1 Kings 5:17

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

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 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.