Buildings for Living, Judging, and Worship

1 Kings 7:1-22
    1 But Solomon took thirteen years to build his own house; so he finished all his house. 2 He also built the House of the Forest of Lebanon; its length was one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, with four rows of cedar pillars, and cedar beams on the pillars. 3 And it was paneled with cedar above the beams that were on forty-five pillars, fifteen to a row. 4 There were windows with beveled frames in three rows, and window was opposite window in three tiers. 5 And all the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames; and window was opposite window in three tiers.
    6 He also made the Hall of Pillars: its length was fifty cubits, and its width thirty cubits; and in front of them was a portico with pillars, and a canopy was in front of them.  7 Then he made a hall for the throne, the Hall of Judgment, where he might judge; and it was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.  8 And the house where he dwelt had another court inside the hall, of like workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken as wife.
    9 All these were of costly stones cut to size, trimmed with saws, inside and out, from the foundation to the eaves, and also on the outside to the great court. 10 The foundation was of costly stones, large stones, some ten cubits and some eight cubits. 11 And above were costly stones, hewn to size, and cedar wood. 12 The great court was enclosed with three rows of hewn stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the inner court of the house of the LORD and the vestibule of the temple.
    13 Now King Solomon sent and brought Huram from Tyre. 14 He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker; he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill in working with all kinds of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and did all his work.
    15 And he cast two pillars of bronze, each one eighteen cubits high, and a line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of each. 16 Then he made two capitals of cast bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. 17 He made a lattice network, with wreaths of chainwork, for the capitals which were on top of the pillars: seven chains for one capital and seven for the other capital. 18 So he made the pillars, and two rows of pomegranates above the network all around to cover the capitals that were on top; and thus he did for the other capital.  19 The capitals which were on top of the pillars in the hall were in the shape of lilies, four cubits. 20 The capitals on the two pillars also had pomegranates above, by the convex surface which was next to the network; and there were two hundred such pomegranates in rows on each of the capitals all around.
    21 Then he set up the pillars by the vestibule of the temple; he set up the pillar on the right and called its name Jachin, and he set up the pillar on the left and called its name Boaz. 22 The tops of the pillars were in the shape of lilies. So the work of the pillars was finished.

After Solomon built the LORD’s house in seven years, he built his own over thirteen years.  His house had many rooms, bit especially one he could judge God’s people from.  He also built one for his wife, pharaoh’s daughter, and a hall of pillars with its own hall of judgment.  These were crafted of costly cut stone and cedar planks, not to mention cast bronze pillars as in the temple.  For the temple, king Solomon hired a skilled worker from Tyre of the tribe of Naphtali to do this work.  The two pillars at the entrance he named Jachin on the right and Boaz on the left, meaning ‘He shall establish’ and ‘In it is strength.’  He meant that this work would establish the rule of wisdom in justice and in the LORD’s strength, not his own.  The rest of the temple’s seas, lavers, and furnishings were to follow as we will see in the remainder of this chapter.  In all we see so far, it is to show and teach us of working our best for God’s glory on His place where He lives and we worship; in our living temples this means we live rightly toward holiness and in a sacrificial manner as we lay down our lives each day, dead and crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20, Romans 12:1, Mark 8:34).