2 Chronicles 2:11-15 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the LORD has loved his people… I. HIRAM THE KING. 1. His kingdom. Phoenicia Variously explained as "the land of palms," "the land of purple-dyeing." "the land of the brown-red," with reference to the colour of the skin of its inhabitants, Phoenicia in Solomon's time was bounded on the west by the Mediterranean, on the east by Lebanon, on the south by the kingdom of Israel, while towards the north the limit was uncertain, though usually fixed about Arvad, thus making in all a territory a hundred and twenty miles long and twenty miles broad. "It is a liberal estimate for the area to reckon it at four thousand square miles, which is less than that of at least one English county, (Rawlinson, 'Phoenicia: Story of the Nations,' p. 2). Well watered by streams from Lebanon, the country was extremely fertile. In addition to cedars on the heights of Lebanon, fruit trees and vines clothed its slopes, whilst the valleys yielded an abundance of palms, fat pasture, garden produce, and corn. Silicious earth for making glass was found upon the coast, which also furnished the purple shells necessary for dyeing. Iron and probably copper were obtained at Sarepta and elsewhere (Riehm, Handworterbuch, art. Phoenicien ). 2. His capital. Tyre - in Hebrew Sor, in Assyrian Surru, in Old Latin Sarra. The city is supposed to have been so called because of its having been built - at least the insular part of it - upon a rock. Most likely younger than Sidon, it was yet a city "whose antiquity was of ancient days" (Jeremiah 23:7). Founded two hundred and forty years before the building of Solomon's temple (Josephus, 'Ant.,' 8:3. 1), it was greatly celebrated for its natural and artificial splendour (Ezekiel 27:3). Planted in a pleasant place (Hosea 9:13), it was afterwards compared to "a virgin bathing in the sea, a Tartessus ship swimming upon the ocean, an island on shore, and a city in the sea" (Kitto's ' Cyclopaedia,' art. "Tyre'). 3. His subjects. The men of Tyro. Renowned as wood-cutters and artists, "skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson," they were likewise merchants who traded with all parts of the then known world (Ezekiel 27:1-36). As to physical characteristics, on the whole "the Phoenicians probably, both in form and feature, very much resembled the Jews who were their near neighbours, and who occasionally intermarried with them (1 Kings 11:1; 1 Kings 16:31; 2 Chronicles 2:14), while as to moral characteristics, they shared those of the Western Semites generally - "first, pliability combined with iron fixedness of purpose; secondly, depth and force; thirdly, a yearning for dreamy ease, together with a capacity for the hardest work; fourthly, a love of abstract thought; and fifthly, religiousness, together with an intensely spiritual conception of the Deity" (Rawlinson, 'Phoenicia,' p. 25). 4. His history. A son of Abibaal, the first King of Tyro, and a contemporary as well as friend of both David and Solomon (see preceding homily), he was clearly a man of culture. He could write, and in that accomplishment many later kings, even in Christian times and in our own land, have been deficient. Withred, King of Kent, A.D. 700, thus concluded a charter to secure the liberties of the Church: "All the above dictated by myself I have confirmed, and, because I cannot write, I have with mine own hand expressed this by putting the sign of the holy cross + ' (Adam Clarke). Writing, however, had been introduced into Phoenicia from Egypt long before the days of Hiram (Rawlinson, 'Phoenicia,' p. 328). Whether copies of the epistolary correspondence of Hiram and Solomon were preserved in "the public records of Tyre" (Josephus, ' Ant.,' 8:2. 8) may be doubtful, but no ground exists for challenging the accuracy of the biblical account that both Solomon and Hiram could write. 5. His character. Originally a worshipper of Baal, and a restorer of the temple of the sun-god, he appears to have become an enlightened and sincere follower of Jehovah, whom he recognizes as not merely the national Divinity of Israel, but also as the Maker of heaven and earth (ver. 12). That he was courteous and kind, his intercourse both with David and Solomon attests. That he was a shrewd man of business, who could look well after his own interest, shines out by no means dimly in the hint given to Solomon to forward "the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord had spoken of," when he would see to the felling of the timber (vers. 15, 16). II. HIRAM THE ARTIST. 1. His parentage. The son of a Tyrian brass-worker, and of a Danite widow belonging to the tribe of Naphtali.(ver. 14; 1 Kings 7:14), he was probably on this account selected by the aged sovereign as one likely to be acceptable to the Hebrew monarch and his people. The discrepancy as to the tribe from which Hiram's mother proceeded may be removed by supposing that she was originally a Danite maiden, whose first husband belonged to the tribe of Naphtali, and whose second was a Tyrian. 2. His profession. A sort of universal genius, who had skill and understanding to find out every device put before him - like the artist Harmon, of whom Homer ('Iliad,' 5:59, 60) says that he "knew how to form with his hands all ingenious things." "As Theodore of Samos was an architect, a caster of works in bronze, an engraver of signets, and a maker of minute works in the precious metals, as Michael Angelo Buonarotti was at once a painter, a sculptor, an architect, and a worker in bronze" (Rawlinson, 'Phoenicia,' p. 97), so Hiram of Tyro, like Bezaleel (Exodus 31:4), was goldsmith, silversmith, brazier, iron-worker, stone-carver, wood-engraver, linen-weaver, all in one. 3. His renown. On account of professional eminence the king had dignified him with the title Abi, "my father," which meant "master;" in the sense that he was both master of his work and master of works for the king, as afterwards he is styled Solomon's father (2 Chronicles 4:16), because he manufactured for Solomon the vessels for the house of the Lord. Compare Joseph's calling himself "a father," i.e. a master or manager, "to Pharaoh" (Genesis 45:8). Learn: 1. The highest office of a king - to promote the material, intellectual, and religious prosperity of his people. 2. The proper duty of friendship - to rejoice in the welfare, co-operate in the undertakings, and reciprocate the courtesies of others. 3. The noblest service of art - to consecrate its genius to the glory of God and the advancement of true religion. - W. Parallel Verses KJV: Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the LORD hath loved his people, he hath made thee king over them. |
    |