1 Kings 7:12

_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._ For the inner court of the house of the Lord - should be, as in the inner court of the house of the Lord. The meaning is, that in this palace, as in the temple, rows of hewed stones and the cedar beams formed the enclosure....

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....

The palace, like the temple, had two courts 1 Kings 6:36, not, however, one immediately within the other. The lesser court of the palace seems to have been a private inner court among the buildings 1 Kings 7:8. The greater court was outside all the buildings, surrounding the palace on every side. Assyrian palaces had always such an external court, and had generally one or more inner courts or quadrangles. BOTH FOR THE INNER COURT - By a slight alteration of the text, the meaning would be “as (was done) in the inner court, etc. and in the porch.”...

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

AND THE GREAT COURT ROUND ABOUT,.... Which surrounded Solomon's house: [WAS] WITH THREE ROWS OF HEWED STONES, AND A ROW OF CEDAR BEAMS; these rows were one upon another, and were a wall to the court, which were either topped with a row of cedar wood, or that was a lining to the stones FOR THE INNER COURT OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD; or rather as, or like to that, as appears from 1 Kings 6:36, AND FOR THE PORCH OF THE HOUSE; not the temple, but Solomon's house....

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 ...

_And the great court round about_ The words are the same as in 1 Kings 6:36. The great court was the hindmost part of all the palace grounds, and was apparently higher than the level of the front part. The way in which it was enclosed was by a low wall (sunk fence) as was done for the inner-court of the Temple. _both for the inner court of the house of the Lord_ The conjunction with which this sentence begins is the usual copulative. But the sense should be -like as the inner court, &c." (Cf. 1 Kings 6:34.) Hence some have conjectured כ = _as_, instead of ו = _and_or _both_. The R.V. has given the true sense in the text - LIKE AS the inner court of the house of the Lord, and the porch of the house," and has put the literal translation on the margin. There is no great difficu

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...

SOLOMON'S PALACE This c, besides giving a description of Solomon's palace, contains an account of the principal utensils belonging to the Temple....