5:6 cedars of Lebanon. These trees were famous in the ancient Near East and often used in building royal palaces and temples.

no one . . . who knows how. The Israelites did not have the craftsmen and artisans needed to construct the temple by themselves.

Sidonians. Taken in a narrow sense, they were the residents of the port city of Sidon north of Tyre. Here the term probably refers to the inhabitants of Tyre, Gebal (Byblos), and Sidon, the people who were later called the Phoenicians.