(Fig. 46). Seventy thousand were engaged in carrying the materials to the site of the Temple. Eighty thousand were hewing stones, while three thousand three hundred were employed as overseers of the work.
The vast number of persons employed corresponded with the grandeur and magnificence of the house of God, the general plan of which was that of the Tabernacle[1]. In other respects, however, the Tabernacle could not be compared with the Temple, which was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. The house was built of stones hewed and made ready, so that when it was in building, neither hammer nor any iron tool was heard. Then there were besides porches and galleries running all around it, and two large courts[2] for the priests and the people.
- ↑ The Tabernacle. Which is described in chapter XXXVIII.
- ↑ Two large courts. The inner one for the priests, and the outer one for the people. The outer court was surrounded by high walls, on the inner side of which were built houses, several stories high, to serve as dwellings for the Priests and Levites. In the inner or priests’ court were thfe altar of holocausts, and the great laver which on account of its enormous size was called the “molten sea”. It measured ten cubits across and contained 10,000 gallons of water.
