1 Kings 5 (summary): Preparations for building the Temple

Solomon realized that now in peaceful days he could concentrate on building the temple in Jerusalem so he made an agreement with King Hiram of Tyre, who was a friendly neighbour, for him to provide cedar and pine logs from Lebanon for the construction, with Solomon providing labour to work with that of Hiram, and all the salaries being paid by Solomon. Solomon paid Hiram with vast quantities of wheat and oil. The workforce was very large with a core group of 30,000 men working in shifts of 10,000 with the timber cutting, one month on two months off. Then there were 70,000 carriers, 80,000 stonecutters as well as 3,300 foremen. It was a massive workforce.