The house Properly so called, as distinct from all the walls and buildings adjoining to it; namely, the holy and most holy place. Which King Solomon built for the Lord For his worship and service; and wherein his divine presence might, as it were, dwell among them by a visible appearance. The length thereof was threescore cubits From east to west; forty of which belonged to the holy place, and twenty to the most holy. And this and the other measures seem to belong to the inside from wall to wall. The cubit was that of the sanctuary, about a foot and a half. And the breadth thereof twenty cubits The length and breadth of it were twice as much as those of the tabernacle, which in length was but thirty cubits, and in breadth but ten. And the height thereof thirty cubits Just half of the length of the whole house. But this is to be understood of the holy place, for the holy of holies was only twenty cubits high, (1 Kings 6:20,) and the porch was one hundred and twenty, 2 Chronicles 3:4. The height of the holy place, therefore, was three times the height of that part of the tabernacle. For this temple was to resemble a high tower having chambers in three stories, one above another. “All the measures,” says Poole, “compared each with other, were harmonious. For sixty to twenty (the length to the breadth) is triple; or as three to one: and sixty to thirty (the length to the height) is double; or as two to one: and thirty to twenty (the height to the breadth) is one and a half, or as three to two. 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.”

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