1 Kings 6:4

4 and he maketh for the house windows of narrow lights.

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 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (Mypqv Mymja) "apertas clausas", Vatablus; "perspectui accommodas, clausas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

1 Kings 6:4 In-Context

2 As to the house that king Solomon hath built for Jehovah, sixty cubits [is] its length, and twenty its breadth, and thirty cubits its height.

3 As to the porch on the front of the temple of the house, twenty cubits [is] its length on the front of the breadth of the house; ten by the cubit [is] its breadth on the front of the house;

4 and he maketh for the house windows of narrow lights.

5 And he buildeth against the wall of the house a couch round about, [even] the walls of the house round about, of the temple and of the oracle, and maketh sides round about.

6 The lowest couch, five by the cubit [is] its breadth; and the middle, six by the cubit [is] its breadth; and the third, seven by the cubit [is] its breadth, for withdrawings he hath put to the house round about, without -- not to lay hold on the walls of the house.