Masons

Concise Bible Dictionary:

These must have had much to do with the building of the temple, and it may be that some of their handiwork is still to be seen in the foundations of the large level place in Jerusalem, called the Mosque enclosure, or the Temple area. It is generally supposed that the temple was built on some part of this enclosure, which had to be erected on the sides of the rock, the lower stones being let into the rock, and stones built upon them until the whole, except the summit of the rock, was a level plain. These stones formed no part of the temple, so that the temple could be destroyed without disturbing them.

There are such stones in situ, which are beautifully shaped and squared, fitting so closely that the blade of a pen-knife cannot be inserted, though there is no mortar between, showing the work of the “stonesquarers.” For such large stones this shows great skill on the part of the masons. Many of the stones have a narrow chiselled draft round the margins. The arches in the cellars, the aqueducts, cisterns, in Palestine, show various different styles of finishing, by which the period in which they were erected may be approximately ascertained (2 Sam. 5:11¹¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house. (2 Samuel 5:11); 2 Kings 12:12¹²And to masons, and hewers of stone, and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it. (2 Kings 12:12); 2 Kings 22:6⁶Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. (2 Kings 22:6); 1 Chron. 14:1¹Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and timber of cedars, with masons and carpenters, to build him an house. (1 Chronicles 14:1); 1 Chron. 22:2²And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God. (1 Chronicles 22:2); 2 Chron. 24:12¹²And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 24:12); Ezra 3:7⁷They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia. (Ezra 3:7)). In the quarry underneath Jerusalem there is evidence by the small chips lying about that many stones were dressed there, ready for their appointed place (compare 1 Kings 6:7⁷And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building. (1 Kings 6:7)).