Albert Barnes

He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy…

“The meaning is, that at the distance of 20 cubits, measured along the side walls of the house from the end wall, Solomon constructed a partition, which reached from the floor to the ceiling and had a doorway in it.”

The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.

“Knops and open flowers - Rather, “gourds and opening flower-buds.” Imitations of the vegetable world are among the earliest of architectural ornaments. They abound in the architecture of Egypt and Persia. In that of Assyria they occur more sparingly.”

The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.

“The fore part - Perhaps “the interior.” And so covered ... - Rather, “and he covered the altar (of incense) with cedar.” The altar was doubtless of stone, and was covered with cedar in preparation for the overlaying with gold.”

So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold.

“The house - i. e., the main chamber. The chains of gold - Omit “the.” Their object was to form a barrier between the holy place and the holy of holies.”

In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood.

“Two cherubims - The pattern of the tabernacle was followed (marginal reference), but without servile imitation. The original cherubs were entirely of gold. These, being so much larger, were of wood, merely overlaid with a golden plating.”

Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

“Palms, cherubs, and flowers - the main decorations of Solomon’s temple - bear considerable resemblance to the ornamentation of the Assyrians, a circumstance which can scarcely be accidental. Within and without - i.”

For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.

“A fifth part - Better than the margin. The meaning seems to be that the lintel was one-fifth of the width of the wall, and each door-post one-fifth of its height. Thus the opening was a square of four cubits, or of six feet.”

The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.

“The two doors - i. e., two leaves which met in the middle, as in the Assyrian gate-ways generally.”

In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance.

“The door of the temple - The door, that is, which led from the porch into the great chamber of the temple. Its posts were “a fourth part of the wall,” or, “five cubits high,” which was, therefore, the height of the doorway.”

The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.

“Fir-tree - Rather, juniper (1Ki 5:6 note). Each door was made in two parts, which folded back one on the other like shutters, by means of hinges. The weight of the doors no doubt made it inconvenient to open the whole door on every occasion.”

Solomon, however, took thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace.

“Thirteen years - The thirteen years, i. e., counting from the end of the seven 1Ki 6:38. Solomon’s buildings thus occupied him twenty years 1Ki 9:10; 2Ch 8:1, from the fourth year of his reign to the twenty-fourth.”

There were three rows of high windows facing one another in three tiers.

“Either three ranges of windows, one above the other, on either side of the house; or perhaps the three ranges were one in either side wall, and the third in a wall down the middle of the hall, along the course of the midmost row…”

All the doorways had rectangular frames, with the openings facing one another in three tiers.

“All the doors and posts - The doorways, and the posts which formed them, seem to be intended. These were square at top, not arched or rounded. In Assyrian buildings arched doorways were not uncommon. The doorways also, like the windows, exactly faced one another.”

Solomon made his colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, with a portico in front of it and a canopy with pillars in front of the portico.

“Probably the porch of the “House of the Forest.” Porches of columns immediately in front of columnar chambers were a favorite feature of Persian architecture.”

In addition, he built a hall for the throne, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge. It was paneled with cedar from floor to ceiling.

“The porch or gate of justice still kept alive the likeness of the old patriarchal custom of sitting in judgment at the gate; exactly as the “Gate of justice” still recalls it at Granada, and the Sublime Porte - “the Lofty Gate” - at Constantinople.”

All these buildings were constructed with costly stones, cut to size and trimmed with saws inside and out from the foundation to the eaves, and from the outside to the…

“The stones were uniform - all cut to certain fixed measures of length, breadth, and thickness. They were not squared only on the face which showed, but also on the sides which fell within the wall and were not seen.”

The great courtyard was surrounded by three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams, as were the inner courtyard and portico of the house of the…

“The palace, like the temple, had two courts 1Ki 6:36, not, however, one immediately within the other. The lesser court of the palace seems to have been a private inner court among the buildings 1Ki 7:8.”

Now King Solomon sent to bring Huram from Tyre.

“Hiram - A man who bore the same name as the king of Tyre, a master workman, known as Hiram Ab, i. e. Master Hiram 2Ch 2:13; 2Ch 4:16.”

For the capitals on top of the pillars he made a network of lattice, with wreaths of chainwork, seven for each capital.

“Nets ... - Rather “Nets chequerwise, and festoons chainwise,” - probably a fine network over the whole, and chainwork hanging in festoons outside. Seven for the one chapiter - The Septuagint reading is preferable.”

Likewise, he made the pillars with two rows of pomegranates around each grating to cover each capital atop the pillars.

“The pomegranate was one of the most common ornaments in Assyria. It was used on quivers, on spear-shafts, and maceheads, in patterns on doorways and pavements, etc.”

And the capitals atop the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, four cubits high.

“There is a cornice of (so-called) lilywork at Persepolis, consisting of three ranges of broadish rounded leaves, one over the other. Lilies are also represented with much spirit on a bas-relief from Koyunjik.”

On the capitals of both pillars, just above the rounded projection next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital.

“In this verse also a portion of the original text is supposed to have fallen out in consequence of the repetition of words. The full phrase of the original has been retained in 1Ki 7:16-17.”

Thus he set up the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jachin, and the pillar to the north he named Boaz.

“The Septuagint in the parallel passage (margin reference), translate Jachin and Boaz by Κατόρθωσις Katorthōsis and Ἰσχύς Ischus - “Direction” and “Strength.” The literal meaning of the names is given in the margin. The meaning was probably “God will establish in strength” (i. e.”

He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.

“The “molten sea “of Solomon, so called from its great size, took the place of the laver of the tabernacle Exo 30:18-21, which was required for the ablutions of the priests.”

The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east.

“Josephus charged Solomon with a breach of the Commandment Exo 20:4-5, on account of the oxen here and the lions for his throne. The charge expresses the prohibition which some Jews have conceived the Commandment to urge against the arts of sculpture and painting.”