Solomon-The Palace

By Mary Vee
I Kings 7, II Chronicles 7

From Solomon's Scrolls

The Lord has bless me. More than my wildest imagination.

He allowed me to build a magnificent temple for Him. Just thinking about the celebration stirs my heart to sing praises to the Lord.

Now that the temple is finished. I want to build a palace. 

Yes my father had one, but the Lord's chosen people need to make a statement to the world. He is Holy and his people are cared for by Him. 

The Lord has provided us with the resources to build a grand palace, one that will draw people's interest to the Lord.

I took wood from the forest of Lebanon and built the palace a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams.  Magnificent, right? Yes. This is a home worthy of a king who serves the Lord.

The palace 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, placed in the front in sets of three, facing each other.

Can you picture the palace? Let me tell you more of what God allowed to be built.

Over here is a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide. In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars, huge supporting pillars and an overhanging roof.

In my throne room, called the Hall of Justice, where I judged cases, I covered the room with cedar from floor to ceiling. Take a deep breath and inhale the cedar scent. Yes. I like that. 

My living quarters was set farther back and similar in design. 

I made a separate palace like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom I married.

Large stones of good quality formed the foundations of these three buildings, some stones measuring ten cubits, some eight. We laid high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams above. 

Over here is the great courtyard. As you can see it is surrounded by a wall of three layers of dressed stone and one layer of trimmed cedar beams. You may recall, the inner courtyard of the temple of the Lord had the same with its portico.

The three buildings took thirteen years to complete. 

And now the temple of the Lord and the royal palace are finished. I have finished all I had planned to do. 

Now I will wait for the Lord to tell me what is next!

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photos courtesy of visualbiblealive.com

1. Which did Solomon build first, the temple of the palace?
2. How many buildings did he have for the palace?
3. What were the buildings used for, tell each one.
4. What trees did Solomon use for this project?
5. How long did it take to build the palace?
6. What did Solomon plan to do next/