1 Kings 7:8-18

8 Solomon’s living quarters surrounded a courtyard behind this hall, and they were constructed the same way. He also built similar living quarters for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.

9 From foundation to eaves, all these buildings were built from huge blocks of high-quality stone, cut with saws and trimmed to exact measure on all sides.

10 Some of the huge foundation stones were 15 feet long, and some were 12 feet long.

11 The blocks of high-quality stone used in the walls were also cut to measure, and cedar beams were also used.

12 The walls of the great courtyard were built so that there was one layer of cedar beams between every three layers of finished stone, just like the walls of the inner courtyard of the LORD ’s Temple with its entry room.

13 King Solomon then asked for a man named Huram to come from Tyre.

14 He was half Israelite, since his mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father had been a craftsman in bronze from Tyre. Huram was extremely skillful and talented in any work in bronze, and he came to do all the metal work for King Solomon.

15 Huram cast two bronze pillars, each 27 feet tall and 18 feet in circumference.

16 For the tops of the pillars he cast bronze capitals, each 7 feet tall.

17 Each capital was decorated with seven sets of latticework and interwoven chains.

18 He also encircled the latticework with two rows of pomegranates to decorate the capitals over the pillars.

1 Kings 7:8-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 7

This chapter gives an account of some buildings of Solomon for himself, 1Ki 7:1-12; and of other things for the use of the temple; of two pillars of brass, 1Ki 7:13-22; of the molten sea, 1Ki 7:23-26; and of ten bases, and ten layers on them, 1Ki 7:27-39; with other utensils and ornaments, 1Ki 7:40-51.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew 10 cubits [4.6 meters] . . . 8 cubits [3.7 meters].
• [b]. Hebrew Hiram (also in 7:40, 45 ); compare 2 Chr 2:13 . This is not the same person mentioned in 5:1 .
• [c]. Hebrew 18 cubits [8.3 meters] tall and 12 cubits [5.5 meters] in circumference.
• [d]. Hebrew 5 cubits [2.3 meters].