PALACE. The tr. of several Heb. and Gr. words, asאַרְמﯴן, H810, citadel, high place; בִּירָה, H1072, fortress, palace (Aram.); בַּ֫יִת֒, H1074, house, palace, temple; בִּיתָן, H1131, palace (Aram.); הֵיכָל, H2121, (from Akkad. ekallu from Sumer. E’-GAL), temple, palace; הַרְמﯴן, H2236, high place; טִירָה, H3227, tower, palace; αὐλή, G885, court, palace; πραιτώριον, G4550, court, governor’s palace; בֵּ֣ית הַמֶּ֑לֶכְ, king’s house, the last term properly connoting the king’s residence. הֵיכָל, H2121, appears in the Heb. not earlier than the monarchy and may have been derived through contact with the Assyrians. בִּירָה, H1072, is postexilic, used particularly in Esther; evidence indicates a preferable tr. as palace. טִירָה, H3227, means a restricted enclosure. הַרְמﯴן, H2236, is next to בֵּ֣ית הַמֶּ֑לֶכְ the word in Heb. most frequently used to designate the palace. The Gr. αὐλή, G885, is the NT word generally used for the king’s residential palace. For the historical development of the palace, see Architecture.
One of the earliest palatial type structures was the “palace” of Ai, about twenty-two ft. wide by sixty-six ft. long, with four interior pillars down the middle and a second story, a pre-Biblical Canaanite structure of the Early Bronze Period. At Taanak from the Middle Bronze II Age was a palace about sixty-six ft. per side that included several rooms approximately 10x14 ft. with a large court occupying a corner of the plan. The “palace” at Megiddo (c. 1650-1150 b.c.) was named for its character and size. It extended through several levels with variations, indicating a prolonged era of power.
Solomon’s palace, of which nothing remains and which may have been destroyed by Shishak as the Lord’s penalty for Rehoboam’s apostasy, was called the House of the Forest of Lebanon because its columns and roof structure was of Lebanon cedar (1 Kings 7:2ff.). It was built in close proximity to the Temple on the S and measured 50 by 100 cubits. Near it was a porch leading to the throne room, the latter possibly a bit hilani form, and was connected to the Temple enclosure by a single gate. The House had an enclosing wall of three courses of stone reinforced against earthquake shock by a row of wood beams. Valuable stones were used in the masonry work (1 Kings 7:9).
Later, Omri and Ahab (kings of Israel) built their palaces at Samaria, the latter’s palace distinguished by a large, enclosed court formed by a wall of casemate construction. Saul’s palace has been located by Albright in the heavily constructed building at Tell el-Ful.
Jeremiah makes several references to parts of the palace (36:20, 22; 37:21; a guard room, 38:6), which was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.
In Nehemiah’s time, wood beams were parcelled out on the king’s order (Neh 2:8). The luxury and splendor of Pers. palaces are detailed in Esther 1, and they are amply verified from the excavations. For ornamentation and beauty, painted plaster was frequently employed in Babylonian palaces. Except for cut stone in the eras of Solomon and Ahab, general construction was of rubble stone and plaster finish.
The postexilic period presents a governor’s residence at Tell ed-Duweir from Lachish that featured an inner, enclosed court with rooms arranged on three sides, having several arched doors and vaulted roofs, and covered an area of c. 2700 square yards.
In Trans-Jordan, Araq el-Amir presents on the outside a bare, flat wall of desert fortification enclosing soldier and living quarters within, from the end of the Ptolemaic age.
Antiochus Epiphanes is reported to have built a palace to the S of the Temple in Jerusalem, but nothing remains of it. The site of the tower of Hananeel was incorporated by Herod into his tower of Antonia, a rectangular palace with four corner towers, and apartments between, enclosing an open court which is the site of the present Sisters of Zion Convent in whose basement may be seen the pavement of the court of Herod’s Tower of Antonia. Cisterns below the pavement are still used.
Herod also built a fortress atop the table rock at Masada, along the W shore of the Dead Sea (cf. Y. Yadin, Masada: Herod’s Fortress and the Zealots’ Last Stand). This fortress was of great beauty and included several fountains. Excavations have justified Josephus’ descriptions. It became the last holdout of the Jews against the Romans in a.d. 73.
In the NT, αὐλή, G885, signifies the “palace” of the high priest (Matt 26:3; John 18:15), actually his official quarters and prob. were located on the site of St. Pierre in Gallicantu situated across the Tyropoean to the SW from the Temple. Jesus was taken from there to the πραιτώριον, G4550, (court in the Governor’s house—Tower of Antonia) where the soldiers mocked Him.
The progressive adornment of the palaces by earthly rulers lifted them to the levels of symbols of oppression and made them forget their dependence on God. Ideally God was the protector of the palace and its chief dweller (Ps 48:3) when faith occupied the king’s heart. Usually sumptuous palaces were accompanied by exploitation of the people. The presence of many ivory pieces in the ruins of Samaria (cf. Amos 6:4) indicate lavish use of this material as decoration, emphasizing the disparity between the classes.
The prophets did not hesitate to single out the palace as symbolizing the king, nor to denounce him for his excesses. Amos (1:5) declared that fire would destroy Benhadad’s palace, which would be God’s vengeance for atrocities in Gilead. Gaza (v. 7) was to be burned with fire because she had sold Hebrews to Edom (v. 6), who would, in turn, experience the destruction of fire because of enmity to Israel (v. 12). Tyre would experience a similar fate for the same unbrotherly attitude (v. 10). The destruction of the palace declared that the kingdom was at an end (Amos 2:2). Such fate would befall Judah (v. 5), which ended the dynasty of Jeconiah.
The seat of power and authority in Ashdod and Egypt was the palace, but bad news could not be excluded by that power when God brought judgment (3:9), for they had filled their storehouses with violence, i.e., gotten their goods by violent means; therefore Samaria would be delivered up because of its corruption and unfeeling luxury (6:8). The action of aggressor usurpers burning a king’s house because of the evils of the former king often is declared to be God’s judgment (1 Kings 16:18).
When the king followed God, God would abide in the king’s palace, i.e., giving His blessings on the king’s rule (Ps 48:3), and the palaces of the city that followed God would be known as those that mark God’s blessings—a great lesson for all governments (v. 13). To the end that rulers in Israel should fear God, David declared the palace was for God; i.e., the king was only God’s viceroy, and justice was to be the palace inhabitant (1 Chron 29:1). On this basis David petitioned God that Solomon would build the palace.
Bibliography I. Benzinger, Hebräische Archäologie (1927); BASOR, CXX (1950); J-M. Fenasse, “Palais,” Dictionnaire de la Bible Supp. VI. (1960), cols. 976-1021; A Badawy, Architecture of Egypt and the Near East (1966).