Building on his dad's Relationship

 

2 Chronicles 2:11-18

 

May 8, 2023

 

Then Hiram the king of Tyre answered in a letter that he sent to Solomon, “Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you king over them.”  Hiram also said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, who has discretion and understanding, who will build a temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.

“Now I have sent a skilled man, who has understanding, Huram-abi, the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics, and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your craftsmen, the craftsmen of my lord, David your father.  Now therefore the wheat and barley, oil, and wine, of which my lord has spoken, let him send to his servants.  And we will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa, so that you may take it up to Jerusalem.”

Then Solomon counted all the resident aliens who were in the land of Israel, after the census of them that David his father had taken, and there were found 153,600.  Seventy thousand of them he assigned to bear burdens, 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and 3,600 as overseers to make the people work.

 

Hiram king of Tyre had a great relationship with David and had seen and witnessed all that God had done for David and Israel.  So, he was excited about David’s son Solomon.  Do you see the hand of God in this, in Proverbs 27:10, “Don’t abandon your friend or your father’s friend, and don’t go to your brother’s house in your time of calamity; better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.”  Solomon built on the relationship his dad had made.

 

When it came to skilled labor have you ever known anyone who was the best at all of these; “Now I have sent a skilled man, who has understanding, Huram-abi, the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics, and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your craftsmen, the craftsmen of my lord, David your father.

 

As you read verses 17-18, it is clear that David had gone before Solomon and made sure he had the laborers and they were aliens living in Israel.  David was not allowed to build the Temple but God used him to get everything prepared for Solomon to build the Temple of God.  God has a plan for each of us, and it made be to prepare someone else to do a greater work for the kingdom of God.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice