2 Chronicles 2:3 - Exposition

Huram . So the name is spelt, whether of Tyrian king or Tyrian workman, in Chronicles, except, perhaps, in 1 Chronicles 14:1 . Elsewhere the name is written הִירָם , or sometimes חִירוֹם , instead of חוּרָם . Geseuius draws attention to Josephus's Greek rendering of the name, εἵρωμος , with whom agree Menander, an historian of Ephesus, in a fragment respecting Hiram (Josephus, 'Contra Apion,' 1 Chronicles 1:18 ); and Dius, a fragment of whose history of the Phoenicians telling of Solomon and Hiram, Josephus also is the means of preserving ('Contra Apion, ' 1.17). The Septuagint write the name χιράμ ; the Alexandrian, χειράμ ; the Vulgate, Hiram. The name of Hiram's father was Abibaal. Hiram himself began to reign, according to Menander, when nineteen years of age, reigned thirty-four years, and died therefore at the age of fifty-three. Of Hiram and his reign in Tyre very little is known beyond what is so familiar to us from the Bible history of David and Solomon. The city of Tyre is among the most ancient. Though it is not mentioned in Homer, yet the Sidonians, who lived in such close connection with the Tyrians, are mentioned there, whilst Virgil calls Tyre the Sidonian city, Sidon being twenty miles distant. The modern name of Tyre is Sur. The city was situate on the east coast of the Mediterranean, in Phoenicia, about seventy-four geographical miles north of Joppa, while the road distance from Joppa to Jerusalem was thirty-two miles. The first Bible mention of Tyre is in Joshua 19:29 . After that the more characteristic mentions of it are 2 Samuel 5:11 , with all its parallels; 2 Samuel 24:7 ; Isaiah 23:1 , Isaiah 23:7 ; Ezekiel 26:2 ; Ezekiel 27:1-8 ; Zechariah 9:2 , Zechariah 9:3 . Tyre was celebrated for its working in copper and brass, and by no means only for its cedar and timber felling. The good terms and intimacy subsisting between Solomon and the King of Tyre speak themselves very plainly in Bible history, without leaving us dependent on doubtful history, or tales of such as Josephus ('Ant.,' 8.5. § 3; 'Contra Apion,' 1.17). For the timber, metals, workmen, given by Hiram to Solomon, Solomon gave to Hiram corn and oil, ceded to him some cities, and the use of some ports on the Red Sea ( 1 Kings 9:11-14 , 1 Kings 9:25-28 ; 1 Kings 10:21-23 . See also 1 Kings 16:31 ). As thou didst deal with David … and didst send him cedars. To this Zechariah 9:7 and Zechariah 9:8 are the apodosis manifestly, while Zechariah 9:4 , Zechariah 9:5 , Zechariah 9:6 should be enclosed in brackets.