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Bible Terms and Customs: Temple

The Cost of Solomon's Temple. According to the computation of Villalpandus, the talents of gold, silver, and brass, used in the construction of the Temple, amounted to £7,020,227,040. The jewels are reckoned to have exceeded this sum; but, for the sake of an estimate, let their value be set down at the same amount. The vessels of gold (vasa aurea) consecrated to the use of the Temple are reckoned by Josephus at 140,000 talents, which, according to Capels reduction, are equal to £556,424,696. The vessels of silver (vasa argentea) are computed at 1,340,000 talents, or £499,330,602. The silk vestments of the priests cost £1224; the purple vestments of the singers, £2,408,161. The trumpets amounted to £240,816; other musical instruments to £4,896. To these expenses must be added those of the other materials, the timber and stone, and of the labor employed upon them, the labor being divided thus: there were 10,000 men engaged at Lebanon in hewing timber (silvicida); there were 70,000 bearers of burdens (vectores); 20,000 hewers of stone (lapicidina); and 3,300 overseers (episcopi); all of whom were employed for seven years, and upon whom, besides their wages and diet, Solomon bestowed £6,871,404 (donum Solomonis). If the daily food and wages of each man be estimated at

4s. 8d., the sum total will be £95,792,947. The costly stone and the timber in the rough may be set down as at least equal to one-third of the gold, or about £

259,724,081. The several estimates will then amount to £1,584,121,706. Fate of the Apostles. St. Matthew is supposed to have suffered martyrdom, or was put to death by the sword, at the city of Ethiopia. St. Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria, in Egypt, till he expired. St. Luke was hanged upon an olive-tree in Greece. St. John was put into a caldron of boiling oil at Rome, but escaped death. He afterwards died a natural death at Ephesus, in Asia. St. James the Great was beheaded at Jerusalem. St. James the Less was thrown from a pinnacle or wing of the temple, and then beaten to death with a fuller's club. St. Philip was hanged up against a pillar at Hierapolis, a city of Phrygia. St. Bartholomew was flayed alive by the command of a barbarous king. St. Andrew was bound to a cross, whence he preached to the people till he expired. St. Thomas was run through the body by a lance, near Malibar, in the East Indies.