Reading for June 10th

Read 1 Kings 5
In verses 1-18 Solomon prepares to build the Temple.
In verse 1 Tyre was a Phoenician city-state on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel, essentially modern Lebanon.
The trees from this area were highly valued in antiquity.
King Hiram provided building materials to David for his palace in Jerusalem (2 Sam 5.11-12).
In the ancient Near East a god's house was his temple.
In verse 3 the house for the name of the Lord is the temple of Yahweh.
Since the Lord does not actually reside in the Temple, it is built for his "name."
In verse 4 rest is an important theme in the Dueteronomistic History (2 Sam 7.1).
The Lord promised the people rest when they had entered the promised land and come tot he place where he would make his name dwell (Duet 12.10-11).
With Solomon the promise of rest is fulfilled so that the Temple can now be built in Jerusalem.
This emphasis on rest may be a play on Solomon's name, which sounds like the Hebrew word for shalom, meaning meaning peace (1 Chr 22.9).
In verse 6 the Sidonians were people from Sidon, another Phoenician city-state.
here however, it seems to refer to Phoenicians in general.
In verse 13 Solomon's labor fore was conscripted from Israel as distinguished from Judah.
It is clear from ch 12 that the use of this conscripted labor continued after the Temple was completed.
In verse 18 Gebalites were people from Phoenician city-state of Bylos (also know as Gebal).
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