1Ki 7:1 Erection of the royal palace. - 1Ki 7:1 is closely connected in form with 1Ki 6:38, and contains a summary account of the building, which is more minutely described in 1Ki 7:2-12. “And Solomon built his house (his palace) in thirteen years, and finished (in that time) all his house.” The thirteen years are to be reckoned after the completion of the temple in seven years, so that the two buildings were executed in twenty years (1Ki 9:10). The expression כּל־בּיתו is used, because the palace consisted of several buildings connected together; namely, (1) the house of the forest of Lebanon (1Ki 7:2-5); (2) the pillar-hall with the porch (1Ki 7:6); (3) the throne-room and judgment-hall (1Ki 7:7); (4) the king’s dwelling-house and the house of Pharaoh’s daughter (1Ki 7:8). That all these buildings were only different portions of the one royal palace, and the house of the forest of Lebanon was not a summer residence of Solomon erected on Lebanon itself, as many of the earlier commentators supposed, is indisputably evident, not only from the first verse when correctly interpreted, but also and still more clearly from the fact that when the buildings of Solomon are spoken of afterwards (see 1Ki 9:1, 1Ki 9:10, 1Ki 9:15, and 1Ki 10:12), we only read of the house of Jehovah and the house of the king, that is to say, of the temple and one palace. The description of the several portions of this palace is so very brief, that it is impossible to form a distinct idea of its character. The different divisions are given in 1Ki 7:1-8 in their natural order, commencing at the back and terminating with the front (1Ki 7:8), and there then follows in 1Ki 7:9-12 the description of the stones that were used.