1 Kings 5:17

17 Following the king's orders, they quarried huge blocks of the best stone - dressed stone 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 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

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

1 Kings 5:17 In-Context

15 Solomon also had 70,000 unskilled workers and another 80,000 stonecutters up in the hills
16 - plus 3,300 foremen managing the project and supervising the work crews.
17 Following the king's orders, they quarried huge blocks of the best stone - dressed stone for the foundation of The Temple.
18 Solomon and Hiram's construction workers, assisted by the men of Gebal, cut and prepared the timber and stone for building The Temple.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.