1 Kings6chapter 6

1 Kings 6:1

“In the four hundred and eightieth year - It is upon this statement that all the earlier portion of what is called the “received chronology” depends. Amid Minor differences there is a general agreement, which justifies us in placing the accession of Solomon about 1000 B.C. (1018 B.C. Oppert.) But great difficulties meet us in determining the sacred chronology anterior to this. Apart from the present statement, the chronological data of the Old Testament are insufficient to fix the interval between Solomon’s accession and the Exodus, since several of the periods which make it up are unestimated.”

1 Kings 6:1

“So long it was before that holy house was built, which in less than four hundred and thirty years was burnt by Nebuchadnezzar. It was thus deferred, because Israel had by their sins, made themselves unworthy of this honour: and because God would shew how little he values external pomp and splendour in his service.”

1 Kings 6:2

“The house that Solomon built for the [Lord] was sixty cubits long," that is, the double of the tabernacle. It is extremely likely that it included two rooms, an interior and an exterior. The interior was twenty cubits long, while the exterior was forty cubits. …”

1 Kings 6:2

“The length thereof was threescore cubits - A cubit, according to Bishop Cumberland, is 21 inches, and 888 decimals, or 1 foot, 9 inches, and 888 decimals. According to this Yds. Ft. Inch. The length, 60 cubits, was 36 1 5.28 The breadth, 20 cubits, was 12 0 5.76 The height, 30 cubits, was 18 0 8.64 This constituted what was called the temple or house, the house of God, etc. But, besides this, there were courts and colonnades, where the people might assemble to perform their devotions and assist at the sacrifices, without being exposed to the open air.”

1 Kings 6:2

“Which are the proportions answering to the three great concords in music, commonly called, a twelfth, an eighth, and a fifth. Which therefore must needs be a graceful proportion to the eye, as that in music is graceful to the ear.”

1 Kings 6:3

“Or, if we take in the whole height mentioned, 2 Chron. iii, 4, which is one hundred and twenty; there is in this no disproportion: being to its length as six to one; and to its breadth as twelve to one; especially when this height was conveniently divided into several galleries, one over another, each of which had their due proportions.”

1 Kings 6:4

“The windows of the temple are the holy teachers and all the spiritual people in the church to whom when in divine ecstasy it is granted more specially than to the others to see the hidden mysteries of heaven. And when they reveal publicly to …”

1 Kings 6:4

“Windows of narrow lights - The Vulgate says, fenestras obliquas, oblique windows; but what sort of windows could such be? The Hebrew is חלוני שקפים אטמים challoney shekuphim atumim, windows to look through, which shut. Probably latticed windows: windows through which a person within could see well; but a person without, nothing. Windows, says the Targum, which were open within and shut without. Does he mean windows with shutters; or, are we to understand, with the Arabic, windows opening wide within, and narrow on the outside; such as we still see in ancient castles? This sense our margin expresses.”

1 Kings 6:5

“Against the sides of the house he made side chambers, that is, some porticos like those built around a basilica, one on the other, in three levels. He did this, in the first place, because the portico was narrow and could not been divided into …”

1 Kings 6:5

“Chambers - (Margin, floors). Rather, a lean-to, which completely surrounded three sides of the building, the north, the west, and the south.”

1 Kings 6:5

“Round about - On all the sides except the east, where the porch was; and except some very small passages for the light. And yet these lights might be in the five uppermost cubits of the wall, which were above all these chambers, for these were only fifteen cubits high, and the wall was twenty cubits high.”

1 Kings 6:6

“In the Gospel where the Lord is tempted by the devil these floors are called the pinnacles of the temple. But we also read that the apostle James, the brother of the Lord, was lifted to the pinnacle of the temple from which to address …”

1 Kings 6:6

“In order to preserve the sanctity of the temple, and at the same time allow the attachment to it of secular buildings - sleeping apartments, probably, for the priests and other attendants - Solomon made “rebatements” in the wall of the temple, or in other words built it externally in steps, thus: The beams, which formed the roof of the chambers and the floors of the upper stories, were then laid on these steps or “rests” in the wall, not piercing the wall, or causing any real union of the secular with the sacred building.”

1 Kings 6:6

“Broad - On the inside, and besides the galleries mentioned above. Narrowed rests - Or, narrowings: as in our buildings the walls of an house are thicker, or broader at the bottom, and narrower towards the top: only these narrowings were in the outside of the wall, which at each of the three stories was a cubit narrower than that beneath it.”

1 Kings 6:7

“Christ knocks with his hand that you may open, whereas the adversary cuts the door down with axes; and therefore it is written that hammer and axe should not enter into the house of God. Pride and deceit ought to be outdoors, not inside; conflicts indeed ought to be outside; but within, the peace that surpasses all understanding. Let not your soul be cut with the iron, but even as Joseph's soul, so may your soul pass by the iron.”

1 Kings 6:7

“The house - was built of stone - It appears that every stone was hewn and squared, and its place in the building ascertained, before it came to Jerusalem: the timbers were fitted in like manner. This greatly lessened the trouble and expense of carriage. On this account, that all was prepared at Mount Lebanon, there was neither hammer, axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the building; nothing except mallets to drive the tenons into the mortises, and drive in the pins to fasten them, was necessary: therefore there was no noise.”

1 Kings 6:7

“Made ready - Hewed, and squared, and fitted exactly according to the direction of the architect. Neither hammer, &c. - So it was ordered, partly for the ease and conveniency of carriage: partly, for the magnificence of the work, and commendation of the workmen's skill and diligence: and partly, for mystical signification.”

1 Kings 6:8

“The door for the middle chamber - i. e., the door which gave access to the mid-most “set of chambers.” The chambers on the ground-floor were possibly reached each by their own door in the outer wall of the lean-to. The middle and upper floors were reached by a single door in the right or south wall, from which a winding staircase ascended to the second tier, while another ascended from the second to the third. The door to the stairs was in the outer wall of the building, not in the wall between the chambers and the temple.”

1 Kings 6:8

“The door - That is, by which they entered to go up to the middle chamber or chambers; such as were in the middle story. Right side - That is, in the south-side, called the right side; because when a man looks towards the east, the south is on his right hand.”

1 Kings 6:9

“He built the house, and finished it - i. e., the external shell of the house. The internal fittings were added afterward. See 1Ki 6:15-22. Covered the house - Roofed it with a wooden roof, sloped like our roofs.”

1 Kings 6:10

“The inner roof was arched, ver. 9, that it might be the more beautiful, but the outward roof was flat. Five cubits - Above the walls of the temple: that it might be a little higher than the arched roof, which it was designed to cover and secure. They rested - Hebrew. it rested, namely, the roof.”

1 Kings 6:11

“And the word of the Lord came to Solomon,.... The word of prophecy, as the Targum, foretelling what would be the case of this building, according to the obedience or disobedience of him and the people of Israel; which was brought to him either by an impulse of the Spirit of God upon him; or by the hand of a prophet, as Kimchi thinks; and some of the Jewish writers (y), as he particularly, name Ahijah the Shilonite as the prophet that was sent with this message to him: saying, as follows. (y) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 20. p. 53.”

1 Kings 6:11

“The word of the Lord came to Solomon - Some think that this is the same revelation as that mentioned 1Ki 9:2, etc., which took place after the dedication of the temple: but to me it appears different; it was a word to encourage him while building; to warn him against apostasy, and to assure him of God’s continued protection of him and his family, if they continued faithful to the grace which God had given.”

1 Kings 6:11-13

“It was very seasonable, being designed: first, to encourage him to go on with the building, by confirming anew the promise made to his father David (2Sa 7:12-16); and secondly, to warn him against the pride and presumption of supposing that after the erection of so magnificent a temple, he and his people would always be sure of the presence and favor of God.”

1 Kings 6:12

“The meaning is, “So far as this house goes, thou art obedient (2Sa 7:13; 1Ch 17:12, etc.); if thou wilt be obedient in other things also, then will I perform My word,” etc., God’s promises being always conditional. The promises made to David were: (1) that he should be succeeded by one of his sons 2Sa 7:12; Psa 132:11; (2) that the kingdom should be established in the line of his descendants forever, if they were faithful Psa 132:12; and (3) that the Israelites should be no more afficted as beforetime 2Sa 7:”

1 Kings 6:12

“If - God expresses the condition upon which his promise and favour is suspended; and by assuring him thereof in case of obedience, he plainly intimates the contrary upon his disobedience. Thus he was taught, that all the charge he and the people were at, in erecting this temple, would neither excuse them from obedience to the law of God, nor shelter them from his judgments in case of disobedience.”

1 Kings 6:13

“And I will dwell among the children of Israel,.... In this house now building, and which was in the middle of the land, and where he would meet with them, and accept their sacrifices, not only of slain beasts, but of prayer and praise: and will not forsake my people Israel; and leave them to the mercy of their enemies, and to be carried captive by them, but protect and defend them.”

1 Kings 6:13

“The first promise to “dwell among” the Israelites had been made to Moses Exo 25:8; Exo 29:45, but had not been repeated to David. The next promise, “I will not forsake, etc.,” if not absolutely new, seems to have been more positive and general than previous similar promises Deu 31:6, Deu 31:8; Jos 1:5. God will not at any time or under any circumstances wholly forsake Israel.”

1 Kings 6:15

“The description of this verse applies to the main chamber of the temple, the holy place, only. The writer in 1Ki 6:16 describes the holy of holies. The marginal rendering of this verse is right, and not the rendering in the text. Fir - Rather, “juniper.” See 1Ki 5:6 note.”

1 Kings 6:15-21

“The cedar-wood was beautifully embellished with figures in relievo, representing clusters of foliage, open flowers, cherubims, and palm trees. The whole interior was overlaid with gold, so that neither wood nor stone was seen; nothing met the eye but pure gold, either plain or richly chased.”

1 Kings 6:15

“Floor - This is spoken only concerning the floor, because there was nothing but planks of fir; whereas there was both cedar and fir in the sides of the house, the fir being either put above, or upon the cedar; or intermixed with, or put between the boards or ribs of cedar: as may be gathered from, 2 Chron. iii, 5.”

1 Kings 6:16

“He calls the east side of the temple the rear; for the temple had its entrance on the east and its inner house, that is, the Holy of Holies, on the west. The fact that he says that the board partitions that separated the inner …”

1 Kings 6:16

“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. He thus made within the house, a sanctuary for a holy of holies.”

1 Kings 6:16

“House - That is, the most holy place, which contained in length twenty cubits, which may be said to be on the sides Of the house, because this part took off twenty cubits in length from each side of the house, and was also twenty cubits from side to side, so it was twenty cubits every way.”

1 Kings 6:17

“We have said that the temple itself before the doors of the oracle was a type of the present church. Hence it was rightly forty cubits long, for this number is often used to signify the present labor of the faithful, just as the number …”

1 Kings 6:17

“And the house, that is, the temple before it,.... The holy place, which was before the of holies: was forty cubits long; and which, with the most holy place, being twenty cubits, as in the preceding verse, made the length of the whole house sixty cubits, as in 1Ki 6:2.”

1 Kings 6:18

“We have said of cedarwood that it betokened the unsurpassable beauty of the virtues. Now the entire house is covered inside with this wood when the hearts of the righteous begin to shine with nothing but the love of good works, and the house has …”

1 Kings 6:18

“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.”

1 Kings 6:19

“The exposition of this has been anticipated to the effect, namely, that the secret inner house of our heavenly homeland designated the ark of the covenant, the Lord our Savior in whom alone we have a covenant of peace with the Father, [our Savior] who …”

1 Kings 6:19

“And the oracle he prepared in the house within,.... In the innermost part of the house he fitted up the oracle, or speaking place, from whence the Lord spake and gave answer, to receive what was to be put into it: particularly to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord; even the very same that Moses made, Exo 37:1, for which David had pitched a tent in Zion, 1Ch 15:1, and where it now was; for Solomon made no new ark.”

1 Kings 6:20

“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. This overlaying was not gilding, but the attachment of thin plates of gold, which had to be fastened on with small nails. Such a mode of ornamentation was common in Babylonia, in Assyria, and in Media.”

1 Kings 6:20

“Forepart - Which was in the inner part of the house, called in Hebrew, the forepart; not because a man first enters there, but because when a man is entering, or newly entered into the house, it is still before him.”

1 Kings 6:21

“The gold leaf with which the house was covered is the manifold works of piety that pure love exhibits in the service either of its Creator or of a brother's need. The gold nails with which the gold leaf was attached are the very precepts …”

1 Kings 6:21

“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.”

1 Kings 6:21

“Before the oracle - In the outward part of the wall, or partition, which was erected between the oracle and the holy place; which is properly said to be before the oracle, there the veil was hung; and there the chains or bars, or whatsoever it was which fastened the doors of the oracle, were placed.”

1 Kings 6:22

“And the whole house he overlaid with gold,.... Both the holy place, and the most holy place: until he had finished all the house; in this splendid and glorious manner: also the whole altar that was by the oracle; the altar of incense, which stood just before the entrance into the oracle, or most holy place: he overlaid with gold; he overlaid it all over with gold; hence it is called the golden altar, and was an emblem of the excellent and effectual mediation and intercession of Christ, Rev 8:”

1 Kings 6:22

“Whole house - Not only the oracle, but all the holy place. The altar - the altar of incense, which was set in the holy place close by the doors of the oracle.”

1 Kings 6:23

“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. The arrangement of the wings, and the direction of the faces, seem also to have been different. Moses’ cherubim “covered with their wings over the mercy seat;” Solomon’s stretched out theirs to the full 1Ki 6:27, so that the four wings, each five cubits long 1Ki 6:24, extended across the whole sanctuary, the width of which was twenty cubits 1Ki 6:”

1 Kings 6:23

“Cherubim - Besides those two made by Moses, Exod. xxv, 18, which were of gold, and far less than these. The Heathens set up images of their gods, and worshipped them. These were designed to represent the servants and attendants of the God of Israel, the holy angels, not to be worshipped themselves, but to shew how great he is whom we worship.”

1 Kings 6:23

“This most holy place was much larger than that in the tabernacle, and therefore the ark would have seemed lost in it, and the dead wall would have been unsightly, if it had not been thus adorned.”

1 Kings 6:24

“And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub,.... When stretched out on one side: and five cubits the other wing of the cherub; on the other side him: from the uttermost part of the one wing, to the uttermost part of the other wing, were ten cubits; half the breadth of the house.”

1 Kings 6:25

“Two cherubim were made in order to signify a sharing in the same love of which we speak, because love cannot exist between fewer than two. Moreover, the reason why the Savior took care to send the disciples in twos to preach was that he …”

1 Kings 6:26

“The height of the one cherub was ten cubits - Concerning the cherubs, their form, etc., see my note on Exo 25:18 (note). The height of each cherub was about eighteen feet and three inches.”

1 Kings 6:28

“The two cherubim can also stand for the two Testaments. These cherubim, no doubt, were made in the oracle because in the design of God's providence, which is, of course, inaccessible and incomprehensible to us, it was arranged before the world began, when and how …”

1 Kings 6:28

“And he overlaid the cherubim with gold. Which may denote the purity and excellency of angels; or the precious gifts and graces of the Spirit, with which the witnesses of Christ are adorned.”

1 Kings 6:29

“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. e., both in the inner chamber, or holy of holies, and in the outer one.”

1 Kings 6:30

“Inside and outside mean in the oracle and in the temple itself. Now we have said above that the evenness of the floor denoted the humble harmony of the holy brotherhood where, though there are Jews and Gentiles, barbarians and Scythians, freeborn and slaves, highborn …”

1 Kings 6:30

“And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold within and without. Both the floor of the holy place, and of the holy of holies; so the street of the new Jerusalem is said to be pure gold, Rev 21:21; this expresses the purity and magnificence of it, particularly the holy conversation of them that dwell in the church, in heaven, signified hereby.”

1 Kings 6:31

“As regards the first part of his statement, namely, "he made little doors of olive wood," he seems to have wanted to explain this more clearly when he added "and two doors of olive wood." For there was one entrance to the oracle. But this …”

1 Kings 6:31

“And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree,.... The door of the holy of holies was a two leaved or folding door, made of olive wood; typical of Christ, the door into the church above and below, the way to heaven and eternal life, the true olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall; four cubits, twenty cubits being the breadth of the oracle; or the lintel was four cubits, twenty being the height of it also, 1Ki 6:20.”

1 Kings 6:31

“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.”

1 Kings 6:32

“The two doors - i. e., two leaves which met in the middle, as in the Assyrian gate-ways generally. Spread gold - The doors were not simply sheeted with gold, like the floors 1Ki 6:30, but had the gold hammered to fit the forms of the palms, cherubs, and flowers carved upon them. 1Ki 6:35. Such hammered metal-work, generally in bronze, has been found in tolerable abundance among the Assyrian remains.”

1 Kings 6:33

“So also made he for the door of the temple,.... The holy place: posts of olive tree, a fourth part of the wall; which was five cubits, its breadth being twenty, 1Ki 6:20; this door was a cubit wider than that into the most holy place, 1Ki 6:31, more entering into the one than into the other; as more go into the church on earth than into the heavenly glory.”

1 Kings 6:33

“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.”

1 Kings 6:34

“And the two doors were of fir tree,.... the posts were of olive, but the doors of fir, and they were both folding doors, as appears by what follows: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding; which, taking up less room, made the passage wider, see Eze 41:24.”

1 Kings 6:34

“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.”

1 Kings 6:35

“And he carved thereon cherubims, and palm trees, and open flowers,.... As upon the doors of the most holy place, 1Ki 6:32; see Eze 41:25; and covered them with gold, fitted upon the carved work; plates of gold were fitted, as to the dimensions of them, to the cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.”

1 Kings 6:36

“Hence it is aptly noted that the priests' court was constructed of three courses of polished stones and one course of cedar beams. For the three courses of polished stones are faith, hope and charity, and the expression "of polished stones" is appropriate because each …”

1 Kings 6:36

“Three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams - Does not this intimate that there were three courses of stone, and then one course of timber all through this wall? Three strata of stone and one stratum of timber, and so on. If so, could such a building be very durable? This is also referred to in the succeeding chapter, 1Ki 7:11; and as both the temple and Solomon’s house were built in the same manner, we may suppose that this was the ordinary way in which the better sort of buildings were constructed.”

1 Kings 6:36

“Cedar beams - Which is understood, of so many galleries, one on each side of the temple, whereof the three first were of stone, and the fourth of cedar, all supported with rows of pillars: upon which there were many chambers for the uses of the temple, and of the priests.”

1 Kings 6:37

“In the fourth year was the foundation laid--The building was begun in the second month of the fourth year and completed in the eighth month of the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, comprising a period of seven and a half years, which is reckoned here in round numbers.”

1 Kings 6:38

“In the eleventh year - was the house finished - It is rather strange that this house required seven years and about six months to put all the stones and the timbers in their places, for we have already seen that they were all prepared before they came to Jerusalem; but the ornamenting, gilding, or overlaying with gold, making the carved work, cherubim, trees, flowers, etc., must have consumed a considerable time. The month Bul answers to a part of our October and November, as Zif, in which it was begun, answers to a part of April and May.”

1 Kings 6:38

“We are wonderfully made by the Divine Providence, but more wonderfully made anew by the Divine grace. And as Solomon's temple was built on a rock, so are we built on Christ. The church is a mystical temple, enriched and beautified, not with gold and precious stones, but with the gifts and graces of the spirit.”