1 Kings Chapter 7

Solomon Builds His Palace

1 Kg 6:23-38

¹ It took 13 years to build Solomon’s palace.

² He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon: 150 x 75 x 45ft high. It rested on 4 rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams on the pillars. ³ It had cedar panels above the side-rooms that were on the 45 pillars, 15 to a row. ⁴ There were 3 rows of window frames with window across from window in three ranks. ⁵ All the doorways and doorposts had square frames.

⁶ He made the Hall of Pillars: 75 x 45ft with a porch in front and pillars, and a threshold in front of them. 

⁷ He built the Hall of the Throne, where he would judge, the Hall of Judgment, paneled with cedar from floor to rafters.

⁸ The palace where he’d live and the other court inward from the hall had the same workmanship.

He made similar quarters for Pharaoh’s daughter that he’d married. ⁹ These were made out of expensive stones, cut to size with saws, inside and out, from the foundation to the eaves, and so on the outside to the great court.          1 Kg 7:1-9

¹⁰ The foundation consisted of huge, expensive stones, some 12ft and 15ft long. ¹¹ Above were expensive stones cut to size—and cedar. ¹² The great court had 3 courses of cut stone all around capped by a layer of cedar beams like the inner court of Yahveh’s Temple and its porch.

The Temple Furnishings

¹³ King Solomon sent for Hiram/Huram of Tyre, a widow’s son from the tribe of Naphtali. His father was from Tyre, a worker in bronze. ¹⁴ He was filled with wisdom, insight, and skill for doing any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon to do his work.

¹⁵ Hiram/Huram fashioned 2 pillars of bronze 27ft tall and 18ft in circumference. ¹⁶ He made 2 capitals out of molten bronze to set on top of the pillars, each 7½ft tall. ¹⁷ There were 7 sets of latticework and interwoven chains for the capitals. ¹⁸ Hiram circled 200 pomegranates in 2 rows around the latticework on each capital, ¹⁹ and each had a lily design 6ft tall. ²⁰ The capitals were close to the rounded projection that was beside the latticework. ²¹ So he set up the pillars at the porch of the nave. The left pillar he named Boaz, and the right one, Jachin. ²² The capitals on the pillars there were shaped like water lilies. That finished the work on the pillars.                      1 Kg 7:10-22

²³ Hiram/Huram made the sea out of cast metal 15ft from brim to brim. It was 7½ft tall and 45ft in circumference. ²⁴ Under its brim, gourds went all the way around it, 10 to each 1½ft. The gourds were in 2 rows, cast with the rest. ²⁵ The sea rested on 12 oxen, 3 each facing north, west, south, and east, and their hind quarters aimed inward. ²⁶ It was a handbreadth thick with a brim like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold 18,000 gallons. 1 Kg 7:23-26

²⁷ Then Hiram/Huram made 10 bronze stands, each 6 x 6 x 4½ft high. ²⁸ They had braces between the frames ²⁹ decorated with lions, oxen, and cherubs. On the frames there was a pedestal above with lions and oxen, and wreaths of hanging work below. ³⁰ Each stand had 4 bronze wheels with bronze axles. There were 4 supports under the basins with wreath decorations on each side. ³¹ Its opening was within a crown that stuck up 18ins. At its opening there were carvings, and its panels were square, not round. ³² The 4 wheels were under the panels, and their axels of one piece with the stands. The wheels were 27ins tall, ³³ made like chariot wheels with their axels, rims, spokes, and hubs cast in one piece from molten bronze. ³⁴ There were 4 supports at the 4 corners of each stand made of one piece with the stands. ³⁵ On top of the stand was a round band 18ins high with stays and borders of one piece with it. ³⁶ On the surfaces of its stays and borders, he carved cherubs, lions, and palm trees according to the space of each, with wreaths all around. ³⁷ He made 10 such stands, cast alike, the same size and shape. 1 Kg 7:27-37

³⁸ He made 10 bronze basins, 1 for each stand. Each basin held 360 gallons and measured 6ft across. ³⁹ He set the stands 5 on the south side of the Temple and 5 on the north side, and set the sea at the southeast corner of the Temple.

⁴⁰ Hiram/Huram also made pots, shovels, and basins. He finished everything for King Solomon on Yahveh’s Temple: ⁴¹ the 2 pillars, 2 bowls for the capitals on top of the pillars, 2 networks to cover the 2 bowls— ⁴² 400 pomegranates for the 2 networks in 2 rows per network; ⁴³ 10 stands and the 10 lavers on them, ⁴⁴ the sea and the 12 oxen under it.                                        1 Kg 7:38-44

⁴⁵ He made the pots, shovels, and basins out of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon didn’t calculate the weight of the bronze or the items; there were too many.

⁴⁸ Solomon made the furniture for Yahveh’s Temple: the golden altar, golden table for the Bread of the Presence, ⁴⁹ lampstands of pure gold—5 on the south side and 5 on the north in front of the inner sanctuary. He made the flowers, lamps, and tongs out of gold; ⁵⁰ the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and firepans out of pure gold; and the sockets for the doors of the Holy of Holies and for the nave of the Temple out of gold.

⁵¹ Solomon finished the work on Yahveh’s Temple. He brought in the silver, gold, and articles David had dedicated, and stored them in the^Y Temple treasuries.                              1 Kg 7:45-51