Shelomah · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
ten
שִׁבְעִ֥יםshiv.'Im
H7657
seventy · noun, common masculine plural absolute
thousand
אֶ֖לֶף'E.lef
H505
hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alph… · noun, common both genders singular absolute
bare
נֹשֵׂ֣אno.Se'
H5375
to lift · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
burdens
סַבָּ֑לsa.Bal
H5449
a porter · noun, common masculine singular absolute
fourscore
וּשְׁמֹנִ֥יםu.she.mo.Nim
H8084
eighty · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural absolute
thousand
אֶ֖לֶף'E.lef
H505
hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alph… · noun, common both genders singular absolute
hewers
חֹצֵ֥בcho.Tzev
H2672
to cut or carve (wood · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
mountains
בָּהָֽרba.Har
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Kings 9:20-22 And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel,
2 Chronicles 2:17-18 And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; an…
2 Chronicles 8:7-9 As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were n…
Ezra 2:58 All the Nethinims, and the children of Solomon’s servants, were three hundred ninety and two.
Nehemiah 7:57 The children of Solomon’s servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Perida,
Nehemiah 7:60 All the Nethinims, and the children of Solomon’s servants, were three hundred ninety and two.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 5:10–end
Here is, I. The performance of the agreement between Solomon and Hiram. Each of the parties made good his engagement. 1. Hiram delivered Solomon the timber, according to his bargain, Kg1 5:10. The trees were Solomon's, but perhaps - Materiam superabat opus - The workmanship was of more value than the article. Hiram is therefore said to deliver the trees. 2. Solomon conveyed to Hiram the corn which he had promised him, Kg1 5:11. Thus let justice be followed (as the expression is, Deu 16:20), justice on both sides, in every bargain.
II. The confirmation of the friendship that was between them hereby. God gave Solomon wisdom (Kg1 5:12), which was more and better than any thing Hiram did or coul…
SOLOMON'S WORKMEN AND LABORERS. (Kg1 5:13-18)
Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel--The renewed notice of Solomon's divine gift of wisdom (Kg1 5:12) is evidently introduced to prepare for this record of the strong but prudent measures he took towards the accomplishment of his work. So great a stretch of arbitrary power as is implied in this compulsory levy would have raised great discontent, if not opposition, had not his wise arrangement of letting the laborers remain at home two months out of three, added to the sacredness of the work, reconciled the people to this forced labor. The carrying of burdens and the irksome work of excavating the quarries was assigned to the remnant of the C…
Threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens - These were all strangers, or proselytes, dwelling among the Israelites; as we learn from the parallel place, Ch2 2:17, Ch2 2:18.
John Gill on 1 Kings 5:15
And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens,.... Seventy thousand to carry the stones from the mountains out of which they were dug, and which were near Jerusalem, to the city; these were strangers in Israel, as were those that follow:
and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains: eighty thousand that dug the stones out of the quarries, and squared them; these, with the others, made 150,000, see 2 Chronicles 2:17; according to Jacob Leon (g), the number of workmen at the temple for seven years was 163,600, and some make them more.
(g) Relation of Memorable Things in the Temple, ch. 3. p. 14.
The Church Fathers
These thousands of men employed in the cutting and transportation of the wooden beams and the stones signify the thousands of thousands of assistant spirits sent for our salvation. In the first place, [we see that] God ordered his angels to cut from the rock of the world and to polish and direct accurately the souls of the saints.… Second, in this same symbol, we can observe the toils of the saints for the conversion and salvation of souls, either when they endeavor to drive human beings away from the love of the world or when, after they have accomplished that, they begin to polish the stones cut from the rock until they provide them with luster by a thorough polishing and make them worthy of the heavenly building. Then they are taken and employed by the supreme builder.… Finally we can interpret the workers of Solomon to be the angels sent to accomplish their ministry, as well as the prophets and the apostles chosen from the old people to build the church.… The builders sent by the king of Tyre symbolize those strong in doctrine and holiness, whom the nation of the Gentiles abundantly supplied for the same purpose.
Listen to even greater mysteries. At the time when Solomon built the temple, it was our peacemaker who says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you," "for he himself is our peace," "the peace of God that surpasses all understanding," who himself built the temple for God. Observe what Scripture says about the building of the temple by Solomon: "And there were seventy thousand quarrymen and eighty thousand carriers." Mark the number. The masons who were cutting stones, who were preparing, as it were, the foundations of the buildings, who were taking up stones from the ground to build the temple of God, are reckoned in the number seven, in the prophets, in the patriarchs, for while they seemingly were driving the human race from off the earth, they were making preparations for the temple of the Lord. The latter, the eighty thousand, symbolize the apostolic preaching and the Gospels; these are they who with the Lord Savior and Solomon were carrying the heavy burden of the nations. This surely is the height of mystery, but hear of even deeper mysteries! "And the overseers over the works and the temple were three thousand." They cannot be greater, not even the overseers in charge of the work, except that they proclaim the Trinity.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
Solomon — Peaceful, (Heb. Shelomoh), David’s second son by Bathsheba, i.e., the first after their legal marriage (2 Sam. 12). He was probably born about B.C. 1035 (1 Chr. 22:5; 29:1). He succeeded his father…
Temple, Solomon’s — Before his death David had “with all his might” provided materials in great abundance for the building of the temple on the summit of Mount Moriah (1 Chr. 22:14; 29:4; 2 Chr. 3:1), on the east of the…
Temple, The First · Solomon: Employed all the strangers in preparing for — Solomon: Employed all the strangers in preparing for
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 5:15
And Solomon had 70,000 bearers of burdens and 80,000 hewers of stone on the mountains (of Lebanon). חצב is understood by the older translators as referring simply to hewers of stone. This is favoured both by the context, since Kg1 5:18 speaks of stone-mason's work, and also by the usage of the language, inasmuch as חצב is mostly applied to the quarrying and cutting of stones (Deu 6:11; Isa 5:2; Pro 9:1; Kg2 12:13), and only occurs in Isa 10:15 in connection with the cutting of wood. The hewing and preparing of the wood were amply provided for by 30,000 Israelites. That the 150,000 bearers of burdens and hewers of stone were not taken from the Israelites, is evident from the fact that they ar…
This passage describes Solomon’s work force and the division of labor. Forced labor was a common practice in the ancient Near East (see study note on 4:6).
5:13 Aliens with permanent residency in Israel comprised the bulk of Solomon’s labor force. Native Israelites were apparently temporary supervisors for Solomon’s building projects (9:22-23; 11:28).
Rashi on 1 Kings 5:13
He spoke of trees. Which medical remedy is derived from each [tree], and that a particular tree is best suited for that type of building or to be planted in a particular field. And similarly regarding to animals, what is its cure and the vital elements needed for its development and its food. The Midrash Aggadah [expounds]: Why did God see [fit] that a leper becomes ritually clean with the tallest of the tall [trees]9I.e., cedar tree. and the lowest of the low [trees]?10I.e., hyssop tree. “And of the animals and the fowl,” why did God see fit that this one11Fowl. should become permissible through Shechitah, by severing one organ,12The trachea or the esophagus. and this one,13E.g., cattle, et…
