“... An inscription of Amenhotep III reports (Lichtheim 1980: 451; ANET, 375): I made another monument to my father Amon-re. .. by making for him the great boat of the Nile (named) 'Amon-Re of the strong forehead' out of new pine wood which my royal majesty cut down in the countries of the land of the god and dragged from the mountains of Retinu by the great ones of all the foreign lands. This passage is reminiscent of the Mesopotamian texts which describe how the king personally cut down trees in the Lebanon and then had them shipped home by foreign kings. [...] Solomon too was personally involved in acquiring wood from the forests of the Lebanon and having it provided by a foreign king, although he makes no claim to have gone to the forest and chopped the trees down with his own hatchet. [...] It seems therefore that the the biblical passage and the extra-biblical royal inscriptions have much in common. Even so, there are several significant differences in substance and ideas as well as in literary formulation. The biblical account contains not the slightest hint of the military dimension characteristic of the extra-biblical sources. Solomon may wield influence over the Lebanon, as indicated by Hiram's gifts and blessing, but there is no indication of any conquest or subjugation of the Lebanon and its inhabitants. Furthermore, the presents sent by the 'kings of the nations' (following the Greek of 1 Kgs 5.14) do not include the wood, which Hiram sends Solomon at a price. Solomon is personally involved in acquiring the wood, but only as a trader, and not as a conquering king plundering at will or demanding tribute. ...”