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1 Kings 7

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Solomon's Palace Complex Built 1–12

1
But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. ​
2
He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. ​
3
And it was covered with cedar above upon the beams, that lay on forty five pillars, fifteen in a row.
4
And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks.
5
And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows: and light was against light in three ranks.
6
And he made a porch of pillars; the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty cubits: and the porch was before them: and the other pillars and the thick beam were before them.
7
Then he made a porch for the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other. ​
8
And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch. ​
9
All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court.
10
And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.
11
And above were costly stones, after the measures of hewed stones, and cedars.
12
And the great court round about was with three rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams, both for the inner court of the house of the LORD, and for the porch of the house.

Hiram, Master Craftsman, Arrives 13–22

13
And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. ​
14
He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work. ​
15
For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.
16
And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits:
17
And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.
18
And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other chapiter.
19
And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits.
20
And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter.
21
And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz. ​
22
And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.

The Molten Sea and Bronze Bases 23–47

23
And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. ​
24
And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.
25
It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. ​
26
And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths. ​
27
And he made ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it.
28
And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges:
29
And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims: and upon the ledges there was a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work. ​
30
And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass: and the four corners thereof had undersetters: under the laver were undersetters molten, at the side of every addition.
31
And the mouth of it within the chapiter and above was a cubit: but the mouth thereof was round after the work of the base, a cubit and an half: and also upon the mouth of it were gravings with their borders, foursquare, not round.
32
And under the borders were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined to the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.
33
And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten.
34
And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base: and the undersetters were of the very base itself.
35
And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof were of the same.
36
For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion of every one, and additions round about.
37
After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size.
38
Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver. ​
39
And he put five bases on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward over against the south.
40
And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD:
41
The two pillars, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars; and the two networks, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars;
42
And four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, even two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were upon the pillars;
43
And the ten bases, and ten lavers on the bases;
44
And one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea;
45
And the pots, and the shovels, and the basons: and all these vessels, which Hiram made to king Solomon for the house of the LORD, were of bright brass.
46
In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan. ​
47
And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: neither was the weight of the brass found out. ​

Gold Furnishings and Dedication 48–51

48
And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread was, ​
49
And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold, ​
50
And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple.
51
So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the LORD. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Kings 7

Verse 1

thirteen years — The king’s house took nearly twice as long as the house of the LORD, which was ‘seven years in building it’ (6:38). Together they make the ‘twenty years’ of 9:10, ‘when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD, and the king’s house.’

Verse 2

the house of the forest of Lebanon — A hall of cedar one hundred cubits long, ‘upon four rows of cedar pillars’. It held the ‘three hundred shields of beaten gold’ (10:17), and ‘all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold’ (10:21).

Verse 7

the porch of judgment — Ulam, a porch or hall, built for the throne ‘where he might judge’. Judging is the use of the wisdom given in 3:28: Israel ‘saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.’ Ps 122:5 speaks of ‘thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.’

Verse 8

Pharaoh’s daughter — Solomon brought her to the city of David ‘until he had made an end of building his own house’ (3:1); she later ‘came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her’ (9:24). 11:1 lists her among the ‘many strange women’ he loved.

Verse 13

Hiram out of Tyre — This Hiram is a craftsman, not the king of Tyre who supplied the cedar (5:1), though the name is spelled the same in Hebrew. Chronicles gives the king’s letter, ‘I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, of Huram my father’s’ (2 Chr 2:13).

Verse 14

wisdom, and understanding, and cunning — These are the same three Hebrew words (chokmah, tevunah, da’at) and the same verb ‘filled’ used of Bezaleel, whom the LORD ‘filled… with the spirit of God’ for the tabernacle work (Ex 31:3), where da’at is rendered ‘knowledge’.

Verse 21

Jachin… Boaz — Yakin means ‘he will establish’. The right pillar bore that name and the left was Boaz (2 Chr 3:17). Each stood ‘eighteen cubits high’ (v.15). The Chaldees broke the pillars of brass in pieces and carried the brass to Babylon (2 Kings 25:13).

Verse 23

a molten sea — ‘Molten’ is yatsaq, to pour out and cast, as metal is. It measured ten cubits across and five high, with ‘a line of thirty cubits’ round it. The priests washed in it (2 Chr 4:6). The Chaldees broke it up with the pillars (2 Kings 25:13).

Verse 25

twelve oxen — They stood in four groups of three, facing the four quarters, with ‘all their hinder parts… inward’. Twelve in four threes is also the order of Israel’s camp round the tabernacle, three tribes on each side: Judah, Issachar and Zebulun on the east, Reuben, Simeon and Gad on the south, and so round the four sides (Num 2).

Verse 26

an hand breadth thick — The wall was a handbreadth (tephach), the brim ‘wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies’. A bath is the liquid measure of ‘the tenth part of an homer’ (Ezek 45:11). Chronicles words the capacity as what it ‘received and held’, three thousand baths (2 Chr 4:5).

Verse 29

lions, oxen, and cherubims — These were carved on the borders of the ten bases (vv.27–28). Cherubim also fill the house, whose walls were carved with ‘cherubims and palm trees and open flowers’ (6:29); in Ezekiel’s temple a cherub has ‘the face of a young lion’ toward the palm tree on one side (Ezek 41:18–19).

Verse 38

ten lavers — Each held ‘forty baths’, was four cubits across and stood on one of the ten bases. The word kiyyor is also used for the tabernacle’s laver of brass (Ex 30:18). Chronicles gives their use: ‘such things as they offered for the burnt offering they washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in’ (2 Chr 4:6).

Verse 46

the clay ground — The casting was done in the plain of Jordan, in ma’abeh, loam or clay, ‘between Succoth and Zarthan’. Jacob had earlier come to Succoth, where he ‘built him an house, and made booths for his cattle’ (Gen 33:17). Chronicles names the second place Zeredathah (2 Chr 4:17).

Verse 47

left all the vessels unweighed — They were ‘exceeding many’, and ‘neither was the weight of the brass found out’ (chaqar, to search out). David had already laid up ‘brass in abundance without weight’ (1 Chr 22:3). Chronicles repeats the statement (2 Chr 4:18).

Verse 48

the altar of gold, and the table of gold — The golden altar answers the one commanded ‘to burn incense upon’ and overlaid with ‘pure gold’ (Ex 30:1, 3). ‘Shewbread’ is literally lechem panim, ‘bread of the face’, set on the table ‘before me alway’ (Ex 25:30).

Verse 49

five on the right side, and five on the left — Ten golden lampstands stood ‘before the oracle’ (debir), the inner room where the ark was placed (6:19). The tabernacle had one candlestick of ‘beaten work’ (Ex 25:31); Chronicles says these were made ‘according to their form’ (2 Chr 4:7).

Verse 51

the things which David his father had dedicated — The silver and gold were what David had ‘dedicated of all nations which he subdued’ (2 Sam 8:11). The word ‘ended’ is shalam, to complete, from the root that gives Solomon’s name (Shelomoh, from shalom).