Phoenician King Hiram builds palaces and temple for Kings David and Solomon of Judah-Israel
David’s Palace
King Hiram of Tyre sent a trade mission to David; he provided him with cedar logs and with stonemasons and carpenters to build a palace. (1 Chronicles 14:1)
David was 30 years old when he became king, and he ruled for 40 years. He ruled in Hebron over Judah for seven and a half years, and in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah for 33 years. (2 Samuel 5:4-5)
Solomon’s Temple
After king David’s death, Hiram continued to maintain friendly relations with king Solomon, David’s son, who explained in a letter to Hiram:
You know that because of the constant wars my father David had to fight against the enemy countries all round him, he could not build a temple for the worship of the Lord his God until the Lord had given him victory over all his enemies. But now the Lord my God has given me peace on all my borders. I have no enemies, and there is no danger of attack. The Lord promised my father David, ‘Your son, whom I will make king after you, will build a temple for me’ and I have now decided to build that temple for the worship of the Lord my God. (1 Kings 5:3)
Solomon’s temple was built by Phoenician master craftsmen alongside Hebrew workmen and 30,000 unskilled navies pressed by Solomon into forced labor. They worked for a month on and two months off in shifts of 10,000 at a time.
They used wood, stone and metal from Lebanon and worked by Phoenician craftsmen.
Solomon’s Palace and his Egyptian Wife’s Palace
King Solomon built himself a palace and called it 'Forest of Lebanon' and built his Egyptian wife another palace using the Phoenician craftsmen and the materials of Lebanon:
Solomon also built a palace for himself, and it took him thirteen years. The Hall of the Forest of Lebanon was 44 meters long, 22 meters wide, and 13.5 meters high. It had three rows of cedar pillars, fifteen in each row, with cedar beams resting on them. The ceiling was of cedar, extending over store-rooms, which were supported by the pillars. In each of the two side walls there were three rows of windows. The doorways and windows had rectangular frames, and the three rows of windows in each wall faced the opposite rows. The Hall of Columns was 22 meters long and 13.5 meters wide. It had a covered porch, supported by columns. The Throne Room, also called the Hall of Judgment, where Solomon decided cases, had cedar panels from the floor to the rafters. Solomon’s own quarters, in another court behind the Hall of Judgment, were made like the other buildings. He also built the same kind of house for his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt. (1 Kings 7:1-8)
All these buildings and the great court were made of fine stones from the foundations to the eaves. The stones were prepared at the quarry and cut to measure, with their inner and outer sides trimmed with saws. The foundations were made of large stones prepared at the quarry, some of them 3.5 meters long and others 4 meters long. On top of them were other stones, cut to measure, and cedar beams. The palace court, the inner court of the temple, and the entrance room of the temple had walls with one layer of cedar beams for every three layers of cut stone. (1 Kings 7:9-12)
|
Cedar Forest
|
