1 Kings 6:3

_AND THE PORCH BEFORE THE TEMPLE OF THE HOUSE, TWENTY CUBITS WAS THE LENGTH THEREOF, ACCORDING TO THE BREADTH OF THE HOUSE; AND TEN CUBITS WAS THE BREADTH THEREOF BEFORE THE HOUSE._ The porch - or portico, extended across the whole front (see the note at 2 Chronicles 3:4). The design of the porch, which was four times the height of the temple, was chiefly to serve as an ornament to the edifice. The view from its elevated top is said to have been very extensive-to the Mediterranean on one side, and to the Dead Sea on another, up the course of the Jordan, and over Arabia....

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....

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 PORCH BEFORE THE TEMPLE OF THE HOUSE,.... Which stood at the east end of it: TWENTY CUBITS [WAS] THE LENGTH THEREOF, ACCORDING TO THE BREADTH OF THE HOUSE; which was from north to south, and of the same dimension, so that they exactly answered each other: [AND] TEN CUBITS [WAS] THE BREADTH THEREOF BEFORE THE HOUSE; which being added to it, make the whole of the building, most holy place, holy place, and porch, seventy cubits; the height of the porch is not here given, but in 2 Chronicles 3:4; where it is said to be an hundred twenty cubits high, equal to the height of the house, with the chambers over it; but there the breadth of the porch is not given, as it is here; by these dimensions we may observe the difference between the tabernacle and the temple; the temple was twice as long, and as broad, and thrice as high as that, see...

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,_...

ACCORDING TO. Or, in the front of,...

_the porch_ This extended along the whole face of the building, and projected forward 10 cubits, thus making the whole length of the structure 70 cubits or 105 feet, without allowing for the thickness of outside or party walls. The height of this porch is said (2 Chronicles 3:4) to have been 120 cubits. This height = 180 ft. is out of proportion to the other dimensions, and Mr Robins suggests that, after his manner, the Chronicler has added together the 4 dimensions in height of the 4 sides of the porch, and that the true height was 30 cubits. That the Chronicler does put down his numbers in this strange fashion is shewn from 2 Chronicles 3:11, where he first writes -the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long." He afterwards explains that he means each of the 4 wings was 5 cubits long, b

B. THE EXTERIOR OF THE HOUSE 6:2-10 TRANSLATION (2) As for the house which King Solomon built for the LORD: sixty cubits was its length and twenty cubits its breadth and thirty cubits its height. (3) And the porch In front of the Temple of the house, ten cubits was its breadth before the house. (4) And he made for the house windows of fixed lattices. (5) And he built against the wall of the house, floors round about, against the walls which surrounded the Temple and the Debir; and he made chambers round about. (6) And the lowest chamber was five cubits in width, the middle one was six cubits in width and the third was seven cubits in width, for he made rebatements for the house round about that (there might be) no insertion into the walls of the house. (7) And the house when it was being built was built of perfect stones from the quarry, and neither hammer, ax, nor any tool of iron, was...

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE In shape the Temple was a rectangular hall 60 x 20 x 30 cubits (a cubit being about 18 inches). On its E. face it had a porch (forming an entrance) which extended across the whole front and added 10 cubits to the length of the building (1 Kings 6:3). The height of this is given in 2 Chronicles 3:4 as 120 cubits; but such a measurement is out of all proportion to the others, and is probably an error (one of the MSS of the LXX substitutes 20 cubits). On three sides of the house were built a number of chambers (Josephus says 30) in three storeys (1 Kings 6:5; 1 Kings 6:10), intended for the accommodation of