Chapter Seven

1–12. Construction of Solomon’s palace. 13–51. Temple furnishings and decorations.

1 Kings 7:1. Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and finished his entire house. The longer duration of the construction of Solomon’s palace—13 years compared to the temple—7.5 years—is explained either by the greater number of workers on the temple, or by the fact that there were more construction works at the palace; moreover, materials were not prepared beforehand for the palace as they were for the temple. 13 years—from the completion of the temple construction, therefore the palace was completed 20 years after the beginning of the temple construction (1 Kgs 9:10), that is, in the 24th year of Solomon’s reign (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities VIII, 5, 1). Solomon’s palace was built not on Moriah, where the temple was, and not in Ophel (the southeastern foot of Moriah: (2 Chr 27:3; Neh 3:26); Josephus, Jewish War, VI, 6, 2; Robinson, Palestine II, 29), but on Mount Zion (in the “upper city,” according to Josephus), separated from the temple hill by the Tyropean valley; the palace was artificially connected with the temple by a bridge (in the second Jerusalem temple, a gallery was here, the so-called Xyst) and an internal passage (2 Kgs 11:19). Later, the palace of the Asmoneans was here.

1 Kings 7:2. He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was a hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, and it had four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. The first of the separate palaces was named the “House of the Forest of Lebanon,” Hebrew, bet yaar ha-Libanon, Vulgate: domus saltus Libani, LXX, Slavonic-Russian (Synodal, Archimandrite Macarius, Prof. Gulyaev): “of Lebanese wood” (LXX: οῖκος δρυμῶ τοῦ Λιβάνου). Of course, this palace was not on Lebanon (which did not belong to Solomon), as some supposed (Michaelis and others), or anywhere else outside Jerusalem (according to the Targum, a “summer royal house”—a kind of dacha); it owed its name to the multitude of cedar trees standing in rows near it and the multitude of cedar pillars in the middle of the building. “Solomon built in his palace a very large building in front of the entrance to the judgment hall, which had one hundred and thirty pillars of cedar, and I think that because of this multitude of cedar pillars it was called the House of the Forest of Lebanon, as the great multitude of these cedar pillars was likened to a Lebanese grove” (blessed Theodoret, question 26). Probably the House of the Forest of Lebanon, the house of the king, and the house of Pharaoh’s daughter (verse 8) were parts of one building, the first being the central structure (100 cubits in length, 50 in width, and 30 in height). In design, the House of the Forest of Lebanon represented a colonnade or peristyle of 4 rows of columns (Vulgate: quattuor deambulacra inter columnas cedrinas). By purpose, this building served, among other things, as a kind of arsenal (cf. 1 Kgs 10:17; Isa 22:8).

1 Kings 7:3. And it was covered with cedar above the beams that were on forty-five pillars, fifteen in each row. 1 Kings 7:4. There were window frames in three tiers, and window opposite window in three tiers. The roof of the building consisted of cedar beams that rested on stone walls. The building was three stories; each floor had side rooms; Hebrew, tzelot (cf. 1 Kgs 6:5-6; Ezek 41:6).

1 Kings 7:5. All the doorways and door-posts were square, and window was opposite window in three tiers. All the doors and door-posts were square-shaped. LXX: θυρώματα καὶ αἱ χῶραι τετράγωναι, Slavonic: “all the doors and chambers square-shaped.” The size of the rooms is not mentioned. In general, the palace in question represented a type of architecture that was common and is still encountered in the East: a court in the middle and a gallery with a colonnade around it.

1 Kings 7:6. And he made the Hall of Pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its width thirty cubits. There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them. 1 Kings 7:7. And he made the Hall of the Throne where he might judge, the Hall of Judgment, and covered all the floor with cedar. To the central building of the “House of the Forest of Lebanon” was attached “another four-sided building 30 cubits in width, which at its far end had a hall decorated with low and thick columns. There was a beautiful throne, on which the king sat while conducting judicial proceedings” (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities VIII, 5, 2). Probably the “porch of pillars” (LXX: αιλάμ, Slavonic: “elam,” Vulgate: porticus) (verse 6) and the “porch with a throne” formed one building, the first being as it were a general reception room, and the second—the actual throne hall (for the description of Solomon’s throne, see 1 Kgs 10:18-20). According to Talmudic tradition, the twelve lions mentioned in this description were movable and could lift the king from step to step when he wished to ascend to the throne; and the seat itself was equipped with mechanical figures of other animals: an eagle, for example, would place a crown on the head of the seated king, and a dove would hand him the scrolls of the law (cf. blessed Theodoret, question 26).

1 Kings 7:8. His own house where he dwelt had another court inside the porch, which was of like workmanship. He also made a house like this porch for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken as wife. The third palace consisted of two buildings: the house of Solomon himself and the house of his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter. This palace was finished with elegance, but its architecture is not described in detail.

1 Kings 7:9. All these were of precious stones, hewn according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front, even from the foundation to the coping, and from the outside to the great court. 1 Kings 7:10. The foundation was of large stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits. 1 Kings 7:11. Above were precious stones, hewn according to measure, and cedar. 1 Kings 7:12. The great court all around had three courses of hewn stones and one course of cedar beams; so it was for the inner court of the house of the Lord and for the vestibule of the house. The remarks here about building material apply to all the aforementioned groups of buildings mentioned above (verses 1–11). The precious material consisted of various kinds of stone—gasit (cf. (1 Kgs 5:17) and our note there), according to Josephus, much white marble was also used. Verse 12 returns the thread of the narrative to the story of the building of the temple (interrupted in verses 1–11).

1 Kings 7:13. Now King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. 1 Kings 7:14. He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali. His father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze, and he was full of skill, intelligence, and knowledge for any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his work. The lack of necessary craftsmen among the Hebrews for carved and similar work prompted Solomon to bring a craftsman from Tyre; that was Hiram (according to (2 Chr 2:13), Hiram-Abi), Phoenician by his father, by his mother one of the Hebrews (according to 1 Kings, his mother was from the tribe of Naphtali, while according to (2 Chr 2:14), from the tribe of Dan) 6. The artistic abilities of Hiram are depicted like the gifts of the craftsman Bezalel (Exod 31:3-5) who worked on the beautification of the tabernacle. From the work produced by Hiram, the Book of Kings names only the completely new things, not such as had existed in Moses’s tabernacle. Thus the Book of Kings does not mention the construction by Hiram of a new bronze altar for whole burnt offerings (with bronze walls, while inside it was filled with stones and earth), which we learn about only from (2 Chr 4:1). (Cf. in Prof. A. A. Olesnitskii, p. 321).

1 Kings 7:15. He cast two pillars of bronze. Eighteen cubits was the height of each pillar, and a line of twelve cubits encircled it. 1 Kings 7:16. He made two capitals of cast 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. 1 Kings 7:17. There were nets of checker work and wreaths of chain work on the capitals on the top of the pillars, seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital. 1 Kings 7:18. He made the pillars and two rows of pomegranates all around on the one grating, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars. And he did the same for the other capital. 1 Kings 7:19. Now the capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily-work, four cubits. 1 Kings 7:20. The capitals on the two pillars had pomegranates also above, beside the bulge which was beside the latticework; and there were two hundred pomegranates in rows round about on each capital. 1 Kings 7:21. And he set up the pillars of the vestibule of the temple. He set up the pillar on the south and called its name Jachin; he set up the pillar on the north and called its name Boaz. 1 Kings 7:22. On the tops of the pillars was lily-work. Thus the work on the pillars was finished. The first monumental work of Hiram: two monumental bronze columns in the vestibule or on the porch of the temple, named Jachin (the name of the right column) and Boaz (the left). From the given section, in comparison with parallel accounts ((2 Chr 3:15-17; cf. 1 Chr 18:8; 2 Sam 8:8; 2 Kgs 25:13; Jer 52:20-23; Ezek 40:48); Josephus, Jewish Antiquities VIII, 3, 4), the following details emerge about the external appearance and architecture of each of these columns, as well as their religious and national significance. Both columns, like the bronze sea and other vessels, were made of bronze, once taken by David as spoils in war with the Syrians (1 Chr 18:8). The height of each column equaled 18 cubits (according to (2 Chr 3:15)—35 cubits, but probably including the base of the column), that is, 8 m. 71 cm., or about 11 arshins and more: the circumference or perimeter—12 cubits—5 m. 80 cm., or about 8 arshins, therefore about 4 cubits in diameter (according to Josephus: respectively—3.82 cubits—1 m. 84 cm.). The thickness of the walls of each column—4 fingers, inside each column was hollow. According to the LXX verse 15, the columns were not smooth but had indentations 4 fingers deep: τεσσάρων δακτύλων τὰ κοιλώματα, Slavonic: “grooves of four fingers,” that is, with longitudinal lines. On top of each column was a capital (Hebrew, koteret, LXX: ἐπιθεμα, Slavonic: “placement,” Russian: “crown”) 5 cubits (according to 2 Kgs 25:17-3 cubits) high, so the total height of the column was 23 cubits (11 m. 13 cm., or about 17 arshins). The lower part of the capitals was convex, bulbous; the upper part presented a lily-like bowl. At the upper and lower ends of this section were arranged two rows, 100 pieces each, of pomegranates with mesh chains for fastening. Both columns were undoubtedly independent monuments, standing separately from the vestibule (not as part of the vestibule, serving as its supports, as was supposed by Thenius, Distel, Hitzig, Vopoeus, Payne, Nowack). According to 2 Chr 3:15 both columns stood “before (Hebrew, lifne) the house (temple),” and the very phrasing of verse 21 (2 Chr 3:17) “set up” (Hebrew, hekimo), firmly established—applies only to an independent column (cf. Lev 26:1; Deut 27:2 and others). Especially the independent monumental significance of both columns is evident from the fact that each bore a specific name: the right—Jachin, the left—Boaz. These names in any case speak of the important theocratic and national significance of both columns, but their precise meaning cannot be established with certainty. Although both names appear in the Old Testament as personal names: the first—as the name of several persons in the tribes of Simeon (Gen 46:10; Exod 6:15; Num 26:12) and Levi (1 Chr 9:10), and the second in the Hebrew Bible is identical with the name of the well-known ancestor of David from the story of Ruth, Boaz (Ruth 2:1), however, dedicating the columns to these persons (especially to one of the little-known Jachins) is unlikely (the Targum to (2 Chr 3:17) identifies the name of the left column with the name of Boaz). Equally unfounded are the interpretations that saw in those names the names of the builders of the temple (Gesenius), the sons of Solomon (Ewald), or non-historical names of David and Solomon (Abarbanel). On the contrary, the noncitatory significance of both names is supported by the authority of the LXX, who in (2 Chr 3:17) render the Hebrew Jachin, Boaz with noncitatory terms: κατόρθωσις, ισχύς, Slavonic: “correction,” “strength.” In this sense, joining both names in one judgment (the supposition of some scholars that both names made up one whole inscription, but this is not justified by the biblical text), we get such a thought: “let the (temple) stand immovably, with strength” or (if the verb kun is taken in the form Hiphil): “may (the Lord) establish (the temple) with His strength” (cf. 1 Kgs 8:13; Isa 14:24). Standing directly before the national sanctuary of Israel, the columns Jachin and Boaz testified to the advent of a new, higher period in the history of the Old Testament theocracy, the sanctuary, and the people of God. In view of the establishment of a strong, immovable temple of the Lord in Israel and the confirmation of political power and deep peace among it, these columns appeared as the national-religious flag, the sanctuary of worship and theocracy among all the peoples of antiquity. By this, the comparison of Jachin and Boaz with various kinds of pagan monuments is already excluded: Egyptian sphinxes (in Vopoeus), Phoenician statues of Hercules and Saturn (Movers, Fatke), or finally with cults of Baal and Astarte (Gipiani). Cf. in Prof. A. A. Olesnitskii, Old Testament Temple, pp. 254–288.

1 Kings 7:23. He made a molten sea, ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape, its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits encircled it round about. 1 Kings 7:24. Under its rim were gourds, for thirty cubits, compassing the sea round about. The gourds were in two rows, cast when it was cast. 1 Kings 7:25. It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their hinder parts were inward. 1 Kings 7:26. And it was a hand-breadth thick, and its brim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths. (Cf. 2 Chr 4:2-5). A new furnishing of the temple and the second grand work of Hiram was the so-called bronze or “molten” sea (yam mutzak), that is, called a sea because of its vastness (according to Josephus, Jewish Antiquities VIII, 3, 5, it was called a sea “because of its size”), a basin in the court of the temple between the altar of burnt offerings and the Holy Place, closer to the south, 10 cubits in diameter, 30 cubits (according to the LXX and blessed Theodoret—33) in circumference, and 5 cubits in height, holding 2000 (according to (2 Chr 4:5)—3000) baths of water. The relationship of circumference and diameter in the given figures (30 and 10 cubits) does not appear mathematically precise (with a diameter of 10 cubits, the circumference is 31 2/5 or 31.416 cubits; with a circumference of 30 cubits, the diameter is 9 174/314 cubits) and has aroused many disputes among biblical archaeologists. But it is understandable that the sacred writers could not burden their speech with fractions and indicated only whole numbers; it is also possible that the diameter and circumference are determined in the text independently of each other, because in different places of the vessel the circumference changed. Depending on this, scholars explain (e.g., Lightfoot, Metropolitan Philaret) the inconsistent definition of the capacity of the “bronze sea”—2000 baths (according to 1 Kings) or 3000 baths (according to (2 Chr 4:5)): the latter figure could denote the full capacity of the bronze sea to the very rim, while the former denoted how much was usually poured in. The form of the basin was not cylindrical, as some supposed, but resembled a bowl of an opened lily (verse 26), and moreover had a convex middle—like a goblet. According to Josephus Flavius (Jewish Antiquities VIII, 3, 5) and blessed Theodoret (question 24), the bronze sea had the appearance of a hemisphere (ήμισφαίριον). Under the rim of the bronze sea, cast as one piece with it, were two rows of globes like colocynths, 10 globes per cubit (according to (2 Chr 4:3), these reliefs depicted oxen). The basin was supported by 12 colossal images of bronze oxen, the rear parts of which were turned to the center, and the heads of the oxen, three together, were turned toward all four cardinal directions; the height of the figures of oxen was probably equal to the natural height of these animals. By their significance, these images could recall the oxen that once bore the tabernacle in the wilderness, and in general were appropriate in the court of the temple, representing the chief sacrificial material for the burnt offering altar that stood near (A. A. Olesnitskii, p. 326), least of all did they have any relation to pagan objects of worship (the opinion of Josephus, Jewish Antiquities VIII, 7, 5). The purpose of the bronze sea was to serve as a washbasin for priests (2 Chr 4:6). According to tradition, priests used the water of the sea from below by means of taps or openings—either in the mouths of the oxen or in the wall of the basin itself, between the groups of oxen (A. A. Olesnitskii, pp. 327–328). Something similar to the bronze sea is represented by a similar Phoenician vessel, the “Sea of Amathus,” discovered on Cyprus and since 1866 housed in the Louvre Museum.

1 Kings 7:27. And he made ten stands of bronze. Each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high. 1 Kings 7:28. This was the construction of the stands: they had panels, and the panels were set in the frames. 1 Kings 7:29. On the panels that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. 1 Kings 7:30. Each stand had four bronze wheels and bronze axles. At the four corners of each stand there were supports; the supports were cast as an integral part beneath the basin. 1 Kings 7:31. The opening of the stand was within a crown which projected upward one cubit. The opening was round, shaped like a pedestal, a cubit and a half in diameter. Around the opening were carvings. The panels of the stand were square, not round. 1 Kings 7:32. The four wheels were beneath the panels; the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The height of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 1 Kings 7:33. The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs all were cast. 1 Kings 7:34. There were four supports at the four corners of each stand. The supports were of one piece with the stand. 1 Kings 7:35. At the top of the stand was a round opening half a cubit in height. At the top of the stand, its openings and its panels were of the same piece with the stand. 1 Kings 7:36. On the surfaces of its openings and on its panels, he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, wherever there was space, with wreaths round about. 1 Kings 7:37. Thus he made the ten stands. All of them were cast alike, with the same size and the same form. 1 Kings 7:38. Then he made ten bronze basins, each basin holding forty baths. Each basin was four cubits in diameter, and each basin stood on one of the ten stands. 1 Kings 7:39. He set the stands, five on the south side of the house and five on the north side of the house, and the sea on the southeast corner of the house. Like the bronze sea served for the washing of priests, so special vessels totaling 10, “basins” (Hebrew, kiyrot, verse 38; 2 Chr 4:6), placed on special “stands” mekonot (verse 27), served for washing the sacrificial parts before they were burned on the altar (cf. Lev 1:9; Ezek 40:38). The latter are described in this section of 1 Kings with the greatest detail, probably because of the novelty and elegance of the construction of this third work of art by Hiram (after the 2 columns and the bronze sea). Each stand represented a rectangular box, 4 cubits in length and width and 3 cubits in depth or height (verse 27); the side walls of these boxes consisted of panels with overlays (Hebrew, shelabin, Vulgate: Juncturae) at the corners (verse 28). On the walls—carved images of lions, oxen (perhaps the idea of universal peace in the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of nature, as in Isa 11:6-9) and palms, and below—interwoven wreaths or festoons of blooming flowers (verse 29). In the upper part of the box-stand was an apparatus for receiving and securing the basin, bulging in the middle and called a crown or capital, 1/2 cubit in height (verse 35) and 1.5 cubits in diameter (verses 30–31). For stability on each capital, there were affixed shoulder-like projections (Hebrew, ketafot) from each corner pillar of the box, describing a slight curve and embracing the basin from four sides as supports. Below each box-stand were cut out axles and on them wheels of the usual design (with spokes, hubs, etc.), 1.5 cubits in diameter, with the wheels by their height not blocking the walls of the box (verses 30, 32–34). The cover, walls, and supports of the boxes were covered with carving (verse 36). The basins themselves standing on those stands are described briefly: they had the form of bowls with an expanded upper part, somewhat like a pot (cf. Exod 30:18). The diameter of each bowl—4 cubits, and the depth—1 cubit (verse 38). The complex and movable design of the basins was intended to facilitate their filling with water, and then emptying them. In the first case, they were rolled up to the larger water reservoir—the bronze sea; in the second, when the water was saturated with blood, the basins were pushed toward a special drainage pipe at the altar. These basin-chariots were so heavy that their movement required the combined efforts of several men; they required careful maintenance, because, standing constantly in the open air, they were often washed by rain and subjected to damage (A. A. Olesnitskii, p. 329, 332, cf. Keil, Biblical Archaeology, Russian translation, part I, pp. 161–162).

1 Kings 7:40. Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the bowls. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the Lord. 1 Kings 7:41. The two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, the two lattices to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, 1 Kings 7:42. and the four hundred pomegranates for the two lattices, two rows of pomegranates for each lattice, to cover the two bowls of the capitals upon the pillars, 1 Kings 7:43. the ten stands and the ten basins on the stands, 1 Kings 7:44. the one sea and the twelve oxen under the sea. 1 Kings 7:45. And the pots, the shovels, and the bowls. All the vessels which Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the Lord were of polished bronze. 1 Kings 7:46. The king cast them in clay ground near the Jordan, between Succoth and Zarethan. 1 Kings 7:47. And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined. 1 Kings 7:48. And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the Lord: the golden altar, and the golden table on which the bread of the Presence was laid, 1 Kings 7:49. the lampstands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north side, before the inner sanctuary, and the flowers and the lamps and the tongs, all of gold, 1 Kings 7:50. and the dishes for incense and the knives and the bowls and the pans and the censers, all of pure gold, and the hinges of gold for the doors of the inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, and for the doors of the house of the Lord. Among the secondary vessels and other items of temple furnishings made by Hiram, the biblical text (verses 40, 45, 50) names: a) bronze basins, sprinkling vessels, shovels, bowls, and b) golden tongs, dishes, knives, pans, and censers. Rabbinical tradition adds to this an apparatus for sacrificial operations in the form of stone pillars on the north side of the altar for the preliminary arrangement and sorting of individual parts of the sacrificial meat.

1 Kings 7:51. Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the votive offerings of his father David; the silver, the gold, and the vessels, he put in the treasuries of the house of the Lord. Concluding remark about the building and furnishing of the temple by Solomon. As Solomon used the treasures collected by David for the building of the temple, so part of these treasures Solomon placed in the treasuries of the temple, established in the known side structures of the temple (1 Kgs 6:5). “The writer called all things holy that were dedicated to God of all kinds and military spoils brought back from the wars” (blessed Theodoret, question 25). Cf. (2 Sam 8:7-12; 1 Chr 18:7-11). * * * Later Judaism attempted to present Hiram as a pure Hebrew. Thus, Josephus (Jewish Antiquities VII, 3; 4) says that “the father of Hiram was Uriah, an Israelite by birth.” Possibly here was reflected a vain desire to attribute the remarkable works in the temple to a man of pure Hebrew origin, rather than to a foreigner, although even by the Bible, Hiram or Hiram-Abi was only half Hebrew. Cf. W. Nowack. Hebrew Archaeology, Vatican ed., II, 5–32