1 Kings 7:2

_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._ He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon. It is scarcely possible to determine whether this was a different edifice from the former, or whether his house, "the house of the forest of Lebanon," and the one for Pharaoh's daughter, were not parts of one grand palace. It would seem from the form and proportions, as given in the context, that this "house" was an immense hall, as the Hebrew word and its Arabic equivalent frequently bear this sense. In this view it would correspond to the large central halls in the Assyrian palaces ('Nineveh and Babylon,' p. 650). As difficult is it to decide what was the origin of the name-some supposing it was so cal...

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....

Verse 1 Kings 7:2. _THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON_] It was not built in Lebanon, but is thought to have been on Mount Sion. And why it was called _the house of the forest of Lebanon_ does not appear; probably it was because it was built _almost entirely_ of materials brought from that place. See the following verses....

Many have supposed that the buildings mentioned in 1 Kings 7:1, 1 Kings 7:8, were three entirely distinct and separate buildings. But it is perhaps best to consider the “house” of 1 Kings 7:1 as the palace proper - Solomon’s own dwelling-house (see 1 Kings 7:8); the house of 1 Kings 7:2, as the state apartments; and the house for Pharaoh’s daughter as the hareem or zenana; and to regard these three groups of buildings as distinct, though interconnected, and as together constituting what is else-where termed “the king’s house”...

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

HE BUILT ALSO THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON,.... Besides the temple, his own palace, and the queen's; so called, not because it was built on Mount Lebanon, which lay at the northern border of the land, at a great distance from Jerusalem, whereas this was both a magazine of arms, and a court of judicature, 1 Kings 7:7; see 1 Kings 10:17; neither of which can be supposed to be far from Jerusalem; but because not only it was built of the cedars of Lebanon, but in a situation, and among groves of trees which resembled it; it seems to have been a summer house; and so the Targum calls it, a royal house of refreshment: THE LENGTH THEREOF [WAS] AN HUNDRED CUBITS, AND THE BREADTH THEREOF FIFTY AND THE HEIGHT THEREOF THIRTY CUBITS; so that it was in every measure larger than the te

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 ...

_He built also_ Better, FOR he built, as R.V. The verses that follow are not describing an addition to the work mentioned in 1 Kings 7:1, but only explaining the various parts thereof. _the house of the forest of Lebanon_ This building which is mentioned again in 1 Kings 10:17 and 2 Chronicles 9:16 appears, from those passages, to have been Solomon's armoury. The multitude of pillars, which was the marked feature of the lower floor, made it admirably suited for the hanging of shields and targets. Its name was probably given because the wood of its pillars came from Lebanon, and when these were in position they looked like the trunks of forest trees. _upon four rows of cedar pillars_ The nu

HE BUILT ALSO THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON— The house mentioned in the foregoing verse was in Jerusalem, the winter residence of Solomon. _This_ was built in a cool shady mountain near Jerusalem for his summer residence. See chap. 1 Kings 14:25. It was called the house of the forest of Lebanon, because it was situated in a lofty place like Lebanon, and probably surrounded with many such fine cedars as grew there. Calmet is of opinion, that it was so called from the number of cedar pillars which supported it....