Hiram

Hiram (also written Huram) was the Phoenician king of Tyre who maintained close diplomatic and commercial ties with both David and Solomon. His name, meaning exaltation of life or noble-born, reflects the prestige of the Tyrian royal house. He sent cedar timber and skilled craftsmen to David for the construction of the royal palace, and he later entered into an extensive treaty with Solomon for the supply of cedar and cypress timber and gold in exchange for grain and oil—a partnership that fueled Solomon's building projects including the Jerusalem temple.

A second Hiram (also called Huram-abi) was the master craftsman sent by King Hiram to work on the temple furnishings: the son of a Tyrian man and an Israelite woman from the tribe of Naphtali (or Dan in Chronicles), he cast the two bronze pillars Jachin and Boaz, the bronze sea and its twelve oxen, the ten lavers, and all the bronze work of the temple complex. His combined Phoenician-Israelite heritage made him the embodiment of the international character of Solomon's building enterprise. The alliance between Israel and Tyre represented the high-water mark of Solomonic economic and diplomatic power.