1 Kings 7
7
1#The account of Solomon’s building of the Temple (the Lord’s “house”) is interrupted by an account of his building of the palace (Solomon’s “house”), which contained also the main buildings of public administration. The passage is anachronistic, since 6:38–7:1 and 9:10 imply that the palace was not begun until the Temple was completed. By placing the account here, the narrator highlights the fact that Solomon spent almost twice as long on his own “house” as on the Lord’s. #1 Kgs 9:10. To finish the building of his own house Solomon took thirteen years. 2He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon one hundred cubits long, fifty wide, and thirty high; it was supported by four rows of cedar columns, with cedar beams upon the columns. 3Moreover, it had a ceiling of cedar above the rafters resting on the columns; these rafters numbered forty-five, fifteen to a row. 4There were lattices in three rows, each row facing the next, 5and all the openings and doorposts were squared with lintels, each facing across from the next. 6He also made the Porch of Columns, fifty cubits long and thirty wide. The porch extended across the front, and there were columns with a canopy in front of them. 7He also made the Porch of the Throne where he gave judgment—that is, the Porch of Judgment; it was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling beams. 8#1 Kgs 3:1; 9:24. The house in which he lived was in another court, set in deeper than the Porch and of the same construction. (Solomon made a house like this Porch for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.)#Solomon did not build the house for Pharaoh’s daughter until Temple and palace were finished (3:1). By mentioning this marriage, the narrator keeps before the reader a developing theme in the Solomon story: the king’s building activities for his foreign wives, which eventually implicate him in idolatry (3:1; 7:8; 9:24; 11:1–8). 9All these buildings were of fine stones, hewn to size and trimmed front and back with a saw, from the foundation to the bonding course and outside as far as the great court. 10The foundation was made of fine, large blocks, some ten cubits and some eight cubits. 11Above were fine stones hewn to size, and cedar wood. 12The great court had three courses of hewn stones all around and a course of cedar beams. So also were the inner court of the house of the Lord and its porch.
13King Solomon brought Hiram#Hiram: a craftsman, not the king of Tyre (5:15–26). from Tyre. 14He was a bronze worker, the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali; his father had been from Tyre. He was endowed with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge for doing any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his metal work.
15#The two bronze columns were called Jachin and Boaz (v. 21; also 2 Chr 3:17); the significance of the names is unclear. The columns stood to the right and left of the Temple porch, and may have been intended to mark the entrance to the building as the entrance to God’s private dwelling. Their extraordinary size and elaborate decoration would have made them the most impressive parts of the Temple visible to the ordinary viewer, who was not permitted into the nave, let alone into the innermost sanctuary. According to Jer 52:21, the columns were hollow, the bronze exterior being “four fingers thick.” #Jer 52:21–23. He fashioned two bronze columns, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference. 16He also made two capitals cast in bronze, to be placed on top of the columns, each of them five cubits high. 17There were meshes made like netting and braid made like chains for the capitals on top of the columns, seven for each capital. 18#The Hebrew text is corrupt in many places here, and alternative readings attested in the ancient versions are secondary attempts to make sense of the text. A clearer description of the columns and their decoration is found in vv. 41–42. He also cast pomegranates, two rows around each netting to cover the capital on top of the columns. 19The capitals on top of the columns (in the porch) were made like lilies, four cubits high. 20And the capitals on the two columns, both above and adjoining the bulge where it crossed out of the netting, had two hundred pomegranates in rows around each capital. 21He set up the columns at the temple porch; one he set up to the south, and called it Jachin, and the other to the north, and called it Boaz.#Jachin…Boaz: see note on 7:15. 22The top of the columns was made like a lily. Thus the work on the columns was completed.
23Then he made the molten sea;#The molten sea: this was a large circular tank containing about twelve thousand gallons of water. it was made with a circular rim, and measured ten cubits across, five in height, and thirty in circumference. 24Under the brim, gourds encircled it for ten cubits around the compass of the sea; the gourds were in two rows and were cast in one mold with the sea. 25This rested on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east, with their haunches all toward the center; upon them was set the sea. 26It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim resembled that of a cup, being lily-shaped. Its capacity was two thousand baths.#Baths: see note on Is 5:10.
27He also made ten stands of bronze, each four cubits long, four wide, and three high. 28When these stands were constructed, panels were set within the framework. 29On the panels within the frames there were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the frames likewise, above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths in hammered relief. 30Each stand had four bronze wheels and bronze axles. The four legs of each stand had cast braces, which were under the basin; they had wreaths on each side. 31The mouth of the basin was inside, and a cubit above, the crown, whose opening was round, made like a receptacle, a cubit and a half in depth. There was carved work at the opening, on panels that were square, not circular. 32The four wheels were below the paneling, and the axletrees of the wheels and the stand were of one piece. Each wheel was a cubit and a half high. 33The wheels were constructed like chariot wheels; their axletrees, rims, spokes, and hubs were all cast. 34The four braces reached the four corners of each stand, and formed part of the stand. 35At the top of the stand there was a raised collar half a cubit high, and the handles and panels on top of the stand formed part of it. 36On the flat ends of the handles and on the panels, wherever there was a bare space, cherubim, lions, and palm trees were carved, as well as wreaths all around. 37This was how he made the ten stands, all of the same casting, the same size, the same shape. 38He made ten bronze basins, each four cubits in diameter with a capacity of forty baths, one basin atop each of the ten stands.
39He placed the stands, five on the south side of the house and five on the north. The sea he placed off to the southeast from the south side of the house.
40When Hiram had made the pots, shovels, and bowls, he finished all his work for King Solomon in the house of the Lord: 41two columns; two nodes for the capitals on top of the columns; two pieces of netting covering the two nodes for the capitals on top of the columns; 42four hundred pomegranates in double rows on both pieces of netting that covered the two nodes of the capitals on top of the columns; 43ten stands; ten basins on the stands; 44one sea; twelve oxen supporting the sea; 45pots, shovels, and bowls. All these articles which Hiram made for King Solomon in the house of the Lord were of burnished bronze. 46The king had them cast in the neighborhood of the Jordan, between Succoth and Zarethan, in thick clay molds. 47Solomon did not weigh all the articles because they were so numerous; the weight of the bronze, therefore, was not determined.
48Solomon made all the articles that were for the house of the Lord: the golden altar; the table on which the showbread lay; 49the lampstands of pure gold, five to the right and five to the left before the inner sanctuary; their flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold; 50basins, snuffers, bowls, cups, and firepans of pure gold; hinges of gold for the doors of the innermost part of the house, or holy of holies, and for the doors of the outer room, the nave. 51#2 Sm 8:9–12. When all the work undertaken by King Solomon in the house of the Lord was completed,#The account of the Temple’s construction has been punctuated by references to “building” (banah) or “finishing” (killah) it (6:1b, 9a, 14, 38; 7:40). Here, at the end of the account, the narrator uses a different verb for its “completion,” shillem, which allows him to play on the name of Solomon (shelomo). he brought in the votive offerings of his father David, and put the silver, gold, and other articles in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
1 Kings 7
7
Solomon Continues to Build
1Solomon built his house over thirteen years, and he finished all of his house.
2He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon; one hundred cubits its length, fifty cubits its width, and thirty cubits its height, on four rows of cedar pillars and cedar beams atop the pillars. 3It was covered with cedar above, and the supporting beams which were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen to the row. 4There were three rows of specially designed windows; with window to window three times. 5All of the doorways and the doorframes had four-sided casings, with opening to opposite opening three times.
6The hall of pillars he made fifty cubits in its length and thirty cubits in its width, and a porch was in front of them,#Literally “on their face” with pillars and an overhang in front of them.#Literally “on their face” 7He made the hall of the throne where he would pronounce judgment, the hall of justice, and it was covered with cedar from the floor to the rafters.#Hebrew “floor,” but other ancient versions have “rafters” 8His house where he would live in the next courtyard on the inside of the porch was like this work, and he would make a house like this porch for the daughter of Pharaoh whom Solomon had taken as wife. 9All of these were of precious stones, according to the measurement of dressed stone, sawn with a saw on all sides;#Literally “on the inside and on the outside” from the foundation up to the eaves and from the outside up to the great courtyard. 10The foundation was of precious stones, and large stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits 11with precious stones above, just the right size,#Literally “according to the measurement of dressed stones” and cedar. 12The great courtyard all around had three rows of dressed stones and a row of cedar beams; for both the courtyard of the inner house#Or “temple” of Yahweh and for the porch of the house.
13King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre. 14He was the son of a widow woman from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, an artisan of bronze. He was filled with wisdom and with ability and with the knowledge to do all the work with the bronze. And he came to King Solomon, and he did all of his work. 15He cast the two pillars out of bronze; eighteen cubits was the height of the first, and a cord of twelve cubits would encircle the second pillar. 16He made two capitals to place on the tops of the pillars out of molten bronze; the first capital was five cubits in height, and the second capital was five cubits in height. 17A network of latticework and wreaths of chainwork with small chains were for the capitals which were on top of the pillars; seven for the first capital and seven for the second capital. 18He also made the pillars with two rows around on the lattice, each to cover the capitals which were on top, out of the pomegranate-shaped ornaments, and thus he did for the second capital as well. 19And on the capitals which were on top of the pillars in the porch were works of lilies four cubits high. 20And capitals were on the two pillars above near the bulging section which was beside the lattice, and two hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments were in rows all around on the second capital. 21He set up the pillars for the porch of the main hall; he erected the pillar on the right and called its name Jakin, and he set up the pillar on the left and called its name Boaz. 22On the top of the pillars was a work of lilies; and so the work of the pillars was finished.
23He also made the molten#That is, cast from molten bronze sea, ten cubits in diameter,#Literally “from its edge up to its edge, round all around” and five cubits was its height. A measuring line of thirty cubits would encircle it all around. 24Gourds were under its rim surrounding it all around; ten to the cubit, surrounding the sea all around with two rows of gourds, which were cast when he cast the metal. 25The sea was standing on twelve oxen, with three facing to the north, three facing to the west, three facing to the south, and three facing to the east. The sea was on top of them, with all of their hindquarters turned to the inside. 26Its thickness was a handbreadth, but its rim was as the work on the brim of a cup, like the bud of a lily; it held two thousand baths.
27He made the ten stands of bronze; each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits in height. 28Now this was the construction of the stands: there were frames for them and frames between the crossbars, 29and on the frames which were between the crossbars were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the crossbars both above and beneath the lions and oxen were works of cascading wreaths. 30There were four bronze wheels for each of the stands, with bronze axles; the four support pedestals for these were under the basin, and the supports were decorated on each side with wreaths. 31Its opening from the inside of the capital and above was a cubit; its pedestal was a round work of a cubit and a half; moreover, on its opening were the carvings with four-sided frames, not circular. 32Four of the wheels were underneath the frames, and the axles of the wheels were on the stands. The height of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33The construction of the wheel was like the construction of the wheel of the chariot; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their naves were all cast. 34The four supports were the four corners of each stand, with the stand supporting it. 35On top of the stand was half a cubit deep, circular all around, and on the top of the stand were its supports and its frames. 36He engraved on the plates, on its supports, and on its frame cherubim, lions and images of a palm tree, according to the space for each, with wreaths all around. 37He made the ten stands like this in one cast, with the same measurement and shape for each of them.
38He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths; each basin was four cubits, one basin on each of the ten stands. 39He placed five of the stands on the south side of the house and five on the north side of the house, and the sea he set on the southeast side of the house.
40Hiram also made the basins and the shovels and the bowls for drinking wine; and so Hiram finished doing all of the work that he was to do#Literally “that he did” for King Solomon in the house of Yahweh: 41the two pillars and the bowls of the capitals which were atop the two pillars, and the two lattice works to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were atop the pillars; 42and the four hundred pomegranate-shaped ornaments for the two lattice works, the two rows of pomegranate-shaped ornaments for each latticework to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the surface of the pillars; 43and the ten stands and the ten basins on the stands; 44and the one sea and the twelve oxen under the sea; 45and the pots, the shovels, and the bowls for drinking wine. All the vessels of the tent which Hiram had made for King Solomon for the house of Yahweh were polished bronze. 46The king had cast them in the plain of the Jordan with the casting mold set in the ground between Succoth and Zarethan. 47Solomon left all of the vessels unweighed because of their very great abundance, so the weight of the bronze could not be determined.
48Solomon also made all of the vessels which were in the house of Yahweh: the golden altar and the golden table on which was the bread of the presence; 49as well as the five lampstands of beaten gold at the south and five lampstands at the north before the presence of the inner sanctuary, with the flower-shaped ornaments, the lamps, and the pair of tongs all of gold. 50The cups, the snuffers, the bowls for drinking wine, the bowls for the incense, and the firepans were made from beaten gold; the facades for the doors of the inner house, for the most holy place,#Literally “holy of the holiest” for the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold. 51When all of the work which king Solomon did on the house of Yahweh was completed, Solomon brought out the holy objects of his father David, the silver and the gold and the vessels, which he put in the treasury rooms of the house of Yahweh.
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