| Carpenter | |
An artificer in stone, iron, and copper, as well as in wood (2 Samuel 5:11; 1 Chronicles 14:1; Mark 6:3). The tools used by carpenters are mentioned in 1 Samuel 13:19, 20; Judges 4:21; Isaiah 10:15; 44:13. It was said of our Lord, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55); also, "Is not this the carpenter?" (Mark 6:3). Every Jew, even the rabbis, learned some handicraft: Paul was a tentmaker. "In the cities the carpenters would be Greeks, and skilled workmen; the carpenter of a provincial village could only have held a very humble position, and secured a very moderate competence."