1 Kings 5:17

17 And the king commanded, that they should take great stones, and precious stones/heavy stones, into the foundament of the temple, (And the king commanded, that they should cut great fine stones/great heavy stones, for the foundation of the Temple,)

1 Kings 5:17 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 5:17

And the king commanded, and they brought great stones
Not in quality, but in quantity, large stones, fit to lay in the foundation; strong, and durable against all the injuries of time, as Josephus says ^F9:

costly stones;
not what are commonly called precious stones, as gems, pearls but stones of value, as marble, porphyry, &c.

[and] hewed stones;
not rough as they were taken out of the quarry, but hewed, and made smooth:

to lay the foundation of the house;
which, though out of sight, was to be laid with goodly stones for the magnificence of the building; so the church of Christ, its foundation is said to be laid even with sapphires and other precious stones, see ( Isaiah 54:11 ) ( Revelation 21:19 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect. 2.

1 Kings 5:17 In-Context

15 And so seventy thousand of them, that bare burdens, were to Solomon, and fourscore thousand of masons in the hill(s), (And so working for Solomon were seventy thousand men who carried loads, and fourscore thousand stonemasons in the hills,)

16 without the sovereigns, that were masters of all the works, by the number of three thousand and three hundred, commanding to the people, and to them that made work. (besides the sovereigns, or the foremen, who were masters over all the work, three thousand and three hundred in number, commanding the people who did the work.)

17 And the king commanded, that they should take great stones, and precious stones/heavy stones, into the foundament of the temple, (And the king commanded, that they should cut great fine stones/great heavy stones, for the foundation of the Temple,)

18 and that they should make those square; which stones the masons of Solomon and the masons of Hiram hewed. And [the] men of Byblos made ready [the] trees and stones, to the house to be builded (And the men of Byblos prepared the wood and the stones, needed to build the Temple).