And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the men of Gebal: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house.
All Commentaries on 1 Kings 5:18 Go To 1 Kings 5
Bede
AD 735
“Furthermore the men of Biblos [i.e., the Giblites] prepared wood and stones to build the house.” Biblos is a city in Phoenicia that Ezekiel mentions: “Your skilled men, Tyre, were your pilots. The elders of Biblos and its skilled men,” for which [city] in Hebrew is written Gobel or Gebal, which means “defining” or “limiting.” This word is very appropriate to those who prepare people’s hearts for the spiritual edifice that is built of the virtues of the soul. For they are only equal to the task of teaching their hearers faith and the works of righteousness when they themselves have first been instructed by the sacred page and thoroughly learned from a clear definition of the truth what belief one must hold and on what path of virtue one must walk. For one who does not know what is definitely catholic faith is wasting his time assuming the office of teacher, and those who try to teach others the norm that they themselves have not learned do not build a sanctuary for the Lord but ruin for themselves.
