Kings I ch. 7 tells of Solomon enlisting a Tyrian smith named Hiram to fashion many implements that were used in the Temple. He is said to be the orphaned son of a Tyrian man and a woman from Naphtali.

Chronicles II ch. 2 speaks of the King of Tyre sending a smith named Huram, Who is the son of a Tyrian man and a woman from Dan.

Huram is said in ch. 4 to have made basically the same things that Hiram made in Kings. This strongly implies that they were the same person.

Why do the verses relate this man to Naphtali in one place and Dan in the other?


Radak explains that the verse is saying that Hiram was from the Tribe of Naftali, meaning that his father was from Naftali. He is called Tyrian because that was where he lived.

So his father was from Naftali and his mother was from Dan.

Parenthetically, the commentary attributed to Rashi on Chronicles explains that Huram's mother's tribe is given based exegetically on the naming of Dan and Naftali in Genesis. Rachel 'wound cords' (פתיל‏, like in נפתלי. I think also דין‏, justice, like in דן), so as to be similar to Leah, her sister. This is why Oholiab the Danite was chosen alongside Bezalel, a descendant of Leah through Judah, and why Huram was chosen alongside Solomon.

I don't fully understand the inclusion of both Dan and Naftali based on this. Perhaps Bathsheba was also from a tribe descended from Leah, causing Solomon to have a twofold lineage which needed to be matched? it does seem that Bathsheba was from Judah.

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