spending. Whether he had a budget is uncertain, but it is certain that decisions were made in

light of the cost.

 Solomon made a deal with Hiram, king of Tyre to get the wood needed for his construction

projects. Solomon asked for cedar, cypress, and algum wood and promised to pay wages for the

workers. The exchange between these two kings went back and forth. They came to an

agreement where Solomon would provide Hiram's household and the woodsmen who cut the

timber, 20,000 kors of crushed wheat and 20,000 kors of barley, and 20,000 baths of wine and

20,000 baths of oil year by year in exchange for all the cypress, cedar and algum Solomon

needed, along with a master craftsman to work with Solomon's skilled men (2 Chronicles2:7-

10). Trees take about 20 to 30 years to replace themselves, so Hiram thought that it would be

fair to have food each year for at least that long. This deal was pleasing to both Solomon and

Hiram. The cost to Solomon for the wheat and oil was probably minimal because Canaan/Israel

was a land of wheat and barley (Deuteronomy 8:8). Olive trees were also in abundance just as

Cedar and Cypress trees were in abundance in Tyre. This interaction between Hiram and

Solomon is one example of how financial decisions regarding construction were made in Biblical

times.

 The financial decisions that were made regarding the second temple, in the days of

Zerubbabel were quite different. The Israelites had been in captivity for many years when

Cyrus, king of Persia, issued a decree for the Jews to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:1). He supplied

them with the confiscated materials that were originally in the first temple, "Now this {was}

their number: 30 gold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, 29 duplicates; [10] 30 gold bowls, 410 silver

bowls of a second {kind and} 1,000 other articles" (Ezra 1:9-10 NASB). More finances were

gathered through the generous freewill offerings of the people the Jews lived among, "All those