And for the house he made windows of narrow lights. Or "open, shut" (o), which could be both, having shutters to them, to open or shut at pleasure; windows which they could open, and look through at them, or shut when they pleased; the Targum is, "open within, and shut without;'' or, as others understand it, they were wide within, and narrow...
And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about,.... Or near it, as Jarchi interprets it, for the beams of them were not fastened in in it, 1 Kings 6:6; or rather "upon" it (p); and when they are said to be round about the house, it must be understood of the two sides, north and south, and of the west end only, for at the east end,...
And the nethermost chamber [was] five cubits broad,.... The nethermost row of them, which were upon the first floor: and the middle [was] six cubits broad, and the third [was] seven cubits broad; so that the middlemost was a cubit larger than the lowest, and the highest a cubit larger than that: the reason of which was, for without [in the wall]...
And the house, when it was in building,.... And all the while it was building: was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; being hewn or squared by the builders and stonesquarers of Solomon and Hiram, 1 Kings 5:18; wherefore the builders had nothing more to do than to lay them in their proper places in the building; it was built...
The door of the middle chamber [was] in the right side of the house,.... The south side of it: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle [chamber]; which were outside the chambers, and which winded about for the sake of taking up less room, and which led up to the door of the middle chamber, on the south of which they went into it;...
So he built the house, and finished it,.... The body of it, the walls of the holy and most holy place, with the chambers on the sides of them, and the porch at the end that led into them: and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar; with hollow boards, as the Targum, which formed an arch ceiling to it, and made it look very grand and...
And [then] he built chambers against all the house five cubits high,.... Which some understand of the same chambers in 1 Kings 6:5; here made mention of again for the sake of giving the height of them, not before given; but they were built against, or upon the wall of the house, these against, or rather upon the whole house itself; and are the...
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...
[Concerning] this house which thou art in building,.... Or with respect to that, these things are to be said as from the Lord: if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; even all the laws of God, moral, ceremonial, and judicial; and this respects not only Solomon personally, but his...
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...
So Solomon built the house, and finished it. He went on with it until he had completed it, animated and encouraged by the promise of the divine Presence in it, provided a proper regard was had to the will and ways of God. Abarbinel thinks the above message was sent him in the midst of his work, to strengthen and caution him from a dependence on...
And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar,.... For as yet he had only built the stone walls of it without, but now he wainscotted it with cedar boards: and not only them, but both the floor of the house, and the walls of the ceiling; or from "the floor of the house unto the walls of the ceiling"; that is, from the floor,...
And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house,.... At the end or extremity of it, as the Targum; that is, he built the most holy place, which was twenty two cubits long, at the end of the holy place, which he wainscotted as the other: both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar; or from the floor, including that, to the walls on each...
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 1 Kings 6:2.
And the cedar of the house within,.... With which the inside of the place was lined: [was] carved with knops; of an oval form; so the Targum says, they had the appearance of eggs; and Ben Gersom likewise, that they were in the form of eggs: and open flowers; not in the figure of buds, but flowers blown, and open, as lilies and others; so the...
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, Exodus 37:1, for which David had...
And the oracle in the forepart,.... Which stood in the forepart of the temple, before a man's face as he entered into it, and went on; or the forepart of the holy of holies, next to the holy place, was of the dimensions as follows, when the back part of it might be higher at least, and be equal to the holy place, even thirty feet; the forepart...
So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold,.... The inside of the holy of holies with fine gold, which gold amounted to six hundred talents, 2 Chronicles 3:8; and these to 7,332,000 ducats of gold, or 3,045,000 pounds sterling: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; between the holy and the most holy, and were...
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...
And within the oracle he made two cherubim [of] olive tree,.... Or of the oil tree, as in Isaiah 41:19; see Ne 8:15; for there are other trees besides olives, out of which oil is pressed, as pine trees, cypress trees, c. and which some think are here meant though the Targum interprets it of the olive tree: these cherubim are different from those...