The palace and the temple
1 Solomon took thirteen years to build his own palace.
2 He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon which measured one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. It was built on three rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams on the pillars.
3 It had a cedar ceiling above the beams that were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen in each row.
4 There were three window frames at either end, each window corresponding to another opposite it.
5 All the doorways and windows had square frames and each window corresponded to the one opposite it.
6 The Hall of Pillars measured fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. It had a porch in front with pillars and a canopy over them.
7 The Hall of the Throne where Solomon was to pro nounce judgment, that is, the Hall of Judgment, was finished with cedar from floor to rafters.
8 His own house, where he was to live, and which was in the other court behind the hall, was built in like manner. Solomon also made a house similar to this for Pharaoh’s daughter whom he had taken in marriage.
9 All these were made of costly stones, hewn according to measure, sawn on their inner and outer faces even from the foundation to the coping, and from the court of Yahweh’s House to the big court.
10 The foundation was of huge, costly stones of eighty and ten cubits.
11 Above were costly stones, hewn according to measure, and cedar wood.
12 The great court was surrounded by a wall of hewn stones and a course of cedar beams, like the interior court of Yahweh’s House and its vestibule.
13 King Solomon sent for and brought from Tyre, Hiram,
14 who was the son of a widow of Naphtali’s tribe. His father was from Tyre and an artisan in bronze-work, and he himself was very knowledgeable and skilled in all kinds of bronze-work. Hiram came and did all the work that Solomon asked of him.
15 He cast two brazen pillars, both of which measured eighteen cubits high and had a circumference of twelve cubits. Both were hollow and measured four fingers in thickness.
16 He also made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars, both measuring five cubits high.
17 He also made two pieces of network with a chainlike mesh for each of the capitals on top of the pillars.
18 Like wise, he made pomegranates arranged in two rows encircling each piece of network to cover each capital on top of the pillars.
19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the vestibule had a lotus design measuring four cubits.
20 They were on the two pillars above the nodes and beside the network, encircled by two hundred pomegranates arranged in two rows.
21 Hiram set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple; one to the right called Yakin, and one to the left called Boaz.
22 In this way the work on the pillars was completed.
23 Hiram then cast the great round bowl called the “Sea,” measuring ten cubits from one brim to the opposite; it was five cubits high and had a circumference of thirty cubits.
24 Under its brim, it was encircled with gourds, ten for each cubit, arranged in two rows and cast along with the Sea.
25 This rested on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east, with their haunches towards the center.
26 It was a handbreadth in thickness, its brim resembling a cup or a lily flower, and had a capacity of two thousand baths.
27 Hiram also made ten brazen stands, each measuring four cubits long, four cubits wide and three cubits high;
28 and this was how the stands were constructed: they had framed panels
29 on which were lions, oxen and cherubim. On the frames above and below the lions and oxen were wreaths in relief.
30 Each stand had four brazen wheels and axles; its four feet had shoulderings under the basin.
31 Its mouth measured one and a half cubits from where the shoulderings met the top; its mouth was round like a rest for a vessel; and on the mouth there were engravings, too. The crosspieces, however, were rectangular, not round.
32 The four wheels were below the panels; their axles being one piece with the stands. Each wheel was a cubit and a half high.
33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal.
The four legs of each stand had cast braces supporting a basin and had wreaths on each side.
34 These four braces, extending to the corners of each stand, were of one piece with the stand.
35 On top of the stand was a round band half a cubit high, with supports and panels which were of one piece with the stand. This was topped by a crown one cubit high within which was a rounded opening, the way a pedestal is made, a cubit and a half deep. Its opening had carvings and its panels were square and not round.
36 On the surface of its supports, as also on its panels, and wherever there was space, were carvings of cherubim, lions and palm trees, with wreaths all around.
37 This was how the ten stands were made – all of them with the same cast, same measurement, and same form.
38 Hiram also made ten brazen basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits. There was a basin for each of the ten stands.
39 He placed five of the stands on the south side of the House, and five on the north side. The Sea he placed at the southeast corner of the temple.
40 Hiram also made the bowls, shovels and basins, and thereby finished all the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon on Yahweh’s House.
41 Hence, two pillars, two bowls on the capitals at the top of the pillars,
42 four hundred pomegranates for two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals at the top of the pillars,
43 ten stands, ten basins on the stands,
44 the Sea, and twelve oxen underneath the Sea.
45 Now the bowls, shovels and basins – all these vessels which Hiram made in Yahweh’s House for King Solomon – were of burnished bronze.
46 The king had them cast in the plain of Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.
47 Solomon left all the vessels unweighed since there were so many of them. And so the weight of the bronze was not known.
48 So Solomon made all the vessels that were in Yahweh’s House: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of Presence,
49 the lamp stands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left in front of the inner sanctuary; the flowers, lamps and tongs of gold;
50 the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and firepans of pure gold; and the golden hinges for both the doors of the innermost part of the House, the Most Holy Place, and the doors of the Sanctuary of the House.
51 When all the work that King Solo mon did on Yahweh’s House was completed, he brought in the things which David his father had dedi cated – the silver, the gold, and the vessels – and stored them in the treasures of Yahweh’s House.
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Comments 1 Kings, Chapter 7
• 7.1 Solomon will build his palace on the mountain of the Temple beside the House of God. This transfer of the royal residence from the lower city to the mountain of the Temple might seem to be without interest to us. But hidden behind this is a new concept of the power that Solomon brings to Israel. David his father, this “king after God’s heart,” had built his palace in the midst of his people (2 S 5:9) and when he had raised an altar to Yahweh, he built it on the hill that dominated the town in the north. Solomon abandoned his father’s palace and built his sumptuous residence on this hill beside the Temple. It is a significant gesture. Henceforth God and the king will reside on the holy mountain, and the people below.
Samuel had firmly warned Saul, the first king, that the demands of the Law were valid for both king and people (2 S 12:14-15). Solomon turns a deaf ear; like so many princes and dictators, he intends to give his power absolute authority equal to that of God. He distances himself from the people and installs himself beside God. This deviation from the meaning of power would be criticized by the prophets (Jer 22:13-19), and Jesus will show by his own example that power lies in service (Mk 10:41-45).
• 21. Yakin means: he has established. Boaz means: with strength. This refers at the same time to the Temple and to the dynasty of David. God however will someday cast down all this: everything he has given must someday give way to something better.