1 Kings 6:7

7 And the house, when it was in building, was built of stones, hewed and made ready: so that there was neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house when it was in building.

1 Kings 6:7 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 6:7

And the house, when it was in building
And all the while it was building:

was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither;
being hewn or squared by the builders and stonesquarers of Solomon and Hiram, ( 1 Kings 5:18 ) ; wherefore the builders had nothing more to do than to lay them in their proper places in the building; it was built with these stones quite up to the ceiling, as Josephus says ^F20; and these so admirably polished, and so artificially joined together, that not the least sign of an axe, or of any working tool, could be discerned in them:

so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, [nor] any tool of iron,
heard in the house while it was in building;
the first of these observations shows, that none are to be laid in the spiritual building of the church, but such as are first hewed and squared by the Spirit, grace, and word of God: or who have an experience of the grace of God, are sound in the faith, and of becoming lives and good conduct; and the other denotes, that such as are therein, whether ministers or members, should do all they do for the edification of the church in a quiet and peaceable manner, without clamour, contention, fights, and tumults.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F20 Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect. 2.

1 Kings 6:7 In-Context

5 And upon the wall of the temple, he built floors round about, in the walls of the house, round about the temple and the oracle, and he made chambers in the sides round about.

6 The floor that was underneath was five cubits in breadth, and the middle floor was six cubits in breadth, and the third floor was seven cubits in breadth. And he put beams in the house round about on the outside, that they might not be fastened in the walls of the temple.

7 And the house, when it was in building, was built of stones, hewed and made ready: so that there was neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house when it was in building.

8 The door, for the middle side, was on the right hand of the house: and by winding stairs they went up to the middle room, and from the middle to the third.

9 So he built the house, and finished it: and he covered the house with roofs of cedar.