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1 Kings 5
1Hiram of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, for he had heard that they had him king in the place of his father, and Hiram had always loved David.
2Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,
3“You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the wars which were around him on every side, until the LORD put his enemies under the soles of his feet.
4But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is no enemy and no evil occurrence.
5Behold, I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your in your place shall build the house for my name.’
6Now therefore command that cedar trees be cut for me out of Lebanon. My servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you say. For you know that there is nobody among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”
7When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and said, “Blessed is the LORD today, who has given to David a wise son to rule over this great people.”
8Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message which you have sent to me. I will do all your concerning timber of cedar, and concerning cypress timber.
9My servants will bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that you specify to me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and you will receive them. You will accomplish my , in giving food for my household.”
10So Hiram gave Solomon cedar timber and cypress timber according to all his .
11Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat for food to his household, and twenty cors of pure . Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year.
12The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together.
13 Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
14He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: for a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the men subject to forced labor.
15Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the ,
16besides Solomon’s chief officers who were over the work: three thousand three hundred who ruled over the people who labored in the work.
17The commanded, and they cut out large stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with worked stone.
18Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites cut them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.
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Questions this passage answers
Does God provide for my needs?
Scripture says yes, and it is careful about the word need. God promises to supply what his people need, often daily rather than in advance, and he does not promise surplus, comfort or the removal of hard seasons. Paul, who wrote that God will supply every need, also wrote that he had learned to be hungry.
What does the Bible say about fear?
Scripture never tells a frightened person that fear is imaginary. It says do not be afraid hundreds of times, and almost always attaches a reason rather than a technique: I am with you, I have redeemed you, you are of more value than sparrows. It also distinguishes the fear that must go from the fear of the Lord, which is commanded and which shrinks every smaller fear.
What does the Bible say about anxiety?
Scripture treats anxiety with far more tenderness than most Christians expect. It names it honestly, traces it to a divided and overloaded heart, and answers it with the character of God rather than with willpower. The command not to be anxious always comes attached to a reason and to an action, never as a bare demand to feel differently.
What does the Bible say about loneliness?
Scripture treats loneliness as a real ache rather than a spiritual failure. It says the first thing God called not good was a man being alone, that many of his most faithful servants were profoundly lonely, that his own presence is promised and sufficient, and that he ordinarily answers isolation by placing people in families and congregations rather than by removing the need.