(19) And so I propose to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD promised my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for My name.’ (20) Please, then, give orders for cedars to be cut for me in the Lebanon. My servants will work with yours, and I will pay you any wages you may ask for your servants; for as you know, there is none among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” (21) When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was overjoyed. “Praised be the LORD this day,” he said, “for granting David a wise son to govern this great people.” (22) So Hiram sent word to Solomon: “I have your message; I will supply all the cedar and cypress logs you require. (23) My servants will bring them down to the sea from the Lebanon; and at the sea I will make them into floats and [deliver them] to any place that you designate to me. There I shall break them up for you to carry away. You, in turn, will supply the food I require for my household.” (24) So Hiram kept Solomon provided with all the cedar and cypress wood he required, (25) and Solomon delivered to Hiram 20,000 kors of wheat as provisions for his household and 20 kors of beaten oil. Such was Solomon’s annual payment to Hiram.

(2) Solomon sent this message to King Huram of Tyre, “In view of what you did for my father David in sending him cedars to build a palace for his residence— (3) see, I intend to build a House for the name of the LORD my God; I will dedicate it to Him for making incense offering of sweet spices in His honor, for the regular rows of bread, and for the morning and evening burnt offerings on sabbaths, new moons, and festivals, as is Israel’s eternal duty. (4) The House that I intend to build will be great, inasmuch as our God is greater than all gods. (5) Who indeed is capable of building a House for Him! Even the heavens to their uttermost reaches cannot contain Him, and who am I that I should build Him a House—except as a place for making burnt offerings to Him? (6) Now send me a craftsman to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue yarn, and who knows how to engrave, alongside the craftsmen I have here in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom my father David provided. (7) Send me cedars, cypress, and algum wood from the Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled at cutting the trees of Lebanon. My servants will work with yours (8) to provide me with a great stock of timber; for the House that I intend to build will be singularly great. (9) I have allocated for your servants, the wood-cutters who fell the trees, 20,000 kor of crushed wheat and 20,000 kor of barley, 20,000 bath of wine and 20,000 bath of oil.” (10) Huram, king of Tyre, sent Solomon this written message in reply, “Because the LORD loved His people, He made you king over them.” (11) Huram continued, “Blessed is the LORD, God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth, who gave King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and understanding, to build a House for the LORD and a royal palace for himself. (12) Now I am sending you a skillful and intelligent man, my master Huram, (13) 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. (14) As to the wheat, barley, oil, and wine which my lord mentioned, let him send them to his servants. (15) We undertake to cut down as many trees of Lebanon as you need, and deliver them to you as rafts by sea to Jaffa; you will transport them to Jerusalem.”

When God spoke the Ten Commandemnts to Israel face to face, and He commanded them through Moshe a few of the commandments, which are like the principles of the Torah's commandments - as the rabbis practice with the converts that come to be Jewish (Yevamot 47b) - and Israel accepted to do all that He would command them through the hand of Moshe, and He made a covenant with them about all of this; behold, from then they are His as a people, and He is for them a God, as He made a condition with them from the beginning - "And now if you will listen to My voice and and keep My covenant and you will be a treasure to Me" (Exodus 19:5). And He [also] said (Exodus 19:6), "And you will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." And behold, they are holy and it is fitting that there should be a temple among them for His presence to dwell among them. And hence He first commanded about the matter of the tabernacle that He should have a house among them that would be dedicated to His name - and there would He speak with Moshe and [continue to] command the Children of Israel. And behold the main object in the tabernacle is the place that the Divine presence would rest, which is the ark, as He said (Exodus 25:22), "And I will meet with you there and I will speak with you from above the ark-cover." Therefore, He had the ark and the ark-cover precede here, as it has precedence in [its] level. And He placed next to the ark, the table and candelabra (menorah), since they are also vessels like it. And [then] they were instructed about the matter of the [actual] tabernacle, for which it was made. But in Parshat Vayakhel, Moshe had the tabernacle and the tent and the cover precede (Exodus 35:11) - and so did Betsalel (Exodus 36:8) - as it was appropriate to have it precede in the [actual] act. And the secret of the tabernacle is that the glory of God that dwelt on Mount Sinai, [also] hiddenly dwells upon it. And it is like it is written there (Exodus 24:16), "And the glory of the Lord dwells upon Mount Sinai," and it is written (Deuteronomy 5:21), "Behold, the Lord, our God, has shown us His glory and His greatness." And so [too] was it written about the tabernacle, "and the glory of the Lord, filled the tabernacle" (Exodus 40: 34)." And with the tabernacle, it twice mentioned, "and the glory of the Lord, filled the tabernacle" - corresponding to "His glory and His greatness." And the glory that was shown to them on Mount Sinai was always with Israel in the tabernacle. And when Moshe came [to it] (Exodus 34:34), the [Divine] speech that spoke to him at Mount Sinai [came] to him. And as [Moshe] said at the giving of the Torah (Deuteronomy 4:36), "From the skies, He made you hear His voice, to discipline you, and upon the earth, did He show you His great fire"; so too, about the tabernacle, it is written (Numbers 7:89), "and he would hear the voice speaking to him from above the ark-cover, between the two cherubs and He would speak to him." And "and he would speak to him" is repeated, to say that which they said according to the received tradition - that the [Divine] voice would come from the Heavens to Moshe from upon the ark-cover, and from there, it would speak to him, since every word with Moshe was from the Heavens during the day and was heard between the two cherubs, in the way of "and His words you heard from amidst the fire" (Deuteronomy 4:36), and therefore they were both gold. And so did the verse (Exodus 29:42-43) state, "that I will meet them there to speak to you there [...] and it will be sanctified by My glory," as there will be the house of meeting for [Divine] speech and "it will be sanctified by My glory." And one who looks carefully at the verses that are stated at the giving of the Torah and understands what we wrote about them (Ramban on Exodus 25:21) will understand the secret of the tabernacle and the Temple. And he will be able to examine it, from that which Shlomo said in his wisdom in his prayer at the Temple (I Kings 8:23), "Lord, God of Israel," as it said at Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:10), "And they saw the God of Israel." And he added there to explain, "the Lord," according to the issue that we hinted to there above, that the "God of Israel sits on the cherubs" (I Kings 8:23), like [the prophet] said (Ezekiel 10:19-20), "and the glory of the God of Israel was upon them from above. It was the creature that I saw under the God of Israel at the Kevar River, and I knew that they were cherubs." And David said (I Chronicles 28:18), "and for the pattern of the chariot, the cherubs of gold, for their spreading out and covering the ark of the covenant of the Lord." And so [too, Shlomo] would always mention, "for the name of God" (I Kings 5:19), "for Your name" (I Kings 8:44), and each and every time he would say, "and You will hear in the Heavens" (I Kings 8:32), in the trait of mercy. And it is written (I Kings 8:44-45), "and they shall pray to the Lord, through the city that You have chosen and the house that I have built for Your name. And You will hear in the Heavens." And in elucidation [of this], he said (II Chronicles 6:18), "And however, will God dwell with man upon the earth; behold the Heavens and the Heavens of the Heavens cannot contain You." And it is written about the ark (II Samuel 6:2), "to bring up from there the ark of God - which is called the name, the name of the Lord of hosts - that the cherubs sit upon"; and in I Chronicles 13:6, "to bring up from there the ark of God, the Lord, who sits on the cherubs, that is called the name," as the name [of God] sits upon the cherubs.