about them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle and with

valuables, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering" (Ezra 1:6 NASB). Because the

Israelite nation was starting over they only had what was given to them. Therefore they were on

a fixed budget which was determined by whatever they received through the freewill offerings of

others. The difference in the budget is clearly seen in the differences between the first and

second temples. They were so different that the people who had seen the first temple wept about

the less glorious second temple.

Completed Safely

 There is no shortage of conflict on construction sites today, nor was there 3000 years ago.

Exodus 21:18-19 says, "If men have a quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with {his}

fist, and he does not die but remains in bed, [19] if he gets up and walks around outside on his

staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for his loss of time, and

shall take care of him until he is completely healed" (NASB). There were very precise

instructions on how to deal with an injury caused by another. In this case where one man injures

another with sufficient severity to cause him to need to be bed ridden for a time, the offender

must take care of him until he is thoroughly healed and pay for his lost time at work. If the man

dies the offender would be put to death as it says in Exodus 21:12 "He who strikes a man so that

he dies shall surely be put to death."

 The issue of construction safety is not directly dealt with in the Bible, but there are guiding

principles that were most likely followed. For example, the 150,000 workers which were made

up of 70,000 who bore burdens and 80,000 stonecutters were aliens. The 3,600 supervisors were

also aliens. Solomon was generally obedient to God and would be familiar with this scripture in

Exodus regarding aliens: