Huram the Craftsman

Scripture: 1 Kings 7:13–47; 2 Chronicles 2:13–14; 4:11–16

Who Huram was (1 Kings 7:13–14; 2 Chronicles 2:13–14), Solomon sent for him from Tyre. Kings identifies his mother as "a widow of the tribe of Naphtali" and his father as "a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze." Chronicles identifies the mother's father as a Danite. The discrepancy (Naphtali in Kings, Dan in Chronicles) may reflect the mother's birth-tribe (Dan) versus her residence-tribe (Naphtali), or a scribal variant. The full Tyrian designation for him in Chronicles is "Huram-abi" (חוּרָם אָבִי, Huram my father, or Huram the master craftsman). His name, his mixed heritage, and his expertise in bronze identify him as a craftsman of the highest Mediterranean caliber, Phoenician metalwork in the early first millennium BCE was the standard against which all other metallurgy in the region was measured. He was "full of wisdom, understanding, and skill for making any work in bronze" (1 Kings 7:14). He came to Solomon and did all his work.

The two pillars: Jachin and Boaz (1 Kings 7:15–22), Huram cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high (about 27 feet), each with a circumference of twelve cubits, with capitals on top five cubits high decorated with chains, pomegranates (two rows of one hundred each), and lily work. The pillars stood at the porch of the Temple, "He set up the pillar on the south and called its name Jachin, and he set up the pillar on the north and called its name Boaz" (7:21). Jachin (יָכִין, "he will establish") and Boaz (בֹּעַז, "in him is strength") stood at the entrance of the house where YHWH's name dwelt. Their names were either inscriptions on the pillars, names given by Solomon at their dedication, or the opening words of inscriptions. Every worshiper who entered the Temple passed between these two names.

The bronze sea (1 Kings 7:23–26), Huram made a circular basin, ten cubits across and five cubits deep, with a circumference of thirty cubits, sitting on twelve bronze oxen, three facing each cardinal direction. The sea held two thousand baths (a substantial volume of water, used for the priests' ritual washing). The brim was wrought like the blossom of a lily. The bronze sea is one of the most discussed objects in the Temple inventory, both for its exact dimensions and for its symbolic resonance: water, sea, and oxen in the sacred space.

The ten stands and basins (1 Kings 7:27–39), He made ten bronze stands (movable carts) with intricate panels showing lions, oxen, and cherubim, with frames, spokes, and wheels, each with a basin on top. Four stands were on the south side of the Temple, four on the north, two on the south-east corner near the Temple entry. These mobile basins held the water used for washing the burnt offering.

The complete inventory (1 Kings 7:40–47), "Thus Huram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of YHWH: the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, and the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on top of the pillars; the ten stands, and the ten basins on the stands; and the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath the sea." All the vessels that Huram made for King Solomon for the house of YHWH were of burnished bronze, so much bronze that its weight was not calculated (7:47).

Typological connection, The master craftsman who filled the wilderness Tabernacle was Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, "filled with the Spirit of God, with ability, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship" (Exodus 31:3). Huram shares the designation: skilled, filled with wisdom and understanding. The Tabernacle craftsman was a Spirit-filled Israelite; the Temple craftsman was a man of mixed heritage from Israel's neighbor. Both worked under royal commission for the dwelling of YHWH.

Huram's name does not appear in the Psalms or the prophets. He has no speech recorded in Scripture. What he left was bronze, the pillars at the entry, the sea on twelve oxen, the basins on their stands, the pomegranates on the capitals, all of which stood in Solomon's Temple for nearly four centuries until Nebuchadnezzar's army broke them up and carried the bronze to Babylon (2 Kings 25:13–17). A craftsman's legacy is his work. His work stood four hundred years.