But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with
axes and hammers.
] Formerly it was an honour to be employed in cutting down a tree for the building of the temple; but now so little regard was paid to it, that all its fine carved work, which Solomon made, ( 1 Kings 6:18 1 Kings 6:29 1 Kings 6:30 ) , was demolished at once in a rude and furious manner with axes and hammers; which was done either by the Chaldeans in Nebuchadnezzar's time, or by the Syrians in the times of Antiochus, or by the Romans in the times of Vespasian; the first seems intended; see ( Jeremiah 46:22 Jeremiah 46:23 ) .