1Kings
7:1 ¶ But Solomon was building his own
house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. 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. 3 And it was covered with cedar above
upon the beams, that lay on forty five pillars, fifteen in a row.
4 And there were windows in
three rows, and light was against light in three ranks. 5 And all the doors and posts were
square, with the windows: and light was against light in three
ranks. 6 And he made a porch of pillars;
the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty
cubits: and the porch was before them: and the other pillars and
the thick beam were before them. 7
Then he made a porch for the throne where he might judge, even
the porch of judgment: and it was covered with cedar from one side of
the floor to the other. 8 And his house
where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of
the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had
taken to wife, like unto this porch. 9
All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of
hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation
unto the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court. 10 And the foundation was of costly
stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.
11 And above were costly stones,
after the measures of hewed stones, and cedars. 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.
Amongst
the building projects Solomon oversaw we have listed here his marriage to
Pharaoh’s daughter. These political marriages to establish his reign by making
alliances with kingdoms around Israel is not unusual for kings in history
although the scope of Solomon’s marriages is astounding. But here is the seed
of the tarnishing of Solomon’s reign by his union with women of different
religions.
Nehemiah
13:26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin
by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was
beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even
him did outlandish women cause to sin. [outlandish refers to alien or foreign]
1Kings
7:13 ¶ And king Solomon sent and fetched
Hiram out of Tyre. 14 He was a
widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre,
a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and
cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought
all his work. 15 For he cast two pillars
of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did
compass either of them about. 16 And he
made two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars:
the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the
other chapiter was five cubits: 17
And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the
chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one
chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter. 18
And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network,
to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so
did he for the other chapiter. 19 And
the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily
work in the porch, four cubits. 20 And
the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over
against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were
two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter. 21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the
temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and
he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz. 22 And upon the top of the pillars was
lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished. 23 And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the
one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was
five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. 24 And under the brim of it round about there
were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about:
the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast. 25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking
toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward
the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above
upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. 26 And it was an hand breadth thick, and
the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it
contained two thousand baths. 27 And he
made ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and
four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it. 28 And the work of the bases was on this manner:
they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges: 29 And on the borders that were between
the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims: and upon the ledges there
was a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain
additions made of thin work. 30 And
every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass: and the four corners
thereof had undersetters: under the laver were undersetters molten, at
the side of every addition. 31 And the
mouth of it within the chapiter and above was a cubit: but the mouth
thereof was round after the work of the base, a cubit and an
half: and also upon the mouth of it were gravings with their borders,
foursquare, not round. 32 And under the
borders were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined
to the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.
33 And the work of the wheels was
like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their
felloes, and their spokes, were all molten. 34 And there were four undersetters to
the four corners of one base: and the undersetters were of the
very base itself. 35 And in the top of
the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top
of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof were of the same.
36 For on the plates of the ledges
thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and palm
trees, according to the proportion of every one, and additions round about. 37 After this manner he made the ten
bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size. 38 Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver
contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon
every one of the ten bases one laver. 39
And he put five bases on the right side of the house, and five on the
left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house
eastward over against the south. 40 And
Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of
doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD: 41 The two pillars, and the two bowls of
the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars; and the two
networks, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters which were upon the
top of the pillars; 42 And four hundred
pomegranates for the two networks, even two rows of pomegranates for one
network, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were upon the
pillars; 43 And the ten bases, and ten
lavers on the bases; 44 And one sea, and
twelve oxen under the sea; 45 And the
pots, and the shovels, and the basons: and all these vessels, which Hiram made
to king Solomon for the house of the LORD, were of bright brass. 46 In the plain of Jordan did the king cast
them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan. 47 And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed,
because they were exceeding many: neither was the weight of the brass found
out.
Hiram, the
skilled craftsman out of Tyre, is not King Hiram of Tyre.
2Samuel
5:11 And Hiram king of Tyre sent
messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they
built David an house.
1Kings
5:1 And Hiram king of Tyre sent his
servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the
room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David.
Differences
in accounts of the size of the objects Hiram created can be explained by them
being added together or if the account is just referring to the decorated
portion. Skeptics’ complaints are usually just so much drivel.
21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the
temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and
he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.
John
10:23 And Jesus walked in the temple in
Solomon’s porch.
Acts
5:12 And by the hands of the apostles
were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with
one accord in Solomon’s porch.
According
to Strong’s Jachin means, “he will establish,” and Boaz is the
ancestor of David and Solomon.
1Kings
7:48 ¶ And Solomon made all the vessels
that pertained unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the
table of gold, whereupon the shewbread was, 49 And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on
the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the
flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold, 50 And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the
basons, and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of
gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and
for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple. 51 So was ended all the work that king Solomon
made for the house of the LORD. And Solomon brought in the things which David
his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the
vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD.
Solomon
has completed his work for the Lord God’s temple. It was an impressive feat and
probably very glorious to look upon. I can’t even imagine.
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