Divrey Hayamim Bais 3

1 Then Sh’lomo began to build the Bais Hashem at Yerushalayim in Mt Moriyah, where Hashem appeared unto Dovid Avihu, in the makom (place) which Dovid had prepared in the goren (threshing floor) of Ornan the Yevusi.

2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his [Sh’lomo’s 970-930 B.C.E.] reign.

3 Now these are the foundations which Sh’lomo laid for the building of the Bais HaElohim. The length by cubits using the middah harishonah (old standard) was threescore cubits, and the width twenty cubits.

4 And the Ulam that was in the front of the Bais (porch or vestibule in front of the Holy Place), the length of it was according to the width of the Bais, twenty cubits, and the height was twenty, and he overlaid it within with zahav tahor.

5 And the Bais HaGadol he paneled with cypress, which he overlaid with zahav tov, and carved thereon timorim (palm trees) and sharsherot (chainwork).

6 And he decorated the Bais with precious stones for tiferet (beauty), and the zahav was zahav from Parvayim.

7 He overlaid also the Bais, the ceiling beams, the thresholds, and the walls thereof, and the daletot (doors) thereof, with zahav; and carved keruvim on the walls.

8 And he made the Bais Kodesh HaKadashim, the length whereof was according to the width of the bais, twenty cubits long, and the width thereof twenty cubits, and he overlaid it with zahav tov of six hundred talents.

9 And the weight of the masmerot (nails) was fifty shekels of zahav. And he overlaid the upper rooms with zahav.

10 And in the Bais Kodesh HaKadashim he made two keruvim of ma’aseh tza’atzu’im (sculpture work), and overlaid them with zahav.

11 And the wings of the keruvim were twenty cubits long; one wing of the one keruv was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the Bais; and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other keruv.

12 And one wing of the other keruv was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the Bais; and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other keruv.

13 The wings of these keruvim spread themselves forth twenty cubits; and they stood on their feet, and their faces turned inward.

14 And he made the Parochet of blue wool, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought keruvim thereon.

15 Also he made before the Bais two [freestanding] Ammudim (pillars) of thirty and five cubits high [53 feet], and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

16 And he made sharsherot in the Devir, and put them on the rosh of the Ammudim; and made a hundred pomegranates, and put them on the sharsherot.

17 And he erected the Ammudim before the Heikhal, one on the right, and the other on the left; and called the shem of that on the right Yachin, and the shem of that on the left Boaz.

Divrey Hayamim Bais 3 Commentary

Chapter 3

The building of the temple.

- There is a more particular account of the building of the ( 1 Kings 6 ) not only which he had purchased, but which he had fixed on by Divine direction. Full instructions enable us to go about our work with certainty and to proceed therein with comfort. Blessed be God, the Scriptures are enough to render the man of God thoroughly furnished for every good work. Let us search the Scriptures daily, beseeching the Lord to enable us to understand, believe, and obey his word, that our work and our way may be made plain, and that all may be begun, continued, and ended in him. Beholding God, in Christ, his true Temple, more glorious than that of Solomon's, may we become a spiritual house, a habitation of God through the Spirit.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 3 & 4

These two chapters give an account of the building of the temple, of the materials, parts, and form of it, and of things belonging to it, and which agrees with 1Ki 6:1-7:51 see the notes there; only here, 1Ch 3:1, mention is made of the particular place where it was built, Mount Moriah; of which see the notes on Ge 22:2, 1Ch 22:1. The dimensions of the house, as the Targum rightly explains, 2Ch 3:3, are said to be after the first measure, either of that of the tabernacle by Moses, or rather of that of the pattern David gave to Solomon, 1Ch 28:11, though some understand it of the greater cubit: the holy place is called the greater house, 2Ch 3:5, being twice as long as the holy of holies; in 2Ch 3:6, we are informed what the precious stones were for, which David and his princes gave for the temple, 1Ch 29:2,8, that they were to decorate the house; and also what sort of gold was used in overlaying it, gold of Parvaim, which some interpret of Peru {h}, in America; but it is a question whether that was then known, or, if it was, must go by another name, since Peru is a late name given by the Spaniards, at their conquest of it. Bochart {i} takes it to be Taprobane, an island in the Indian sea, as if it was Taph Parvan or Provan, the shore of Parvan. Kircher {k} is of opinion it is the same with Javaim, the isles of Java in the same sea, from whence was gold, which is not very likely. Waserus {l} thinks Parvaim is the name of a town which is by Pliny {m} corruptly called Parbacia, which was in the land of Havilah, or the kingdom of the Charazenes, where was the best gold, Ge 2:11,12 though others suppose it to be the same with Ophir, by removing the first letter of the word, to which Pfeiffer {n} inclines, and is as probable as any; and much more probable than what the Jews {o} say, that this gold was so called, because it was red like the blood of "parim", oxen: in 2Ch 3:8, the quantity of gold, with which the most holy place was overlaid, is given, six hundred talents: of which \\see Gill on "1Ki 6:21"\\, In 2Ch 3:9 we read of the nails with which the plates of gold were fastened to the boards, nowhere else mentioned, except in the Vulgate Latin version of 1Ki 6:21, "he fastened the plates with golden nails"; which version perhaps is most correct; the weight of which were fifty shekels of gold; that is, according to the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, each nail weighed so much, which amounted to seventy five pounds of our money {p}. Eupolemus, an Heathen writer {q} speaks of these nails, which he makes to be silver ones; and says they were of the weight of a talent, in the form of a woman's breast, and in number four, with which the plates of gold were fastened, which were of five cubits; I suppose he means there were four of these nails in every plate of five cubits: in 2Ch 4:1 an account is given of an "altar of brass", made by Solomon, we have not elsewhere, only referred to 1Ki 8:64, 9:25 whether this was only covered with brass, as that made by Moses was, as some {r} think; or whether of massy brass, as Dr. Lightfoot {s} because not to be removed as that was, is not certain; the altar of the second temple was of stones unpolished, according to the Misnah {t}, with which agrees

``46 And laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, until there should come a prophet to shew what should be done with them. 47 Then they took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar according to the former;'' (1 Maccabees 4)

and so Philo {u}: "twenty cubits was the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof, and ten cubits the height thereof"; it was four times as big in its square as that of Moses, and three times higher, and a cubit over, \\see Gill on "Ex 27:1"\\. Hecataeus {w}, an Heathen writer, speaks of this altar as four square, and made of whole and unpolished stones, each side of which was twenty cubits, but the height of it he makes to be twelve cubits, in which he mistakes. It weighed, according to Jacob Leon {x} 7000 arobas of brass, each aroba containing twenty five pounds. The rest of the chapter agrees with the account in the book of Kings.

\\See Gill on "1Ki 6:1"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:2"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:3"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:4"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:5"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:6"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:7"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:8"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:9"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:10"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:11"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:12"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:13"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:14"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:15"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:16"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:17"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:18"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:19"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:20"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:21"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:22"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:23"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:24"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:25"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:26"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:27"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:28"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:29"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:30"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:31"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:32"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:33"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:34"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:35"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:36"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:37"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 6:38"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:1"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:2"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:3"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:4"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:5"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:6"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:7"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:8"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:9"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:10"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:11"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:12"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:13"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:14"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:15"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:16"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:17"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:18"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:19"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:20"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:21"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:22"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:23"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:24"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:25"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:26"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:27"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:28"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:29"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:30"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:31"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:32"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:33"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:34"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:35"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:36"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:37"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:38"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:39"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:40"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:41"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:42"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:43"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:44"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:45"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:46"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:47"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:48"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:49"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:50"\\ \\See Gill on "1Ki 7:51"\\

{h} Erasm. Schmid. de America Orat. ad Calc. Pindar. p. 261. Montani Phaleg. in Calc. Jac. Capellus in loc. {i} Phaleg. l. 2. c. 27. & Canaan, l. 1. c. 46. col. 692. Braunius de Vest. Sacred. Heb. p. 221. {k} Prodrom. Copt. c. 4. p. 119. {l} De Antiqu. Num. Heb. l. 1. c. 6. {m} Nat. Hist l. 6. c. 28. {n} Difficil. Script. Sacr. cent. 3. loc. 16. p. 247. {o} T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 45. 1. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 41. 4. Shemot Rabba, sect. 39. fol. 136. 4. {p} Brerewood de Ponder. &c. c. 5. {q} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 34. p. 450. {r} Cunaeus de Rep. Heb. l. 2. c. 5. {s} Prospect of the Temple, ch. 34. p. 2029. So Villalpandus. {t} Middot, c. 3. sect. 4. {u} De Victimis, p. 850. {w} Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 4. p. 408. {x} Relation of Memorable Things in the Temple, ch. 4. p. 20. 19189-950107-1827-2Ch3.2