1 Rois 5:6

6 Et maintenant, commande qu'on me coupe des cèdres du Liban; mes serviteurs seront avec tes serviteurs; et je te donnerai pour tes serviteurs le salaire que tu demanderas; car tu sais qu'il n'y a personne parmi nous qui s'entende à couper les bois comme les Sidoniens.

1 Rois 5:6 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 5:6

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 2 Chronicles 2:8 ) ;

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 unto thee will I give hire for thy servants, according to all that
thou shalt appoint;
pay them for their work and service, as Hiram himself should judge fit and reasonable for them; no mention being made of paying for the timber, seems to countenance the notion that the trees were Solomon's; but when the quantity of provisions sent yearly to Hiram for his household, besides what the servants had, is observed, it seems to have been sent as an equivalent to the timber received by Solomon, see ( 1 Kings 5:10 1 Kings 5:11 ) ;

for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew
timber like unto the Sidonians;
it is not said Tyrians, the Sidonians, perhaps, being more skilful in this than they were; and the Sidonians are said by Homer ^F25 to be (poludaidaloi) , very ingenious: and they were both under the jurisdiction and at the command of Hiram; so Eupolemus

---

FOOTNOTES:

F26 makes the inscription of Solomon's letter to him to run thus, to Suron (that is, Hiram) king of Tyre, Sidon, and Phoenicia. The Jews being chiefly employed in husbandry, and in feeding cattle, were very unskilful in mechanic arts, and in this of cutting down trees, and hewing timber; for there is skill to be exercised therein; the proper time of cutting down trees should be observed, the part in which they are to be cut, and the position in which they are to be put when cut down, as Vitruvius ^F1 directs, with other things, and Pliny ^F2 observes the same.

F25 Iliad. 23. ver. 743.
F26 Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 32, 34.)
F1 De Architectura, l. 2. c. 9.
F2 Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 39.

1 Rois 5:6 In-Context

4 Et maintenant l'Éternel mon Dieu m'a donné du repos de toutes parts; je n'ai point d'adversaire ni d'affaire fâcheuse.

5 Voici donc, je me propose de bâtir une maison au nom de l'Éternel mon Dieu, selon que l'Éternel en a parlé à David, mon père, en disant: Ton fils, que je mettrai à ta place sur ton trône, sera celui qui bâtira une maison à mon nom.

6 Et maintenant, commande qu'on me coupe des cèdres du Liban; mes serviteurs seront avec tes serviteurs; et je te donnerai pour tes serviteurs le salaire que tu demanderas; car tu sais qu'il n'y a personne parmi nous qui s'entende à couper les bois comme les Sidoniens.

7 Quand Hiram entendit les paroles de Salomon, il en eut une grande joie, et il dit: Béni soit aujourd'hui l'Éternel, qui a donné à David un fils sage, pour régner sur ce grand peuple!

8 Et Hiram envoya vers Salomon, pour lui dire: J'ai entendu ce que tu m'as mandé. Je ferai tout ce que tu voudras, quant au bois de cèdre et au bois de cyprès.