Friday 5 August 2016

Solomon sent this message to Hiram king of Tyre: “Send me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in. – 2 Chronicles 2:3



Today’s Scripture Reading (August 5, 2016): 2 Chronicles 2

Isolation is not possible in the contemporary world. Everything is about connection. Whether it is about our own personal connections or the connections the nations make, it is absolutely impossible for anyone to go it alone. Hermits might survive, but they will never thrive. And there is significant damage that is inflicted on the soul by being excluded or forced to be alone. That is maybe why Brexit is so scary, and why isolationist tendencies in North America are so dangerous. We have long past the time when walls make sense. We need each other.

Hiram I was the Phoenician king of Tyre. At the beginning of his reign, Tyre was nothing more than a satellite of Sidon. It existed to do whatever it was that Sidon desired it to do. According to Josephus, Hiram I lived 53 years and reigned as king for 34 of those years. And in those years he took Tyre from being a satellite, to being one of the most important cities in Phoenicia. Tyre was important because it was an economic powerhouse. And it was an economic powerhouse because Hiram had made a practice of tearing down walls.

One of those walls was between Tyre and Israel. He had built a trade relationship with David, and that trade relationship opened up trade routes for Tyre to Egypt, Arabia and Mesopotamia. When David died, the most important thing that Hiram could do was make sure that those trade routes remained open for him to exploit. And that meant making sure that his trade agreement with Israel was maintained.

The day that the request from Solomon for cedar log to build a Temple in Jerusalem was received by Hiram was most likely a very important day for the Tyranian King. Solomon was indicating that he was willing to follow in his father’s footsteps, and that meant that Tyre would continue to prosper – and continue to be an economically significant city in the world.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 3

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