David commanded his son Solomon to build a new temple. This work took seven years, followed by 13 years of building an adjacent royal complex (1 Kings 6:38; 7:1). As this quarter was located outside and north of the original city of David, new city walls must have been built to connect the two areas.
Built atop Mount Moriah (2 Chron. 3:1), Solomon’s temple was Israel’s first permanent sanctuary. The royal complex immediately to the south of the temple (see also Solomon’s Temple and Palace Complex) consisted of Solomon’s own palace and a smaller house for his Egyptian wife (1 Kings 7:8), an armory called the “House of the Forest of Lebanon” (vv. 2–5), a Hall of Pillars (v. 6), and a Hall of the Throne (v. 7). A special “Ascent” connected this complex with the temple.
The area between the temple complex and the city of David was called the Ophel.
