>> Jen: Hello and good morning faith listeners. Welcome to the Bible explained podcast. Today we'll be in first kings, chapter seven, and we'll be talking about was Solomon more concerned with the building of his own palace than he was with the temple to God bless? Stay tuned. So, faithful listeners, how have you all been? I hope you
have been doing well. Tell me how fall looks around your area, or if you're like in Australia and it's not fall over there, tell me, what season you're going into and what everything looks like in your current season. So if it's fall here in America, that means in Australia it would be spring. If I'm thinking correctly, you'd be going into spring. Yeah, I think that's right. So tell me what spring is like in Australia, but if you're here in America, let me know how your fall has been.
I'd like to hear about that, but let's get into today's episode one kings, chapter seven, one through twelve. Today. I'll be actually reading from the NLT version today, which is something I don't often do, but I have been recently, and I might actually continue talking at the NLT for the next couple days only because of the measurements
thing. That's the only reason I like to, uh, talk from the NLT typically, is because they give the english measurements for everything, whereas if you read a, uh, more literal translation, it often talks in qubits and I just, I cannot compute qubits, so it's easier for me to picture what is going on when I have the english measurements here. So that is why I'll be reading from the NLT today, and possibly next week as well. One kings 7:1-12 grab your bible and your cup of
coffee. Let's go ahead and read this together. Solomon also built a palace for himself, and it took him 13 years to complete the construction. One of Solomon's buildings was called the palace of the Forest of Lebanon. It was 150ft long, 75ft wide and 45ft high. There were four rows of cedar pillars, and great cedar beams rested on the pillars. The hall had a cedar roof above the beams on the pillars were 45 side rooms arranged in
three tiers of 15 each. On each end of the long hall were three rows of windows facing each other. All the doorways and the doorposts had rectangular frames and were arranged in sets of three facing each other. Solomon also built the hall of pillars, which was 75ft long and 45ft wide. There was a porch in front, along with a canopy supported by pillars. Solomon also built the throne room, known as the hall of Justice, where he sat to hear legal matters. It was paneled
with cedar from floor to ceiling. 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 from foundation to eaves. All these buildings were built from huge blocks of high quality stone, cut with saws and trimmed to exact measurements on all sides. Some of the huge foundation stones were 15ft long and some
were 12ft long. The blocks of high quality stone used in the walls were also cut to measure, and cedar beams were also used. 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. There are two things you're going to notice, especially if you listen to
Monday's episode. The first being that Solomon took longer to build his own palace, then he took to build the temple to God. And the second being that Solomon's palace was bigger than the temple to God. Now, a lot of people will say that's because Solomon didn't really have a heart, for God wanted his own house to be better or just as nice, at least as God's temple. Put more effort into his own house than he did into the temple. That's what a lot of people think
when they read this. And that could be the case, because as Solomon progressed throughout the years, his heart just became further and further away from God, mainly because he was very in love with many women. And these women, a lot of times were from canaanite regions or from pagan areas that did not worship God and they wanted to worship their own gods. And Solomon actually allowed them to do
that. And not only allowed them to do that, but he would build altars and stuff to their pagan gods and go worship with them, instead of being like, no, I only worship Yahweh. So Solomon's heart, over the years got further and further away from God. And so possibly a lot of people think maybe Solomon's palace was kind of an indication that Solomon was getting further and further from God and his heart was more interested in the things of the world than the things of
God. But I will play devil's advocate and say that Solomon cared more about the temple than he did about his own palace. And here's why. First and foremost, Solomon took seven years, a little bit over seven years, to build God's temple. And as you can see from one kings, six, when Solomon is building it. There were a lot of specifications that Solomon had for God's temple. For example, they couldn't use any iron tools on the temple at all. They couldn't put anything into the
walls. He didn't want the walls of the temple itself to become corrupted in any way. So it was just like solid stone. And not to mention, the inside of the temple was absolutely gorgeous, covered from ceiling to floor in gold. That sounds to me like somebody who's putting a lot of effort into God's temple. We might be like, well, why did it only take Solomon seven years to build God's temple when it took him 13 years to build his own house?
Well, don't forget that David had already begun preparations for the temple and had given all of this stuff to Solomon because Solomon was going to be the next king. In fact, David had actually put plans together, like floor plans for the temple. He was gathering all this equipment. He was gathering funds for the temple. He was gathering materials so that everything would be as easy as possible for Solomon
taking over. And it turns out that Solomon actually did use David's specifications for the temple and all of the materials that were already in place. So if you think about it that way, Solomon had a much easier job than if Solomon started from scratch. Solomon didn't have to start from scratch. He already had a plan in place. And so that probably knocked off several years, I would imagine, that would have went into the preparations for building the temple to God.
Solomon already had all of that stuff in place, so that's possibly why it took him less time to build the temple to God than his own house. He didn't have plans for his own house. He had to gather the equipment for his own house. He didn't have any prep work done for him when it came to the palace, but he did have the materials gathered for the temple to God. Well, you might be like, well, what about the fact that Solomon's palace was significantly larger than the temple to God?
Well, don't forget how many people would have to live and encounter and interact with Solomon during his time in the palace. Whereas the temple to God was really only for a few eyes. The only people allowed inside of the temple to God. wasn't even Solomon. Solomon wasn't allowed to go in there. Only the priests and the high priest were allowed to go into God's temple. Not to mention that Solomon made God's temple exactly twice as large as God
had wanted Moses to make it. Back in the wilderness, Solomon was taking a lot of inspiration from the tabernacle tent when building the temple to God. And it didn't have to be as big because very few people were going to go in there, but Solomon's palace was going to encounter all sorts of people all the time. What does it say here? It says that he built the palace of the forest of Lebanon. It says it was 150ft long, 75ft wide and
45ft high. Later on in one kings, and also in the book of Isaiah, it mentions that the palace of the forest of Lebanon that Solomon built here actually became an armory. So Solomon built an armory attached to his palace, and that was necessary. Obviously, the soldiers would need to go in there to get their weapons of war if that was needed. Solomon built an armory, not just a, a house for himself, but something with functionality attached to his
house. Not to mention he also built the throne room, which was the hall of justice. And that was where Solomon would sit on his throne and hear court cases of the people who came to him and he would judge them right there. So, once again, the throne room had functionality. It wasn't just a beautiful place for Solomon to roam around in, it was functional. And lastly, it mentions that he also built the hall of pillars, which was 75ft long and 45ft wide. There was a porch in front,
along with a canopy supported by pillars. Now, we don't know what the hall of pillars was, but there's probably some sort of functionality with it, just like these other things that Solomon had built attached to his palace. I think a lot of people think when they hear the word Solomon's palace, that it was just a beautiful castle filled with elaborate decorations and meeting rooms and banquet halls and entertainment and all that kind
of stuff. And yes, it's possible that some of that was going on in this palace that Solomon built for himself. But as you can see, what scripture highlights here are the civil and judicial and, um, political purposes that Solomon's palace had as well. It wasn't just for entertainment or something like that. So that's kind of what I think about Solomon's palace. I do think people believe that Solomon, because he built himself a larger palace and because it took him longer time, that that
automatically means his heart was not with God. But if you think about it a different way, that might not necessarily be the case. So let's get into what Solomon's palace looked like real quick. It says Solomon also built a palace for himself and it took him 13 years to complete the construction. One of Solomon's buildings was called the palace of the forest of Lebanon. And the reason it was named this was because it was made completely out of cedar beams and cedar wood. And this cedar came from
Lebanon. So because this entire hall was filled with cedar from top to bottom, Solomon actually named it the palace of the forest of Lebanon because there was so much cedar in there. It was 150ft long, 75ft wide and 45ft high. There were four rows of cedar pillars, and great cedar beams rested on the pillars. The hall had a cedar roof, so everything in this thing was made out of cedar. Above the beams on the pillars were 45 side rooms, which the Hebrew there
is, I think, inconclusive. So they're not sure if it's rooms or if it means, like pillars or something like that. I guess it could be interpreted multiple ways. But there is 45 of something, 45 of something in this palace of the forest of Lebanon. And it was arranged in three tiers of 15 each, whatever this thing was. On each end of the long hall were three rows of windows facing each other. All the doorways and the doorposts had rectangular frames and were arranged in sets of three
facing each other. So, long story short, the palace of the forest of Lebanon was a huge room filled with cedar. It probably smelled amazing, and eventually it did at least partially become an armory for Solomon's soldiers. Solomon also built the hall of pillars, which was 75ft long and 45ft wide. So this other hall that Solomon built became known as the hall of Pillars, because there are so many pillars inside of this particular hall. There was a porch in front, along with a
canopy supported by pillars. Now, it does not say that this hall of pillars was made with cedar, so it could have just been made out of stone. But once again, we don't know the exact purpose of this particular room, but I'm sure it had some sort of purpose. Solomon also built the throne room, known as the hall of Justice, where he sat to hear legal matters. It was paneled a cedar from floor to ceiling. Solomon's living quarters surrounded a courtyard behind this hall, and they
were constructed in the same way. He also built similar living quarters for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had married. I think in other versions of scripture it'll mention that Pharaoh's daughter had a separate house. So it doesn't look like Pharaoh's daughter lived in the same palace, um, as Solomon did, but she wasn't far away. It doesn't seem like, but Solomon's main living quarters were attached to the hall of Justice
from foundation to eaves. All these buildings were built from huge blocks of high quality stone, cut with saws and trimmed to exact measurements on all sides. Some of the huge foundation stones were 15ft long and some were 12ft long or ten cubits, which is approximately 4.6 meters. The blocks of high quality stone used in the walls were also cut to measure, and cedar beams were also
used. So Solomon once again put a lot of effort into building all of these rooms and halls and courtyards of his palace. But notice here that Solomon's palace does not sound as grand as the inside of the temple to God. Notice that Solomon did not use any gold in his palace. He did not, you know, do everything with cedar and then put gold over top of the cedar like he
had done in the temple. So that's another clue here to show that maybe Solomon, his heart was in the right place, where he wanted God's temple to be unique and set apart, in the fact that God's temple on the inside was completely covered from floor to ceiling with solid gold, whereas Solomon's palace was not. So you can see here that, yes, Solomon was putting a lot of effort into his own palace, and he was doing it with good materials like cedar and high quality
stone. But he did not put as much effort into the beauty of his palace as he did with the construction of the temple. It says the walls of the great courtyard were built so that there was one layer of cedar beams between every three layers of finished stone, um, just like the walls of the inner courtyard of the Lord's temple, with its entry room. So that's the one thing where people are like, oh, he made his outer courtyard of the palace look like the inner courtyard of the
Lord's temple. But the courtyards, the temple, everyone was allowed to go to them. For the most part, that is where the people would go to worship. They weren't allowed to go on the inside of the temple. The courtyards were a public place. So I don't fault Solomon for making his courtyard look similar to the courtyard of the temple to
God personally. Now, next week we will be talking about the temple furniture, meaning all of the things that furnished the temple to God and how much effort Solomon put in to making that furniture very beautiful for the temple. But I'd like to hear your opinions. Do you think that Solomon's heart was in the wrong place when he made his palace larger than God's temple and also took more time to build his palace than
God's temple? I would love to hear your guys opinions. So comment on whatever platform you're listening from, or you can send me a direct email. You'll find my email information listed in the description of this episode faithful listeners, I hope you join me tomorrow for an episode from first Corinthians. I hope you also enjoyed yesterday's episode that I did with my husband. I had a lot of fun doing it. I think my husband did, after the fact.
He didn't really enjoy it while we were, um, doing it, especially beforehand. He was not a big fan of it, but I think he liked it at the end. Faithful listeners, have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. Happy listening and God bless.