Useful Bible Studies > 1 Kings Commentary > chapter 7
Solomon wisely placed his own private home next to the hall where he acted as king and judge. He wanted to be available at once to deal with important matters.
The passage seems to say that Solomon’s home had a similar design to that hall. Also, the home of his principal queen, had the same design. So, these three great buildings, with a similar design, stood next to each other. Like everything that Solomon built, that would have been very impressive.
It was probably normal in a rich man’s house to have separate private rooms for the women in his family. Solomon’s first wife was the king of Egypt’s daughter. So, she was an extremely rich and powerful woman who came from the richest family in the world (3:1; 9:16). That was why she had her own palace in Jerusalem.
Solomon also had very many other wives (11:1-3). We do not know where they lived. However, Solomon was eager to please them all, and he made sacred places near Jerusalem for their religions (11:7-9). So, it seems clear that their homes, too, were in Jerusalem.
Solomon was constantly building; and so the city called Jerusalem was becoming much larger. The city that David ruled was very small - only about 400 yards (450 metres) from north to south. In that small space, several thousand people lived. Solomon made the city about three times that size; and there may have been houses outside the city walls. Later kings would make Jerusalem much larger - but none of them were able to make it into such a rich city as it was during Solomon’s rule.
Next part: The quality of Solomon's construction work (1 Kings 7:9-12)
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