1 Kings 6:7

7 And when the house was builded, it was built of perfect(ly) hewn stones; and hammer, and ax, and all thing made of iron, were not heard in the house, while it was in building (while it was being built).

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 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.)
6 The building of boards, that was under, had five cubits of breadth; and the middle building of boards was of six cubits of breadth; and the third building of boards was having seven cubits of breadth (The bottom story, made out of boards, was five cubits in breadth; and the middle story, also made out of boards, was six cubits in breadth; and the third story, also made out of boards, was seven cubits in breadth). And he put beams in the house by compass withoutforth, (so) that those cleaved not to the walls of the temple.
7 And when the house was builded, it was built of perfect(ly) hewn stones; and hammer, and ax, and all thing made of iron, were not heard in the house, while it was in building (while it was being built).
8 The door of the middle side was in the wall of the right half of the house; and by a vice men went up into the middle solar, and from the middle solar into the third solar. (The door for the bottom story was in the wall for the right side of the House of the Lord; and by a stairway, men went up to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third story.)
9 And Solomon builded the house, and ended it. And Solomon covered the house with couples of cedar, (And Solomon built the House, and finished it. And he braced the House with cedar couplings,)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.