1 Kings 7:1

_BUT SOLOMON WAS BUILDING HIS OWN HOUSE THIRTEEN YEARS, AND HE FINISHED ALL HIS HOUSE._ Solomon was building his own house thirteen years. The time occupied in building his palace was nearly double that spent in the erection of the temple, because neither had there been the same previous preparations for it, nor was there the same urgency, as in providing a place of worship, on which the national well-being so much depended. Solomon, who was at this time animated with strong feelings of piety, acted in the spirit of Christ's admonition (Matthew 6:33). On the other hand, the Jews who returned from the captivity were reproved for building their own habitations before the temple of God (Haggai 1:4; Haggai 2:9)....

1-12 All Solomon's buildings, though beautiful, were intended for use. Solomon began with the temple; he built for God first, and then his other buildings. The surest foundations of lasting prosperity are laid in early piety. He was thirteen years building his house, yet he built the temple in little more than seven years; not that he was more exact, but less eager in building his own house, than in building God's. We ought to prefer God's honour before our own ease and satisfaction....

CHAPTER VII _Solomon builds his own house, and completes it in_ thirteen _years_, 1. _He builds another called the house of the forest of Lebanon;_ _and a house for Pharaoh's daughter_, 2-12. _He brings Hiram, a coppersmith, out of Tyre, who makes much_ _curious work for the temple_, 13-20. _He makes the two pillars Jachin and Boaz_, 21, 22. _The molten sea, and the twelve oxen that bare it_, 23-26. _And ten brazen bases, and the ten lavers with pots, shovels,_ _and basons, all of which he cast in the plain of Jordan_, 27-46.

THIRTEEN YEARS - The thirteen years, i. e., counting from the end of the seven 1 Kings 6:38. Solomon’s buildings thus occupied him twenty years 1 Kings 9:10; 2 Chronicles 8:1, from the fourth year of his reign to the twenty-fourth. The difference in the time taken by the temple and the palace is to be accounted for, (1) by the long period of preparation which preceded the actual building of the former 1 Chronicles 22:2; 1 Kings 5:13; and...

EXPOSITION SOLOMON'S PALACES AND THE PREPARATION OF THE TEMPLE VESSELS.—The first twelve verses of this chapter constitute a break in the long account of the Temple, its furniture and its consecration. The historian having described the Temple buildings, before he passes on to speak of their contents pauses for a moment to record a few particulars as to the building of the suite of palaces which next occupied Solomon's attention. The LXX; possibly following an older arrangement, but more probably (see next note) adopting an apparently more logical and methodical order, relegates this section to the end of the chapter. 1 KINGS 7:1 But Solomon was building his own house thirteen

BUT SOLOMON WAS BUILDING HIS OWN HOUSE THIRTEEN YEARS,.... He made more haste with the house of God than with his own, for that was but seven years in building; which showed greater regard to the honour of God then to his own glory, or even convenience; nor was this built till after that: AND FINISHED ALL HIS HOUSE; or houses he undertook to build, the singular for the plural; even the house of God, his own palace, and that for the daughter of Pharaoh, and that which is next mentioned, which were in all twenty years building, 1 Kings 9:10....

CHAPTER 7 THE HOUSE OF SOLOMON AND PHARAOH'S DAUGHTERTHE FURNISHINGS OF THE TEMPLE _ 1. The house of the forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 7:1)_ 2. The royal palace and the house of Pharaoh's daughter (1 Kings 7:8) 3. The master workman (1 Kings 7:13) 4. The great pillars and chapiters (1 Kings 7:15) 5. The brazen sea (1 Kings 7:23) 6. The ten lavers with their carriages (1 Kings 7:27) 7. Hiram's work ...

1 KINGS 7. SOLOMON'S PALACE (1 KINGS 1-12). THE TEMPLE IMPLEMENTS (1KINGS 13- 51). Twenty years (_cf._ 1 Kings 9:10 with 1 Kings 7:1) was Solomon engaged in building. After completing the Temple he built his own palace, with its courts and approaches. These, according to Stade, were erected on the Ophel hill, which lay S. of the Temple mountain, and were constructed so as to lead up to the sanctuary itself. The whole chapter, like most of the 6th, is from a source descriptive of the Temple. First came what was called, probably from its rows of cedar pillars, the house of the forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 7:2). Part of this was used as an armoury ...

1 Kings 7:1-12. The building of Solomon's own house, the house of the forest of Lebanon, and the house for Pharaoh's daughter (Not in Chronicles) 1. _his own house_ This includes all the buildings described in 1 Kings 7:1. The LXX. transfers all this section 1 12 to the end of the chapter. In Chronicles, though Solomon's own house is alluded to (2 Chronicles 7:11; 2 Chronicles 8:1), there is no description of it. _thirteen years_ The longer time occupied by this building, in comparison with the seven years and a half spent on the Temple, is accounted for by the greater extent of this latter work. The

I. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PALACE COMPLEX 7:1-12 TRANSLATION (1) Now his own house, Solomon was thirteen years in the process of building; and he finished all his house. (2) And he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; a hundred cubits was its length and fifty cubits was its width and thirty cubits was its height, upon four rows of cedar pillars, and cedar beams upon the pillars. (3) And it was covered with cedar above the chambers which were upon the forty-five pillars, fifteen to a row. (4) And there were beam-layers in three rows and outlook[189] WAS OPPOSITE OUTLOOK THREE TIMES. (5) AND ALL THE DOORS AND POSTS[190] were squared with windows, and light was opposite light in three ranks. (6) And he made a porch of pillars; fifty cubits was its length and thirty cubits was its width, and the porch was before them, and the pillars and the threshold were before them. (7) Then he made...