Brotherhood

O. T. #774  "Brotherhood"
June 5, 2016
1 Kings 9-Part 2
... then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities to the land of Galilee.  1 Kings 9:11

LET IT GLOW

Who is considered part of your brotherhood? Are family, church family, neighbors? Israel had a treaty with their brotherhood.

A treaty of brotherhood was a longstanding, brotherly relationship which existed between Phoenica and Israel.  It began with the assistance of King Hiram of Tyre to David in providing materials for his house (2Sam. 5:11) and then with Solomon and the new Temple. It was later solidified with the marriage of Jezebel to Ahab (chapter 16). No king of Israel ever made war against Phonicia, especially the two major cities of Tyre and Sidon.  (MacArthur)

Solomon sent wheat and oil to Hiram for an annual payment for the cedar  and fir used in the new buildings of the Temple and palace. Now this must have continued over a period of 20 years since it took that long for the completion of those buildings. Perhaps the 20 cities given to Hiram were payment for the gold here mentioned, or simply a gift for completing the two houses. (verse 10)
At any rate, Hiram was displeased with these unnamed cities and called them Cabul, which means as nothing   because they were inferior. (2 Chronicles suggests that Hiram either returned those cities or swapped them for others.)  [Resource: Liberty Bible Commentary]

Maybe Hiram preferred a piece of land along the coast which would have been more suitable for trade. As it turned out, Hiram was paid many times over through his trade partnership with Solomon.

Commentaries say that the six score of talents of gold which Hiram sent to Solomon was 9,000 pounds or 4.5 tons of gold. It was a lot.

Do we have a type of treaty with our neighbors, our brotherhood? Maybe it is a silent one, one understood without a signed document.


LET IT GROW

So later on, the entire region of Phonicia was included in the judgment pronounced by Tyre. They would sell captives from Judah into slavery to Edom and other nations. They would break this treaty made between King Hiram and David as well as Solomon. God's promise to burn the walls of Tyre was fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzer took the city after a 13 year siege. This took place during the reign of King Uzziah of Judah before 753 B.C.  (Falwell)

Are we faithful to those we consider in our brotherhood? Are we loving our neighbor as our self, as Jesus told us to do?

LET IT GO

Take serious my agreements and keep my commitments.