1 Kings 6:4

4 He made recessed and latticed windows for the temple

1 Kings 6:4 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 6:4

And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.
] Or "open, shut" ^F15, 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 without; by being narrow without, the house was preserved from bad weather, as well as could not so easily be looked into by those without; and by being broader within, the light that was let in spread itself within the house; which some interpret only of the holy place, the most holy place having, as they suppose, no windows in it, which yet is not certain: now these windows may denote the word and ordinances of the church of God, whereby light is communicated to men; which in the present state is but narrow or small, in comparison of the new Jerusalem church state, and the ultimate glory; and especially so it was under the legal dispensation, which was very obscure; see ( Song of Solomon 2:9 ) ( Isaiah 55:8 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (Mypqv Mymja) "apertas clausas", Vatablus; "perspectui accommodas, clausas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

1 Kings 6:4 In-Context

2 The temple that King Solomon built for the LORD was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high.

3 The porch in front of the temple's main hall was thirty feet long. It ran across the whole width of the temple and extended fifteen feet in front of the temple.

4 He made recessed and latticed windows for the temple

5 and built side rooms against the temple walls around both the main hall and the most holy place.

6 The lower walls were seven and a half feet wide. At the second floor the walls were nine feet wide, and at the third floor they were ten and a half feet wide. He made niches around the outside of the temple so the beams wouldn't be inserted into the temple walls.

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb architectural and decorative terminology in 6:4-6 and elsewhere in chaps 6–7 is often uncertain.