1 Kings 6:1

Temple Construction Begins

1 In the four hundred and eightieth ^[a] year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, ^[b] the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD. ¹

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 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.

2 The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.

3 The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple.

4 He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.

5 Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms.

Cross References

• 1. (2 Chronicles 3:1–2)

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew; LXX four hundred and fortieth
• [b]. Ziv was the second month of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar, usually occurring within the months of April and May; also in verse 37.