1 Kings 7:8

House. In the form of a recess or alcove, at the end of one of the aforesaid porches, and probably in that which was nearer the palace. Guards would be stationed in the other. (Haydock) --- This is the idea which travellers have given us of the palaces in the East. They consisted of various apartments, galleries, and courts. Under the outward porch there are guards standing, in a double row; and hence there is a communication with other parts of the house, and with the apartments of the women, which are far removed, and inaccessible to strangers. The women still continue to have separate tents, or apartments; as they had in the days of Sara, Esther, Herodias, &c., Genesis xxiv., Esther i. 11., and Matthew xiv. 8. (Calmet) --- Pharao. Till it was finished, this lady had lodged in David's palace; though as it was deemed in a manner sacred, on account of the presence of the ark, it was judged expedient to remove her, 2 Paralipomenon viii. 11. (Haydock) --- Perhaps she had begun to manifest some signs of a relapse towards idolatry, into which she is supposed chiefly to have induced her husband, chap. xi. 4. (Salien)