Disappointed Hiram

Synopsis     1Kings 9:6-14     4/15/2019 

God had come to Solomon in a dream. After He confirmed the covenantal promise to keep David’s house on the throne of Israel, He warned Solomon. God specifically told him that should his descendants fail the terms of the covenant, then He would likewise abandon them. 

It took Solomon twenty years to complete both the temple and his palace. Throughout this time, Hiram, king of Tyre, had supplied Solomon with the raw materials he needed to complete the projects. In exchange for these materials, Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the region of Galilee. However, Hiram felt disappointed when he finally went out to see the cities. Accordingly, he sent a message conveying his disappointment to Solomon.

Disappointed Hiram

Hiram ruled over Tyre. This city was an important center of trade that would eventually become the center of Phoenician influence in the Mediterranean. Hiram was shrewd man. And he was experienced in acquiring wealth. 

For this reason, Hiram had initially formed an allied relationship with King David. And this relationship he likewise extended to Solomon as David’s son. 

Solomon wanted Jerusalem to become a center of culture and worship. And this worked well with Hiram’s plans to become a center of commerce. So, Hiram supported King Solomon’s massive construction efforts in exchange for rule over a group of Galilean cities pledged by Solomon for the purpose.  

Apparently, Hiram only inspected the cities after he had already supplied Solomon’s requirements for raw materials. But once he finally visited the region, he expressed disappointment. He concluded that they were not as valuable as he had hoped. And so, he felt slighted.

Disappointment 

Disappointment is a hard feeling. Part of what makes it so disturbing is that, like Hiram, I sometimes feel disappointed even when I have received exactly what I bargained for.

Of course, everyone’s going to feel disappointed sometime. But getting stuck in disappointment can be debilitating. So, what should I do with the feeling of disappointment?

Keep in mind, all disappointment is a form of pain. And like other kinds of pain, the experience is more or less painful based on trauma. What makes an already painful event traumatic is its unexpectedness combined with the sense that something irredeemable has been lost.  

Like so many other struggles, the key for me to get through disappointment is to return my focus to the present.

Because, in the present, there are only ever three things: Me, and some other person who is to be loved – and the God of all Creation who has brought the two of us together. 

“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the LORD—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.” Jer 29:11