It would be an error on our part if we suggested that 1 Kings 5:13–18 gives us the terms of the treaty enacted between Solomon and Hiram. 1 Kings 5:13, however, does show who prevailed in getting his way in the negotiations where they differed.
Hiram had wanted his servants and his servants alone to be at the work in Lebanon. The writer informs us, however, that Solomon sent 30,000 forced labourers in shifts of 10,000 per month to Lebanon.
Some commentators suggest that in conscripting forced labour out of Israel, Solomon was violating the Law of Moses that forbade the forced enslavement of Israelites by other Israelites. There are a number of things that could be said about this suggestion:
Would God permit without rebuke the violation of his Law in the building of his holy temple?
What Solomon did was not enslavement, as can be seen in how the labourers were employed: he gave them two months off for every month of their labour.
It is by no means certain that this forced labour was made up of ethnic Israelites, but it is perfectly possible that they were Gentiles who remained as a remnant of the previous possessors of the land, who had been made into
drawers of water and hewers of wood.
Our interest in the makeup of the forced labour
should not hide from us one of the main observations we should make as we consider this verse and the remaining four in the chapter. That observation is the massive size of the projected building plan. To the 30,000 of Solomon’s forced labourers, we must add an undetermined number of the servants of Hiram. Furthermore, this sizable workforce was employed in the gathering and shipping of timber alone, and this force of labour is smaller than that which was involved in the cutting and carrying of stones to be used in the building project.
Yet we should remember that the awe that such an enormous building project inspires in us is an awe that is centred on the human level. From the divine perspective no building of wood and stone, serving as the temple of the infinite and eternal God, could possibly match his glorious majesty. Solomon reminds later in his prayer of dedication that the highest heaven of heavens cannot contain
God much less, this house that I have built.
13 King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men.