1 Kings 5:16

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹⁰So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted, ¹¹and year after year Solomon would provide Hiram with twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, as well as twenty thousand baths of pure olive oil. ¹²And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty. ¹³Then King Solomon conscripted a labor force of thirty thousand men from all Israel. ¹⁴He sent them to Lebanon in monthly shifts of ten thousand, so that they would spend one month in Lebanon and two months at home. And Adoniram was in charge of the labor force. ¹⁵Solomon had 70,000 porters and 80,000 stonecutters in the mountains, ¹⁶not including his 3,300 foremen who supervised the workers.¹⁷And the king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones. ¹⁸So Solomon's and Hiram's builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the construction of the temple.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

three thousand: In the parallel passage of Chronicles, it is "three thousand six hundred," which is also the reading of the Septuagint here. 1 Kings 9:23, 2 Chronicles 2:2

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 11:28 - he made 2 Chronicles 8:10 - two hundred

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Besides the chief of Solomon's officers which [were] over the work,.... Over the whole work, preparatory for the building of the temple; though it seems chiefly to have respect to that of hewing the stones, and bringing them to the city:

three thousand and three hundred which ruled over the people that wrought in the work; to keep them to their work, and to see that they performed it well: in 2 Chronicles 2:18; they are said to be 3600, which is three hundred more than here; those three hundred are the chief officers mentioned in the former part of this verse, which were over the whole work, and even over the 3600 overseers, and with them made up the sum of 3600; so Jacob Leon h observes there were 3300 master workmen, and three hundred commanders over them all.

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

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Comparing this verse and 1 Kings 9:23 with 2 Chronicles 2:18; 2 Chronicles 8:10, the entire number of the overseers will be seen to be stated by both writers at 3,850; but in the one case nationality, in the other degree of authority, is made the principle of the division.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 5:16. Besides - three thousand and three hundred which ruled over the people — In the parallel place, 2 Chronicles 2:18, it is three thousand six hundred. The Septuagint has here the same number.