Free Online Course - Get Guidance on Prayer and Bible Study from C.S. Lewis
Chapter Book
Loading
Change Translation
Loading...
  • Recent Translations
  • All Translations

1 Kings 6

Share

Settings

Building the Temple

1 Solomon [began to] build the temple for the Lord in the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign over Israel, in the second month, in the month of Ziv.[a][b]
2 The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet[c] long, 30 feet[d] wide, and 45 feet[e] high.
3 The portico in front of the temple sanctuary was 30 feet[f] long extending across the temple's width, and 15 feet deep[g] in front of the temple.[h]
4 He also made windows with beveled frames[i] for the temple.
5 He then built a chambered structure[j] along the temple wall, encircling the walls of the temple, that is, the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers[k] all around.
6 The lowest chamber was seven and a half feet[l] wide, the middle was nine feet[m] wide, and the third was 10 and a half feet[n] 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[o] side chamber was on the right side of the temple. They went up a stairway[p] 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.
10 He built the chambers along the entire temple, joined to the temple with cedar beams; [each story was] seven and a half feet[q] high.
11 The word of the Lord came to Solomon:
12 "As for this temple you are building-if you walk in My statutes, execute My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill My promise to you, which I made to your father David.
13 I will live among the Israelites and not abandon My people Israel."
14 When Solomon finished building the temple,[r]
15 he paneled the interior temple walls with cedar boards; from the temple floor to the surface of the ceiling he overlaid the interior with wood. He also overlaid the floor with cypress boards.
16 Then he lined 30 feet[s] of the rear of the temple with cedar boards from the floor to the surface of the ceiling,[t] and he built the interior as an inner sanctuary, the most holy place.
17 The temple, that is, the sanctuary in front of the most holy place,[u] was 60 feet[v] long.
18 The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with [ornamental] gourds and flower blossoms. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.
19 He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple to put the ark of the Lord's covenant there.
20 The interior of the sanctuary was 30 feet[w] long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high; he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the cedar altar.
21 Next, Solomon overlaid the interior of the temple with pure gold, and he hung[x] gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary[y] and overlaid it with gold.
22 So he added the gold overlay to the entire temple until everything was completely finished, including the entire altar that belongs in the inner sanctuary.
23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim 15 feet[z] high out of olive wood.
24 One wing of the [first] cherub was seven and a half feet long,[aa] and the other wing was seven and a half feet long. The wingspan was 15 feet[ab] from tip to tip.
25 The second cherub also was 15 feet;[ac] both cherubim had the same size and shape.
26 The first cherub's height was 15 feet[ad] and so was the second cherub's.
27 Then he put the cherubim inside the inner temple. Since their wings were spread out, the first one's wing touched [one] wall while the second cherub's wing touched the other[ae] wall, and in the middle of the temple their wings were touching wing to wing.[af]
28 He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29 He carved all the surrounding temple walls with carved engravings-cherubim, palm trees and flower blossoms-in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
30 He overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
31 For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made olive wood doors. The pillars of the doorposts were five-sided.[ag]
32 The two doors were made of olive wood. He carved cherubim, palm trees and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold, hammering gold over the cherubim and palm trees.
33 In the same way, he made four-sided[ah] olive wood doorposts for the sanctuary entrance.
34 The two doors were made of cypress wood; the first door had two folding sides, and the second door had two folding panels.
35 He carved cherubim, palm trees and flower blossoms on them and overlaid them with gold applied evenly over the carving.
36 He built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams.
37 The foundation of the Lord's temple was laid in [Solomon's] fourth year in the month of Ziv.
38 In [his] eleventh year in the eighth month, in the month of Bul,[ai] the temple was completed in every detail and according to every specification. So he built it in seven years.
PREVIOUS 1 Kings 5 NEXT 1 Kings 7

1 Kings 6 Commentary

Chapter 6

The building of Solomon's temple. (1-10) Promise given concerning the temple. (11-14) Particulars respecting the temple. (15-38)

Verses 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 ) .

Verses 11-14 None employ themselves for God, without having his eye upon them. But God plainly let Solomon know that all the charge for building this temple, would neither excuse from obedience to the law of God, nor shelter from his judgments, in case of disobedience.

Verses 15-38 See what was typified by this temple. 1. Christ is the true Temple. In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead; in him meet all God's spiritual Israel; through him we have access with confidence to God. 2. Every believer is a living temple, in ( 1 Corinthians. 3:16 ) built upon Christ as its Foundation, and will be perfect in due time. 3. The gospel church is the mystical temple. It grows to a holy temple in the Lord, enriched and beautified with the gifts and graces of the Spirit. This temple is built firm, upon a Rock. 4. Heaven is the everlasting temple. There the church will be fixed. All that shall be stones in that building, must, in the present state of preparation, be fitted and made ready for it. Let sinners come to Jesus as the living Foundation, that they may be built on him, a part of this spiritual house, consecrated in body and soul to the glory of God.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Footnotes 35

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KINGS 6

This chapter gives an account of the building of the temple, for which preparations were before made and begins with the time of its building, 1Ki 6:1; gives the dimensions of it and the porch before it, 1Ki 6:2,3; observes the windows in it and chambers about it, 1Ki 6:4-10; and while it was building, Solomon had a word from the Lord relative to it, 1Ki 6:11-14; and then the account goes on concerning the walls of the house, and the flooring of it, 1Ki 6:15-18; and the oracle in it, and the cherubim in that, 1Ki 6:19-30; and the doors into it, and the carved work of them, 1Ki 6:31-36; and the chapter is concluded with observing the time when it was begun and finished 1Ki 6:37,38.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

1 Kings 6 Commentaries

Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.