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1–12. Construction of Solomonov's palace. 13–51. Church accessories and decorations. 1 Kings 7:1. And Solomon built his house for thirteen years and finished his whole house. The long duration of construction of Solomon's palace - 13 years in comparison with the church - 7.5 years is explained either by the large number of workers during the construction of the church, or by the fact that there was more construction work at the court; Moreover, for the palace there was no material stored in advance, as for the church. 13 years - from the completion of the construction of the church, next. the palace was completed 20 years after the start of construction of the church (1 Kings 9:10), i.e., in the 24th year of Solomon’s reign (I. Flav. Jewish Ancients VIII, 5, 1). Solomon's Palace was built not on Moriah, where the church is, and not in Ophel (the southeastern foot of Moriah: (2 Chronicles 27:3,33:14; Nehemiah 3:26,11:21); I. Josephus, Jewish War, VI, 6, 2; Robinson, Palastina II, 29), but on the city of Zion (in the “upper city,” according to I. Flavius), separated by the Tyropaion valley from the church mount; the palace was artificially connected to the church by a bridge (in the second Jerusalem temple there was a gallery, the so-called Xistus) and an internal passage (2 Kings 11:19). Subsequently, there was also a palace of the Asmoneans. 1 Kings 7:2. And he built a house of Lebanon wood, one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, on four rows of cedar pillars; and cedar logs were laid on pillars. The first of the individual palaces is called the “house of the forest of Lebanon”, Heb. bet yar ha-Lebanoi, Vulg.: domus saltus Libani, LXX, slav. -Russian (Synodal., Archim. Makaria, Prof. Gulyaeva): “from the Lebanese tree” (LXX: οῖκος δρυμῶ τοῦ Λιβάνου). Of course, this palace was not in Lebanon (which did not belong to Solomon), as some believed (Michaelis and others), or anywhere outside of Jerusalem (according to the Targum, the “summer royal house” is a kind of summer house); it owes its name to the many cedar trees that stood in alleys near it, and to the many cedar pillars in the middle of the building. “Solomon in his palace built a very large building in front of the entrance to the judgment seat; it had one hundred and thirty cedar pillars, and I think that is why it was called the house of the tree of Lebanon, since many of these cedar pillars were likened to the Lebanese grove” (Blessed Theodoret, question 26). Probably the house of the forest of Lebanon, the king's house and the house of Pharaoh's daughter (v. 8) were parts of one building, the first being the central building (100 liters in length, 50 in width and 30 in height). According to the structure, the house of the Lebanese forest was a colonnade or peristyle with 4 rows of columns (Vulg.: quattuor deambulacrainter columnas cedrinas). The purpose of this building served, among other things, as a kind of arsenal (cf. 1 Kings 10:17; Is.22:8). 1 Kings 7:3. And a platform of cedar was laid over logs on forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row. 1 Kings 7:4. There were three rows of window jambs; and three rows of windows, window against window. The roof of the building consisted of cedar beams supported on stone walls. The building was three stories high; each floor had side rooms; euro tselaot (cf. 1 Kings 6:5–6; Ezek.41:6). 1 Kings 7:5. And all the doors and doorposts were square, and window against window, in three rows. All doors and doorposts were quadrangular. LXX: θυρώματα καὶ αἱ χῶραι τετράγωναι, glor.: “all doors and chambers are quadrangular.” There is no mention of the size of the rooms. In general, the palace in question represented an architectural type that is often still found in the east: a courtyard in the middle and a gallery with a colonnade all around. 1 Kings 7:6. And he made a porch of pillars fifty cubits long, thirty cubits wide, and in front of them a porch, and pillars, and a threshold in front of them. 1 Kings 7:7. He also made a porch with a throne from which he judged, a porch for the judgment seat and covered all the floors with cedar. Adjacent to the central building of the “house of the forest of Lebanon” was “another quadrangular building 30 cubits wide, which at the opposite end had a palace decorated with low and thick columns. There was a beautiful throne on which the king sat during the trials” (I. Flav. Jewish Ancients VIII, 5, 2). Probably, the “narthex (LXX: αιλάμ, Slav.: “elam”, Vulg.: porticus) of pillars” (v. 6) and the “narthex with the throne” constituted one building, the first being like a common reception room, and the second being its own throne room (description of Solomon’s throne in 1 Kings 10:18–20). According to Talmudic tradition, the 12 lions mentioned in this description were mobile and could lift the king from step to step when he wanted to ascend the throne; and the seat itself was equipped with mechanical figures of other animals: the eagle, for example, placed a crown on the head of the seated king, and the dove gave him scrolls of the law (cf. Blessed Theodoret, question 26). 1 Kings 7:8. In the house where he lived, another courtyard behind the porch had the same structure. And in the house of Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon took as his wife, he made the same porch. The third palace also consisted of two buildings: the house of Solomon himself and the house of his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter. This palace was elegantly decorated, but its architecture is not described in detail. 1 Kings 7:9. All this was made of expensive stones, hewn to size, cut with a saw, from the inside and outside, from the base to the ledges, and from the outside to the large courtyard. 1 Kings 7:10. And for the foundation they laid costly stones, great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits, 1 Kings 7:11. and on top there are expensive stones, cut to size, and cedar. 1 Kings 7:12. The large yard was fenced around with three rows of hewn stones and one row of cedar logs; also the inner courtyard of the church of the Lord and the porch of the church. What has been said here about building materials applies to all of the above (three) groups of buildings. The expensive material consisted of different types of stone - gazit (cf. (1 Kings 5:17) and our note there), according to Josephus, white marble was also used in abundance. Art. 12 returns the thread of the narrative to the story of the construction of the church (interrupted, vv. 1-11). 1 Kings 7:13. And King Solomon sent and took Hiram from Tire, 1 Kings 7:14. the son of a widow, from the tribe of Naphtali. His father, Tyrian, was a coppersmith; he possessed the ability, art and ability to make all sorts of things from copper. And he came to King Solomon and did all kinds of work for him: The lack of craftsmen needed for carving and similar work among the Jews prompted Solomon to call a master from Tire; that was Hiram (according to (2 Chronicles 2:13), Hiram-Abia), a Phoenician on his father’s side, and a Hebrew on his mother’s side (according to the book of Kings, his mother was from the tribe of Naphtali, and according to (2 Chronicles 2:14), from Dan) 6 . Hiram's artistic abilities are depicted as similar to those of the artist Bezalel (Ex. 31:3–5), who worked on the decoration of the tabernacle. Of the works carried out by Hiram, the book of Kings names only completely new ones, and not those similar to which already took place in the tabernacle of Moses. Thus, the book of Kings does not mention Hiram’s construction of a new, copper altar of burnt offerings (with copper walls, and inside it was filled with wild stones and earth), which we learn about only from (2 Chronicles 4:1). (Cf. Prof. A. A. Olesnitsky, p. 321). 1 Kings 7:15. and he made two copper pillars, each eighteen cubits high, and a rope of twelve cubits encircled the circumference of both pillars; 1 Kings 7:16. and he made two crowns cast of copper to place on top of the pillars: five cubits high in one crown, and five cubits high in the other crown; 1 Kings 7:17. woven nets and cords in the form of chains for the crowns that were on the top of the pillars: seven on one crown and seven on the other crown. 1 Kings 7:18. So he made pillars and two rows of pomegranates around a net to cover the crowns that were on the top of the pillars; I did the same for the other crown. 1 Kings 7:19. And in the vestibule the crowns on the top of the pillars are made like a lily, four cubits long, 1 Kings 7:20. and the crowns on both pillars at the top, directly above the bulge, which is near the net; and on another crown, in rows all around, two hundred pomegranates. 1 Kings 7:21. And he placed pillars to the porch of the church; He placed a pillar on the right side and named it Jachin, and placed a pillar on the left side and named it Boaz. 1 Kings 7:22. And over the pillars he placed crowns made like lilies; This is how the work on the pillars is completed. Hiram's first monumental work: two monumental copper columns in the porch or porch of the church, named Jachin (the name of the right column) and Boaz (the left). From this section, in conjunction with parallel narratives ((2 Chronicles 3:15–17; cf. 1 Chronicles 18:8; 2 Kings 8:8; 2 Kings 25:13,16; Jer. 52:20–23; Ezek. 40:48); I. Flav. Judean Ancients VIII, 3, 4), the following data about the appearance or the architecture of each of these columns, as well as their religious and national significance. Both columns, like the “sea of ​​brass” and other vessels, were made of copper, once taken by David as booty in the war with the Syrians (1 Chronicles 18:8). The height of each column was 18 cubits (according to (2 Chronicles 3:15) - 35 cubits, but probably including the pedestal of the column), i.e. 8 m. 71 cm, i.e. OK. 11 arsh. more than that: volume or circumference – 12 cubits – 5 m 80.6 cm, or approx. 8 arsh., next. in diameter approx. 4 cubits (according to I. Flavius: respectively - 3.82 l. - 1 m. 84 cm). The thickness of the walls of each column is 4 fingers; the inside of both columns was empty. According to LXX Art. 15, the columns were not smooth, but with recesses the size of 4 fingers: τεσσάρων δακτύλων τὰ κοιλώματα, glav.: “four fingers in depth,” i.e. with longitudinal lines. On top of each column there was a capital (Hebrew koteret, LXX: ἐπιθεμα, Slav.: “laying on”, Russian: “crown”) 5 cubits high (according to 2 Kings 25:17 - 3 cubits) high, so the total height of the column was 23 cubits (11 m. 13 cm. or approx. 17 arsh.). The lower part of the capitals was convex, ventral-shaped, the upper part was a lily-shaped cup. At the upper and lower ends of this part there were two rows, 100 pieces each, of pomegranate apples with mesh chains for strengthening. Both columns, presumably, were independent monuments, standing independently of the vestibule (and did not form part of the vestibule itself, serving as its supports, as Tenius, Distel, Gitsag, Vopoe, Pen, Novak believed). According to 2 Chronicles 3:15, both columns stood “in front of (Heb. Lifne) the house (church),” and the very image of the expression of Art. 21 ( 2 Chron. 3:17 ) “set up” (Heb. hekim), firmly set up, - applicable only to an independent column (cf. Lev. 26:1; Deut. 27: 2,4, etc.). The independent monumental significance of both columns is especially evident from the fact that each of them bore a deliberate name: the right one is Jachin, the left one is Boaz. These names, in any case, speak of the important theocratic and national significance of both columns, but their exact meaning cannot be established with certainty. Although both names in the Old Testament are found as proper names of persons: the first - as the name of several persons in the tribes of Simeon (Gen. 46:10; Exod. 6:15; Num. 26:12) and Levi (1 Chron. 9:10, 24:17), and the second in Heb. The Bible is identical with the name of the forefather David Boaz, known from the story of Ruth (Ruth. 2:1), however, the dedication of the columns to these persons (especially one of the little-known Jachins) is unlikely (Targum k (2 Chron. 3:17) identifies the name of the left column with the name of Boaz). Just as little did they thoroughly see in those names the names of the builders of the church (Gesenius), the sons of Solomon (Ewald), or the unhistorical names of David and Solomon (Abarbanel). On the contrary, the authority of the LXX speaks for the nominal meaning of both names, which in (2 Chron. 3:17) convey Heb. Jachin, Boaz in common noun terms: κατόρθωσις, ισχύς, slav.: “correction”, “fortress”. In this sense, combining both names into one judgment (the assumption of some scholars that both names constituted one whole inscription, however, is not justified by the biblical text), we get the following thought: “let the (church) stand unshakably, with strength” or (if we take Ch. Kun in the f. Giphil): “let Jehovah establish (the church) with His power” (cf. 1 Kings 8:13; Isaiah 14:24). Appearing directly before the national sanctuary of Israel, the columns of Jachin and Boaz testified to the advent of a new, higher period in the history of the Old Testament theocracy, the sanctuary and the people of God. In view of the foundation of the strong, immovable temple of Jehovah in Israel and the establishment of political power and deep peace among it, these columns were, as it were, a national-religious flag, a temple of cult and theocracy among all the peoples of antiquity. This already excludes the rapprochement of Jachin and Boaz with various kinds of pagan monuments: Egyptian sphinxes (at Vipoe), Phoenician statues of Hercules and Saturn (Movers, Fatke), and finally, with the cults of Baal and Astarte (Giplyani). Wed. at Prof. A. A. Olesnitsky, Old Testament Church, p. 254–288. 1 Kings 7:23. And he made a sea cast of copper, ten cubits from one end to the other, completely round, five cubits high, and a string of thirty cubits encircled it. 1 Kings 7:24. The likenesses of cucumbers under its edges surrounded it, ten to a cubit, surrounding the sea on all sides in two rows; the likenesses of cucumbers were cast with him in the same casting. 1 Kings 7:25. It stood on twelve oxen: three looked to the north, three looked to the west, three looked to the south and three looked to the east; the sea lay on them, and their backs were turned inward under it. 1 Kings 7:26. It was palm-thick, and its edges, made like the edges of a bowl, resembled a blossoming lily. It held two thousand baht. (Compare 2 Chronicles 4:2–5). A new accessory to the church and the second grandiose work of Hiram was the so-called copper or “cast” sea (iam mutsak), i.e., called the sea by its vastness (according to Josephus, Judean Ancients VIII, 3, 5). ἐκαλήθη ... θάλασσα διὰ then μέγεθος) pool in the courtyard of the church, between the altar of burnt offering and the Holy One, closer to the south, 10 cubits in diameter, 30 cubits (according to LXX and blessed Theodoret - 33) in circumference and 5 cubits high, containing 2000 (according to (2 Chronicles 4:5) - 3000) baht of water. The ratio of circumference and diameter in the indicated figures (30 and 10 cubits) does not seem mathematically accurate (with a diameter of 10 cubits, the circumference is 31 2/5 or 31,416 cubits; with a circumference of 30 cubits, the diameter is 9,174/314 cubits) and aroused a lot of controversy among biblical archaeologists. But it is clear that the sacred writers could not complicate their speech with fractions and indicated only whole numbers; it is also possible that the diameter and circumference are defined in the text independently of one another, because in different places of the vessel its circumference changed. Depending on this they explain (for example, Lightfoot, Met. Philaret) unequal definition of the capacity of the “copper sea” - 2000 baht (according to the book of Kings) or 3000 baht (according to 2 Chronicles 4:5): the latter date could indicate the full capacity of the copper sea to the very brim, and the first - how much it was usually filled. The shape of the pool was not cylindrical, as some believed, but had the shape of a cup of a blossoming lily (v. 26), and, in addition, had a convex middle - like a glass. According to Josephus (Jewish Ancients VIII, 3, 5) and Blessed Theodoret (question 24), the copper sea had the appearance of a hemisphere (ήμισφαίριον). Under the edges of the copper sea, two rows of balls like coloquints were made with the same casting, 10 balls per cubit (according to (2 Chronicles 4:3), these bas-reliefs represented oxen). The pool was supported by 12 colossal images of copper oxen, the back of which was facing the center, and the heads of the oxen, three together, were facing all four cardinal directions; the height of the oxen figures was probably equal to the natural height of these animals. In terms of their meaning, these images could resemble oxen that once transported the tabernacle in the desert, and in general were appropriate in the courtyard of the church, representing the main sacrificial material for the altar of burnt offerings standing near it (A. A. Olesnitsky, p. 326), least of all they had anything to do with pagan objects of worship (opinion of I. Flav. Jewish Ancients. VIII, 7, 5). The purpose of the copper sea is to serve as a laver for the priests (2 Chronicles 4:6). According to legend, priests used sea water from below, using taps or holes - either in the mouths of oxen, or in the wall of the pool itself, between groups of oxen (A. A. Olesnitsky, pp. 327–328). Something similar to the copper sea is represented by the homogeneous Phoenician vessel “Amatho Sea”, discovered in Cyprus and since 1866 located in the Louvre Museum. 1 Kings 7:27. And he made ten bronze stands; The length of each base is four cubits, the width is four cubits and the height is three cubits. 1 Kings 7:28. And here is the structure of the stands: they have walls, walls between the corner plates; 1 Kings 7:29. on the walls between the squares were depicted lions, oxen and cherubs; also on the squares, and above and below the lions and oxen are spreading wreaths; 1 Kings 7:30. Each stand has four copper wheels and copper axles. At the four corners there are protrusions like shoulders, molded protrusions at the bottom, under the bowl, next to each wreath. 1 Kings 7:31. The opening from the inner wreath to the top is one cubit; its hole is round, like the foot of the pillars, one and a half cubits, and at the hole of it there is a statue; but the side walls are quadrangular, not round. 1 Kings 7:32. There were four wheels under the walls, and the wheel axles in stands; The height of each wheel is one and a half cubits. 1 Kings 7:33. The structure of the wheels is the same as the structure of the wheels in a chariot; their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their hubs, were all cast. 1 Kings 7:34. Four tabs on four corners of each stand; its protrusions protruded from the base. 1 Kings 7:35. And at the top of the base there is a round elevation half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its handles and its walls are made of the same mass. 1 Kings 7:36. And he sculpted on the planks of its handles and on its walls cherubs, lions and palm trees, as much as space allowed, and spreading wreaths around. 1 Kings 7:37. So he made ten bases: they all have one casting, one measure, one type. 1 Kings 7:38. And he made ten copper lavers: each laver held forty baht, each laver was four cubits long, each laver stood on one of ten stands. 1 Kings 7:39. And he placed the stands - five on the right side of the church and five on the left side of the church, and placed the sea on the right side of the church, on the east-south side. Just as the copper sea was used for the washing of the priests, so for the washing of the sacrificial parts before burning them on the altar (cf. Lev. 1:9; Ezek. 40:38), special vessels numbering 10, “lavers” (Heb. kiyorot, verse 38; 2 Chron. 4:6), placed on special “stands” mechonot (verse 27), were used. The latter are described in this section of 1 Kings with the greatest detail, probably due to the novelty and grace of the construction of this third work of Hiram's art (after the 2 columns and the sea of ​​brass). Each stand was a quadrangular box, 4 cubits long and wide, and 3 cubits deep or high (v. 27); the side walls of these boxes consisted of plates with overlays (Hebrew shelabbim, Vulg. Juncturae) at the corners (v. 28). On the walls there are carved images of lions, oxen (perhaps the idea of ​​universal peace in the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of nature, as in Isaiah 11:6–9) and palm trees, and below are bindings of wreaths or festoons of blossoming flowers (v. 29). At the top of the drawer-stand there was a device for receiving and establishing the laver, curved in the middle and called a crown or capital, 1/2 cubit high (v. 35) and 1.5 cubits in diameter (vv. 30–31). To impart stability to each capital, shoulder-shaped projections (Heb. ketefot) were attached to the upper corner of the box, extending from the four corner posts of the box, describing a slight arch and encircling the washbasin on four sides as supports. At the bottom of each box of the stand there were axles made and on them wheels of a conventional design (with spokes, hubs, etc.), 1.5 cubits in diameter, and the height of the wheels should not obscure the walls of the box (vv. 30, 32–34). The lid, walls and supports of the boxes were covered with carvings (v. 36). The washbasins that stood on those stands are described briefly: they had the shape of basins with a radiating upper part, as if cauldron-shaped (cf. Exodus 30:18). The diameter of each basin is 4 cubits, and the depth is 1 cubit (v. 38). The complex and movable design of the washbasins was intended to make it easier to fill them with water and then empty them; in the first case, they were rolled up to a larger reservoir - the Copper Sea; in the second, when the water was saturated with blood, the lavers were moved to a special blood pipe at the altar. These chariot-washbasins were so heavy that moving them required the combined efforts of several people; they required careful care of themselves, because, standing constantly in the open air, they were often washed by rain and were damaged (A. A. Olesnitsky, pp. 329, 332, cf. Keil, Biblical Archeology, Russian translation, part I, pp. 161–162). 1 Kings 7:40. And Hiram made lavers and paddles and bowls. And Hiram finished all the work that King Solomon had done for the church of the Lord: 1 Kings 7:41. two pillars and two belts of crowns, which are on the top of the pillars, and two nets to cover the two belts of crowns, which are on the top of the pillars; 1 Kings 7:42. and four hundred pomegranates on two grids; two rows of pomegranates for each net, to cover the two rims of the crowns that are on the pillars; 1 Kings 7:43. and ten stands and ten lavers on stands; 1 Kings 7:44. one sea and twelve oxen under the sea; 1 Kings 7:45. and basins, and spatulas, and bowls. All the things that Hiram made for King Solomon for the church of the Lord were of polished copper. 1 Kings 7:46. The king poured them out in clayey soil in the vicinity of the Jordan, between Succoth and Tzartan. 1 Kings 7:47. And Solomon put all these things in their place. Due to their extreme abundance, the weight of copper is not determined. 1 Kings 7:48. And Solomon made all the things that are in the church of the Lord: the golden altar and the golden table on which is the showbread; 1 Kings 7:49. and the lamps - five on the right side and five on the left side, in front of the rear compartment of the church, made of pure gold, and flowers, and lamps, and tongs of gold; 1 Kings 7:50. and dishes, and knives, and bowls, and trays, and censers of pure gold, and hinges for the doors of the inner temple in the Holy of Holies and for the doors of the church of gold. Of the secondary vessels and other items of church utensils made by Hiram, the biblical text (vv. 40, 45, 50) names: a) copper basins, urns, spatulas, bowls and b) golden tongs, dishes, knives, trays, censers. Rabbinic tradition adds here a device for sacrificial operations in the form of stone pillars on the north side of the altar for the preliminary arrangement and sorting of individual parts of the sacrificial meat. 1 Kings 7:51. Thus all the work that King Solomon did for the church of the Lord was completed. And Solomon brought what was dedicated by David his father; He gave the silver and gold and things into the treasuries of the church of the Lord. A final note on Solomon's construction and decoration of the church. Just as Solomon used the treasures collected by David to build the temple, Solomon placed part of these treasures in the church treasuries, built in the famous side annexes of the church (1 Kings 6:5). “The writer called sacred things dedicated to God and spoils of war brought from battles” (Blessed Theodoret, question 25). Wed. ( 2 Samuel 8:7–12; 1 Chronicles 18:7–11 ). Later Judaism tried to present Hiram as a pure Jew. Thus, Josephus (Jewish Ancients VII, 3; 4) says that “Hiram’s father was Uriah, an Israelite by birth.” Perhaps this was due to a vain desire to attribute the remarkable work in the church to a person of purely Jewish origin, and not to a foreigner, although according to the Bible, Hiram or Hiram-Abia was only half like that. Wed. W. Nowack. Hebr. Archaologie, Vatik. sp. P., 5–32 You might be interested in: