ruler, measuring rod, and chisel. All of these tools and devices, along with machinery, must

have been available in order to build large structures such as Solomon's Temple. Mr. Schwartz

mentions numerous pieces of equipment from pile drivers to cranes but most of these are not

mentioned in the Bible but rather in his other sources of information. He does make reference to

construction materials mentioned in the Bible such as quarried limestone, stone masonry, timber,

brick, and mortar. Overall this is a good source for information about how large structures were

built in Biblical times based on information derived from extra-Biblical sources.

 De Geus (2003) wrote about the towns in the Southern Levant between 925 B.C. and 720

B.C. The Southern Lavant consists of modern Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian

Territories. The purpose of his book was to describe what a town was like during a Biblical

period from an archaeologist's point of view. The source of information is purely archaeological

and focused on the architecture of a Biblical town as opposed to Biblical cities. With the eyes of

an archaeologist he reveals some interesting information about such topics as houses,

sanctuaries, temples, water systems and tombs.

 Thompson (1986) wrote about life in Biblical times with much information on what homes

and villages, weights and measures, industry, furniture, water supply among many other topics

were like during the time Jesus lived on earth. The author labels all of the information that can

be found in the Bible by putting the verse with arrows pointing to the sentences that contain

information from that verse. This is helpful to show that his information has a Biblical base, but

since Thompson's goal was not to write only what the Bible records but rather what can be

concluded through the combination of all existing sources, it is difficult to ascertain the source of

the information without thoroughly checking each scripture reference.