sided doorposts. [32] So {he made} two doors of olive wood, and he carved on them carvings of

cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the gold on

the cherubim and on the palm trees. [33] So also he made for the entrance of the nave four-sided

doorposts of olive wood (1 Kings 6:31-33 NASB).

 The olive wood may have been used in other ways in construction but the only mention of

it is in the verses just quoted. The cherubim are angelic figures that stood on the Ark of the

Covenant with outstretched arms each five cubits long. The total span with the four wings was

20 cubits or about 30 to 32 feet. They were then overlaid with pure gold. The other use of olive

wood was for the five sided door posts. Why olive wood was used for these is uncertain, but it

may have had something to do with the contact with the dirt. Since pressure treated lumber was

not in existence at that time, wood that was more resistant to weathering was preferred over

others in such cases.

 The Algum tree is only mentioned once in relation to building construction in the Bible,

"From the algum trees the king made steps for the house of the LORD and for the king's palace,

and lyres and harps for the singers; and none like that was seen before in the land of Judah" (2

Chronicles 9:11 NASB). One source of trees was in Lebanon as it says in 2 Chronicles, "Send

me also cedar, cypress and algum timber from Lebanon" (2 Chronicles 2:8 NASB).

 There are two more types of wood mentioned in the Bible that were used to make

structures other than buildings, namely acacia wood and gopher wood. Acacia wood was used to

make the Ark of the Covenant, a unique box used to hold Aarons rod that budded, the Ten

Commandments and ajar of manna. Acacia wood was probably similar to oak or maple.

According to the Hebrew lexicon it was a large tree growing in Egypt and Arabia, having very

hard wood. Other items such as the table of showbread along with its poles to carry it, the