Day 163—We are in the 6th month of Bible reading.

 Day 163 – 1 Kings 7, 2 Chronicles 4. (Solomon’s two building projects: the temple with its furnishings and his own palace complex)

1 Kings 7 begins with how much time King Solomon spent building his palace complex: thirteen years. This is almost twice the time it took to build the temple. There were a couple reasons.

First, Solomon’s father, King David had the plans done, and all the material was collected and ready. Solomon had to do that first for his palace.

Second, the size and number of buildings were greater than that needed for the Temple. Solomon built a Hall of Judgement where he would sit and rule. Behind the Hall was a courtyard that contained his own residence, one for the princess of Egypt and one for his harem. 

1 Kings 7, 2 Chronicles 4. For the Temple and its furnishings, Solomon went bigger and more. The temple itself was three times larger than the Tabernacle (which needed to be portable). The temple had three stories of chambers (Storage? Priest’s rooms?) built on either side, north and south, plus a porch in front with those two huge bronze pillars. 

Instead of one golden candlestick inside the Holy Place, Solomon made ten. He also made ten tables for the shewbread instead of one. Inside the Most Holy Place, he made two statues of cherubim, whose wings spanned over the Arc of the Covenant (almost dwarfed in the 30’x30′ room) and reached to the walls on either side. 

Outside, the altar for sacrifice was 30’x30′ and elevated 15′ high. The basin for washing sacrifices was also multiplied in size. This “sea” held 12,000 gallons of water – almost like an above-ground swimming pool.  He made ten bronze carts with smaller bronze basins, each holding 240 gallons, to supply the “sea.”

The only thing left was to bring in the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD.