The temple was built for the name of the Lord, at the same time Solomon built a palace for himself. We need to be very careful when we "construct" something for ourselves alongside doing work for the Lord. We will very easily slip into devoting ever more time and resources to ourselves and less and less to the Lord, and we will convince ourselves we are doing it all for the Lord.
Solomon sent a message to Hiram of Tyre "inviting" him to donate cedar for the building of the temple. He also asked Hiram to send skilled workers. Solomon had great plans for the temple and needed help from outside Israel.
Now remember the situation at the time Chronicles was written, they had returned from exile and needed to rebuild. They also needed help from outside nations, indeed Nehemiah had been sent with a decree. Now some may have felt uneasy about accepting help from other nations. Here the writer is showing that the first temple was built with outside help.
Hiram gladly agrees to help out. The labourers who built the temple and palace were predominantly foreign labour.
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