The First Book of the Kings

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- Kapitel 7 -

They also built a palace for Solomon, but it required thirteen years to build it.

One of the buildings they built was a large ceremonial hall. It was called the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. It was forty-six meters long, twenty-three meters wide, and fourteen meters high. It was supported by four rows of cedar pillars. There were cedar beams across each row.

The carpenters build a roof from cedar planks that were attached to beams. The carpenters made pillars to support the cedar beams. There were a total of forty-five pillars put in place, making fifteen pillars in each row to support the roof.

On each of the two side walls there were three sets of windows facing each other.

All the windows and doorways had rectangular frames. The windows along the long wall on one side faced the windows on the other side.

They also built a long room with pillars; it was twenty-three meters long and fourteen meters wide. In front of it was a covered porch whose roof was supported by pillars.

Then they made a building called the Hall of the Throne. It was also called the Hall of Justice. That was where Solomon decided about people’s disputes. The entire floor was covered with cedar wood.

In the courtyard behind the Hall of Judgment they built a house for Solomon to live in that was made like the other buildings. They also built the same kind of house for his wife, who was the daughter of the king of Egypt.

All of these buildings and the walls around the palace courtyard were made from stones, from the foundations up to the eaves. The stones had been expensive for the workers to cut at the quarry, according to the sizes that were needed, and the sides of the stones were shaped and smoothed by cutting them with saws.

The foundations were also made from huge blocks of expensive stones that had been prepared at the quarry. Some of them were about three and three-quarters meters long and others were about four and four-fifths meters long.

On top of the foundation stones were other expensive stones that had been cut according to the sizes they needed, as well as cedar beams.

The palace courtyard, the inner courtyard in front of the temple, and the portico in front of the temple had walls made by putting down three layers of cut stones between each layer of cedar beams.

The Pillars and Capitals

(2 Chronicles 3:14–17)

There was a man who lived in the city of Tyre whose name was Huram.

He was a craftsman. His father had also lived in Tyre and had also been very skilled at making things from bronze, but Huram’s father was no longer living. His mother was from the tribe of Naphtali. Huram was very wise and intelligent and was very skilled at making things from bronze. Solomon invited him to come to Jerusalem and supervise all the work of making things from bronze, and Huram agreed.

He made two bronze pillars. Each one was eight and one-third meters tall and eight and one-half around.

He also made two gleaming bronze tops to be put on top of the pillars. Each top was two and one-third meters tall.

Then he made bronze networks of chains like wreaths to decorate the top of each pillar. There were seven of these networks at the top of each pillar.

Huram also made bronze figures that resembled pomegranates. He put two rows of pomegranates over the top of each pillar.

The top over each pillar was shaped like a lily. Each lily leaf was one and four-fifths meters tall.

These tops were placed on a bowl shaped section around which were two rows of two hundred figures of pomegranates around the top of each pillar.

His helpers set up the pillars in front of the entrance of the temple. The pillar on the south side was named Jakin, and the pillar on the north side was named Boaz.

The bronze tops that were shaped like lilies were placed on top of the pillars. So Huram and his helpers completed the work of making the bronze pillars.

The Molten Sea

(2 Chronicles 4:1–5)

Huram also made a very large round bronze basin called “The Sea” that was made of metal and cast in a clay mold. It was two and one-third meters tall, four and three-fifths meters across, and thirteen and three-quarters meters around.

Around the outer edge of the rim of the “The Sea” were two rows of figures that resembled gourds that were made of bronze. But the gourds were not cast separately. They were cast in the same mold as the rest of the tank. For each meter of length around the rim of the tank there were about eighteen gourds.

Huram also cast twelve bronze statues of oxen. He placed them to face outward. He placed three of them to face north, three to face west, three to face south, and three to face east. His helpers put the large bronze tank known as “The Sea” so that it sat on the backs of the statues of the oxen.

The sides of the tank were eight centimenters thick. The rim was like the rim of a cup. It curved outward, like the petals of a lily. When the tank was full, it held about forty-four cubic meters of water.

The Ten Bronze Stands

Huram also made ten bronze carts. Each was one and four-fifths meters long, one and four-fifths meters wide, and one and one-third meters tall.

On the sides of the carts there were panels set in frames.

On those panels were bronze figures of lions, oxen, and winged creatures. Below and above the lions and bulls there were decorations of bronze wreaths.

Each cart had four bronze wheels and two axles made of bronze. At the top corners of each cart were bronze supports to hold up a basin. On these supports were also decorations of bronze wreaths.

On top of each cart, under each basin, was a frame that resembled a circular collar. The top of each circular frame was forty-six centimeters above the top of the cart, and the bottom of it was twenty-three centimeters below the top of the cart. There were also engravings within square panels.

The wheels were sixty-nine centimeters high. They were below the panels. The wheels were connected to axles that had been cast in the same mold as the rest of the cart.

The wheels of the carts were like the wheels of chariots. The axles, the rims, the spokes, and the hubs were all cast from bronze.

At the top corners of each cart there were handles. These were molded into the cart itself.

There was a bronze band of twenty-three centimeters around the top of each cart. There were braces attached to the corners of each cart. The bands and the braces were cast in the same mold as the rest of the cart.

The braces and the panels on the sides of the carts were also decorated with figures of winged creatures, lions, and palm trees, whenever there was space for them, and there were bronze wreaths all around them.

That is how Huram made the ten carts. They were all cast in the same mold, so they were all alike. They all were the same size and had the same shape.

The Ten Bronze Basins

(2 Chronicles 4:6–8)

Huram also made ten bronze basins, one basin for each of the ten stands. Each basin was one and four-fifths meters across and held 880 liters of water.

Huram placed five of the carts on the right side of the temple and five on the left side of the temple. He put the large tank known as “The Sea” on the corner that was toward the east and in the direction of the south.

Completion of the Bronze Works

(2 Chronicles 4:11–18)

Huram also made pots, shovels for carrying ashes, and bowls for carrying the blood of the animals that would be sacrificed. He completed all the work that King Solomon requested him to do for the temple. This is a list of the bronze things he made:

The two pillars, the two tops to be put on top of the pillars, the two wreaths of chains to decorate the tops of the pillars,

the four hundred figures of pomegranates in four rows, with one hundred in each row; two of these rows were placed over the head of each pillar,

the ten carts, the ten basins,

the big tank known as “The Sea,” the twelve statues of oxen on whose backs the tank was placed,

the pots, shovels for the ashes of the altar, and bowls. Huram and his workers made all these things for King Solomon and put them outside the temple. They were all made of bronze that the workmen polished for it to gleam brightly.

They made them by pouring melted bronze into the clay molds that Huram had set up near the Jordan River valley, between the cities of Succoth and Zarethan.

Solomon did not tell his workers to weigh those bronze objects, because there were many items. So no one ever knew what they weighed.

Completion of the Gold Furnishings

(2 Chronicles 4:19–22)

Solomon’s workers also made all the gold items for the temple of Yahweh: the altar, the table where the bread of the presence was kept before God,

the ten lampstands that were put in front of the very holy place, five on the south side and five on the north side, the decorations that resembled flowers, the lamps, the tongs to grasp the hot coals,

the cups, the gold lamp wick snuffers, the small lamp bowls, the dishes for incense, the pans for carrying the hot coals, and the sockets for the doors at the entrance to the very holy place and for the doors at the entrance to the main room of the temple. Those things were all made of gold.

So Solomon’s workers finished all the work for the temple. Then they placed in the temple storerooms all the things that his father David had dedicated to Yahweh, all the silver and gold, and the other valuable items.

Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

For he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits,(a) its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.

It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row.

There were beams in three rows, and window was facing window in three ranks.

All the doors and posts were made square with beams; and window was facing window in three ranks.

He made the hall of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits, with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them.

He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor.

His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the same construction. He made also a house for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch.

All these were of costly stones, even of stone cut according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.

The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits.

Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood.

The great court around had three courses of cut stone with a course of cedar beams, like the inner court of the LORD’s house and the porch of the house.

The Pillars and Capitals

(2 Chronicles 3:14–17)

King Solomon sent and brought Hiram out of Tyre.

He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill to work all works in bronze. He came to King Solomon and performed all his work.

For he fashioned the two pillars of bronze, eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them.

He made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.

There were nets of checker work and wreaths of chain work for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars: seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.

So he made the pillars; and there were two rows of pomegranates around the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; and he did so for the other capital.

The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits.

There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital.

He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar and called its name Boaz.

On the tops of the pillars was lily work. So the work of the pillars was finished.

The Molten Sea

(2 Chronicles 4:1–5)

He made the molten sea ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.

Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

It stood on 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 on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward.

It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.

The Ten Bronze Stands

He made the ten bases of bronze. The length of one base was four cubits, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height.

The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges;

and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

Every base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze; and its four feet had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each.

Its opening within the capital and above was a cubit. Its opening was round like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its opening were engravings, and their panels were square, not round.

The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.

The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all of cast metal.

There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself.

In the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were the same.

On the plates of its supports and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around.

He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.

The Ten Bronze Basins

(2 Chronicles 4:6–8)

He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained forty baths.(b) Every basin measured four cubits. One basin was on every one of the ten bases.

He set the bases, five on the right side of the house and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and toward the south.

Completion of the Bronze Works

(2 Chronicles 4:11–18)

Hiram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the work that he worked for King Solomon in the LORD’s house:

the two pillars; the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars;

the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars;

the ten bases; the ten basins on the bases;

the one sea; the twelve oxen under the sea;

the pots; the shovels; and the basins. All of these vessels, which Hiram made for King Solomon in the LORD’s house, were of burnished bronze.

The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Completion of the Gold Furnishings

(2 Chronicles 4:19–22)

Solomon made all the vessels that were in the LORD’s house: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold;

and the lamp stands, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;

the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold.

Thus all the work that King Solomon did in the LORD’s house was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the vessels—and put them in the treasuries of the LORD’s house.

Fußnoten

(a)7:2 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.

(b)7:38 1 bath is one tenth of a cor, or about 5.6 U. S. gallons or 21 liters, so 40 baths was about 224 gallons or 840 liters.