The Secrets of Hiram Who Built the Temple

II_Chronicles.2.12-13

Amichai Lau-Lavie (he/him)

Jul 10, 2025

As above so below. The building of the temple was much more than a physical construction which is why these stories and their many secrets still matter to many today, long after the temple has toppled.

Solomon’s Temple would become the template for the ideal building imagined by generations of mystics and poets, builders and masons as the blueprint for the cosmic order. As the second book of Chronicles unfolds we are told of labor and materials on a giant scale, all meant to construct the biggest home for the greatest god whose presence transcends time and space.

To secure materials and know-how of such grand proportions Solomons turned to his neighbor in the north - King Hiram of Tyre, the Phoenician kingdom that became a local trade empire during those decades. The elaborate exchange between the kings includes long lists of unique and costly materials and also the commission of the master craftsman who shares the same name as his king.

Who was Hiram or Huram, the artist who would build the first temple? King Hiram write a letter to King Solomon, in which he names this man as his father - which likely means his master, and continues to detail his lineage and skills:

וְעַתָּ֗ה שָׁלַ֧חְתִּי אִישׁ־חָכָ֛ם יוֹדֵ֥עַ בִּינָ֖ה לְחוּרָ֥ם אָבִֽי׃ בֶּן־אִשָּׁ֞ה מִן־בְּנ֣וֹת דָּ֗ן וְאָבִ֣יו אִישׁ־צֹרִ֡י יוֹדֵ֡עַ לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת בַּזָּֽהָב־וּ֠בַכֶּ֠סֶף בַּנְּחֹ֨שֶׁת בַּבַּרְזֶ֜ל בָּאֲבָנִ֣ים וּבָעֵצִ֗ים בָּאַרְגָּמָ֤ן בַּתְּכֵ֙לֶת֙ וּבַבּ֣וּץ וּבַכַּרְמִ֔יל וּלְפַתֵּ֙חַ֙ כׇּל־פִּתּ֔וּחַ וְלַחְשֹׁ֖ב כׇּל־מַחֲשָׁ֑בֶת אֲשֶׁ֤ר יִנָּֽתֶן־לוֹ֙ עִם־חֲכָמֶ֔יךָ וְֽחַכְמֵ֔י אֲדֹנִ֖י דָּוִ֥יד אָבִֽיךָ׃

Now I am sending you a skillful and intelligent man, my master Huram,

the son of a Danite woman, his father a Tyrian. He is skilled at working in gold, silver, bronze, iron, precious stones, and wood; in purple, blue, and crimson yarn and in fine linen; and at engraving and designing whatever will be required of him, alongside your craftsmen and the craftsmen of my lord, your father David.

II_Chronicles.2.12-13

This grand artist comes from a lineage of craftsmen, and also represented a mixed heritage - his mother is from Israel, and his father a Phoenician. It’s interesting to note that in the ancient world before we got too tight on purist boundaries, the bible makes a point of letting us know that the builder of the temple represents the hybridity of local cultures, the wealth of wisdoms and traditions woven and celebrated together. There is also a noticeable difference here between the two versions told in the bible about this man.

The same exchange, with some small differences, is also found in 1 Kings 7, but one of the more curious changes is where his family is from. In Kings he is the son of a widow from the northern tribe of Naphtali, and here he hails from the northern tribe of Dan. In both cases his father is from Tyre. What’s the difference and why does this lineage even matter?

It’s helpful to go back to the text in Exodus, where the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, first version of this home for the Hebrew god is built under the instruction of Moses. Almost the same wording is used there to describe the artist’s talent --“skilled in working in…”

The ones in charge are two creative partners - Bezalel of the tribe of Judah, “And with him was Ahaliav the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan.” This duo echoes the partnership between south and north - Solomon from Judah and Hiran of Dan.

Ilana Stein helps make sense of this difference by pointing out the origin story and the possible purpose of this version in Chronicles, all about the narrative of continuity:

“By making use of the craftsman’s mother’s Danite ancestry – although tribes don’t go according to the female line usually – the Chronicler connects the building of the Temple back to the building of the Tabernacle, thus ensuring that the lines of history are very strong.

By connecting the First Temple back all the way to Sinai, the Chronicler seeks to assure his audience that, despite its humble construction, the Second Temple follows the First, which in turn derives from the laws of the Torah.”

Hiram’s claim to fame will go far beyond the bible as he will become one of the central figures in the lore and rituals of the freemasons.

Hiram Abiff, also known as the widows’ son, is based on these verses and is assumed to be the holder of secret knowledge that is allegorical and sacred, essential for living and constructing a purposeful life.

Whoever he was and whatever the legends, this enigmatic artist reminds us today that beyond clear binaries a more complex identity helps craft and build the sacred centers of our deepest desires and highest hopes, connecting us with construction of reality that links the physical and metaphysical worlds in ways we don’t always understand.

But who actually built this temple?

The chapter concludes with these numbers:

70,000 carry the baskets, 80,000 work in the quarries, and 3,600 get to supervise.

Who are these builders? They are hired and/or conscripted by Solomon to implement this grand design, designated as Gerim - 153,600 men who are ‘foreigners’ or ‘aliens’. Foreign workers, assigned to labor which they did or did not choose.

So beyond the celebration of cultural exchanges there are also threads here of familiar distinction between local and foreign, and some sort of possible slave labor that we will have to explore ahead.

The story goes back to the creation of the world, with a desire for cosmic balance, order and connection that links human and divine together, despite our follies and shortcomings, according to some sort of imagined perfect design.

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N(ancy) Hannah Torres

Now I understand why our Christian and Moslem brothers/ sisters create their Cathedral’s and Mosques as they do.. looking for that mystic and spiritual sense that are written here in Chronicles and Kings.

When you walk into Central Synagogue or the Cathedral of St John the Divine in NYC and a Mosque in northern India you immediately feel the power of G-d in the vastness in the design. Again another thread that can hold us together not tear us apart.

You don’t have to build something for worship on holy ground or to be larger than life but doing it does make as look beyond ourselves to a greater power.

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Below the Bible Belt

The Secrets of Hiram Who Built the Temple

II_Chronicles.2.12-13

As above so below. The building of the temple was much more than a physical construction which is why these stories and their many secrets still matter to many today, long after the temple has toppled.

Who was Hiram or Huram, the artist who would build the first temple? King Hiram write a letter to King Solomon, in which he names this man as his father - which likely means his master, and continues to detail his lineage and skills:

Now I am sending you a skillful and intelligent man, my master Huram,

II_Chronicles.2.12-13

It’s helpful to go back to the text in Exodus, where the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, first version of this home for the Hebrew god is built under the instruction of Moses. Almost the same wording is used there to describe the artist’s talent --“skilled in working in…”

The ones in charge are two creative partners - Bezalel of the tribe of Judah, “And with him was Ahaliav the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan.” This duo echoes the partnership between south and north - Solomon from Judah and Hiran of Dan.

Ilana Stein helps make sense of this difference by pointing out the origin story and the possible purpose of this version in Chronicles, all about the narrative of continuity:

“By making use of the craftsman’s mother’s Danite ancestry – although tribes don’t go according to the female line usually – the Chronicler connects the building of the Temple back to the building of the Tabernacle, thus ensuring that the lines of history are very strong.

By connecting the First Temple back all the way to Sinai, the Chronicler seeks to assure his audience that, despite its humble construction, the Second Temple follows the First, which in turn derives from the laws of the Torah.”

Hiram’s claim to fame will go far beyond the bible as he will become one of the central figures in the lore and rituals of the freemasons.

Hiram Abiff, also known as the widows’ son, is based on these verses and is assumed to be the holder of secret knowledge that is allegorical and sacred, essential for living and constructing a purposeful life.

But who actually built this temple?

The chapter concludes with these numbers:

70,000 carry the baskets, 80,000 work in the quarries, and 3,600 get to supervise.

Who are these builders? They are hired and/or conscripted by Solomon to implement this grand design, designated as Gerim - 153,600 men who are ‘foreigners’ or ‘aliens’. Foreign workers, assigned to labor which they did or did not choose.

So beyond the celebration of cultural exchanges there are also threads here of familiar distinction between local and foreign, and some sort of possible slave labor that we will have to explore ahead.

The story goes back to the creation of the world, with a desire for cosmic balance, order and connection that links human and divine together, despite our follies and shortcomings, according to some sort of imagined perfect design.

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