The first half of Chapter 7 deals with the construction of Solomon's palace. The second half, which we'll begin tomorrow, deals with the furnishings made for the temple.
In yesterday's text we learned that it took Solomon seven years to build the temple. If we want to be really precise about it, it took him seven and a half years because he began construction in the spring of his fourth year as king and he completed construction in the fall of his eleventh year as king. As we begin Chapter 7 we learn how long it took him to build his own home. I presume he lived in David's royal palace until his own palace was completed but the Bible does not specifically say so. "It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace." (1 Kings 7:1)
Scholars are divided in their opinions regarding the amount of time Solomon spent building the temple versus the amount of time he spent building the palace. Some are critical of him, claiming he was more interested in his own home than in the house of God. Others commend him, saying he began the work on the temple first and put more emphasis on getting it finished than on getting his own home finished. I agree with the scholars who commend him and the reason I feel this way is because later in the book of 1 Kings and in the parallel account in 2 Chronicles we'll be told of the other projects he began after the "twenty years" in which he built the temple and the palace. This indicates to me that he spent the first seven years out of these twenty building the temple. Then, after the temple was completed, he spent the next thirteen years building his palace. If they were being built at the same time then the total amount of years spent on them would not add up to twenty. The fact that it took him longer to construct his own home is no indication, in my opinion, that he spent more care on it. I believe it took longer to build the palace because he didn't have as much of a sense of urgency about it as he had about the temple. It's not as if he had nowhere to live in the meantime and it's not as if he didn't have plenty of other things to focus his attention on other than building his own house. Most of his time each day was likely taken up with running the government and hearing the major legal cases brought to him.
"He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns---forty-five beams, fifteen to a row. Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other. All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other." (1 Kings 7:2-5) You'll recall that Solomon obtained this fine cedar wood from Lebanon from King Hiram of Tyre with whom Solomon, like his father before him, made a treaty.
"He made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide. In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof. He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling. And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had married." (1 Kings 7:6-8) It's important to him that all the buildings of this complex are of similar design so they will complement each other. Solomon is a person who pays attention to detail. He is a person who takes care to create objects of beauty and harmony. You've probably heard the expression, "Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well." These words were penned long after the lifetime of Solomon but I believe he would have agreed with them.
"All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and smoothed on their inner and outer faces. The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits and some eight. The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the Lord with its portico." (1 Kings 7:9-12) As the author completes this segment of Chapter 7 he brings the subject back around to the temple of the Lord because in the next verse, which we'll get to tomorrow, begins the segment that deals with the fine furnishings of the temple.
Solomon's palace is magnificent but not as magnificent as the temple. He's used some of the finest materials available to him but he hasn't covered his ceilings, walls, and floors with gold as he did in the temple. He will have many beautiful objects of gold in his palace, as we'll learn later in the Bible, but I must respectfully disagree with those scholars who think he cared more about his own house than about the house of the Lord. If the Lord had found any fault with Solomon's attitude toward his own palace versus his attitude toward the temple, I do not think we would find Him appearing to Solomon (as He will in Chapter 9 after the temple and the palace have been completed) to bless the work of Solomon's hands and to make the same promise to him---regarding his descendants---that He made to David.
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