1 Kings 6:20

20 And the inmost room was twenty cubits square and twenty cubits high, plated over with clear gold, and he made an altar of cedar-wood, plating it with gold.

1 Kings 6:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 6:20

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 being lower, and left open to let in the light of the candlesticks, and the smoke of the incense, out of the holy place: this

[was] twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty
cubits in the height thereof:
and was a perfect square, and as the most holy place may be an emblem of the church triumphant, it may denote the perfection of its heavenly state; so the new Jerusalem is a foursquare, ( Revelation 21:16 ) ;

and he overlaid it with pure gold;
make it rich, glorious, and magnificent, and may denote the glory of the heavenly state, ( Revelation 21:21 ) ; and so Florus ^F26, the Roman historian, calls it the golden heaven, as it were, into which Pompey went, and saw the great secret of the Jewish nation, the ark:

and [so] covered the altar [which was of] cedar;
the altar of incense, which is here mentioned, because it was near the most holy place, ( 1 Kings 6:22 ) ; this altar by Moses was made of shittim wood, but Solomon's was of cedar it seems; unless, as the words will bear to be rendered, "he covered the altar with cedar" ^F1; though made of shittim wood, it had a covering of cedar over it; or if of stone, such a covering was on it, that it might better receive the gold which was afterwards put upon it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 De Gest. Roman. l. 3. c. 5.
F1 (zra Puy) "operuit cedro", Montanus.

1 Kings 6:20 In-Context

18 (All the inside of the house was cedar-wood, ornamented with designs of buds and flowers; no stonework was to be seen inside.)

19 And he made ready an inmost room in the middle of the house, in which to put the ark of the agreement of the Lord.

20 And the inmost room was twenty cubits square and twenty cubits high, plated over with clear gold, and he made an altar of cedar-wood, plating it with gold.

21 Solomon had all the inside of the house covered with gold, and he put chains of gold across in front of the inmost room, which itself was covered with gold.

22 Plates of gold were put all through the house till it was covered completely (and the altar in the inmost room was all covered with gold).