Haftarah: Vayakhel: Why Hiram?

Kings I 7:13-26 or 7:40-50: “King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. He was the son of a widow from the tribe of enough Naphtali, and his father, a resident of Tyre, was a coppersmith. He was filled with wisdom, insight, and knowledge, to perform all work with copper, so he came to King Solomon and performed all his work.”

Before the verse describes Hiram’s qualifications to work on Solomon’s Temple, it describes him as, “the son of a widow”. It seems that King Solomon chose him because he was the son of a widow. Solomon was in the midst of erecting a magnificent Temple for God. It was filled with gold, silver, elaborate declaration and great wealth. But this was to be a gathering place for all people, even the lowly, not only for the wealthy. Solomon therefore, selected “the son of a widow,” to perform some of the most important work.

Hiram is described as, “filled with wisdom, insight, and knowledge.” In this, he is comparable to Betzalel who oversaw all the work on the Mishkan. However, Betzalel’s wisdom, insight, and knowledge, were not limited to any single skill or type of work. Hiram possessed these qualities but only in one area.

King Solomon was teaching his people and us, that each part of the work on the Temple had to be performed by one “filled with wisdom, insights, and knowledge,” to perform that specific work.

Each of us has one area in which we specialize and possess some element of “wisdom, insight, and knowledge.” We can use that area of our highest skill to develop our Service of God.