Definition: And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
Explanation: Okay, letโs break down this verse from 1 Kings 5:13: โAnd king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.โ Here's what it means in simpler terms: โKing Solomon raised a levyโ : This means King Solomon organized a large group of people โ essentially, a team or a collection โ to do something. Think of it like a big team being assigned a task. โout of all Israelโ : This is really important! It means everyone from all the tribes of Israel (the twelve groups of Israelites) was involved in this levy. โand the levy was thirty thousand men.โ : This tells us there were exactly 30,000 people in this group. So, basically, King Solomon asked everyone in Israel to contribute a huge number of people โ around 30,000 โ to build something. What was it for? This is a significant detail and has some interesting implications: Building the Temple: The most widely accepted explanation is that this levy was used to construct the First Temple in Jerusalem. This temple was incredibly important to the Israelites as their central place of worship. A Large Task: It suggests a massive undertaking, requiring a huge amount of effort and manpower. Important Note: Itโs worth noting that while we know about this levy, the exact purpose of the construction is still debated by historians. Some believe it was primarily for religious purposes โ to build a magnificent place for worship. Do you want me to go into more detail about any aspect of this verse? For example, would you like to know: Why this number might be significant? What we donโt know about the purpose of the building?