It took Solomon 13 years to build his luxurious palace which was 46 metres long, 23 metres wide and 13.5 metres high. It had an abundance of solid cedar beams and columns built on high-grade stone blocks. He built a hall of pillars and a hall of judgement where Solomon pronounced his judgements. He built other houses as part of the palace complex including one for his first wife, the first of hundreds!
Solomon also embarked on furnishing the temple with sumptuous bronze and golden objects. 2 bronze pillars 8.1 metres high by 5.4 metres around were made by Huram who was a craftsman in bronze. One pillar was placed south of the portico of the temple and was called Jakin, and the other massive pillar was put north of the portico and was called Boaz.
Then Huram made a huge metal bowl for water which held 44,000 litres of water which meant it was called a sea. The sea stood on 12 metal bulls. This water was for the priests to wash themselves. He also made 10 moveable basins each with a capacity of 880 litres. The sea was placed in the south-east corner of the temple, and 5 of the moveable basins were put on the north side and 5 on the south side.
Then finally Solomon made a golden altar and table, 10 golden lampstands, gold floral work, gold dishes, bowls, ladles and censers, and gold sockets for the doors.
