It is generally assumed that Hiram sent materials for David to build a palace only during the final ten years of his reign and not at the start, as the text seems to imply.1 This assumption is based on the gap between 1 Chronicles 11:4–9 (which describes the Jerusalem conquest) and 1 Chronicles 14:1–2 (which describes the gift of Hiram).2 Extra biblical sources also seem to confirm that Hiram did not become king of Tyre until more than twenty years after David was anointed king over Israel and conquered Jerusalem.3 Elsewhere in Samuel, however, it is suggested that the royal residence had been completed by the time of the ark’s arrival (2 Samuel 6:20) and that there was a large table to accommodate David, his sons, and Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9:11).4
11 And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house.