Preparations for Building the Temple: In the MT, the material in these eighteen verses form part of chapter 4; that is, they are part of the same unit as the material on Solomon’s rule over the surrounding kingdoms and his immense wisdom. This has the effect, much more explicitly than would otherwise be the case, of making the events concerning the preparation for the building of the temple a part of the discourse about Solomon and the nations. It is implied that Hiram, king of Tyre, was simply one of those who were “Solomon’s subjects all his life” (4:21)—something that is much more explicitly affirmed in 9:19, where we are told that Solomon “ruled” over Lebanon (the Hb. root mšl: see the additional note on 4:21). At first sight, this seems to create something of a difficulty for the read…