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May 11                       Today’s Reading: 2 Chronicles 2-5

Solomon’s Letter to Hiram and Hiram’s Response

“Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the LORD hath loved his people, he hath made thee king over them.” (2 Chronicles 2:11)

 

In 2nd Chronicles 2-5 we have read how Solomon built the temple at Jerusalem. That typical house of God was truly magnificent. All its furnishings, all the sacrifices and ceremonies conducted there, and the temple itself foreshadowed our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his great salvation, obtained for chosen sinners (all the Israel of God) by the shedding of his blood in the sacrifice of himself. In our reading from the Book of God today, I find the correspondence between Solomon and Hiram particularly instructive.

 

Solomon to Hiram

The letter, which Solomon sent to Hiram (2 Chronicles 2:3-10), is a remarkable piece of correspondence, preserved for us by God the Holy Ghost for our learning and instruction. Solomon wrote to the king of Tyre to solicit his help in building the house of God at Jerusalem. But he wrote to him as a faithful witness, seeking the everlasting benefit of this heathen king’s immortal soul.

He plainly told Hiram that the Lord our God, the Triune Jehovah, is God alone, and declared his greatness as God, saying, “Great is our God above all gods.” Solomon explained to Hiram how that God is and must be worshipped by the sacrifice he has ordained and accepted, Christ Jesus, who was represented in all the sacrifices he mentioned in this letter.

Solomon obviously sought to magnify God in Hiram’s eyes. He wanted his friend to know God. And, judging by Hiram’s response (2 Chronicles 2:11-16), it appears that Solomon’s efforts were blessed of God the Holy Spirit to Hiram’s conversion and everlasting salvation. I cannot speak with certainty about that; but Solomon the king bore faithful witness to Hiram of God and his greatness. Let us follow his example. Look for and seize every opportunity afforded you, child of God, to tell eternity bound sinners about God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, about his greatness and his salvation. It may be that God will use you to fetch home his banished ones.

 

Hiram’s Response

Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because the Lord hath loved his people, he hath made thee king over them.” — How truly might these words be addressed to our blessed Lord! Because the Lord God loved us, he gave his only-begotten Son, his well-beloved, to be both a Prince and a Savior. Salvation is in him alone.

God’s loving appointment in making Christ our King is apparent when we are made to know and experience his greatness, his glory, and his grace. And when we contemplate how that our Lord Jesus entered into his kingdom and ascended to his throne as our King by the sacrifice of himself in our stead, our hearts are compelled to say of him, — “Because the Lord hath loved his people, he hath made thee king over them.”

Do you bow to Christ your King, surrendering all to him in love and faith, trusting him for all? You can never know the love of God for his elect until the Lord Jesus sets his throne in your heart and graciously bows you to himself. Then, and only then, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by his Spirit.

O worship the King, all glorious above,

And gratefully sing His power and His love! —

Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,

Pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise!

 


 

 

 

Don Fortner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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