Beit HaMikdash and Beit Shelomo/2

Beit HaMikdash and Beit Shelomo

Exegetical Approaches

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In Praise of Shelomo

A comparison of the building of the Beit HaMikdash and Beit Shelomo casts Shelomo in a positive light, highlighting how much he invested in Hashem's house compared to his own.

Sources:Pesikta Rabbati6About Pesikta Rabbati, RashiMelakhim I 7:1-2About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, R. Yosef KaraMelakhim I 7:1About R. Yosef Kara, RadakMelakhim I 6:2Melakhim I 7:1-2About R. David Kimchi, RalbagMelakhim I Toalot 6:38About R. Levi b. Gershom, Abarbanel, MetzudotMetzudat David Melakhim I 7:1-2About R. David Altschuler

Time spent on the building – Though all these sources agree that Shelomo considered building the Mikdash more important than erecting his palace, they differ in how they explain why he built his house "שְׁלֹשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה," while finishing the Mikdash in just seven years:

• Lax in building the palace – According to most of these sources, the relatively short time that it took Shelomo to build the Mikdash betrayed his zeal to honor Hashem.  While he was lax about building his own palace complex, allowing the work to stretch out over years, he was eager to finish Hashem's House, and worked continuously to ensure that it was completed as quickly as possible.
• Invested less time on the palace – Radak brings an opinion that Shelomo only spent two years building his palace, understanding the phrase, "וְאֶת בֵּיתוֹ בָּנָה שְׁלֹמֹה שְׁלֹשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה" to mean "and Shelomo built his house in the thirteenth year [of his reign]"¹ rather than "over thirteen years".²  If so, Shelomo invested significantly more time on the Mikdash than his own home, recognizing that it was far more important.

Order of the building – The fact that Shelomo built Hashem's house before starting his own further exemplifies his correctly placed priorities.³

Dimensions – Though Shelmo's complex covered a significantly larger area than the Mikdash, Shelomo ensured that the Mikdash loomed much taller,⁴ signifying its superior position. In addition, this position could explain that the larger dimensions of the house stemmed from practical considerations rather than a desire for self-glory. While only a few priests needed to serve inside the Mikdash at any given point, many varied activities took place in the palace and large audiences often faced the king.

Beit Ya'ar HaLevanon – According to these sources, this structure was a summer house (distinct from the main palace). Radak suggests that it was built in a forest known as "Ya'ar HaLevanon" and was meant to provide shade and cool off the king during the heat of summer.  If so, it was not part of the main palace compound, and it is possible that the house which was in the vicinity of the Mikdash was actually not significantly bigger than the Mikdash, and thus would not have taken away from its glory at all.⁵

Where was the palace? Though the chapter does not specify where the palace was built, from a variety of verses later in Tanakh, it appears to have been erected on the eastern hill between the Mikdash and Ir David.⁶  Shelomo ensured that the Mikdash was positioned higher up than the palace complex, so all would recognize it superior stature.

Materials – More expensive materials were used to build the Mikdash than the king's complex, as befits its higher status. Though both Beit Yaar HaLevanon and the Mikdash were made of cedar trees, only in the Mikdash were these covered in gold.

Interpolation: placement of the description of the palace – This position might explain the seemingly odd placement of the description of the palace complex right in the midst of the description of the Mikdash in one of two ways:

• One complex – R" Y Levi⁷ suggests that the verses are suggesting that really the Mikdash and palace were meant to be one compound. The palace is an extension of the Mikdash, for the king is meant to rule as an extension of Hashem, and only via His Torah and mitzvot.
• Thematic order – Alternatively, it is possible that the ordering of the verses is simply thematic in nature and contains no significance. First all the structures built by Shelomo are listed, and then the various vessels that filled them are described.

Dedication of the Mikdash

• According to R"Y Levi the dedication of the Mikdash took place only after the palace was completed (as the order of the verses implies), and not immediately after it was built.⁸ This, too, suggests that the two buildings were meant to be viewed as parts of one whole and reflects the idea that the human king and his palace are meant to represent Hashem on earth.
• One might have alternatively suggested that actually Shelomo did not wait to dedicate the Beit HaMikdash, and did so as soon as possible after its completion, recognizing that it deserved its own dedication.⁹ Moreover, he understood that it would not be respectful to have the Mikdash sit unused for years if it were already built. According to this reading, the dedication is only mentioned later in the verses so as not to break up the description of shelomo's building projects.

Similarity in form – As the human king is supposed to mirror Hashem, the palace, too, mirrored the Mikdash, sharing several of its unique features: both were overlayed in cedar, had pillars, some type of window ("שְׁקֻפִים"), and a courtyard made of "שְׁלֹשָׁה טוּרֵי גָזִית וְטוּר כְּרֻתֹת אֲרָזִים".  The similarity reminded the king of his connection to Hashem and to emulate Him in all his actions.

In Condemnation of Shelomo

Comparing the two building projects leads to a negative portrait of Shelomo and betrays both his misplaced priorities and the self-glorification which led to his eventual downfall.

Time spent on the building – The fact that Shelomo spent more time building his palace than Hashem's house suggests that he cared more about his own honor than that of Hashem.

Beit Yaar HaLevanon – This position understands this structure to be part of Shelomo's main palace compound.  N. Reuveni¹⁰ suggests that it contained not just pillars made of cedar wood, but actual cut cedars, replete with their branches (וּכְרֻתוֹת אֲרָזִים עַל הָעַמּוּדִים), to give the room the feel of a real forest.  To enhance the effect, Shelomo placed mirrors on each end (וּמֶחֱזָה אֶל מֶחֱזָה),¹¹ further giving the impression that the room was full of trees. The room was further filled with hundreds of gold shields, meant not for use in war, but purely to impress visiting delegations.  The building as a whole, then, was meant to symbolize and show off the power and wealth of the king.

Dimensions – Though the אולם of the Mikdash was taller than any of Shelomo's personal buildings, the palace complex sprawled over a much larger expanse, serving to draw attention to it, while eclipsing the much smaller Mikdash.

Dedication of the Mikdash – Shelomo waited to dedicate the Mikdash until he completed his own house¹² because he viewed them as equal in importance, as if the Mikdash were not complete until his own house was finished. 

Interpolation: placement of the description of the palace – The verses might intentionally place the description of shelomo's palace in the midst of the description of the Mikdash to hint to the reader that something was amiss in Shelomo's actions.  He had begun to blur the lines between the two houses, so the text reflects the same.

Hashem's warning – Hashem's warning to Shelomo that the continued existence of the Beit Mikdash is contingent on keeping the Torah also appears out of place, in the midst of the description of the building.

¹ Since Shelomo finished building the Temple in the eleventh year, this leaves only two years for him to build his palace.

² This reading encounters difficulty in face of the later verse, "וַיְהִי מִקְצֵה עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה אֲשֶׁר בָּנָה שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת שְׁנֵי הַבָּתִּים אֶת בֵּית י"י וְאֶת בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ" (Melakhim I 9:10), which suggests that it took a total of 20 years to build both houses.  Radak suggests that perhaps this verse, too, refers to years of Shelomo's reign and means that in the twentieth year of his reign, a few years after completing the houses, Shelomo gave Chiram twenty cities in return for his aid in the building projects.

³ Pesikta Rabbati contrasts Shelomo with David who only thought of building the Mikdash after he was sitting in his own palace. [See David's words, "רְאֵה נָא אָנֹכִי יוֹשֵׁב בְּבֵית אֲרָזִים וַאֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים יֹשֵׁב בְּתוֹךְ הַיְרִיעָה" (Shemuel II 7:1)].]  The Midrash points out that it was for this reason that David was not given the honor of building it, while Shelomo was.

⁴ See Divrei HaYamim II 3:4 that the height of the אוּלָם was 120 ammot. [Beit Yaar HaLevanon, in contrast, was only 30 ammot high.]

⁵ One might argue that if Beit Ya'ar HaLevanon, which was only a summer house, was so large, then the main palace would have been even bigger.  On the other hand, had the king's house been more impressive, one would have expected Sefer Melakhim to share as much.

⁶ 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 in between the Mikdash and the City of David.

⁷ See his article, "מלכות שלמה בירושלים (ד) - בית ה' ובית המלך".

⁸ He deduces this from the ordering in the verses, and the fact that Hashem's answer to Shelomo's prayer comes only after the statement, "וַיְהִי כְּכַלּוֹת שְׁלֹמֹה לִבְנוֹת אֶת בֵּית יְהֹוָה וְאֶת בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ".  In addition, while the Beit HaMikdash had been completed in the eight month, 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.

⁹ His prayer, thus focuses only on the Mikdash.

¹⁰ See N. Reuveni, "בית יער הלבנון", Beit MIkra 7:3 (1963): 42-45

¹¹ N. Reuveni suggests that the word "מֶחֱזָה", which appears only in these verses, comes from the root "חזה" meaning "to see", leading to the possibility that they were mirrors.

¹² The verses do not specify in what year the Mikdash was dedicated, but see the discussion in the above note, that the verses imply that it took place only after both houses were built.