1 Kings 6:1

1 Forsooth it was done in the four hundred and fourscore year of the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the realm of Solomon (in the fourth year of Solomon's reign), in the month Zif; that is, the second month of the fourth year of the realm of Solomon on Israel; he began to build an house to the Lord.

1 Kings 6:1 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 6:1

And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year
after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt
The Tyrian writers ^F11 make it five hundred sixty years from hence; but this no doubt is tightest, which Junius reckons thus; forty years Israel were in the wilderness, seventeen under Joshua, two hundred ninety nine under the judges, eighty under Eli, Samuel, and Saul, forty under David, add to which the four years of Solomon, and they make four hundred eighty ^F12; they are somewhat differently reckoned by others

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 from the coming out of Egypt to Joshua forty years, from thence to the first servitude under Cushan twenty five, from thence to the death of Abimelech two hundred fifty six, under Thola twenty three, from thence to the Ammonitish servitude four, under that eighteen, under the judges, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, thirty one, Samuel and Saul forty, David forty, and Solomon three, in all four hundred eighty;

in the, fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel;
when he was clear of all disturbers of his government, and had got all things ready for the building of the temple, and had gathered together gold and silver enough of his own to defray the expenses; for, as for what David gave him, he put that into the treasury of the Lord's house, see ( 1 Kings 7:51 ) ;

in the month Zif, which [is] the second month;
and so must be Jiar, for Abib or Nisan was the first, and Jiar was the second, which answered to part of our April and part of May; called Zif either from the splendour of the sun, being now higher, and so the greater; or from the trees and flowers of the field being in all their glory; and so the Targum here calls it, the month of splendour of flowers: and it was on the second day of it,

that he began to build the house of the Lord:
and a very fit and proper season of the year it was to begin it in, see ( 2 Chronicles 3:2 ) .

F11 Apud Theophil. ad Autolyc. l. 3. p. 131.
F12 So Gerard. Voss. Chron. Sacr. Isagoge, dissert. 8. c. 7. p. 128.
F13 Vid. Vitring. Hypotypos. Hist. Sacr. p. 43.

1 Kings 6:1 In-Context

1 Forsooth it was done in the four hundred and fourscore year of the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the realm of Solomon (in the fourth year of Solomon's reign), in the month Zif; that is, the second month of the fourth year of the realm of Solomon on Israel; he began to build an house to the Lord.

2 Forsooth the house which king Solomon builded to the Lord, had sixty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in height.

3 And a porch was before the temple of twenty cubits of length, by the measure of the breadth of the temple; and the porch had ten cubits of breadth, before the face of the temple. (And there was a vestibule in front of the Temple, twenty cubits in length, equal to the measure of the breadth of the Temple; and the vestibule was ten cubits deep, projecting out in front of the Temple.)

4 And Solomon made in the temple narrow windows withoutforth and large within.

5 And he builded on the wall of the temple, buildings of boards by compass, in the walls of the house, by compass of the temple, and of God's answering place; and he made [the] sides in the compass. (And he made chambers, or rooms, out of boards, against the walls of the Temple, all around the Temple, and the Inner Temple, that is, the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, on the sides, and at the back.)