1 Kings 7

1Ki 7:1.

BUILDING OF

SOLOMON'S

HOUSE.

1. 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

[1Ki 6:38],

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.

1Ki 7:2-7.

OF THE

HOUSE OF

LEBANON.

2. 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. As

difficult is it to decide what was the origin of the name; some

supposing it was so called because built on Lebanon; others, that it

was in or near Jerusalem, but contained such a profuse supply of cedar

columns as to have occasioned this peculiar designation. We have a

similar peculiarity of name in the building called the East India

house, though situated in London. The description is conformable to the

arrangement of Eastern palaces. The building stood in the middle of a

great oblong square, which was surrounded by an enclosing wall, against

which the houses and offices of those attached to the court were built.

The building itself was oblong, consisting of two square courts,

flanking a large oblong hall which formed the center, and was one

hundred cubits long, by fifty broad. This was properly the house of the

forest of Lebanon, being the part where were the cedar pillars of this

hall. In front was the porch of judgment, which was appropriated to

the transaction of public business. On the one side of this great hall

was the king's house; and on the other the harem or royal apartments

for Pharaoh's daughter

(Es 2:3, 9).

This arrangement of the palace accords with the Oriental style of

building, according to which a great mansion always consists of three

divisions, or separate houses--all connected by doors and passages--the

men dwelling at one extremity, the women of the family at the other,

while public rooms occupy the central part of the building.

10. the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones--Enormous

stones, corresponding exactly with the dimensions given, are found in

Jerusalem at this day. Not only the walls from the foundation to the

roof beams were built of large hewn stones, but the spacious court

around the palace was also paved with great square stones.

12. 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 enclosing wall.

1Ki 7:13-51.

HIRAM'S

WORKS.

13. Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre--The Tyrians and

other inhabitants on the Phœnician coast were the most renowned

artists and workers in metal in the ancient world.

14. He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali--In

2Ch 2:14

his mother is said to have been of the daughters of Dan. The apparent

discrepancy may be reconciled thus: Hiram's mother, though belonging to

the tribe of Dan, had been married to a Naphtalite, so that when

married afterwards to a Tyrian, she might be described as a widow of

the tribe of Naphtali. Or, if she was a native of the city Dan (Laish),

she might be said to be of the daughters of Dan, as born in that place;

and of the tribe of Naphtali, as really belonging to it.

a worker in brass--This refers particularly to the works described

in this chapter. But in

2Ch 2:13

his artistic skill is represented as extending to a great variety of

departments. In fact, he was appointed, from his great natural talents

and acquired skill, to superintend the execution of all the works of

art in the temple.

15-22. two pillars of brass of eighteen cubits high--They were

made of the brass (bronze) which was taken from the king of Zobah

(1Ch 18:8).

In

2Ch 3:15

they are said to have been thirty-five cubits high. There, however,

their joint lengths are given; whereas here the length of the pillars

is given separately. Each pillar was seventeen and a half cubits long,

which is stated, in round numbers, as eighteen. Their dimensions in

English measure are as follows: The pillars without the capitals

measured thirty-two and a half feet long, and seven feet diameter; and

if hollow, as WHISTON, in his translation of

JOSEPHUS, thinks

(Jer 52:21),

the metal would be about three and a half inches thick; so that the

whole casting of one pillar must have been from sixteen to twenty tons.

The height of the capitals was eight and three-fourths feet; and, at

the same thickness of metal, would not weigh less than seven or eight

tons each. The nature of the workmanship in the finishing of these

capitals is described

(1Ki 7:17-22).

The pillars, when set up, would stand forty feet in height [NAPIER, Metal].

17, 18. nets of checker work--that is, branch-work, resembling the

branches of palm trees, and

wreaths of chain-work--that is, plaited in the form of a chain,

composing a sort of crown or garland. Seven of these were wound in

festoons on one capital, and over and underneath them were fringes, one

hundred in a row. Two rows of pomegranates strung on chains

(2Ch 3:16)

ran round the capital

(1Ki 7:42;

compare

2Ch 4:12, 13;

Jer 52:23),

which, itself, was of a bowl-like or globular form

(1Ki 7:41).

These rows were designed to form a binding to the ornamental work--to

keep it from falling asunder; and they were so placed as to be above

the chain work, and below the place where the branch-work was.

19. lily work--beautiful ornaments, resembling the stalks, leaves,

and blossoms of lilies--of large dimensions, as suited to the height of

their position.

21. Jachin and . . . Boaz--These names were symbolical, and indicated

the strength and stability--not so much of the material temple, for

they were destroyed along with it

(Jer 52:17),

as of the spiritual kingdom of God, which was embodied in the

temple.

23-26. he made a molten sea--In the tabernacle was no such vessel; the

laver served the double purpose of washing the hands and feet of the

priests as well as the parts of the sacrifices. But in the temple there

were separate vessels provided for these offices.

(See on

2Ch 4:6).

The molten sea was an immense semicircular vase, measuring seventeen

and a half feet in diameter, and being eight and three-fourths feet in

depth. This, at three and a half inches in thickness, could not weigh

less than from twenty-five to thirty tons in one solid casting--and

held from sixteen thousand to twenty thousand gallons of water. [See

on

2Ch 4:3.]

The brim was all carved with lily work or flowers; and oxen were carved

or cut on the outside all round, to the number of three hundred; and it

stood on a pedestal of twelve oxen. These oxen must have been of

considerable size, like the Assyrian bulls, so that their corresponding

legs would give thickness or strength to support so great a weight for,

when the vessel was filled with water, the whole weight would be about

one hundred tons [NAPIER]. (See on

2Ch 4:3).

27-39. he made ten bases of brass--These were trucks or four-wheeled

carriages, for the support and conveyance of the lavers. The

description of their structure shows that they were elegantly fitted up

and skilfully adapted to their purpose. They stood, not on the axles,

but on four rests attached to the axles, so that the figured sides were

considerably raised above the wheels. They were all exactly alike in

form and size. The lavers which were borne upon them were vessels

capable each of holding three hundred gallons of water, upwards of a

ton weight. The whole, when full of water, would be no less than two

tons [NAPIER].

40-45. And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the

basins--These verses contain a general enumeration of Hiram's works,

as well as those already mentioned as other minor things. The Tyrian

artists are frequently mentioned by ancient authors as skilful

artificers in fashioning and embossing metal cups and bowls; and we

need not wonder, therefore, to find them employed by Solomon in making

the golden and brazen utensils for his temple and palaces.

46. In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them--Zarthan, or Zaretan

(Jos 3:16),

or Zartanah

(1Ki 4:12),

or Zeredathah

(2Ch 4:17),

was on the bank of the Jordan in the territories of western Manasseh.

Succoth was situated on the eastern side of Jordan, at the ford of the

river near the mouth of the Jabbok. One reason assigned by commentators

for the castings being made there is, that at such a distance from

Jerusalem that city would not be annoyed by the smoke and noxious

vapors necessarily occasioned by the process. [Note in Bagster's

Bible.] But the true reason is to be found in the nature of the

soil; Margin, "the thickness of the ground." That part of the

Jordan valley abounds with marl. Clay and sand are the moulding

material still used for bronze. Such large quantities of metal as one

of these castings would contain could not be fused in one furnace, but

would require a series of furnaces, especially for such a casting as

the brazen sea--the whole series of furnaces being filled with metal,

and fused at one time, and all tapped together, and the metal let run

into the mould. Thus a national foundry was erected in the plain of

Jordan [NAPIER].

48. the altar of gold--that is, the altar of incense.

49. candlesticks of pure gold--made, probably, according to the

model of that in the tabernacle, which, along with the other articles

of furniture, were deposited with due honor, as sacred relics, in the

temple. But these seem not to have been used in the temple service; for

Solomon made new lavers, tables, and candlesticks, ten of each. (See

further regarding the dimensions and furniture of the temple, in

2Ch 3:1-5:14).