Did the tax consist of people?
Rashi: The tax equaled the wages of 30,000 men. 1
Radak: Yes.
Radak: If so, why does it say that the men were one month in Levanon, and two months in their houses?
Who were the 30,000 men?
Radak: "Umi'Bnei Yisrael Lo Nasan Shlomo Eved"; the ones who quarried and carried the rocks were converts. Cutting trees and carrying them is not such hard work as quarrying rocks from the mountain and carrying them on the shoulder. Cutting trees is a craft; they brought them to the sea via wagons. Also, there were only 153,600 converts; 70,000 carried, 80,000 quarried and 3,600 were taskmasters (Divrei ha'Yamim II, 2:16-17). If so, the 30,000 were Bnei Yisrael with Chiram's servants.
