These verses set before us Hiram’s response to Solomon’s message. As we remember that the two kings engaged here in negotiations, we may understand Hiram’s response as an agreement in principle. He was willing to sell to Solomon the timber he requested. There is a difference, nevertheless, in Hiram’s proposal. Solomon had suggested that he would send workmen from Israel to join Hiram’s servants in the task of gathering and shipping the timber. Hiram preferred the idea that his servants alone would cut the cedars, make them into rafts, and float them down the coastline to a point where Solomon’s servants would receive them.
The writer does not tell us why Hiram preferred this method of operation. It is also dangerous to speculate on the matter. Such speculation would shift the focus of the verses from the important point of the general agreement between the two kings to a focus on differing details of the way in which it worked.
8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message that you have sent to me. I am ready to do all you desire in the matter of cedar and cypress timber.