Wednesday Bible Study: Construction Contract

The next couple of chapters describe the construction of the first temple. Most scholars think it probably existed, one reason being that its destruction, which is described later, happened within perhaps a generation of whoever wrote this. However, as I have noted earlier, archaeological excavation on the Temple Mount is not possible, so it can't be confirmed by physical evidence. (Archaeological finds which some have claimed to be evidence for the temple have either turned out to be fakes, or are of dubious meaning.) 

In any case, it was highly unlikely to have been as grand as is described here, and we don't know who built it and when. It was almost certainly later than is claimed here because, as I have also noted before, the kingdom at this time, if it really could be called a kingdom at all, did not have the resources for such an undertaking. Nevertheless we are getting to an era where there tend to be more and more grains of truth in the tales. Everything about Solomon's reign is wildly exaggerated if he existed at all, but it's important to the national mythology in a way that earlier stories are not, because it's so tied to a specific place. Note that this continues the Biblical tradition of multiplying numbers by 10 or 100 beyond what is plausible. Note verse 15 et seq. Seventy thousand burden bearers, 80,000 stone cutters and 3,000 construction supervisors for a building of about 250 square meters (see next chapter) would seem to indicate a lot of featherbedding.

5 ^[a] Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father; for Hiram always loved David. ² And Solomon sent word to Hiram, ³ “You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. ⁴ But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor misfortune. ⁵ And so I purpose to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set upon your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’ ⁶ Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me; and my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set; for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sido′nians.”

⁷ When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and said, “Blessed be the Lord this day, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.” ⁸ And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message which you have sent to me; I am ready to do all you desire in the matter of cedar and cypress timber. ⁹ My servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon; and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you direct, and I will have them broken up there, and you shall receive it; and you shall meet my wishes by providing food for my household.” ¹⁰ So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the timber of cedar and cypress that he desired, ¹¹ while Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty thousand^[b] cors of beaten oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year. ¹² And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and the two of them made a treaty.

¹³ King Solomon raised a levy of forced labor out of all Israel; and the levy numbered thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in relays; they would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoni′ram was in charge of the levy. ¹⁵ Solomon also had seventy thousand burden-bearers and eighty thousand hewers of stone in the hill country, ¹⁶ besides Solomon’s three thousand three hundred chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work. ¹⁷ At the king’s command, they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones. ¹⁸ So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the men of Gebal did the hewing and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

Footnotes

1. 1 Kings 5:1 Ch 5.15 in Heb
2. 1 Kings 5:11 Gk: Heb twenty