Besides the chief of Solomon's officers who were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, who ruled over the people that labored in the work.
All Commentaries on 1 Kings 5:16 Go To 1 Kings 5
Ephrem The Syrian
AD 373
These thousands of men employed in the cutting and transportation of the wooden beams and the stones signify the thousands of thousands of assistant spirits sent for our salvation. In the first place, [we see that] God ordered his angels to cut from the rock of the world and to polish and direct accurately the souls of the saints.… Second, in this same symbol, we can observe the toils of the saints for the conversion and salvation of souls, either when they endeavor to drive human beings away from the love of the world or when, after they have accomplished that, they begin to polish the stones cut from the rock until they provide them with luster by a thorough polishing and make them worthy of the heavenly building. Then they are taken and employed by the supreme builder.… Finally we can interpret the workers of Solomon to be the angels sent to accomplish their ministry, as well as the prophets and the apostles chosen from the old people to build the church.… The builders sent by the king of Tyre symbolize those strong in doctrine and holiness, whom the nation of the Gentiles abundantly supplied for the same purpose.
