Bible Commentaries

Construction of other buildings (7:1-12)

After finishing the temple, Solomon moved on to the next part of his building program. This was the building of a magnificent palace that took thirteen years (7:1). He also built many other expensive buildings in this national showpiece. The House of the Forest of Lebanon, so called because of its three rows of cedar pillars, was apparently a military headquarters and weapons storehouse (2-5; cf. 10:17; Isaiah 22:8). The Hall of Pillars was probably a meeting hall, and the Hall of the Throne a judgment court. There was also a separate palace for his queen, the daughter of Pharaoh (6-8). All these buildings, along with the temple and Solomon's own palace, were built within the Great Court, around the perimeter of which was a stone and timber wall (9-12).

More concerning the temple (7:13-51)

Israel seems to have lost the spiritual insight and artistic skill that in the time of Moses enabled its craftsmen to design and make the decoration for God's dwelling place (cf. Exodus 31:1-6). Solomon therefore hired a craftsman from Tyre to do the bronze work and other decorations for the temple, with no apparent concern for the wrong religious ideas this man may have had. By coincidence this hired craftsman was named Hiram (GNB: Huram), the same as the king (13-14; 2 Chronicles 2:7; 2 Chronicles 2:13-14).

Hiram the bronzeworker made two bronze pillars that stood in front of the porch but did not support the roof. They seem to have been purely ornamental. Decorations around the bowl-shaped tops of the pillars consisted of pomegranates, large flowers and a network of interwoven chains (15-22; see v. 41-42).

A new bronze altar was made, much larger than Moses' tabernacle altar, which was now far too small for the great numbers of animals that Solomon sacrificed (see 8:64; 2 Chronicles 4:1). A bronze laver (GNB: tank), in the form of a huge basin supported on the backs of twelve oxen, held water for bathing and other cleansing rites (23-26). There were ten additional mobile lavers, each consisting of a bronze basin fixed on top of a trolley, or cart. The basin sat inside a square frame, on the outside of which were attached decorative panels (27-39).

The writer then lists all the articles made of bronze (40-45). The bronze casting was done at a place in the Jordan Valley where the ground was suitable (46-47). Other articles were also made, till the temple was finished in every detail and fully equipped for its services (48-51).