Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Kings 7

Thirteen years - The thirteen years mentioned here are counted from the end of the seven years it took to build the temple (1 Kings 6:38). Solomon’s building projects therefore occupied him for twenty years in total (1 Kings 9:10; 2 Chronicles 8:1), from the fourth year of his reign to the twenty-fourth. The difference in the time taken to build the temple versus the palace can be accounted for by two factors:

1. The long period of preparation that preceded the actual building of the temple (1 Chronicles 22:2–4; 1 Kings 5:13–18).
2. The greater size of the palace, which consisted of several large ranges of buildings (see the next note).

Many have supposed that the buildings mentioned in 1 Kings 7:1–2 and 1 Kings 7:8 were three entirely distinct and separate structures. However, it is perhaps better to view them as an interconnected complex.

In this view, the "house" of 1 Kings 7:1 was the palace proper—Solomon’s own residence (see 1 Kings 7:8). The house in 1 Kings 7:2 served as the state apartments, and the house for Pharaoh’s daughter was the women's quarters. These three groups of buildings, while distinct, were interconnected and together formed what is elsewhere called "the king’s house" (1 Kings 9:10).

The House of the Forest of Lebanon. This name was likely given because its main feature—a mass of cedar pillars—was thought to resemble the cedar forests of Lebanon. Its length of "a hundred cubits," or 150 feet, was nearly twice that of the entire temple, excluding the porch. For comparison, some great halls in Assyrian palaces were occasionally as long as 180 feet.

Its breadth of "fifty cubits," or 75 feet, is much greater than is ever found in Assyria. This difference indicates that the two cultures employed very different methods of roofing. The use of pillars allowed the Jews, like the Persians, to cover a very wide space.

Regarding the "four rows" of pillars, the Septuagint specifies "three rows." If there were forty-five pillars as mentioned in 1 Kings 7:3, arranged with fifteen in each row, there would have been only three rows. This arrangement seems to match the old palace of Cyrus at Pasargadae. If there were four rows of fifteen pillars, the total number would have been sixty.

There were either three rows of windows, one above the other, on each side of the house, or perhaps one row was in each side wall, with the third in a wall running down the middle of the hall along the central row of pillars. The windows were directly opposite one another, providing what is known as a through-light.

All the doors and posts - The doorways, and the posts that formed them, seem to be what is meant. These were square at the top, not arched or rounded. In Assyrian buildings, arched doorways were not uncommon. The doorways, like the windows, also faced one another exactly.

This was probably the porch of the "House of the Forest." Porches of columns immediately in front of columnar chambers were a favorite feature of Persian architecture. The entire verse should be translated: And he made the porch of the pillars 50 cubits in length, and 30 cubits in breadth, and a porch before them (that is, the pillars), and pillars, and a base or step before them. Most Persepolitan porches had small, pillared chambers set at some distance in front of them.