1 Kings 5:6 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Kings 5:6
Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.
(intensively) to constitute · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
hew
וְיִכְרְתוּve.yikh.re.tu-
H3772
to cut (off · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine plural
trees
אֲרָזִ֜ים'a.ra.Zim
H730
a cedar tree (from the tenacity of its roots) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Lebanon
הַלְּבָנ֗וֹןha.le.va.Non
H3844
Lebanon · definite article + proper noun, a place name
servants
וַֽעֲבָדַי֙va.'a.va.Dai
H5650
a servant · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
servants
עֲבָדֶ֔יךָ'a.va.Dei.kha
H5650
a servant · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Chronicles 2:8 Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and,…
Genesis 10:15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
1 Kings 6:9-10 So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.
1 Kings 6:16 And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, e…
1 Kings 6:20 And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he ov…
2 Chronicles 2:10 And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures…
Ezra 3:7 They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring…
Psalms 29:5 The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 5:1-9
We have here an account of the amicable correspondence between Solomon and Hiram. Tyre was a famous trading city, that lay close upon the sea, in the border of Israel; its inhabitants (as should seem) were none of the devoted nations, nor ever at enmity with Israel, and therefore David never offered to destroy them, but lived in friendship with them. It is here said of Hiram their king that he was ever a lover of David; and we have reason to think he was a worshipper of the true God, and had himself renounced, though he could not reform, the idolatry of his city. David's character will win the affections even of those that are without. Here is,
I. Hiram's embassy of compliment to Solomon, Kg…
command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon--Nowhere else could Solomon have procured materials for the woodwork of his contemplated building. The forests of Lebanon, adjoining the seas in Solomon's time, belonged to the PhÅ“nicians, and the timber being a lucrative branch of their exports, immense numbers of workmen were constantly employed in the felling of trees as well as the transportation and preparation of the wood. Hiram stipulated to furnish Solomon with as large a quantity of cedars and cypresses as he might require and it was a great additional obligation that he engaged to render the important service of having it brought down, probably by the Dog river, to the seasi…
Any that can skill to hew timber - An obsolete and barbarous expression for any that know how to cut timber. They had neither sawyers, carpenters, joiners, nor builders among them, equal to the Sidonians. Sidon was a part of the territories of Hiram, and its inhabitants appear to have been the most expert workmen. It requires more skill to fell and prepare timber than is generally supposed. Vitruvius gives some rules relative to this, lib. ii., cap. 9, the sum of which is this:
1. Trees should be felled in autumn, or in the winter, and in the wane of the moon; for in this season the trees recover their vigor and solidity, which was dispersed among their leaves, and exhausted by their fruit,…
The Church Fathers
For the servants of Hiram who cut down cedars from Lebanon for Solomon are the teachers chosen from among the Gentiles whose task is to fell those who enjoy the goods and glory of this world by correcting their pride and arrogance and convert their ambition into obedience to their Redeemer. Now with these servants were also the servants of Solomon, and together they set about the work referred to because the first teachers from among the Gentiles needed the apostles, who had received training by being instructed in the word of faith, lest, were they to begin to teach without masters, they might turn out to be teachers of error. For the reason why Solomon wanted the servants of Hiram to hew timber from Lebanon for him was that they were more experienced than his own servants in felling, but the reason why he also wanted his own servants to be there with them was that they might show the lumbermen what length the planks ought to be. What this symbolizes is plain, namely, that the apostles had a surer knowledge of how to preach to others the word of the gospel that they were privileged to hear from the Lord, but the Gentiles, converted from error and brought into conformity with the truth of the gospel, had a better knowledge of the actual errors of the Gentiles, and the surer their knowledge the more skillfully they learned to counteract and refute them. Paul indeed had a better knowledge of the mystery of the gospel, which he had learned through revelation, but Dionysus was better able to refute the false teachings of Athens, whose syllogisms as well as errors and all of whose arguments he knew since a boy. With this explanation the statement that follows is fully in keeping: "For you know that there is not a man among my people who has the skill to hew wood like the Sidonians." For when the Lord was bodily present teaching, there was not one among the Jewish people who knew so well how to refute the errors of the Gentiles as the actual Gentile converts to the faith and those of the Gentiles who had become Christians. For the Sidonians and Tyrians are rightly taken as a type of the Gentiles because they were Gentile peoples.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Alliances — On the first establishment of the Hebrews in Palestine no connections were formed between them and the surrounding nations. But with the extension of their power under the kings alliances became…
Building — Among the Jews was suited to the climate and conditions of the country. They probably adopted the kind of architecture for their dwellings which they found already existing when they entered Canaan…
Cedar — (Heb. e’rez, Gr. kedros, Lat. cedrus), a tree very frequently mentioned in Scripture. It was stately (Ezek. 31:3-5), long-branched (Ps. 80:10; 92:12; Ezek. 31:6-9), odoriferous (Cant. 4:11; Hos.…
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
Lebanon — White, “the white mountain of Syria,” is the loftiest and most celebrated mountain range in Syria. It is a branch running southward from the Caucasus, and at its lower end forking into two parallel…
Phenicia — (Acts 21:2) = Phenice (11:19; 15:3; R.V., Phoenicia), Gr. phoinix, “a palm”, the land of palm-trees; a strip of land of an average breadth of about 20 miles along the shores of the Mediterranean,…
Sidonians — the Greek form of the word Zidonians, usually so exhibited in the Authorized Version of the Old Testament. It occurs (3:9; Joshua 13:4,6; Judges 3:3; 1 Kings 5:6) [Zidon, Or Sidon]
Temple, Solomon’s — Before his death David had “with all his might” provided materials in great abundance for the building of the temple on the summit of Mount Moriah (1 Chr. 22:14; 29:4; 2 Chr. 3:1), on the east of the…
Zidon — A fishery, a town on the Mediterranean coast, about 25 miles north of Tyre. It received its name from the “first-born” of Canaan, the grandson of Noah (Gen. 10:15, 19). It was the first home of the…
Zidon, Or Sidon — (Genesis 10:15,19; Joshua 11:8; 19:28; Judges 1:31; 18:28; Isaiah 23:2,4,12; Jeremiah 25:22; 27:3; Ezekiel 28:21,22; Joel 3:4) (Joel 4:4); Zech 9:2; Matt 11:21,22; 15:21; Mark 3:8; 1:24,31; Luke…
give
אֶתֵּ֣ן'e.Ten
H5414
to give · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
hire
וּשְׂכַ֤רu.se.Khar
H7939
payment of contract · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
servants
עֲבָדֶ֙יךָ֙'a.va.Dei.kha
H5650
a servant · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
appoint
תֹּאמֵ֑רto.Mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
knowest
יָדַ֗עְתָּya.Da'.ta
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
any
אִ֛ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
skill
יֹדֵ֥עַyo.De.a'
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
hew
לִכְרָתlikh.rot-
H3772
to cut (off · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
timber
עֵצִ֖ים'e.Tzim
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Sidonians
כַּצִּדֹנִֽיםka.tzi.do.Nim
H6722
a Tsidonian or inhabitant of Tsidon · preposition with the article + noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedars out of Lebanon,.... That is, order his servants to cut them down there for him. Some think that Lebanon belonged to the land of Israel, and therefore Solomon did not ask for the cedars upon it, but for his servants to hew them for him; but as it lay upon the borders of Israel, part of it might belong to them, and another part to Hiram, and on which the best cedars might grow, and so he furnished Solomon both with trees, and men to cut them, as it seems from 1 Kings 5:10; see also 2 Chronicles 2:3;
and my servants shall be with thy servants: to assist them, and to carry the timber from place to place, and to learn how to hew timber:
and unt…
Solomon's negotiations with Hiram of Tyre. - Kg1 5:1. When king Hiram of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king in the place of David, he sent his servants, i.e., an embassage, to Solomon, to congratulate him (as the Syriac correctly explains) on his ascent of the throne, because he had been a friend of David the whole time (כּל־הימים, i.e., as long as both of them David and Hiram were kings). On Hiram and the length of his reign, see the remarks on Sa2 5:11. This is passed over in the Chronicles as having no essential bearing upon the building of the temple.
Kg1 5:2-3
Solomon thereupon communicated to Hiram, by means of an embassy, his intention to carry out the building of the temp…
please command: The main thrust of Solomon’s message was his request for cedars from Lebanon, indicating Hiram’s wide commercial influence. Ancient Near Eastern literature often cites the use of Lebanese cedars in building and furnishing temples and palaces. • Sidonians was a general name for Phoenicians; Sidon was more ancient than Tyre.
Rashi on 1 Kings 5:6
Forty thousand stables of horses. In Divrei Hayomim it states, “four thousand [stables of horses].”2II Divrei Hayomim 9:25. Our Rabbis explained there were forty thousand stables and in each there were four thousand partitions, or there were four thousand stables and in each there were forty thousand partitions.3See Maseches Sanhedrin 21b.
Cedar · Furnished by Hiram, king of Tyre, for — Furnished by Hiram, king of Tyre, for
Cedar, The · Used in: Building temples — Used in: Building temples
Commerce · Tyrians — Tyrians
Covenants · Designed for: Promoting commerce — Designed for: Promoting commerce
Diplomacy · . — .
Forests · Supplied timber for building — Supplied timber for building
Lebanon · Furnished: Wood for Solomon’s temple — Furnished: Wood for Solomon’s temple
Sidon · temple — temple
Temple, The First · Solomon: Contracted with Hiram for wood, stone, and labour — Solomon: Contracted with Hiram for wood, stone, and labour
Treaty · Reciprocity — Reciprocity
Tyre · the temple and his — the temple and his
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
