Nephi undertook the construction of buildings by using abundant woods and metals (iron, copper, brass, steel, gold, silver, and other precious ores). He was already an accomplished craftsman, having followed the Lord’s design and instructions in building a ship. Now he built a temple patterned after the temple of Solomon, with which he was well acquainted, having grown up in the land of Jerusalem. Verse 16 notes that the first Nephite temple was of “exceedingly fine” workmanship but could not be built “of so many precious things” as Solomon’s temple, “for they were not to be found upon the land.” Having just listed the precious building materials that were found in their new land in abundance, we are left to wonder exactly what was available to Solomon that was unavailable to Nephi.