”Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone in the mountains, besides three thousand three hundred from the chiefs of Solomon’s deputies, who supervised the people who labored in the work. And the king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple. So Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Gebalites quarried them; and they prepared timber and stones to build the temple.“
I Kings 5:15-18 NKJV
a. Seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone: This seems to describe the number of Canaanite slave laborers that Solomon used.
i. Ginzberg relates some of the legends surrounding the building of the temple. “During the seven years it took to build the Temple, not a single workman died who was employed about it, nor even did a single one fall sick. And as the workmen were sound and robust from first to last, so the perfection of their tools remained unimpaired until the building stood complete. Thus the work suffered no sort of interruption” (Ginzberg).
b. Besides three thousand three hundred from the chiefs of Solomon’s deputies: This was the middle management team administrating the work of building the temple.
c. Costly stones: This is literally quality stones, showing that Solomon used high-quality materials even in the foundation where the stones could not be seen.
i. This speaks to the way we should work for God. We don’t work for appearance only, but also to excel in the deep and hidden things. “I want, dear friends, to urge that all our work for God should be done thoroughly, and especially that part of it which lies lowest, and is least observed of men” (Spurgeon).
ii. This speaks to the way God works in us. He works in the deep and hidden things when others are concerned with mere appearances. “We have been the subjects of a great deal of secret, unseen, underground work. The LORD has spent upon us a world of care. My brother, you would not like to unveil those great searchings of heart of which you have been the subject. You have been honored in public; and, if so, you have had many a whipping behind the door lest you should glory in your flesh… All those chastenings, humblings, and searchings of heart have been a private laying of foundations for higher things” (Spurgeon).
iii. This speaks to the way God builds the church. He wants to do a work of deep, strong foundations instead of a work a mile wide but an inch deep. “To maintain solid truth you need solid people. Vital godliness is therefore to be aimed at. Twenty thousand people, all merely professing faith, but having no energetic life, may not have grace enough among them to make twenty solid believers. Poor, sickly believers turn the church into an hospital, rather than a camp” (Spurgeon).
d. The Gebalites quarried them: “Some suppose that these Giblites were the inhabitants of Biblos, at the foot of Mount Libanus, northward of Sidon, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea” (Clarke).
(Guzik)
Foundations!
“All those chastenings, humblings, and searchings of heart have been a private laying of foundations for higher things” (Spurgeon).
I don’t believe I can count the number of chastenings, humblings and searchings of my heart!
Can you count yours?
Blessings
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