1 Kings 6:7

7 The temple's construction used finished stones cut at the quarry so that no hammer, chisel, or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.

1 Kings 6:7 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 6:7

And the house, when it was in building
And all the while it was building:

was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither;
being hewn or squared by the builders and stonesquarers of Solomon and Hiram, ( 1 Kings 5:18 ) ; wherefore the builders had nothing more to do than to lay them in their proper places in the building; it was built with these stones quite up to the ceiling, as Josephus says ^F20; and these so admirably polished, and so artificially joined together, that not the least sign of an axe, or of any working tool, could be discerned in them:

so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, [nor] any tool of iron,
heard in the house while it was in building;
the first of these observations shows, that none are to be laid in the spiritual building of the church, but such as are first hewed and squared by the Spirit, grace, and word of God: or who have an experience of the grace of God, are sound in the faith, and of becoming lives and good conduct; and the other denotes, that such as are therein, whether ministers or members, should do all they do for the edification of the church in a quiet and peaceable manner, without clamour, contention, fights, and tumults.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect. 2.

1 Kings 6:7 In-Context

5 He then built a chambered structure along the temple wall, encircling the walls of the temple, that is, the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around.

6 The lowest chamber was seven and a half feet wide, the middle was nine feet wide, and the third was 10 and a half feet wide. He also provided offset ledges for the temple all around the outside so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.

7 The temple's construction used finished stones cut at the quarry so that no hammer, chisel, or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.

8 The door for the lowest side chamber was on the right side of the temple. They went up a stairway to the middle [chamber], and from the middle to the third.

9 When he finished building the temple, he paneled it with boards and planks of cedar.