1 Kings 7:1-22 - Houses, Pillars, and the House of God

1 Kings 7:1-22

Solomon’s Other Buildings

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.

Hiram the Craftsman

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.

The Bronze Pillars for the Temple (2 Chronicles 3:15–17)

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 finished the temple of sacrifice and worship for the LORD, he erected his own and other houses before casting the two entrance pillars for the temple named Jachin (He Shall Establish) and Boaz (In It Is Strength).  His own house took thirteen years to complete.  He then made House of the Forest of Lebanon, presumably to honor Hiram king of Tyre who provided cedar and cypress logs for the temple from Lebanon.  He also built the Hall of Pillars and the Hall of Judgment, where he might judge Israel from the throne there according to his God-given wisdom as king.  Then he made a house like his for his wife, the Pharaoh’s daughter, and went on to finish the outside work of the temple.  He began with the temple’s great court using the Lebanese cedar beams, and then finished the inner court and the vestibule of the temple of the LORD.  Then came the already mentioned huge twin bronze pillars at the entrance to the temple, ornately decorated and erected by the vestibule and symbolically named on the right side as established by the LORD and on the left side as demonstrating the strength and power came from God alone in both the construction of the temple and its ultimate purpose to serve the Almighty as His meeting place until He comes forever to dwell (Job 19:25-27, Revelation 7:15, 21:3) with His people at last.  These houses and pillars were built around the shadow of things to come according to the heavenly pattern (Exodus 25:40, Hebrews 8:5, 9:24) of the house of God shown to Moses when he received God’s word for us to point us to His true and lasting sacrifice, a picture of our worship as living sacrifices in these temples of our bodies where He now meets daily with us for our honor, worship, and praise of service that is reasonable (Romans 12:1, Hebrews 13:15) and given with the same desire and effort as Solomon put into building the physical temple and his own house long ago.