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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Kings 5:15 - 5:15
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And Solomon had 70,000 bearers of burdens and 80,000 hewers of stone on the mountains (of Lebanon). חֹצֵב is understood by the older translators as referring simply to hewers of stone. This is favoured both by the context, since 1Ki 5:18 speaks of stone-mason's work, and also by the usage of the language, inasmuch as חָצַב is mostly applied to the quarrying and cutting of stones (Deu 6:11; Isa 5:2; Pro 9:1; 2Ki 12:13), and only occurs in Isa 10:15 in connection with the cutting of wood. The hewing and preparing of the wood were amply provided for by 30,000 Israelites. That the 150,000 bearers of burdens and hewers of stone were not taken from the Israelites, is evident from the fact that they are distinguished from the latter, or at all events are not described as Israelites. We obtain certainty on this point from the parallel passages, 1Ki 9:20-21; 2Ch 2:16-17, and 2Ch 8:1-9, according to which Solomon pressed the Canaanites who were left in the land to this bond-service.