1 Kings 5:15

15 And Solomon had seventy thousand that bore burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains;

1 Kings 5:15 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 5:15

And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens,
&c.] Seventy thousand to carry the stones from the mountains out of which they were dug, and which were near Jerusalem, to the city; these were strangers in Israel, as were those that follow:

and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains:
eighty thousand that dug the stones out of the quarries, and squared them; these, with the others, made 150,000, see ( 2 Chronicles 2:17 ) ; according to Jacob Leon ^F7, the number of workmen at the temple for seven years was 163,600, and some make them more.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Relation of Memorable Things in the Temple, ch. 3. p. 14.

1 Kings 5:15 In-Context

13 And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel, and the levy was thirty thousand men,

14 whom he sent to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses; they were a month in Lebanon and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the levy.

15 And Solomon had seventy thousand that bore burdens and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains;

16 besides Solomon’s chief officers who were over the work, there were three thousand three hundred who ruled over the people that did the work.

17 And the king commanded that they bring great stones, costly stones, for the foundation of the house, and hewed stones.