1 Kings 5:13

Solomon's levy of forced labourers for the work on Lebanon (2 Chronicles 2:1-2; 2 Chronicles 2:17-18)

13. a levy The men selected had to give their labour. Such compulsory service has been a not unusual demand of Oriental monarchs. If we take the census of the people as it is given in 2 Samuel 24:9 we find that the 30,000 labourers required for this work were rather more than 2 per cent. of the numbers given in by Joab to David. Of course this levy only lasted so long as the work on Lebanon was in hand. The levy of bondservice mentioned in 1 Kings 9:21 was of a different kind. The strangers there spoken of were made perpetually to do forced labour. Josephus considers the present levy to have been no hardship. He says that Solomon ἄπονον τὴν ἐργασίαν κατέστησε. And probably the object for which the work was done would lend some enthusiasm to the labourers. Samuel (1 Samuel 8:16) had given the people warning that their kings would make such demands upon their service.