1 Kings 6:4

4 And for the house he made windows broad within and narrow without.

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 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

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

1 Kings 6:4 In-Context

2 And the house which King Solomon built for the LORD, was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.
3 And the porch before the temple of the house was twenty cubits long, according to the width of the house; and its width was ten cubits before the house.
4 And for the house he made windows broad within and narrow without.
5 And against the wall of the house, he built wings round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle; and he made chambers round about.
6 The lower wing was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide, for without in the wall of the house, he had made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010