King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men. He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses; for a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the men subject to forced labor. Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains; besides Solomon’s chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who ruled over the people who labored in the work.
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1 Kings 5:13-16 sits inside this longer paragraph.
So Hiram gave Solomon cedar timber and cypress timber according to all his desire. Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat for food to his household, and twenty cors of pure oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year. Yahweh gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together. King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men. He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses; for a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the men subject to forced labor. Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains; besides Solomon’s chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who ruled over the people who labored in the work. The king commanded, and they cut out large stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with worked stone. Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites cut them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.
Parallel Translations
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King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
He sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses; for a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the men subject to forced labor.
Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains;
besides Solomon’s chief officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who ruled over the people who labored in the work.
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And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy.
And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains;
Beside the chief of Solomon’s officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work.
Show all 3 translations
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(5-27) And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
(5-28) And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home; and Adoniram was over the levy.
(5-29) And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bore burdens, and fourscore thousand that were hewers in the mountains;
(5-30) besides Solomon's chief officers that were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who bore rule over the people that wrought in the work.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (12)
- 1 Kings 9:15 (v13) This is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised, to build Yahweh’s house, his own house, Millo, Jerusalem’s wall, Hazor, Megiddo,…
- 1 Kings 9:23 (v16) These were the five hundred fifty chief officers who were over Solomon’s work, who ruled over the people who labored in the work.
- 1 Kings 4:6 (v13) Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.
- 1 Kings 9:20-22 (v15) As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the…
- 2 Chronicles 2:2 (v16) Solomon counted out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, eighty thousand men who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand…
Show all 12 cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 2:17-18 (v15) Solomon counted all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the census with which David his father had counted them; and they…
- 1 Kings 4:6-19 (v14) Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor. Solomon had twelve officers over all…
- 1 Chronicles 27:1-15 (v14) Now the children of Israel after their number, the heads of fathers’ households and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and their…
- 2 Chronicles 8:7-9 (v15) As for all the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel;…
- Ezra 2:58 (v15) All the temple servants, and the children of Solomon’s servants, were three hundred ninety-two.
- Nehemiah 7:57 (v15) The children of Solomon’s servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Perida,
- Nehemiah 7:60 (v15) All the temple servants and the children of Solomon’s servants were three hundred ninety-two.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v16 Or, masters of the work.
Or, masters of the work.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv13–16 1Ki 5:13 And king Solomon raised a levy out…
1Ki 5:13 And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
Ver. 13. And king Solomon raised a levy.] Heb., A tribute of men, perhaps of aliens, or such as the Gibeonites were in Israel.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv13, 15, 16 Which were to be employed in the most honourable…
Which were to be employed in the most honourable and easy parts of the work relating to the temple, in manner expressed, 1Ki 5:14. And these were Israelites; but those 150,000, mentioned 1Ki 5:15, were strangers, by comparing this with 1Ki 9:21,22. If it seem strange to any man that so many thousands should be employed about so small a building as the temple was, it must be considered,
1. That the temple, all its parts being considered, was far larger than men imagine, of which more hereafter.
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2. That it is probable, that they were employed by turns, as the 30,000 were, 1Ki 5:14, else they had been oppressed with hard and uninterrupted labours.
3. That the timber and stone hewed and carried by them was designed, not only (though principally) for the temple, but also for Solomon’s own houses and buildings; because we read of no other levy of men, nor of any great care and pains taken, after the building of the temple, for the procurement or preparation of materials for his own houses, or his other buildings; which implies, that that work was done before; nay, that this very levy of men was made and employed for the building of the Lord’s house, and Solomon’s house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor and Megiddo, and Gezer, is expressed 1Ki 9:15, which may fully satisfy that scruple.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv13–16 And King Solomon raised a levy out of all…
And King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel,.... Not of money, but of men, as follows:
and the levy was thirty thousand men; for what purpose, and how they were employed, Kg1 5:14 shows.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv13, 16 The levy - Which were to be employed in…
The levy - Which were to be employed in the most honourable and easy parts of the work relating to the temple; and these were Israelites; but those fifteen hundred thousand mentioned ver. 15, were strangers. If it seem strange, that so many thousands should be employed about so small a building as the temple was; it must be considered,
1. that the temple, all its parts being considered, was far larger than men imagine;
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2. that it is probable, they were employed by turns, as the thirty thousand were, ver. 14, else they had been oppressed with hard and uninterrupted labours.
3. that the timber and stone hewed and carried by them, was designed, not only for the temple, but also for Solomon's own houses, and buildings; because we read of no other levy of men, nor of any care and pains taken after the building of the temple, for the procurement, or preparation of materials for his own houses, or his other buildings; nay, that this very levy of men was made and employed for the building of the Lord's house, and Solomon's house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer, is expressed chap. ix, 15.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv13, 15, 16 Verse 13. The levy was thirty thousand men.] We…
Verse 13. The levy was thirty thousand men.] We find from the following verse that only ten thousand were employed at once, and those only for one month at a time; and having rested two months, they again resumed their labour. These were the persons over whom Adoniram was superintendent, and were all Israelites.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv13, 15 1Ki 5:13. Solomon raised a levy — Which were…
1Ki 5:13. Solomon raised a levy — Which were to be employed in the most honourable and easy parts of the work relating to the temple, in the manner expressed 1Ki 5:14; and these were Israelites; but those one hundred and fifty thousand mentioned 1Ki 5:15 were strangers. if it seem strange that so many thousands should be employed about so small a building as the temple was, it must be considered, 1st, That the temple, all its parts being considered, was far larger than men imagine: 2d, That it is probable they were employed by turns, as the thirty thousand were, (1Ki 5:13,) else they had been oppressed with hard and uninterrupted labours: 3d, That the timber and stone hewed and carried by them were designed, not only for the temple, but also for Solomon’s own houses and buildings; because we read of no other levy of men, nor of any care and pains taken, after the building of the temple, for the procurement or preparation of materials for his own houses, or his other buildings; nay, that this very levy of men was made and employed for the building of the Lord’s house, and Solomon’s house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer, is expressed chap. 1Ki 9:15.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv13, 15, 16 A levy out of all Israel - This was,…
A levy out of all Israel - This was, apparently, the first time that the Israelites had been called upon to perform forced labor, though it had been prophesied 1Sa 8:16. David had bound to forced service “the strangers” 1Ch 22:2; but hitherto the Israelites had escaped. Solomon now, in connection with his proposed work of building the temple, with the honor of God as an excuse, laid this burden upon them. Out of the 1,300, 000 able-bodied Israelites 2Sa 24:9, a band of 30,000 - one in forty-four - was raised, of whom one-third was constantly at work in Lebanon, while two-thirds remained at home, and pursued their usual occupations. This, though a very light form of task work, was felt as a great oppression, and was the chief cause of the revolt of the ten tribes at Solomon’s death 1Ki 12:4.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv14–16 Levy, or tribute. The men had only to procure…
Levy, or tribute. The men had only to procure stones, as the Tyrians had engaged to do all which regarded the wood. (Calmet) --- These were Israelites. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v13 SOLOMON'S WORKMEN AND LABORERS. (Kg1 5:13-18)
SOLOMON'S WORKMEN AND LABORERS. (Kg1 5:13-18)
Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel--The renewed notice of Solomon's divine gift of wisdom (Kg1 5:12) is evidently introduced to prepare for this record of the strong but prudent measures he took towards the accomplishment of his work. So great a stretch of arbitrary power as is implied in this compulsory levy would have raised great discontent, if not opposition, had not his wise arrangement of letting the laborers remain at home two months out of three, added to the sacredness of the work, reconciled the people to this forced labor. The carrying of burdens and the irksome work of excavating the quarries was assigned to the remnant of the Canaanites (Kg1 9:20; Ch2 8:7-9) and war prisoners made by David--amounting to 153,600. The employment of persons of that condition in Eastern countries for carrying on any public work, would make this part of the arrangements the less thought of.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv13–16 THE LABORERS AT LEBANON, 1Ki_5:13-18.
THE LABORERS AT LEBANON, 1Ki_5:13-18.
13. Levy — See note on 1Ki_4:6, and 2Sa_20:24.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv13–16 13–18. Solomon’s levy of forced labourers for the work…
13–18. Solomon’s levy of forced labourers for the work on Lebanon (2Ch_2:1-2; 2Ch_2:17-18)
13. a levy] The men selected had to give their labour. Such compulsory service has been a not unusual demand of Oriental monarchs. If we take the census of the people as it is given in 2Sa_24:9 we find that the 30,000 labourers required for this work were rather more than 2 per cent. of the numbers given in by Joab to David. Of course this levy only lasted so long as the work on Lebanon was in hand. The levy of bondservice mentioned in 1Ki_9:21 was of a different kind. The strangers there spoken of were made perpetually to do forced labour. Josephus considers the present levy to have been no hardship. He says that Solomon ἄπονον τὴν ἐργασίαν κατέστησε. And probably the object for which the work was done would lend some enthusiasm to the labourers. Samuel (1Sa_8:16) had given the people warning that their kings would make such demands upon their service.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv13, 16 (13) Levy out of all Israel.—This, though far from…
(13) Levy out of all Israel.—This, though far from being onerous, appears to have been at this time exceptional. For in 1Ki_9:22 we read that “of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains.” Thus exceptionally introduced at first for the special service of God, it may have been the beginning of what was hereafter an oppressive despotism over the Israelites themselves. Probably even now the Israelite labourers were (under the chief officers) put in authority over the great mass of 150,000 bondmen, evidently drawn from the native races. (See 2Ch_2:17.) But the whole description suggests to us—what the history of Exodus, the monuments of Egypt, and the description by Herodotus of the building of the Pyramids confirm—the vast sacrifice of human labour and life, at which (in the absence of machinery to spare labour) the great monuments of ancient splendour were reared.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv13–16 And King Solomon raised a levy Marg., tribute of…
And King Solomon raised a levy Marg., tribute of men, i.e., conscription out of all Israel (i.e. , the people, not the land Ewald) and the levy was thirty thousand men. That is, if we may trust the figures of the census given in 2Sa_24:9 which do not agree, however, with those of, (1Ch_21:5) the conscription only affected one in forty of the male population. But even the lower estimate of Samuel is regarded with some suspicion. Such a levy was predicted. (1Sa_8:16)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv14–15 A month they were in Lebanon, and two months…
1Ki_5:14
A month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home.
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Church and home
The building of the temple was the distinctive glory of the reign of Solomon, the most important monument of his administration. Although its erection was not originally contemplated in the Mosaic law, it had long been evident that such a building was necessary.
I. Every great undertaking demands great and varied effort for its accomplishment. The design of the temple, originated by David, had been adopted and elaborated by Solomon. Solomons was the inspiring and directing mind. The results which fill us with gladness bear a direct proportion to their causes. Out of nothing, nothing comes. You can achieve no worthy purpose, you can rear no solid structure, either as a witness to the glory of God or a place of sanctuary and healing for men, without an expenditure of thought, of affection, and of energy. In matters temporal and spiritual alike, success is, under the blessing of God, given to unrestrained labour. There is being reared among men a grander temple than Solomons. Believers in Jesus Christ are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Corner-stone. It is for us to dig deep in the earth, to fashion the stones into shape, to place them row upon row, until the whole edifice is complete. We have to rear the columns, to execute the carved workmanship, and to fix in their places the richly stained windows.
II. The importance of the duties which belong to our business and our home. A month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home. The men whom Solomon drafted off to aid him in his momentous task were not to neglect the cultivation of their fields and their vineyards. Devotion to the duties of religion neither justifies nor requires the neglect of our secular calling. Business also is a Divine appointment; an essential element in our moral and spiritual education; training us to habits which can be learned in no other way so simply and effectually. So likewise of our homes. The family is the oldest of all our institutions, older even than the Church. Our first thoughts are associated with it. We should not be absent from our homes more than is really needful. Do not forget the proportion--one month at Lebanon and two at home. By no ethical or spiritual standard with which I am acquainted can negligence be justified. No husband is true to his name unless he is indeed of house and home the band and stay. Even religious and philanthropic meetings should not be allowed to thrust home duties into a corner. (J. Stuart.)
Homes and how to make them
Every human being ought to be a member of some household, and every household ought to have a fixed place of residence, a place of its own--in one word, both short and sweet, a home. That is the only right way of living. A home is, for every human being, the first condition of the highest happiness and the best growth. No one ought to be satisfied until he has supplied it for himself. There are among us a multitude of homeless ones. Of these there are several sorts. There are the sturdy tramps, who go wandering about from city to city and from hamlet to hamlet, stopping where night finds them. When men take up the trade of vagrancy, they are too apt to follow it as long as they live. We cannot afford to have this subdivision of our homeless class increase. Next are the gypsies, that dusky race from over the seas, who have managed for so many years to puzzle the ethnologists and frighten the children. Here is a whole race that for centuries has been homeless, and for that reason has no history, no literature, not much religion if any, and hardly any knowledge of the arts of civilisation. Such possessions and acquirements as these are scarcely within the reach of people who have no homes: Next after the gypsies there is a considerable class of persons who are too restless to stay long in any place, and whose lives are spent in constant migrations from one place to another; who tarry nowhere long enough to get wanted. Next after the floating population comes that large class of persons who have a local residence but not a local habitation; who continue to live in the same community, but do not live in homes; who make their abode in such public residences as hotels or boarding-houses. Now, as respects these, it must be said that many of them are compelled to adopt this manner of life. Young men and women whose homes have been broken up by the death of their parents, or who have been called forth from the habitation of their childhood to seek education and livelihood in distant places, cannot, of course, have homes of their own.
1. The strongest justification of the home life, is in the fact that there are certain affections of the soul that can be developed in no other manner of life. The domestic virtues and graces are not easily described or catalogued, but they form an important part of the best human character. There are sentiments, sympathies, habitudes of thought, which are native to the home, and which are essential to the best growth and highest development of human beings. Domesticity gives to every beautiful character an added charm. No man is truly good who is not good at home; and the best men are always best on the side that touches home.
2. Public spirit is fed and fostered at the fireside. The man who has a home of his own is interested that the community in which he lives should be lacking in nothing that could help to make it desirable as a place of residence. He who makes himself a householder by that act gives a hostage to society for his good behaviour and his devotion to public interests. Patriotism, too, has its foundations laid upon the hearthstones of the land. The patriots love for his country is rooted and grounded in his love for his home. And for the nations heart-beats you must listen in the nations homes. When the great mass of the people are not only householders but free-holders--when they own the homes they live in--the sentiment of patriotism finds its intensest development.
3. Your home must be a place of comfort and repose. That, of course. You will take delight in contriving all its appointments so that the burdens of toil shall rest as lightly as possible upon those who have the ordering of it; you will find pleasure in furnishing and arranging it, so far as you can, in such manner that gloom and cheerlessness shall be excluded, and it shall seem to be a true haven of rest and good cheer to all upon whom its hospitable doors shall open.
4. Your home must be a school of culture. I do not mean that you will fill it with pedagogic instruments and appliances; but it will be so arranged as to educate by impression those who dwell within it. Probably few of us are fully aware how sensitive we are to the influence of external objects. A minister travelling in Vermont entered a farmhouse, and fell into conversation with a farmer and his wife, persons in middle age. He inquired for their children, and learned that they had four boys, and that they were all at sea, following the hard trade of the sailor. But how happened it, asked the minister, that your boys should take such a fancy? They never lived by the seashore. The good people could offer no explanation whatever. It was simply a notion, they said, and a strange one, they had always thought, but it was a very strong one, and they had found it impossible to dissuade the boys from their purpose. But, pretty soon, the minister was invited into the little room which served the family for parlour, and there, hanging over the mantelpiece, the only picture in the room, was a magnificent engraving of a ship under full sail. The parents said it had been hanging there ever since their boys were little children. Who could doubt that the daily sight of this beautiful picture had had much to do in inflaming the passions of the farmers boys for the seafaring life? This is hardly an exaggerated instance of the effects produced upon our lives by the objects that surround us.
5. Your home will also be a place of enjoyment. Innocent play will often be in order. If there are young folks in the house, they will more easily be kept at home by liberal provision in this direction than in any other way. The grown people should not only tolerate the childrens pastimes, they should participate in them for their own sakes, as well as for the childrens.
6. Finally, your home, when it is builded, will be, I trust, a sanctuary of religion. There will be an altar there on which, every day, the sacrifices of prayer and praise will be laid. The children of your household will remember, when they are grown up, that their first impressions of the Christian life, and their strongest impulses to enter upon it, were furnished them in their earliest years at home. (W. Gladden.)
The conduct of life
I.
The wisdom of regulated time.--In the days in which kings could command the labour of their people, sometimes without regard to their peoples convenience, the wisdom of Solomon was shown in this, that he did not press over-harshly upon the people under his command. He gave them labour to do, but tempered it with the opportunity of following their own avocations. When he wanted wood hewn down from Lebanon, he arranged that those who were to be the labourers in this behalf were to work in what we call relays or shifts; they were to spend one month in Lebanon doing that work which was needful for the temple of the Lord, but two months they were to spend at home. It is this division of work, time, and labour, which constitutes one of the suggestions of wisdom. Every man was brought face to face with two sides of lifes own affairs, which were constantly pressing upon him, and the larger affairs and interests of the nation. Every man was brought face to face with two aspects of life--the aspect of life in which he had to labour for the support of his own family, and the aspect of his life in which he had to be contributing his share towards the work, as it were, of God in the world. They were to recognise two things--the Divine side and the human side, the heavenly side and the home side of their careers, and therefore they were given that opportunity which contributed to the enlargement of their thoughts. You see, then, the principle which comes here in the conduct of life. What principle then shall I adopt? This, that whatever else my life shall be it shall not be wanting in the capacity of living on the slopes of Lebanon and facing the Divine thought and the Divine meaning of life, neither shall it be so much the life of an indolent recluse, that it cannot minister amidst the neighbours and the friends of my own old home.
II. The right synthesis of life. Is not this the combination.of exactly the two principles--the recognition of the great Divine, the aspiring aspect of life, the recognition also of its serious and solemn duties; the recognition of God, and the recognition also of self as a labourer in the midst of the world. A man who lives upon the slopes of Lebanon all the year round, and is acquainted with the cedars of Lebanon, and knows something of the sky, over his head, and the shifting scenes of the beauty of that sky, may be absolutely without any knowledge whatever about the big world and the home and the children that he has left there, and the man in the home. Why, what destroys our judgment, what makes us full of pride, but this, that we live so much in our own little affairs, that we arc not capable of taking a dispassionate view at all. This man, so eager in business, so devoted to it, measures an event entirely by the influence it will have upon his opportunity, industry, or vocation, as the man who merely measures the legislation which is proposed in the Houses of Parliament by its effect upon his own trade. This makes it impossible for him to judge dispassionately. In order to escape from the egotism which thrusts aside and perverts your judgment you should live somewhat in the Lebanon, that you may come back to the world, and judge somewhat impartially concerning the affairs and the propositions for the improvement of life.
III. How to grow character. Not only does all this improve and strengthen the powers and faculties of your minds, delivering you from one-sidedness, delivering you from a dreamy, unreal idea of life, and from that careworn egotism which distorts men from the larger outlook, but it also tends to strengthen character. Over and over again it has been said thought ripens in solitude, character in the busy world. So true it is. Like the artist who wishes to paint his picture truly, you must sometimes go to a distance from your easel to judge of it in its due proportion. Character loses its proportion from being continually in one atmosphere. So, to come down from your Lebanon into the busy world, and test your theories in life, is to find that your character grows by the strenuous necessity of exerting your judgment and exercising your will. Live amongst your fellow-men that you may exercise that, and that you may test judgment, live also upon the sunny heights where the sunlight of God falls, in order that you may have the warm affectionate, glowing interest in things that take away from you the meanness and selfishness in your lives.
IV. Life without reserves. The man who lives--and that is the great temptation in the present day--so much in the busy world that he becomes an eager and constant citizen, following his avocation with keenness, and also public affairs, if you will, with a certain amount of attention, but has no quiet garden, as it were, within his life, Is a man without what I call the reserves of life. As in military matters the strength of a position is guarded by reserves, so the strength of your influence will be in proportion to the possession of some reserve in your being, something which is yours and Gods and nobody elses. Like the difference between one man and another is the difference often between the fact that you feel as one speaks he is putting all his wares upon the counter immediately before you, but as another man speaks you know that he is like the prudent shopkeeper who has a large storehouse behind and plenty to bring forth. Also the power that the man is wielding when he is driving the nail into the wall, is not to be measured by the sharpness of the nail, not even the surface of the hammer, but the weight of the hammer which drives the nail home. And so it is that.men have been, thought to be strong and great in their influence. Emerson, in his essay on Character, calls attention to the fact that Lord Chatham and Mirabeau and Washington, when their achievements are examined, strike you as having left upon the record less reason for their reputation than their reputations seemed, as it were, to lead you to expect; they were bigger in their reputation than in their actual achievement. Is this to their discredit? Nay, nay. Washington lives, you will say, less upon the result of achievement than his great reputation would have led you to expect. But it was precisely because these men carried a weight behind them that they were able to achieve what they did. You are poising the hammer in your hand, and you say it has driven but a few inches home; yes, but what a weight of iron there was in the hammer, and how many inches it could have driven home! This is the possession of reserves. Men knew that there was force behind these men. So I would have it with you. Cultivate, therefore, this habit--the accumulation of the reserves of knowledge, the accumulation of reserves of will, the accumulation of reserves of noble and lofty thoughts, the accumulation of reserves of deep and magnanimous ambitions. Live somewhat on the side of Gods Lebanon, whatever else you do. Is this selfish that I should say thus prepare yourselves to be strong and worthy in the world? Nay, nay. Just as it is the highest hills that catch the sunshine first, and they are the pledges that by and by every valley shall be filled with sunshine, so is it true that there are men in a nation that are making these accumulations of sunny knowledge, they are the harbingers, the omens, that knowledge will be widely diffused. And you who have made these reserves, lived somewhat upon Lebanon and caught the diviner ideas, will be centres of influence for good, because, wherever you may be placed in the world, you will have reserves and accumulations which you can use in helping on and in forming and inspiring the minds and the lives of others. There is a reserve which you need more than all else--the reserve of the Divine help. You must live upon the Lebanon which means communion with God. Jesus Christ, your Master and mine, gave that counsel, that there should be a little Lebanon height of prayer in each mans life, when he could be away from the care and the fret and the fevered ambitious of life. (W. Boyd Carpenter.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15 General Information:
General Information:
Solomon forces men to build the Temple.
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conscripted labor out of all Israel
"forced men from all over Israel to work"
in shifts
That is, there were three groups that took turns spending one month in Lebanon and two months at home.
One month they were in Lebanon and two months at home
Each of the three groups spent one month working in Lebanon and then two months at home in Israel.
the men who were subjected to forced labor
This can be translated in active form. AT: "the men whom Solomon was forcing to work for him" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
labor
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 16 5:13-18 This passage describes Solomon’s work force and the…
5:13-18 This passage describes Solomon’s work force and the division of labor. Forced labor was a common practice in the ancient Near East (see study note on 4:6).
5:13 Aliens with permanent residency in Israel comprised the bulk of Solomon’s labor force. Native Israelites were apparently temporary supervisors for Solomon’s building projects (9:22-23; 11:28).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.