Temple of Solomon - Budget

In 1 Chronicles 22:14 we get an idea of how much wealth David stored up to build the temple.

Basically 3450 metric tons of gold - $217bn

34500 metric tonnes of silver - $34.5bn

So more than $250bn set aside for one building which while spiritually significant and furnished to the highest quality should not have cost that much.

To put this in perspective cost estimates for other buildings:

Parthenon 500 years later cost about $15m ( about 460 talents of silver)

Great Pyramid in Egypt would cost about $5bn with today's technology.

Grand mosque in mecca 1600 years later comes in around $100bn

It is possible Herods refurbishment and extension of temple created a more impressive building. But I cannot find a reliable cost estimate. The building itself stood for less than 100 years but its foundations are still there.

In fact the only other comparable mega project I can find is the Apollo missions coming in at about $300bn in today's money.

So my questions are these:

1) Since we do not spend anything like this today in an attempt to honour God have we lost our way?

2) Did Solomon get value for money in what he built or do you reckon he took some of that money for other projects?

3) Since this money was the proceeds of David's victories over numerous local kings and his conquests of territory, what effect do you think the reallocation of all this wealth on a single project had on the local economies?

JackRT said:

In places the Bible seems prone to great numerical exaggeration:
* ages of the patriarchs
* population during the exodus
* this

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I do not see any reason to doubt the numbers. Basically David ransacked the national treasuries of a lot of local powers. Also I priced the gold and silver in todays prices.

If you believe the account of the fall and flood having irreparably damaged our genetics and ecosystem then a decline of lifespan seems probable so the numbers there fit the narrative.

You would have to disbelieve in miracles e.g. Mana in the desert to deny the Exodus numbers.

vinsight4u said:

What did David tell Solomon?

He told him that of the gold, silver,... was no number.
Then he told Solomon to -add to it.
How much did Solomon add?
666 talents of gold

It was the part of the freewill offering that was counted from the people of
Israel to build the temple.

Babylon destroyed that 666 talents of gold temple.

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Think you are misreading the below verse. This was Solomons yearly peacetime income. David amassed more wealth by conquest.

1 Kings 10:14 says, "the weight of gold which Solomon received every year was 666 talents of gold, besides what came from tradesmen, from the traffic of the merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the regions."