I Kings 7:14 He was a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work
Recently my wife, son, and I were having a conversation about some rather expensive, large, beautiful homes where he was helping to do some work. As my son described these gorgeous, lavish homes, my wife or I said, “Well, I would never want to live in a house that big.” The truth is that I don’t think I would want to live in a house that big. I love the house I’m in. It is just the right size and is our home. After that statement our son replied, “You know, we sometimes say stuff like that, but I don’t think we really mean it. We are jealous of people so we say that we would not want to live in a home that big.” There may be some truth to that. I truly don’t think I would want to live in a home that big, but he is not wrong. He is not wrong that oftentimes we look at people who are different than us in some way, richer or poorer, more or less intellect, more or less ability, and tend to downplay them.
Pride is always foolish. Sometimes we ridicule people because we think they are ignorant. We think we know more. Sometimes we ridicule people because they are dumb smart people. They have all this intellectual ability, but they don’t know how to come in out of the rain. All of that can miss the point because pride by definition is foolishness. Sometimes we think, “I may be a mechanic, but I’m smarter than that guy who has a PhD.” The PhD may look at the mechanic and think, “He may know how to fix a car, but I am the one who really knows things.” You know, wise people know they need other people. That is brilliantly illustrated for us in I Kings 7.
First Kings 7 is about the construction of Solomon’s Temple. It wasn’t Solomon’s idea, and even though the Bible attributes this temple to Solomon, I don’t think he did any of the work. Did he do the craftsmanship? No. Did he bring in the stone? No. Did he fashion the gold? No. Did he have a part? Yes! He had a huge part, maybe even the most important part. The point is that Solomon was wise, but he wasn’t the only wise person.
We read of another wise man in verse 14 whose name was Hiram. The Bible says of Hiram that he was “a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass.” I can hardly think of someone more different than Solomon. Solomon’s mother was a queen; Hiram’s mother was called a widow. Now, Solomon’s mother was a widow before the end of her life as David died first, but she wasn’t characterized as a widow. She was characterized as a queen. Hiram’s father was a worker. Solomon’s father was a king. Did David work? Yes, he worked, and being a king is not an easy job.
So, Hiram and Solomon were very different, but they were actually more alike than they were different because the Bible says Hiram was “filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work.” So, it was King Solomon’s temple, but there was also Hiram and hundreds of other workers involved in this temple.
I’m not here to say that there was a man wiser than Solomon, unless you ask yourself a couple of questions. You see, wise people know that they need other people. Solomon was wise because he didn’t take what he knew to mean that he didn’t need other people. Indeed, he called for Hiram. So, who was wiser, Solomon or Hiram? Well, what do we mean by wiser. Hiram and Solomon are both called wise. You have to ask yourself in what way was Solomon wiser. I Kings 3 gives us the answer.
When Solomon asks God for wisdom, he doesn’t just generally ask. He said, “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” God goes on to say, “Because thou hast asked this thing…I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee.”
If you read chapters 4-7, you are reminded over and again that Solomon was the wisest ruler that has ever lived. Was Solomon the wisest carpenter that ever lived? No. You might say, “You don’t have to be wise to be a carpenter.” Yes, you do. It is a different kind of wisdom. Hiram had wisdom, understanding, and cunning. We won’t get into all those words, but the bottom line is he was wise. He had knowledge and knew how to use that knowledge in a way that Solomon could not. Could he have ruled Israel? No. He wasn’t a king; he was a carpenter. Was king Solomon a carpenter? No, he probably didn’t know much about it, but was he wiser as a governor? Yes! So, who was wiser? The need here was not a need that was fulfilled by being a wise king. It was a need that was fulfilled by being a capable carpenter. So, the wisdom of Solomon was in seeking the wisdom of someone who knew something he did not.
Notice that verse 40 says, “So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD.” So, who made all this work? Hiram did, but when you come to verse 51, it says, “So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the LORD.” Did Hiram do the work or did Solomon do the work? The answer is yes. They did different parts of the same work. Verse 45 says, “Vessels, which Hiram made to king Solomon for the house of the LORD.” Verse 48 says, “And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the LORD.” Who made the vessels, Solomon or Hiram? The answer is yes. Hiram would not have done it if Solomon had not given direction. Solomon could not have made the vessels himself. Both needed the other. Both were wise in the wisdom God had given.
You may be really wise and skilled as a carpenter, academic, doctor, pastor, or whatever. Smart people are smart where they are smart. They may be dumb as bricks everywhere else, but they are smart in the knowledge God has given them and they have cultivated. So, pride is foolish and wise people know that they need other people. Are you wise and seeking the help God can give through others?