1 Kings 5:14

14 He sent them to the Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts; they would be a month in the Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.

1 Kings 5:14 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 5:14

And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses,
&c.] In their turns; these are the servants of his he proposed to be with Hiram's servants, assisting in cutting down the trees, and squaring the timber in Lebanon, ( 1 Kings 5:6 ) ;

a month they were in Lebanon, [and] two months at home;
that they might not be overworked; for they wrought but four months in the year in the hard service in Lebanon, the rest of their time was spent in managing their domestic affairs; these were Israelites:

and Adoniram [was] over the levy:
the same that was over the tribute or the collectors of the tax, ( 1 Kings 4:6 ) ; and, according to the Targum, these were such persons.

1 Kings 5:14 In-Context

12 So the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and the two of them made a treaty.

13 King Solomon conscripted forced labor out of all Israel; the levy numbered thirty thousand men.

14 He sent them to the Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts; they would be a month in the Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.

15 Solomon also had seventy thousand laborers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country,

16 besides Solomon's three thousand three hundred supervisors who were over the work, having charge of the people who did the work.