2. HOW KING HIRAM HELPED SOLOMON IN THE WORK: Of The Temple
BEDE: ON THE TEMPLE
foundation of the apostles and prophets, i.e. on the Lord himself.8
This will be clearer if we consider the actual building of the temple systematically. That is to say, in this way the figure will apply to the Lord himself in some respects, in others to all the elect. In some respects it describes the unclouded happiness of the angels in heaven, in others the invincible patience of mankind on earth, in others the help of the angels bestowed on mankind, and in others again it will show the struggles of mankind rewarded by the angels.
1.2 The tabernacle once made in the desert by Moses also symbolizes the same spiritual house of the Lord.g But that house was built on the route by which one reaches the land of promise, whereas this one was built in the land of promise itself and in the city of Jerusalem; the former so that after being frequently carried from place to place by the ministry of the Levites, it might at length be brought into the land of the promised inheritance; the latter that it might afterwards stand in the fatherland itself and the royal city built on an ever inviolable foundation until it fulfilled the task of the heavenly figures imposed upon it. For these reasons the former can be taken to represent the toil and exile of the present Church, the latter the rest and happiness of the future Church. At all events because the former was made by the children of Israel alone, the latter by proselytes also and by gentiles, the former can be taken chiefly as a symbolic expression for the Fathers of the Old Testament and the ancient people of God, the latter for the Church assembled from the gentiles, although the building of both houses, when it has been discussed in greater detail in the spiritual sense, can be shown in many ways to suggest symbolically both the daily labours of the present Church and the everlasting rewards and joys in the future and the salvation of all nations in Christ.
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2. HOW KING HIRAM HELPED SOLOMON IN THE WORK
OF THE TEMPLE
2.1 Therefore, as we, with the Lord's help, set about treating of the building of the temple and seeking the spiritual mansion of God in the material structure, it seems opportune to say something first
' cf. Ep 2:20; 1 P 2 : 5 4 cf. Ex 25%-9
BOOK ONE
about its builders, who they were, and where they were from, and at the same time something about the material itself and what it was made of. For these matters too are pregnant with spiritual mysteries according to the testimony of the Apostle who says, all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were recorded in writing to be a lesson for us.'
2.2
The history of the Kings2 tells how Solomon, as he was about to build a house for the Lord, sought help from Hiram king of 5 r e who was a long-standing friend of David's and had started off on peaceful terms with Solomon himself too after he had taken over the kingdom, and later proved so willing to help him in all his undertakings that he gave him craftsmen, timber and gold as the project required. In return for this favour Solomon used to give him each year a great many kors of wheat and oil as provisions for his house.3 Nobody doubts that Solomon, which means 'peacemaker'," signifies, both by his very name and the extremely peaceful state of his reign, the one of whom Isaiah said, his empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end ~ f p e a c e . ~ Hiram, on the other hand, which in Latin means 'living exaltedly', represents figuratively believers from among the gentiles and those who are distinguished both by reason of their life and of their faith.6 And since Hiram was a king and used his royal power to help Solomon in the building of the house of the Lord, there is nothing to prevent him from typifying masters of (worldly) affairs, themselves converted to the faith, by whose help, as is well known, the Church has quite often been assisted and nobly increased, and has been supported by their imperial decrees against heretics and schismatics and pagans.
[249] 2.3 The point in Solomon's seeking help from Hiram in the work of the temple was that when the Lord came in the flesh and arranged to build a favourite home for himself, namely, the Church, he chose helpers for the work not from the Jews alone but also from the 1 co101t cf. 3 K 5:1-t2 cf. ibid. cf. Jer., Nom. Hebr: CCSL 72:138,5 Is97 cf. Jer., Nom Hebr: CCSL 72:107,25
BEDE: ON THE TEMPLE
gentiles. For he picked ministers of the word from both peoples.
Hiram sent Solomon cedar and pine-wood hewn in Lebanon to put in the house of the Lord because the converted gentiles sent to the Lord men once famous in the eyes of the world but now cast down and humbled from the mountain of their pride by the axe of the Lord's reproof, to be trained according to the norm of evangelical truth and given their place in the building of the Church, each according to his merits or age. He also sent craftsmen because the gentiles offered to the Lord philosophers converted to true wisdom, people who because of their learning might deservedly be put in charge of people to govern them. Such, for instance, in the time of the apostles was Dionysius the Areopagite, such too was the most gentle and brave martyr Cyprian and countless others. He also sent gold which can be taken in the same sense, namely, that it symbolizes men renowned for wisdom and ability. For all these offerings the gentiles expect the gifts of heavenly grace from the Lord, namely, the wheat of the word of God and the oil of charity and of the unction and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.
2.4
It is appropriate to the situation of the Church that in requesting help for his holy undertaking Solomon said to Hiram,
(5:6) Give orders, therefore, that your servants cut me down cedartrees from Lebanon; and let my servants be with your servants.
For the servants of Hiram who cut down cedars from Lebanon for Solomon are the teachers chosen from among the gentiles whose task it is to fell those who enjoy the goods and glory of this world by correcting their pride and arrogance and convert their ambition into obedience to their redeemer. Now with these servants were also the servants of Solomon and together they set about the work referred to because the first teachers from among the gentiles needed the apostles themselves who had received training by being instructed in the word of faith lest, were they to begin to teach without masters, they might turn out to be teachers of error. For the reason why
Solomon wanted the servants of Hiram to hew timber from Lebanon for him was that they were more experienced than his own servants in felling, but the reason why he also wanted his own servants to be there with them was that they might show the lumbermen what length the planks ought to be. What this symbolizes is plain, namely, that the apostles had a surer knowledge of how to preach to others the word of the Gospel which they were privileged to hear from [I501