Solomon Builds the Temple: We now enter the section in which the long-awaited process of building the temple is described. The reader’s expectations have already been focused on the actual building of the temple in Jerusalem from the narration of David’s history in 1 Chronicles 21–22 and 28–29.

The Chronicler used 1 Kings 6–7 as his main source for the description of the building of the temple under Solomon. But as has become familiar to the reader, the Chronicler not only abbreviated the source account significantly but also took the liberty of making some changes and adding some minor details.

It is clear that 2 Chronicles 3:1–2 serves as introduction to this episode in the Solomon narrative, with 5:1 concluding the account. The structure of the description between the introduction and the…