Commentaria in III Regum
Chapter 7. Synopsis of the Chapter
Solomon builds his house, and the house of the queen, and the house of the forest of Libanus; next, verse 15, he makes two pillars, and verse 23, the brazen sea, and verse 38, ten lavers, and the other vessels of the temple.
1. And Solomon built his own house in thirteen years, and brought it to perfection. 2. He built also the house of the forest of Libanus, of a hundred cubits in length, and fifty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in height: and four rows of cedar pillars: for he had cut cedar trees into pillars. 3. And he covered the whole roof with boards of cedar, which was supported by five and forty pillars. And one row had fifteen pillars, 4. set one against the other, 5. and looking one upon another, at equal distance between the pillars, and over the pillars square beams, equal in all things. 6. And he made a porch of pillars fifty cubits in length and thirty cubits in breadth, and another porch before the face of the greater porch, and pillars, and beams over the pillars. 7. He made also the porch of the throne, wherein is the seat of judgment, and he covered it with cedar wood from the floor to the top. 8. And in the midst of the porch was a little house wherein he sat to judge, of the like work. He made also a house for the daughter of Pharao (whom Solomon had taken to wife) of the same work as this porch.
9. All were of costly stones, which were sawed to a certain measure and rule, both within and without, from the foundation to the top of the walls, and without unto the great court. 10. And the foundations were of costly stones, great stones, of ten or eight cubits. 11. And above were costly stones of equal measure, hewed, and likewise of cedar. 12. And the great court round about had three rows of hewed stones, and one row of hewed cedar; and the same in the inner court of the house of the Lord, and in the porch of the house. 13. And king Solomon sent and brought Hiram out of Tyre, 14. the son of a widow of the tribe of Nephtali, his father a Tyrian, a worker in brass, and full of wisdom, and understanding, and skill to work all work in brass. And when he was come to king Solomon, he made all his work. 15. And he cast two pillars of brass, the one pillar was eighteen cubits high: and a line of twelve cubits compassed about either pillar. 16. He made also two chapiters of molten brass, to be set upon the tops of the pillars: the one chapiter was five cubits high, and the other chapiter was five cubits high; 17. and as it were a net, and chains linked one with another with wonderful work. Both the chapiters of the pillars were cast: seven rows of nets on one chapiter, and seven rows of nets on the other chapiter.
18. And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon each net-work, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and the same he did for the second chapiter. 19. And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were made after the manner of lilies, in the porch, of four cubits. 20. And again there were other chapiters on the top of the pillars above, according to the measure of the pillar over against the net-work; and there were two hundred pomegranates in rows round about the second chapiter. 21. And he set up the two pillars in the porch of the temple: and when he had set up the pillar on the right hand, he called the name thereof Jachin: in like manner he set up the second pillar, and called the name thereof Booz. 22. And upon the tops of the pillars he made lily work: and so the work of the pillars was finished. 23. He made also a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass: the height of it was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about.
24. And a graving under the brim compassed it for ten cubits, going round about the sea: two rows of graven work, striated, were cast. 25. And it stood upon twelve oxen, whereof three looked towards the north, and three towards the west, and three towards the south, and three towards the east; and the sea was set upon them, and the hinder parts of them were all hid within. 26. And the thickness of the laver was three inches: and the brim thereof was like the brim of a cup, or the leaf of a lily turned back: it contained two thousand baths. 27. And he made ten bases of brass: every base was four cubits long, and four cubits broad, and three cubits high. 28. And the work of the bases was graven between the joinings, and sculptures between the joints. 29. And between the little crowns and the plaits were lions, and oxen, and cherubims; and in the joinings likewise above; and under the lions and oxen as it were straps of brass hanging down. 30. And four wheels to every base, and axletrees of brass: and on the four parts were as it were little shoulders under the laver, cast, looking one against another.
31. And the mouth of the laver within was in the top of the chapiter: and that which appeared outwardly was a cubit all round, and together it was a cubit and a half: and in the corners of the pillars were divers graven works: and the middle spaces between the pillars were square, not round. 32. And the four wheels, which were at the four corners of the base, cohered one to another under the base: the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half. 33. And they were such wheels as use to be made in a chariot: and their axletrees, and spokes, and felloes, and naves, were all cast. 34. And those four little shoulders, at every corner of one base, were cast and joined to the base itself. 35. And in the top of the base was a round compass of half a cubit, so made that the laver might be set upon it, having its graving and divers sculptures of itself. 36. And he graved in the tables, that were of brass, and in the corners, cherubims, and lions, and palm trees, as it were in the likeness of a man standing, so that they seemed not graven but added round about.
37. After this manner he made ten bases, of one casting, and measure, and graving alike. 38. He made also ten brazen lavers: one laver contained forty baths, and it was of four cubits: and he set every laver upon every one of the ten bases. 39. And he set the ten bases, five on the right side of the temple, and five on the left: but the sea he set on the right side of the temple, over against the east southward. 40. And Hiram made caldrons, and shovels, and bowls, and finished all the work of king Solomon in the temple of the Lord. 41. Two pillars, and two cords of chapiters upon the chapiters of the pillars: and two nets to cover the two cords which were upon the tops of the pillars. 42. And four hundred pomegranates in the two nets: two rows of pomegranates in each net, to cover the cords of the chapiters, which were upon the tops of the pillars. 43. And ten bases, and ten lavers upon the bases. 44. And one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea. 45. And caldrons, and shovels, and bowls: all the vessels which Hiram made for king Solomon in the house of the Lord, were of fine brass.
46. In the plain country of the Jordan did the king cast them, in a clay ground, between Sochoth and Sarthan. 47. And Solomon placed all the vessels: but because of their exceeding great multitude, the weight of the brass was not found out. 48. And Solomon made all the vessels in the house of the Lord, the golden altar, and the golden table, upon which the loaves of proposition should be set; 49. and the golden candlesticks, five on the right hand, and five on the left, before the oracle, of pure gold; and the flowers like lilies, and the lamps above of gold, and golden tongs; 50. and pots, and fleshhooks, and bowls, and mortars, and censers, of most pure gold: and the hinges of the doors of the inner house of the Holy of holies, and of the doors of the house of the temple, were of gold. 51. And Solomon finished all the work which he made in the house of the Lord, and he brought in the things which David his father had sanctified, the silver and the gold and the vessels, and laid them up in the treasures of the house of the Lord.
1. AND SOLOMON BUILT HIS OWN HOUSE IN THIRTEEN YEARS.—That Solomon built three distinct houses in these thirteen years, namely his own, the house of Pharao’s daughter the queen, and the house of the forest of Libanus, is plain from verses 2 and 8; that these were three distinct houses is plain from what follows. So Lyranus, Abulensis, Cajetan, Dionysius, Hugh, Vatablus and others commonly think. Yet these three houses, 3 Kings 9:10, and 2 Paralipomenon 8:1, are called one house, because they were contiguous and connected, so that they seemed to be not so much three houses as three parts or three members of one and the same house. For so the palace of a king or Pontiff contains in itself several dwellings and as it were several palaces. So Josephus, Vilalpandus, Pineda and others.