Beit HaMikdash and Beit Shelomo/2

Beit HaMikdash and Beit Shelomo

Exegetical Approaches

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The Epitome of Shelomo's Reign

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

• 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.
• 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.

Dimensions

Materials

Interpolation

Dedication of the Mikdash

Placement of the various buildings

בֵּית יַעַר הַלְּבָנוֹן

The Start of Shelomo's Downfall

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 first gave Chiram twenty cities in return for his aid in the building projects.