1 Kings 6:22

22 And there was nothing in the temple that was not covered with gold: the whole altar of the oracle he covered also with gold.

1 Kings 6:22 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 6:22

And the whole house he overlaid with gold
Both the holy place, and the most holy place:

until he had finished all the house;
in this splendid and glorious manner:

also the whole altar that [was] by the oracle;
the altar of incense, which stood just before the entrance into the oracle, or most holy place:

he overlaid with gold;
he overlaid it all over with gold; hence it is called the golden altar, and was an emblem of the excellent and effectual mediation and intercession of Christ, ( Revelation 8:3 Revelation 8:4 ) . Agreeably to this account Eupolemus, an Heathen writer ^F4 testifies, that the whole house, from the floor to the tool, was covered with gold, as well as with cedar and cypress wood, that the stonework might not appear; and so the capitol at Rome, perhaps in imitation of this temple, its roofs and tiles were glided with gold ^F5; a magnificent temple, like this, was at Upsal in Switzerland, as Olaus Magnus relates ^F6.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 34. p. 450.
F5 Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 33. c. 3. Vid. Rycquium de Capitol. Roman. c. 16.
F6 De Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 3. c. 5.

1 Kings 6:22 In-Context

20 Now the oracle was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in height. And he covered it, and overlaid it with most pure gold. And the altar also he covered with cedar.

21 And the house before the oracle he overlaid with most pure gold, and fastened on the plates with nails of gold.

22 And there was nothing in the temple that was not covered with gold: the whole altar of the oracle he covered also with gold.

23 And he made in the oracle two cherubims of olive tree, of ten cubits in height.

24 One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub was five cubits: that is, in all ten cubits, from the extremity of one wing to the extremity of the other wing.