2. The skilled artisan who made many of the furnishings of Solomon’s temple. His father was a Tyrian, but his mother was a widow “from the tribe of Naphtali” (1Ki 7:13, 14) “of the sons of Dan.” (2Ch 2:13, 14) This apparent difference resolves itself if we take the view, as some scholars do, that she was born of the tribe of Dan, had been widowed by a first husband of the tribe of Naphtali, and then was remarried to a Tyrian.

Hiram, the king of Tyre (No. 1), sent this Hiram to supervise the special construction for Solomon because of his ability and experience in working with materials such as gold, silver, copper, iron, stone, and wood. Hiram was also unusually skilled in dyeing, engraving, and designing all sorts of devices. No doubt from childhood on he received some of his technical training in the industrial arts of the times from his Tyrian father, who himself was an accomplished craftsman in copper.​—1Ki 7:13-45; 2Ch 2:13, 14; 4:11-16.

The king of Tyre apparently refers to this man as Hiram-abi, which seems to be an appellation literally meaning “Hiram My Father.” (2Ch 2:13) By this the king did not mean that Hiram was his literal father but, perhaps, that he was the king’s “counselor” or “master workman.” Similarly, the expression Hiram-abiv (literally, “Hiram His Father”) seems to mean ‘Hiram is his (that is, the king’s) master workman.’​—2Ch 4:16.

(Hiʹram-aʹbi) [Hiram My Father].

An appellation applied to the “skillful man” whom the king of Tyre sent to make the furnishings of Solomon’s temple. It evidently indicated that Hiram was “father” in the sense of being a master workman.​—2Ch 2:13; see HIRAM No. 2.