Beit HaMikdash and Beit Shelomo

Introduction

A Digression: Building Beit Hashem or Beit Shelomo?

Melakhim I 6-7 describe the construction of the Beit HaMikdash in great detail, discussing the frame of the building, its interior design, the materials used, and the vessels found within it.  Somewhat surprisingly, however, in that in the midst of this description, the text appears to go on a tangent and speaks of the building of Shelomo's personal palace complex,¹ including Beit Ya'ar HaLevanon, a hall of pillars, a hall of justice, Shelomo's private home,² and the house of Paroh's daughter.  What is the reason for this digression?  Does not intertwining the description of the holiest of sites with that of a mundane palace serve to degrade the Mikdash?  Why conflate the sacred and profane? What message did Sefer Melakhim wish to relay by juxtaposing the two building projects?

Shelomo's Crowning Glory?

Many assume that Shelomo's building of the Beit HaMikdash was the highlight of his reign, whereby he demonstrated his love for and desire to honor Hashem. However, a comparison of Beit Hashem and Beit Shelomo might make one question this assumption:

• Duration of the construction – While Shelomo built the Beit HaMikdash over a period of seven years, he spent thirteen years building his own house.³  How is one to understand the disproportionately long time spent on erecting the palace?
• Dimensions – The Mikdash (including the היכל and דביר) measured 60 by 20 by 30 cubits, with the hall (אולם) adding another 20 by 10 cubits, and 120 cubits in height.  Though dimensions are not provided for all the buildings in Shelomo's private complex, Beit Ya'ar HaLevanon alone measured 100 by 50 by 30 cubits, a much bigger expanse. Why was Hashem's house so much smaller than the palace? 
• Dedication of the Beit HaMikdash – Sefer Melakhim does not specify the year in which the Mikdash was dedicated, but the order of the verses suggests that it occurred only after the palace was completed.⁴  If so, though, why did Shelomo wait thirteen years before dedicating the Mikdash? Was this not disrespectful?  Why did the palace need to be completed before the dedication?
• Location of the palace – Though the chapter does not specify where Shelomo's house was built, from a variety of verses later in Tanakh,⁵ it appears to have been erected between the Beit HaMikdash and the City of David.  Is there any significance to this location, or was it simply a matter of convenience?  Did the proximity of the palace to the Temple symbolize the collaboration between human and Divine authority or did it introduce an element of competition between the two?  
• Similarity in form – There is some overlap in the form and features of both the palace complex and the Mikdash.  Both were built of cedar wood and both had pillars, some type of window ("שְׁקֻפִים"), and a courtyard made of "שְׁלֹשָׁה טוּרֵי גָזִית וְטוּר כְּרֻתֹת אֲרָזִים".  Were these aspects unique to these structures and intentionally included in both, or were they common to many buildings, making the overlap insignificant?

Additional Questions

The chapters raise several other question which might relate to the above issues:

• Hashem's warning – The description of the Mikdash is interrupted not only by the digression mentioned above relating to the palace, but also by a warning of Hashem to Shelomo. In Melakhim I 6:11-13, Hashem tells Shelomo that the continued existence of the Mikdash and Hashem's presence therein is conditional on Torah observance. Why is this warning relayed right in the midst of the Temple's construction, and why is a second, similar warning given again after the house's dedication (Melakhim I 9:1-9)?
• Beit Ya'ar HaLevanon – Of the various structures mentioned as part of Shelomo's palace compound, Beit Ya'ar HaLevanon is the most prominent.  What function did this building serve? How did it get its name?
• Shelomo's eventual downfall – At the end of his life, Shelomo is swayed by his many wives to worship foreign gods. How could someone who had devoted so many years to honoring Hashem and building Him a place of worship fall to such depths?

¹ Chapter 6 details the physical structure of the Beit HaMikdash, and the second half of Chapter 7 speaks of its various vessels. In between these two sections, the text in Melakhim I 7:1-12 digresses to speak of Shelomo's personal edifices.

² It is unclear if this is identical to Beit Ya'ar HaLevanon, or if they are two distinct edifices.

³ See Melakhim I 6:37-38 and Melakhim I 7:1.

⁴ One might argue that the construction of Shelomo's palace is recorded out of chronological order and that it really occurred only after the dedication; it is only mentioned earlier in order to complete the unit regarding all of Shelomo's building projects. However, the fact that Hashem's response to Shelomo's prayer at the dedication comes only after the statement, "וַיְהִי כְּכַלּוֹת שְׁלֹמֹה לִבְנוֹת אֶת בֵּית י"י וְאֶת בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ" (Melakhim I 9:1), suggests that the palace had already been built by this point. 
R"Y Levi, in his article, "מלכות שלמה בירושלים (ד) - בית ה' ובית המלך", adds support from the dating provided in the text.  We are told that the Mikdash was completed in the eighth month, while the dedication took place in the seventh month. If Shelomo had meant to dedicate the Mikdash before completing his own house, there would be no reason to wait almost a full year to do so. It is much more likely that the date refers to a Tishrei which was years later, when the whole complex was complete.

⁵ See Melakhim II 11:19 which mentions going down from the Mikdash to the king's house (cf. Yirmeyahu 26:10) and Melakhim I 9:24 which has Bat Paroh going up to the palace complex from the City of David. Together, the verses suggest that the palace was lower than the Mikdash but higher than the City of David.