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1 Kings 7:1-12 (JDV)

1 Kings 7:1 Solomon completed his entire palace complex after thirteen years of construction.
1 Kings 7:2 He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. It was a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on top of the pillars.
1 Kings 7:3 It was covered above with cedar at the top of the chambers that rested on forty-five pillars, fifteen per row.
1 Kings 7:4 There were three rows of window frames, facing each other in three tiers.
1 Kings 7:5 All the doors and doorposts had rectangular frames, the openings facing each other in three tiers.
1 Kings 7:6 He made the hall of pillars fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. A portico was in front of the pillars, and a canopy with pillars was in front of them.
1 Kings 7:7 He made the Hall of the Throne where he would judge — the Hall of Judgment. It was covered with cedar from the floor to the rafters.
1 Kings 7:8 Solomon’s own palace where he would live, in the other courtyard behind the hall, was of similar construction. And he made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, his wife.
1 Kings 7:9 All of these buildings were of costly stones, cut to size and sawed with saws on the inner and outer surfaces, from foundation to coping and from the outside to the great courtyard.
1 Kings 7:10 The foundation was made of large, costly stones twelve and fifteen feet long.
1 Kings 7:11 Above were also costly stones, cut to size, as well as cedar wood.
1 Kings 7:12 Around the great courtyard, as well as the inner courtyard of Yahveh’s temple and the portico of the temple, were three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams.

showcase

David had been a shepherd and became a warrior and then a king. Solomon is a builder and a collector of wise sayings. His home and the other buildings described here are a showcase of his talent. You and I may never be able to build like Solomon, but we each have a talent that God wants us to show to the world.

LORD, show us how to showcase who we are and bring you glory in doing it.