1 Kings 6:4

4 For the house he made windows with recessed frames.

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 The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
3 The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits wide, across the width of the house. Its depth was ten cubits in front of the house.
4 For the house he made windows with recessed frames.
5 He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary; and he made side chambers all around.
6 The lowest story was five cubits wide, the middle one was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.