Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 200
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IMMERSE
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KINGDOMS
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wall to wall, while their inner wings touched at the center of the room. He
overlaid the two cherubim with gold.
He decorated all the walls of the inner sanctuary and the main room
with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid the
floor in both rooms with gold.
For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, he made double doors of wild
olive wood with f ive-sided doorposts. These double doors were decorated
with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. The doors, including the decorations of cherubim and palm trees, were overlaid with
gold.
Then he made f our-sided doorposts of wild olive wood for the entrance
to the Temple. There were two folding doors of cypress wood, and each
door was hinged to fold back upon itself. These doors were decorated with
carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers—all overlaid evenly
with gold.
The walls of the inner courtyard were built so that there was one layer
of cedar beams between every three layers of finished stone.
The foundation of the Lord’s Temple was laid in midspring, in the
month of Ziv, during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign. The entire building was completed in every detail by midautumn, in the month of Bul,
during the eleventh year of his reign. So it took seven years to build the
Temple.
Solomon also built a palace for himself, and it took him thirteen years to
complete the construction.
One of Solomon’s buildings was called the Palace of the Forest of Leb
anon. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. There were
four rows of cedar pillars, and great cedar beams rested on the pillars. The
hall had a cedar roof. Above the beams on the pillars were f orty-five side
rooms, arranged in three tiers of fifteen each. On each end of the long
hall were three rows of windows facing each other. All the doorways and
doorposts had rectangular frames and were arranged in sets of three, facing each other.
Solomon also built the Hall of Pillars, which was 75 feet long and 45 feet
wide. There was a porch in front, along with a canopy supported by pillars.
Solomon also built the throne room, known as the Hall of Justice, where
he sat to hear legal matters. It was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.
Solomon’s living quarters surrounded a courtyard behind this hall, and
they were constructed the same way. He also built similar living quarters
for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married.
From foundation to eaves, all these buildings were built from huge
blocks of high-quality stone, cut with saws and trimmed to exact measure