I Kings 7: 13 going on 7

YINR 929: Tanach Yomi · Oct 14, 2026 · 1m

In chapter six, the texts states that the building of the temple took seven years. According to chapter 7, Shlomo took 13 years to build his palace. The commentators are almost unanimous explaining that this discrepancy is meant to praise Shlomo. While he took 13 years to build his palace, which is extensively detailed in this chapter, he rushed the building of the Temple to make sure it was completed in a much shorter seven years. Abarbanel is the lone dissenter, but not on the praise part, just that the 13 years encompassed the building of all of Shlomo’s palaces. But why would the text go…