Solomon in and around Jerusalem. We see then that God uses even our sinful choices for our good (Romans 8:28) and His glory in the end, though we may suffer unpleasant consequences along with the work we do for the kingdom. This should warn us to choose wisely to obey in the first place according to the Bible and not allow our sentiments to become thorns in our sides that we would be better off without. Solomon used the forced labor and spared the people of the LORD from the hard work to construct these beautiful houses along with the temple of the LORD, but what would the outcome have been if the people had built these instead? Might they have not so quickly turned away later? Would giving good gifts to Hiram have kept later wars from breaking out? We will never know what that would have looked like, but we can consider these things to motivate us to be about our Father’s business as we adhere to the Gospel truths given us for salvation and sanctification alike and treat others well as we flee sin and follow Him faithfully in the beauty of (1 Chronicles 16:29, Psalm 29:1, 96:9) holiness. May we build the kingdom here with that righteous aim of giving good gifts and willing work for the Lord.
