World English Bible · The united kingdom
1 Kings 6
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In the four hundred and eightieth year after the had come out of the land of , in the fourth year of reign over Israel, in the month , which is the second month, he began to build house. The house which King built for had a length of sixty , and its width twenty, and its height thirty . The porch in front of of the house had a length of twenty , which was along the width of the house. Ten was its width in front of the house. He made windows of fixed lattice work for the house. Against the wall of the house, he built floors all around, against the walls of the house all around, both of and of the inner sanctuary; and he made side rooms all around. 6The lowest floor was five wide, and the middle was six wide, and the third was seven wide; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around, that the beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house. The house, when it was under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; and no hammer or ax or any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was under construction. The door for the middle side rooms was in the right side of the house. They went up by winding stairs into the middle floor, and out of the middle into the third. So he built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. 10He built the floors all along the house, each five high; and they rested on the house with timbers of cedar. 11 word came to , saying, "Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in , and execute my ordinances, and keep all my to walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to your . I will among the , and will not forsake my people Israel." So built the house and finished it. He built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood. He covered the floor of the house with cypress boards. He built twenty of the back part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling. He built this within, for an inner sanctuary, even for the most place. 17In front of sanctuary was forty long. There was cedar on the house within, carved with buds and open flowers. All was cedar. No stone was visible. He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house within, to set the there. Within the inner sanctuary was twenty in length, and twenty in width, and twenty in its height. He overlaid it with pure gold. He covered the with cedar. So overlaid the house within with pure gold. He drew chains of gold across before the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. He also overlaid the whole that belonged to the inner sanctuary with gold. In the inner sanctuary he made two of olive wood, each ten high. 24Five was the length of one of the , and five was the length of the other of the . From the tip of one to the tip of the other was ten . 25The other was ten . Both the were of one measure and one form. 26One was ten high, and so was the other . He set the within the inner house. The of the were stretched out, so that the of the one touched the one wall and the of the other touched the other wall; and their touched one another in the middle of the house. 28He overlaid the with gold. He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of , palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside. He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inside and outside. For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall. So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of , palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold. He spread the gold on the and on the palm trees. 33He also made the entrance of door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall, and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35He carved , palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved work. He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and a course of cedar beams. The foundation of house was laid in the fourth year, in the month . In the eleventh year, in the month , which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its specifications. So he spent seven years building it.
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The world at this moment · The united kingdom, 1050 BC to 931 BC ›
Saul, David, and Solomon. A rare window when both Egypt and Mesopotamia are weak, which is how a small kingdom in the corridor between them could briefly become a regional power.
- The power vacuum
- This is the whole political explanation for the united kingdom. Egypt is fragmented, Assyria is recovering but still local, the Hittites are gone, and nobody is in a position to object to a strong state in the corridor. It lasts about a century, and Israel's golden age fits exactly inside it.
- Phoenicia
- Tyre under Hiram is the commercial power of the coast, and supplies the cedar, the craftsmen, and the shipping for Solomon's building programme. The alliance is trade, not charity: Israel had grain and a land route, Tyre had timber and ships.
- Egypt
- Weak enough that a pharaoh gives a daughter in marriage to an Israelite king, which is the opposite of Egyptian practice in stronger centuries. Late in the era it recovers under a new house, and Shishak will invade within five years of Solomon's death.
- Further afield
- Greece is still in its dark age but beginning to recover, and will adopt the Phoenician alphabet within a century or two. Carthage is founded by settlers from Tyre by tradition in 814 BC. In the Americas the Olmec centre shifts to La Venta.