Masons

Dressed or ashlar masonry was not ordinarily used in private dwellings. The average man built his own home of sun dried brick on a foundation of field stones. Biblical references to masons thus involve public works (2 Kings 12:11-15; 2 Kings 22:3-8; Ezra 3:7 ).

Limestone was a primary building stone in the hill country. It was easily cut, and it hardened when exposed to the air. To cut the stone loose from its bed, wooden wedges were driven into triangular slots cut along the line of the split. These wedges were soaked with water. As the wedges expanded, the force split the stone from the bed.

Hammers, punches, and chisels were used to batter and dress the stone followed by rubbing with fine standstone rubbing stones. Blocks could be squared and polished so finely that a blade could not be inserted between the joints.

Masons, under Herod's employ, cut massive limestone blocks as much as 46 feet long, 10 feet thick, and 10 feet high from quarries half a mile from where they were placed in the pediment of the Temple mount. Some of these stones are estimated to weigh as much as 415 tons. They can be seen today in the southwest corner of the Wailing Wall. See Architecture; Arts and Crafts; Building Materials; Guilds; Occupations.

Larry Bruce