The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
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Bede
AD 735
And they gave money to thelatomiand to thecementarii, andalso food and drink and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians, to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa. Latomi are hewers of stone. Hence in the Book of Chronicles it is written: And David gave orders that all the resident aliens of the land of Israel should assemble, and from among them he appointed latomi to cut stones., Cementarii are those who make cement from gypsum and limestone for bonding stones together. Thus for latomi and cementarii another translation has 'stonecutters' (caesores lapidum) and 'builders' (fabros). The devout industry of the people should be noted, for they were either buying materials for building the temple or hiring workmen, in no way sparing their own resources that were necessary for them and which they themselves were living on. Now Joppa is a coastal city in Palestine about forty miles away from Jerusalem, whereas Sidon and Tyre were most noble cities of Phoenicia in the vicinity of Mount Lebanon. And so, procuring the assistance of these people, the descendants of the exiles asked for cedar logs from Lebanon to be cut for them and for these to be transported by boats over the sea to Joppa, from where they might in turn be carried over land to Jerusalem for the work of the temple. It is obvious that this was carried out according to the same plan as when the temple was first built. On that occasion Solomon, through his royal power, obtained without any effort whatever he wanted for that work from his friend King Hiram. On this occasion, by contrast, the exiles, who were going back to their homeland after the passing of many years, had to buy all the materials that their longed-for work required, since they did not have the power of a kingdom.
