He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon. It is scarcely possible to determine whether this was a different edifice from the former, or whether his house, "the house of the forest of Lebanon," and the one for Pharaoh's daughter, were not parts of one grand palace. It would seem from the form and proportions, as given in the context, that this "house" was an immense hall, as the Hebrew word and its Arabic equivalent frequently bear this sense. In this view it would correspond to the large central halls in the Assyrian palaces ('Nineveh and Babylon,' p. 650).
As difficult is it to decide what was the origin of the name-some supposing it was so called because built on Lebanon; others, that it was in or near Jerusalem, but contained such a profuse supply of cedar columns as to have occasioned this special designation. We have a similar peculiarity of name in the building called the East India House, though situated in London. The description is conformable to the arrangement of Eastern palaces. The building stood in the middle of a great oblong square, which was surrounded by an enclosing wall, against which the houses and offices of those attached to the court were built. The building itself was oblong, consisting of two square courts, flanking a large oblong hall which formed the center, and which, being 100 cubits long by 50 broad, was properly the house of the forest of Lebanon, being the part where were the cedar pillars of this hall. In front was the porch of judgment, which was appropriated to the transaction of public business. On the one side of this great hall was the king's house, and on the other the harem or royal apartments for Pharaoh's daughter (Esther 2:3; Esther 2:9). This arrangement of the palace accords with the Oriental style of building, according to which a great mansion always consists of three divisions, or separate houses, all connected by doors and passages-the men dwelling at one extremity, the female portion of the family at the other, while public rooms occupy the central part of the building.