HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  6.18 The elaborate decorations in the temple probably had religious significance.

  6.19 Ark of the covenant, an old religious object associated with the Lord, which David had moved to Jerusalem and installed in a tent shrine (2 Sam 6). Solomon later installed the ark in the inner sanctuary of the temple, where it was considered the throne of God (2 Kings 19.15; Pss. 80.1; 99.1; Isa 37.16). Other Israelite traditions saw it simply as the container for the Mosaic law (Ex 25.16; 1 Kings 8.9).

  6.23–38 The furnishings of the temple were as elaborate and impressive as the building itself.

  6.23–28 Cherubim (singular, cherub), fantastic composite creatures on which God was sometimes thought to ride (2 Sam 22.11; Ps 18.10; Ezek 1; 10). In the temple they served as guardians of the divine presence.

  6.38 Bul, the eighth month in the Canaanite calendar (October-November).

  1 KINGS 7

  Solomon’s Palace and Other Buildings

  1Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished his entire house.

  2He built the House of the Forest of the Lebanon one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, built on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. 3It was roofed with cedar on the forty-five rafters, fifteen in each row, which were on the pillars. 4There were window frames in the three rows, facing each other in the three rows. 5All the doorways and doorposts had four-sided frames, opposite, facing each other in the three rows.

  6He made the Hall of Pillars fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them.

  7He made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, the Hall of Justice, covered with cedar from floor to floor.

  8His own house where he would reside, in the other court back of the hall, was of the same construction. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken in marriage.

  9All these were made of costly stones, cut according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front, from the foundation to the coping, and from outside to the great court. 10The foundation was of costly stones, huge stones, stones of eight and ten cubits. 11There were costly stones above, cut to measure, and cedar-wood. 12The great court had three courses of dressed stone to one layer of cedar beams all around; so had the inner court of the house of the LORD, and the vestibule of the house.

  Products of Hiram the Bronzeworker

  13Now King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre. 14He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, whose father, a man of Tyre, had been an artisan in bronze; he was full of skill, intelligence, and knowledge in working bronze. He came to King Solomon, and did all his work.

  15He cast two pillars of bronze. Eighteen cubits was the height of the one, and a cord of twelve cubits would encircle it; the second pillar was the same.a 16He also 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. 17There were nets of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars; sevenbfor the one capital, and sevenb for the other capital. 18He made the columns with two rows around each latticework to cover the capitals that were above the pomegranates; he did the same with the other capital. 19Now the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily-work, four cubits high. 20The capitals were on the two pillars and also above the rounded projection that was beside the lattice-work; there were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around; and so with the other capital. 21He set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple; he set up the pillar on the south and called it Jachin; and he set up the pillar on the north and called it Boaz. 22On the tops of the pillars was lily-work. Thus the work of the pillars was finished.

  23Then he made the molten sea; it was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high. A line of thirty cubits would encircle it completely. 24Under its brim were panels all around it, each of ten cubits, surrounding the sea; there were two rows of panels, cast when it was cast. 25It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set on them. The hindquarters of each were toward the inside. 26Its thickness was a handbreadth; its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held two thousand baths.c

  27He also made the ten stands of bronze; each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high. 28This was the construction of the stands: they had borders; the borders were within the frames; 29on the borders that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work. 30Each stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze; at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each. 31Its opening was within the crown whose height was one cubit; its opening was round, as a pedestal is made; it was a cubit and a half wide. At its opening there were carvings; its borders were four-sided, not round. 32The four wheels were underneath the borders; the axles of the wheels were in the stands; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half. 33The wheels were made like a chariot wheel; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast. 34There were four supports at the four corners of each stand; the supports were of one piece with the stands. 35On the top of the stand there was a round band half a cubit high; on the top of the stand, its stays and its borders were of one piece with it. 36On the surfaces of its stays and on its borders he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, where each had space, with wreaths all around. 37In this way he made the ten stands; all of them were cast alike, with the same size and the same form.

  38He made ten basins of bronze; each basin held forty baths,d each basin measured four cubits; there was a basin for each of the ten stands. 39He set five of the stands on the south side of the house, and five on the north side of the house; he set the sea on the southeast corner of the house.

  40Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the LORD: 41the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars; 42the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; 43the ten stands, the ten basins on the stands; 44the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath the sea.

  45The pots, the shovels, and the basins, all these vessels that Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of burnished bronze. 46In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. 47Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

  48So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the LORD: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of the Presence, 49the lampstands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north, in front of the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; 50the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and firepans, of pure gold; the sockets for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple, of gold.

  51Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the LORD was finished. Solomon brought in the things that his father David had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and stored them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.

  next chapter

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  a Cn: Heb and a cord of twelve cubits encircled the second pillar; Compare Jer 52.21

  b Heb: Gk a net

  c A Heb measure of volume

  d A Heb measure of volume

  7.1–12 Like the description of the temple and its furnishings (6.1–38; 7.13–51), the account of Solomon’s other
building activities is probably drawn from old archives or from the Book of the Acts of Solomon (11.41). The king required considerably more time to build the palace than he did the temple (see 6.38). As in ch. 6, the descriptions of the buildings are sometimes unclear because of the archaic technical terms employed.

  7.2–6 The house (v. 1) Solomon built was in fact a complex of interrelated buildings just to the south of the new temple. House of the Forest of Lebanon, a name deriving from either the cedar from which the building was constructed or its distinctive rows of cedar pillars, which may have given it the look of a forest. Of the five buildings in the complex, three were for public use, while two (the king’s house and the house of his Egyptian queen) were Solomon’s private domain.

  7.9 Saws, probably some sort of smoothing tool that gave the stone a more polished surface than was possible with a hammer and chisel.

  7.13–51 This archival account of the furnishings of the temple underscores the high quality of craftsmanship involved in Solomon’s building projects. Like the temple itself, the furnishings were likely to have been inspired by Phoenician religious practices.

  7.13–14 Hiram from Tyre, not the king who supplied Solomon with building materials (ch. 5) but an artisan skilled in working bronze. Reference to his Israelite mother is designed to combat the notion that work on the temple was done by a foreigner.

  7.15–22 The two pillars of bronze flanked the entrance to the temple, where they do not seem to have had any obvious structural function.

  7.21 Jachin (Hebrew, “he establishes”), Boaz (possibly “in strength”), probably catchwords of sentences inscribed on the columns. As an architectural feature, these impressive objects may have served as symbolic markers of the sacredness of the temple enclosure.

  7.23–26 Molten sea, a cast bronze vessel of enormous size (a bath is about 5.5 gallons), supported by a pedestal of twelve oxen or bulls, traditional Canaanite symbols of fertility. The precise function of this object is uncertain. 2 Chr 4.6 suggests that it was for the priests to wash in, but this seems questionable given the object’s height off the ground. The sea may have represented the cosmic sea or had some other religious association.

  7.27–39 Stands, of bronze wagons that served as supports for basins.

  7.40–47 The pots, shovels, and basins, used during sacrificial rituals, closely resemble those created earlier for use in the tabernacle (Ex 27.3). Hiram cast all of the utensils by pouring bronze into clay molds.

  7.46 Succoth, Zarethan, on the plain of the Jordan River near the Jabbok.

  7.48–50 Another echo of earlier descriptions of the tabernacle (Ex 25.23–40; 30.1–10). Bread of the Presence. See Lev 24.5–9; Ex 25.23–30; 40.23; Num 4.7. Apparently the lampstands each supported only one lamp and are therefore not identical with the seven-branched lampstands mentioned elsewhere (Ex 25.31–40; 37.17–24; Lev 24.1–4).

  7.51 For the objects David had dedicated to the Lord, see 2 Sam 8.9–12; 1 Chr 29.1–5.

  1Kings 5–8 describes the building and dedication of the temple during Solomon’s reign and under his direction, a rectangular structure with an overall interior length of 90 feet, a width of 30 feet, and a height of 45 feet, fronted by an unroofed vestibule (“porch”) 15 feet long and 30 feet wide.

  A depiction of the temple by T. A. Busnick, an authority on ancient architecture. Although the temple’s interior decorations are described in detail in 1 Kings 6, little information is given about its external appearance, which may have been stark and formidable.

  1 KINGS 8

  Dedication of the Temple

  1Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2All the people of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the festival in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 3And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. 4So they brought up the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. 5King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 6Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. 7For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. 8The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day. 9There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, 11so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

  12Then Solomon said,

  “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

  13I have built you an exalted house,

  a place for you to dwell in forever.”

  Solomon’s Speech

  14Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. 15He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David, saying, 16‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.’ 17My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 18But the LORD said to my father David, ‘You did well to consider building a house for my name; 19nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ 20Now the LORD has upheld the promise that he made; for I have risen in the place of my father David; I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 21There I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

  Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

  22Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands to heaven. 23He said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart, 24the covenant that you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him; you promised with your mouth and have this day fulfilled with your hand. 25Therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant my father David that which you promised him, saying, ‘There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children look to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ 26Therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you promised to your servant my father David.

  27“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! 28Regard your servant’s prayer and his plea, O LORD my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today; 29that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. 30Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive.

  31“If someone sins against a neighbor and is given an oath to swear, and comes and swears before your altar in this house, 32then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servant
s, condemning the guilty by bringing their conduct on their own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding them according to their righteousness.

  33“When your people Israel, having sinned against you, are defeated before an enemy but turn again to you, confess your name, pray and plead with you in this house, 34then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land that you gave to their ancestors.

  35“When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and then they pray toward this place, confess your name, and turn from their sin, because you punisha them, 36then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and grant rain on your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

  37“If there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in anyb of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is; 38whatever prayer, whatever plea there is from any individual or from all your people Israel, all knowing the afflictions of their own hearts so that they stretch out their hands toward this house; 39then hear in heaven your dwelling place, forgive, act, and render to all whose hearts you know—according to all their ways, for only you know what is in every human heart—40so that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our ancestors.

  41“Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your name 42—for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm—when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, 43then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built.