rk he meditated. Therefore he not only made a treaty with Hiram,
King of Tyre, for supplies of material, but of workmen, and chief of
these, one whose artistic productions were to be the best adornments of
the House of God for succeeding centuries. He was a tried veteran in
decorative work, an expert in almost every kind of art, and fit to be
placed in the position of chief superintendent of so superb a building.
The King of Tyre sent to Solomon a testimony which was eloquent in his
praise: "_I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding . . . .
the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, his father was a man of Tyre,
skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and
in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to
grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device_" (2 Chron. ii.
13, i4). Another record says: "_He was filled with wisdom, and
understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass_" (1 Kings vii. 14).

It is a significant fact in the history that Hiram, this expert
artificer, bearing the same name as his king, should have had an
Israelitish mother, and a Gentile father who had also been a worker in
metal. Thus he got his artistic taste and training from the father, his
religious knowledge and sympathy from the mother. Religious feeling and
sympathy he certainly had, as his magnificent work in the temple fully
demonstrated.

Hiram constructed of bright, burnished brass, an immense laver, called "a
molten sea," to be used for the ablutions of the priests. It was capable
of containing from fifteen to twenty thousand gallons of water, and the
ornamentation was elaborate exceedingly. Under the brim were two rows of
balls or bosses, encircling the laver. Twelve oxen, three looking in
four different directions, supported it, and the brim was wrought like
the brim of a cup with flowers of lilies. Beyond this, there were ten
lavers, smaller in size, for the washing of such things as were offered
in sacrifice. These were carefully decorated with lions, oxen, and
cherubim on the borders of the ledges. They stood upon bases, measuring
6 feet by 4 1/2 feet, ornamented carefully on each side with garlands
hanging in festoons, literally, "garlands, pensile work." Each base had
brasen wheels attached, with brasen axletrees, and brackets which
stretched from the four upper corners of the bases to the outward rim of
the laver. All the furnishings wer