1 Kings 5:16

16 Besides the chiefs of the officers Solomon had, there were three thousand three hundred having charge over the people who were doing the work.

1 Kings 5:16 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 5:16

Besides the chief of Solomon's officers which [were] over the
work
Over the whole work, preparatory for the building of the temple; though it seems chiefly to have respect to that of hewing the stones, and bringing them to the city:

three thousand and three hundred which ruled over the people that
wrought in the work;
to keep them to their work, and to see that they performed it well: in ( 2 Chronicles 2:18 ) ; they are said to be 3600, which is three hundred more than here; those three hundred are the chief officers mentioned in the former part of this verse, which were over the whole work, and even over the 3600 overseers, and with them made up the sum of 3600; so Jacob Leon ^F8 observes there were 3300 master workmen, and three hundred commanders over them all.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Relation of Memorable Things in the Temple, ch. 3. p. 14.

1 Kings 5:16 In-Context

14 He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand {every month}; the work groups were a month in Lebanon and two months at home; now Adoniram was over the forced labor.

15 Solomon had seventy thousand {common laborers} and eighty thousand stone craftsmen in the hill country.

16 Besides the chiefs of the officers Solomon had, there were three thousand three hundred having charge over the people who were doing the work.

17 When the king commanded, they quarried great stones [and] precious stones to lay [the] foundation of the house [with] hewn stones.

18 So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites hewed [stones], and they prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.