Masons
Holman Bible Dictionary [1]
2 Samuel 5:11-12 1 Chronicles 22:14-18 1 Kings 5:18 Acts 19:23-41 2 Kings 18:17 1 Chronicles 4:14 Nehemiah 11:35 Jeremiah 37:21 Matthew 27:7 Acts 18:3
Dressed or ashlar masonry was not ordinarily used in private dwellings. The average man built his own home of sun dried brick on a foundation of field stones. Biblical references to masons thus involve public works ( 2 Kings 12:11-15; 2 Kings 22:3-8; Ezra 3:7 ).
Limestone was a primary building stone in the hill country. It was easily cut, and it hardened when exposed to the air. To cut the stone loose from its bed, wooden wedges were driven into triangular slots cut along the line of the split. These wedges were soaked with water. As the wedges expanded, the force split the stone from the bed.
Hammers, punches, and chisels were used to batter and dress the stone followed by rubbing with fine standstone rubbing stones. Blocks could be squared and polished so finely that a blade could not be inserted between the joints.
Masons, under Herod's employ, cut massive limestone blocks as much as 46 feet long, 10 feet thick, and 10 feet high from quarries half a mile from where they were placed in the pediment of the Temple mount. Some of these stones are estimated to weigh as much as 415 tons. They can be seen today in the southwest corner of the Wailing Wall. See Architecture; Arts and Crafts; Building Materials; Guilds; Occupations.
Larry Bruce
Morrish Bible Dictionary [2]
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 'stone-squarers.' 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, etc. in Palestine, show various different styles of finishing, by which the period in which they were erected may be approximately ascertained. 2 Samuel 5:11; 2 Kings 12:12; 2 Kings 22:6; 1 Chronicles 14:1; 1 Chronicles 22:2; 2 Chronicles 24:12; 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: cf. 1 Kings 6:7 .
