PALACE, in Scripture, denotes what is con tained within the outer enclosure of the royal resi dence, including all the buildings, courts, and even gardens (2 Chron. xxxvi. 19 ; comp. Ps. xlviii. 4 ; cxxii. 7 ; Pray. ix. 3 ; xviii. r9 ; Is. xxiii. 13 ; xxv. 2; Jer. xxii. 14 ; Amos i. 7, 12, 14 ; Nahum ii. 6). In the N. T. the term palace (czar)) is applied to the residence of a man of rank (Matt.
xxvi. 3 ; Mark xiv. 66 ; Luke xi. 21 ; John xviii. 15). The specific allusions are to the palace built by Herod, which was afterwards occupied by the Roman governors, and was the prmtorium, or hall, which formed the abode of Pilate when Christ was brought before him (Mark xv. 16) ; the other pas sages above cited, except Luke xi. 21, refer to the residence of the high-priest.
Of the palaces mentioned in Scripture, the most interesting is the palace of Solomon, which he was occupied thirteen years in erecting. The site of this pile was in all probability on the brow facing the temple on the opposite side of the Tyropceon, within the city and looking down on it. A de tailed description is given of it in 1 Kings vii. 1-12, from which, compared with the account of Jose phus (Antiy. viii. 5. I, 2), and the help of legiti mate conjecture, it is possible to furnish a general idea of its form and arrangements.
Proceeding from without, the first part was the House of the Forest of Lebanon,' so called, pro bably, because it was constructed of cedar-wood from Lebanon (LXX. T. 01K. T.
Aegapou). This served as an audience-chamber or hall of state (Joseph. 1. c.), and was hung around with costly armour (1 Kings x. 16, r7, a great house for his armour,' Arab. ver.) The Targum calls it the house of the cooling of the king,' pro bably because of the refreshing air which its size, its elevated site, and its open construction, secured for it. Some have thought it was a sort of winter garden or conservatory ; but this is less probable. Its proportions were too cubits of length, 5o of breadth, and 3o of height. This must be under stood of the inner measurement ; so that the area of this hall was larger than that of the temple, the height of both being the same (vi. 2). A solid
wall of masonry surrounded the wood-work (ver. 9). The area of this hall was surrounded by four Tows of cedar pillars. The statement in ver. 2 is commonly taken to indicate four straight lines of pillars, and much perplexity has been caused on this supposition by the subsequent statement (ver. 3), that there were 45 pillars, Is in a row. If there were 4 rows intersecting the hall lengthways, and 15 intersecting its breadth, there must have been 6o pillars in all. This has led some arbi trarily to read three for four, contrary to all the codices and all the versions, the LXX. excepted. But nID does not signify a series in line, but a series surrounding or enclosing (comp. vi. 36 ; vii. IS, 20, 24, 42 ; Fzek. xlvi. 23) ; so that the four rows of pillars went round the hall, forming four aisles inside the wall, or, as the Vulgate renders the passage, quatuor deambulacra inter columnas cedrinas' (fig. 415). On these pillars beams of cedar wood rested, running from the front to the wall, and forming a substantial rest for the upper storey.
This consisted of side chambers or galleries (rthy, comp. vi. 5, 8), and it is to the number and order of these that the statement in ver. 3 refers—' And the chambers which were upon the beams, forty five [in number], fifteen in each row [circuit] were wainscotted with cedar-wood' (a a, fig. 416). These were roofed with beams (ttPV), rendered in the A. V. windows,' which the word never means) in three rows, i.e., there were three storeys of galleries, and in these sights ; Sept. x3pai), over against each other in three ranks, i.e., each chamber in the three storeys had an opening to the interior, facing a corresponding opening in the oppo site chamber (b b, fig. 4t6). The different compart ments of the galleries communicated with each other by means of doors. These, as well as the windows (the LXX. have 202,paL in ver. 5, which shows that they read nitrinn where the present reading is rimtrn, of is impossible to make sense), : were square with an overbeam. These galleries were probably reached by a winding stair in the outer wall (d d ,_ figs. 415 and 416, as in the temple (vi. 8).