Daily Tanach Sunday Sefer Melachim 1 – Chapter 7: The various halls of the palace

1.      The various halls of the palace:

• The dimensions of the halls: The hall which was in front of the above pillars had a dimension of 50 cubits long by 30 cubits wide. This hall contained thick pillars opposite the pillars of the inner pillars.
• The hall of judgment and the king’s throne: There was another hall built for the throne, in which Shlomo would sit to give judgment, and have the court cases take place there. In front of that courtyard there was another courtyard, in which people would await to be summoned for their court cases.
• The flooring material of the halls: The floors of all these courtyards were covered with cedarwood from wall-to-wall.
• Shlomo’s personal quarters of dwelling: Shlomo’s personal living quarters [in which he ate and slept^[1]] were in a different courtyard, more inner than the halls. It was built in the same way as was the palace described above.
• The palace of the daughter of Pharaoh: The daughter of Pharaoh which Shlomo had taken in marriage, had a palace built on her behalf. It was built similar to the above palace.
• The stone material of the palaces: All of the above palaces were built with very expensive and heavy stone, which were of the set measurement of the excavated stones of those days. These stones were used to build both the inner and outer walls of the palaces, and were used for the entire length of the walls of the palace from the floor until the ceiling. These stones were used to build the actual palace and its large courtyards.
• The foundation of the palace: The foundation stone of the palace which was inside the ground was made of even heavier stone, and contained a length of between 8 to 10 cubits. However, above the [foundation, by the walls] the stones were heavy and made of the same size of the standard hewn stones and cedar.
• The courtyard of the palace: The large courtyard of the palace, as well as the inner courtyard of the house of G-d and the hallways and house, was surrounded by three rows of hewn stones and one row of cedarwood.

[1] Rashi 7:8