1 Kings 6:2

_AND THE HOUSE WHICH KING SOLOMON BUILT FOR THE LORD, THE LENGTH THEREOF WAS THREESCORE CUBITS, AND THE BREADTH THEREOF TWENTY CUBITS, AND THE HEIGHT THEREOF THIRTY CUBITS._ The house which king Solomon built for the Lord. The dimensions are given in cubits, which are to be reckoned according to the early standard (2 Chronicles 3:3), or holy cubit (Ezekiel 40:5; Ezekiel 43:13), a handbreadth longer than the common or later one (see the notes at 2 Chronicles 3:4)....

1-10 The temple is called the house of the Lord, because it was directed and modelled by him, and was to be employed in his service. This gave it the beauty of holiness, that it was the house of the Lord, which was far beyond all other beauties. It was to be the temple of the God of peace, therefore no iron tool must be heard; quietness and silence suit and help religious exercises. God's work should be done with much care and little noise. Clamour and violence often hinder, but never further the work of God. Thus the kingdom of God in the heart of man grows up in silence, Mark 5:27....

Verse 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. Yds....

The size of Solomon’s temple depends upon the true length of the ancient cubit, which is doubtful. It has been estimated as somewhat less than a foot, and again as between 19 and 20 inches, a difference of nearly 8 inches, which would produce a variation of nearly 40 feet in the length of the temple-chamber, and of 46 in that of the entire building. It is worthy of remark that, even according to the highest estimate, Solomon’s temple was really a small building, less than 120 feet long, and less than 35 broad. Remark that the measures of the temple, both “house” and porch 1 Kings 6:3, were exactly double those of the older tabernacle (Exodus 26:18 note). This identity of proportion amounts to an undesigned coincidence, indicating the thoroughly historical character of both Kings and Exodus

EXPOSITION SOLOMON'S TEMPLE.—The preparations for the building of the Temple having been related in the preceding chapter, the historian now proceeds to describe the edifice. He begins his narrative with a precise statement of the date of its erection (1 Kings 6:1); then follows (1) a description of the shape, size, and arrangement of the exterior (1 Kings 6:2), and (2) a detailed account of its internal fittings and adornments (1 Kings 6:15-11). The promise made to Solomon during its erection finds a place in 1 Kings 6:11; while the vessels,

AND THE HOUSE WHICH KING SOLOMON BUILT FOR THE LORD,.... For his worship, honour, and glory: THE LENGTH THEREOF [WAS] THREESCORE CUBITS; sixty cubits from east to west, including the holy place and the most holy place; the holy place was forty cubits, and the most holy place twenty; the same measure, as to length, Eupolemus, an Heathen writer n, gives of the temple, but is mistaken in the other measures: AND THE BREADTH THEREOF TWENTY [CUBITS]; from north to south: AND THE HEIGHT THEREOF THIRTY CUBITS; this must be understood of the holy place, for the oracle or most holy place was but twenty cubits high, 1 Kings 6:20; though the holy place, with the chambers that were over it, which were ninety cubits, three stories high, was in all an hundred twenty cubits,...

CHAPTER 6THE DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPLE _ 1. The date of the beginning of the building (1 Kings 6:1)_ 2. The house, the porches and side chambers (1 Kings 6:2) 3. The divine charge (1 Kings 6:11) 4. The internal arrangements (1 Kings 6:15) 5. The cherubim (1 Kings 6:23) 6. The doors (1 Kings 6:31) 7. The inner court and the temple finished ...

DESCRIPTION OF SOLOMON'S TEMPLE. The Temple area is on the eastern hill of Jerusalem, which overlooks the valley of the Kidron, with the Mount of Olives on the opposite side. It was probably not the Zion captured by David (2 Samuel 5), but the site was purchased by him from Ornan, or Araunah, the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:18). It is marked by an outcrop of rock, now called the _Sakrah._ The Temple hill is divided from the Upper City on the western hill by a valley called the Tyropœ an (cheese-makers). The Temple was part of a great scheme of building which has been restored by Stade, whose reconstruction is now generally adopted in descriptions of early Jerusalem. To understand aright the difficult account of Solomon's buildings in these Chapter s, Ezekiel's restored Temple (Ezekiel 40-48) and Josephus'sketch of Herod's Temple (_Wars,_...

CUBITS. See App-51....

_the length thereof was threescore cubits_ In dimension the Temple was twice the size of the Tabernacle. The latter was 30 cubits long, 10 cubits wide and 15 cubits high in the holy place. See Fergusson's _Temples of the Jews_, p. 16. Mr Fergusson, speaking of the length of the cubit says, -we find that a cubit of 18 English inches meets all the difficulties of the case with as much accuracy as can be obtained." We see then that the Temple, exclusive of the rooms by which it was surrounded, was but a very small building, 90 feet long, 30 feet broad, and 45 feet high in its loftiest portion, and the Tabernacle only half that size. Neither building was meant to contain the worshippers. The priests went in, while the multitude remained outside (cf. Luke 1:9-10). An interesting paper on Solomon's Temple, by Mr E. C. Robins, F.S.A., will be found in -The Builder" of Jan. 9 and 16, 1886.