“When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and said. ‘Blessed be Yahweh this day, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.’ King Hiram sent word to King Solomon. ‘I have heard the message that you have sent to me. I will fulfill all you needs in the matter of cedar and cypress timber. My servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon. I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will have them broken up there for you to take away. You shall meet my needs by providing food for my household.’ Hiram supplied Solomon’s every need for cedar and cypress timber. Solomon in turn gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household and twenty cors of fine oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year.”
When King Hiram heard the response from King Solomon, he blessed Yahweh for sending such a wise man to follow David. Hiram would be happy to help him with the cedar wood and the timber. He would send the wood down by the sea like rafts. Then they would break up the wood when they took it out of the water so that they could carry it. Now Solomon agreed to provide the food for the workers who came from Tyre and the Lebanon area. With all the food he had coming in each month, this was not a big deal for Solomon to provide this food on a yearly basis. So this was a swap of food for timber and labor.
