Then David said, This is the house of Yahweh God, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel.
      2. What preparation he made. In general, he prepared abundantly, as we shall find afterwards; cedar and stones, iron and brass, are here specified, 1 Chronicles 22:2-4; 1 Chronicles 22:2-4. Cedar he had from the Tyrians and the Zidonians. The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift,Psalms 45:12. He also got workmen together, the strangers that were in the land of Israel. Some think that he employed them because they were generally better artists, and more ingenious in manual operations, than the Israelites; or, rather, because he would not employ the free-born Israelites in any thing that looked mean and servile. They were delivered from the bondage of making bricks in Egypt, and must not return to hew stone. These strangers were proselytes to the Jewish religion, but, though not enslaved, they were not of equal dignity with Israelites.