1 Kings 5:13-18

Solomon’s conscription of laborers 5:13-18

Solomon’s forced laborers were non-Israelites (2 Chronicles 8:7-8). Israelites also served, but they were not slaves (1 Kings 9:22). Solomon’s method of providing workers for state projects became very distasteful to the people eventually, perhaps because of how it was administered (cf. 1 Kings 12:18).

"[Adoniram, also known as Hadoram, 2 Chronicles 10:18] was probably one of the most hated men in Israel, an embodiment of autocracy." [Note: J. Barton Payne, "Second Chronicles," in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 399. Cf. 1 Kings 4:6.]

Solomon’s temple rested on massive limestone blocks that he had quarried out of the hills north of Jerusalem (1 Kings 5:17). The Gebelites (1 Kings 5:18) lived in Byblos, 13 miles north of modern Beirut and 60 miles north of Tyre.

The main emphasis in this chapter is on the favorable response of the Phoenician king, Hiram, with which God blessed Israel through Solomon’s wisdom (1 Kings 5:7). Solomon wrote that "when a person’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Proverbs 16:7). Such was God’s blessing on Solomon at this time.