Hiram the (Incredible) Craftsman
(13) King Solomon sent for Hiram and brought him down from Tyre. (14) He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father had been a Tyrian, a coppersmith. He was endowed with skill, ability, and talent for executing all work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and executed all his work.
(Targum Sheni also says that Hiram built Solomon's throne that sat Achashverosh - but I couldn't find the exact source on Sefaria.) (Sorry!)
Another interpretation (of Exod. 35:30): SEE, THE LORD HAS CALLED [… IN WISDOM, UNDERSTANDING, AND KNOWLEDGE]. See the wisdom, [understanding, and knowledge] which I have instilled in his heart (i.e., the heart of Bezalel). By these three things were heaven and earth created, as stated (in Prov. 3:19–20): THROUGH WISDOM THE LORD FOUNDED THE EARTH; HE ESTABLISHED THE HEAVENS THROUGH UNDERSTANDING; [THROUGH HIS KNOWLEDGE THE DEPTHS BURST APART]. Moreover, by these three things was the Tabernacle made, as stated (in Exod. 31:3): AND I HAVE FILLED HIM WITH THE DIVINE SPIRIT IN WISDOM, UNDERSTANDING, AND KNOWLEDGE. Again, by these three things was the Temple made, as stated (in I Kings 7:14): HE (i.e., Hiram) WAS THE SON OF A WIDOW…; AND HE WAS FILLED WITH WISDOM, UNDERSTANDING, AND KNOWLEDGE. And also in the world to come the Temple shall be built on these three things, [as stated (in Prov. 24:3–4): THROUGH WISDOM SHALL A HOUSE BE BUILT, BY UNDERSTANDING SHALL IT BE ESTABLISHED, AND BY KNOWLEDGE SHALL ITS ROOMS BE FILLED WITH ALL PRECIOUS AND LOVELY RICHES. Ergo (in Exod. 31:3): AND I HAVE FILLED HIM <WITH THE DIVINE SPIRIT IN WISDOM, UNDERSTANDING, AND KNOWLEDGE >
The Great Conspiracy of Hiram - A Good Or Bad King?
King Hiram of Tyre sent his officials to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in place of his father; for Hiram had always been a friend of David.
שבעה נכנסו בחייהם לגן עדן אלו הם... חירם מלך צור מאי זכה משום שעשה משכן כמו שעשאו משה דכתיב את כל הכלים האלה מאי אהל זה אהל מועד.
Hiram, king of Tyre
In what did Hiram, king of Tyre, earn his merit (to walk living into Gan Eden)? Because he built a Tabernacle as Moses did; as it is written, Even all these vessels. To what does the word these allude? To the tent of meeting.
Moreover, the king of Tyre sent sophisms and enigmatical sayings to Solomon, and desired he would solve them, and free them from the ambiguity that was in them. Now so sagacious and understanding was Solomon, that none of these problems were too hard for him; but he conquered them all by his reasonings, and discovered their hidden meaning, and brought it to light. (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews)
פַּרְעֹה הָיָה אֶחָד מֵאַרְבָּעָה בְּנֵי אָדָם שֶׁעָשׂוּ עַצְמָן אֱלָהוּת וְהֵרֵעוּ לְנַפְשָׁם, וְאֵלּוּ הֵן: חִירָם, וּנְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר, וּפַרְעֹה, וְיוֹאָשׁ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה. חִירָם מִנַיִן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (יחזקאל כח, ב): אֱמֹר לִנְגִיד צֹר וגו' וַתֹּאמֶר אֵל אָנִי. וּמִנַּיִן שֶׁשִּׁחֵת לְנַפְשׁוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (יחזקאל כח, יז): גָּבַהּ לִבְּךָ בְּיָפְיֶךָ שִׁחַתָּ חָכְמָתְךָ עַל יִפְעָתֶךָ עַל אֶרֶץ הִשְׁלַכְתִּיךָ לִפְנֵי מְלָכִים נְתַתִּיךָ לְרַאֲוָה בָּךְ.
Pharaoh was one of four people who rendered themselves deities and [thereby] caused themselves harm, and they are: Ḥiram, Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, and Yoash king of Judah. Ḥiram, from where is it derived? It is as it is stated: “Say to the prince of Tyre…and you said: I am a god” (Ezekiel 28:2). From where is it derived that he destroyed himself? It is as it is stated: “Your heart was elevated because of your beauty, you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness; I have cast you to the ground, I have placed you before kings to gaze upon you” (Ezekiel 28:17).
But it goes deeper...
דָּבָר אַחֵר, רְאֵה קָרָאתִי בְשֵׁם, זֶה אֶחָד מִשִּׁבְעָה בְּנֵי אָדָם שֶׁנִּקְרְאוּ לָהֶם שֵׁמוֹת, יֵשׁ שֶׁנִּקְרְאוּ לוֹ אַרְבָּעָה זֶה אֵלִיָּהוּ, בְּצַלְאֵל שִׁשָּׁה, וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ שִׁשָּׁה, וּמשֶׁה שִׁבְעָה, מָרְדְּכַי שְׁנַיִם, דָּנִיֵּאל חֲמִשָּׁה, חֲנַנְיָה מִישָׁאֵל וַעֲזַרְיָה אַרְבָּעָה
בְּצַלְאֵל מִשֶּׁל יְהוּדָה וְאָהֳלִיאָב מִדָּן וְהוּא מִזְדַּוֵּג לוֹ, אָמַר רַבִּי חֲנִינָא הַגָּדוֹל וְהַקָּטָן שָׁוִים. לְעוֹלָם אַל יְהֵא אָדָם מַנִּיחַ בְּצֵרוֹ, הַמִּשְׁכָּן בִּשְׁנֵי שְׁבָטִים אֵלּוּ נַעֲשָׂה, וְכֵן הַמִּקְדָּשׁ, שְׁלֹמֹה מִיהוּדָה, וְחִירָם (מלכים א ז, יד): בֶּן אִשָּׁה אַלְמָנָה מִמַטֵּה נַפְתָּלִי.
Another matter, “see, I have called by name,” this is one of seven people who were called by several names. There were those called by four, such as Elijah; Betzalel, six; Joshua, six; Moses, seven; Mordekhai, two; Daniel, five; Ḥananya, Mishael, and Azarya, four...
...Betzalel was from Judah and Oholiav from Dan, and he joined him.
Rabbi Ḥanina said: The great and the lowly are equal. A person should never forsake his strength. The Tabernacle was crafted by these two tribes, and likewise the Temple [was constructed by] Solomon from Judah, and Ḥiram “son of a widowed woman from the tribe of Naphtali” (I Kings 7:14).
The legend of Hiram Abiff as related in Anglo-American Masonic jurisdictions underpins the Third Degree and first appeared in the early 1720s. It generally starts with his arrival in Jerusalem, and his appointment by Solomon as chief architect and master of works at the construction of his temple. As the temple is nearing completion, three fellowcraft masons from the workforce ambush him as he leaves the building, demanding the secrets of a master mason. Hiram is challenged by each in turn and, at each refusal to divulge the information, his assailant strikes him with a mason's tool (differing between jurisdictions). He is injured by the first two assailants, and struck dead by the last.
His murderers hide his body under a pile of rubble, returning at night to move the body outside the city, where they bury it in a shallow grave marked with a sprig of acacia. As the Master is missed the next day, Solomon sends out a group of fellowcraft masons to search for him. The loose acacia is accidentally discovered, and the body exhumed to be given a decent burial. The hiding place of the "three ruffians" is also discovered, and they are brought to justice. Solomon informs his workforce that the secret word of a master mason is now lost. He replaces it with a substitute word which is considered a secret by Masons.
תנן התם כל המסתכל בארבעה דברים ראוי לו שלא בא לעולם מה למעלה מה למטה מה לפנים מה לאחור משלו לה״ד ולא על הבריות בלבד אמרו אלא אף על קונו הוא מתגאה ומה עכשיו שהוא מטונף באיברו הרי הוא ממרא לקונו אילו היה ריחו נודף בקרבו לא כ״ש הוא שאמר הקב״ה לחירם מלך צור בך הסתכלתי ובראתי נקבים נקבים באדם איבעיא להו מהו להתגאות על סרסיני מעשים שלא להושיבם ולדבר עמם
We have learnt there: Whoever speculates upon four things, it were better for him had he not come into the world, viz.: What is above, what is beneath, what is before, what is after. This may be compared with the statement, ‘Not only does he pride himself over his fellow-creatures but also over his Creator’. If being of unclean limbs he rebels against his Creator, how much more so if a perfumed odour filled him! This is what the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Hiram, king of Tyre, ‘[At the Creation] I looked upon you [observing your future arrogance] and created the excretory organs of man’.
Or maybe - just maybe - he was a true craftsman. Not a reincarnation, not a secret King's son or allegory, but sometime who was deeply learned in the way that Ibn Ezra describes - well-rounded, practical and intellectual. A simple man who, through emunah, rose to live in the history books. Who sets an example of how to achieve chochmah, tevunah and da'at.
אמר ר' יוחנן מנין שלא ישנה אדם מאומנותו ומאומנות אבותיו שנאמר (מלכים א ז, יג) וישלח המלך שלמה ויקח את חירם מצר בן אשה אלמנה הוא ממטה נפתלי ואביו איש צרי חרש נחושת