"And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy.
"And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains;
"Beside the chief of Solomon's officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work.
"And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.
"And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house."[1]
For the successful employment of such great numbers of workmen an effective system of organization was necessary; we are not surprised, therefore, in reading that thirty-three hundred overseers were in service. The efficiency of the system is attested by the success attending the great undertaking. The Israelites and the men of Tyre and Sidon worked in harmony, and much of the building material was shaped by pattern and measurement in forest and quarry; therefore "the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building."[2]
Our primary source of information relating to the erection of the great Temple is the scriptural record contained in I Kings, chapters 6 and 7; a later account appears in II Chronicles, chapters 3 and 4, which account as
- ↑ I Kings 5:13-18.
- ↑ I Kings 6:7; compare Deuteronomy 27:5,6.
