=1, 2.=
THE TEMPLE BEGUN.
Verse 1 has no parallel in Kings; for verse 2 compare 1 Kings vi. 1.
¹Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem
in mount Moriah, where _the LORD_ appeared unto David his father,
which he made ready¹ in the place that David² had appointed, in
the threshing-floor of Ornan³ the Jebusite.
¹ The Septuagint and Vulgate have, _in the place which David
had prepared, in the threshing-floor &c._
² Hebrew _in the place of David_.
³ In 2 Samuel xxiv. 16, &c., _Araunah_.
=1.= _in mount Moriah_] Genesis xxii. 2.
_which he made ready in the place that David had appointed_] Read
rather, as margin, =in the place which David had prepared= (so LXX.).
_Ornan the Jebusite_] See 1 Chronicles xxi. 15 ff.
²And he began to build in the second _day_ of the second month,
in the fourth year of his reign.
=2.= _in the second_ day] The words are absent from 1 Kings and should
probably be omitted here. The year according to 1 Kings was the four
hundred and eightieth after the Exodus.
=3= (= 1 Kings vi. 2).
THE MEASUREMENTS OF THE TEMPLE.
³Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for¹ the
building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the
first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty
cubits.
¹ Or, _these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed
for &c._
=3.= _these are the foundations_] i.e. the measurements which follow
state the ground-plan of the Temple.
_cubits after the first measure_] The _cubit_ was the length of the
forearm from the elbow to the extremity of the middle finger, about 17½
inches. A difficult verse in Ezekiel (xl. 5) seems to have given rise
to the idea that in early times the cubit was a somewhat longer measure,
and that may be what the Chronicler intended by the present phrase
“cubits after the first (or _former_) measure.” Exact measurements
on the site of the Temple have now demonstrated that about 17½ inches
was at all times the standard length of the cubit (see _Palestine
Exploration Fund Statement_ October, 1915, pp. 186 f.).
=4= (= 1 Kings vi. 3).
THE PORCH.
⁴And the porch that was before _the house_, the length of it,
according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and
the height an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with
pure gold.
=4.= _And the porch that was before_ the house] The Hebrew text is
corrupt, but the sense of the original reading has probably been
correctly guessed by the Revised Version.
_the height an hundred and twenty_] So also LXX. As the Temple was only
30 cubits in height, this building was rather a tower than a porch. In
1 Kings nothing is said about height. Most probably the true reading
was “twenty,” not “an hundred and twenty”; the “hundred” being a
marginal gloss added by someone who was thinking of Herod’s Temple of
which the porch was 100 cubits in height.
=5‒7= (compare 1 Kings vi. 15, 21, 29, 30).
THE TEMPLE.
⁵And the greater house he cieled with fir¹ tree, which he
overlaid with fine gold, and wrought thereon palm trees and
chains.
¹ Or, _cypress_.
=5.= _the greater house_] i.e. the holy place. It was _forty_ cubits
long (1 Kings vi. 17), whereas the shrine was _twenty_ (1 Kings vi. 16,
20).
_he cieled_] i.e. _lined_ or _boarded_. The same Hebrew word is
translated _overlaid_ in this same verse.
_wrought thereon_] perhaps in the form of reliefs.
_palm trees and chains_] The “chains” perhaps connected one palm tree
with another. In 1 Kings vi. 29, “cherubim and palm trees and open
flowers.”
⁶And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and
the gold was gold of Parvaim.
=6.= _precious stones_] Not mentioned in the parallel account, but
according to 1 Kings v. 17 _costly stones_ (the same expression in
Hebrew) were used for the foundations of the house, their _costliness_
being due presumably to their immense size. Here, however, the phrase
“for beauty” suggests that the Chronicler is thinking of rare and
precious stones to be set in the walls――an exaggeration not out of
keeping with the references to “pure gold” in verses 4, 7, etc.
_Parvaim_] Apparently the name of a place, but nothing certain is known
about it.
⁷He overlaid also the house, the beams, the thresholds, and the
walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved
cherubim on the walls.
=7.= _cherubim_] The _cherubim_ (plural of _cherub_) were the Hebrew
adaptation of the winged bulls which are so striking a figure in
Babylonian and Assyrian art. Nothing, however, can be ascertained as
to the exact form in which they were depicted in the Temple. In the Old
Testament they appear as guardians of sacred things (Genesis iii. 24;
Ezekiel xxviii.) and as sustainers of the Deity (e.g. Psalms lxxx. 1
“Thou that sittest upon the cherubim”; compare Psalms xviii. 10). The
figures were therefore emblematic of the presence of Jehovah.
The graving of the cherubim was not felt to be a breach of the Second
Commandment, for they were not put up to “bow down to” or to “serve.”
=8, 9= (compare 1 Kings vi. 16‒20).
THE HOLY OF HOLIES.
⁸And he made the most holy house; the length thereof, according
to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the breadth
thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold,
amounting to six hundred talents. ⁹And the weight of the nails
was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers
with gold.
=8.= _the most holy house_] Called _the oracle_ in 1 Kings vi. 16, 19,
etc., Hebrew _dĕbīr_, which means rather the _hinder part_. The Lord
“dwells” in the inmost recess of the house.
_amounting to six hundred talents_] This detail is not found elsewhere.
The weight of gold would be over 64,000 lbs., or, on a less probable
reckoning, 27,000 lbs.; incredible quantities in either case, but in
keeping with the vast amounts stated in 1 Chronicles xxix. 4.
=10‒13= (compare 1 Kings vi. 23‒28).
THE CHERUBIM.
¹⁰And in the most holy house he made two cherubim of image
work; and they overlaid them with gold. ¹¹And the wings of the
cherubim were twenty cubits long: the wing of the one _cherub_
was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the
other wing was _likewise_ five cubits, reaching to the wing of
the other cherub. ¹²And the wing of the other cherub was five
cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing
was five cubits _also_, joining to the wing of the other cherub.
=10.= _of image work; and they overlaid_] The phrase “of image work”
is meaningless. Following the LXX. ἔρηον ἐκ ξύλων καὶ ἐχρύσωσεν, render
=woodwork, and he overlaid=.
¹³The wings of these cherubim spread themselves forth twenty
cubits: and they stood on their feet, and their faces were
toward the house¹.
¹ Or, _inward_.
=13.= _twenty cubits_] Extending across the width of the whole house.
_on their feet_] Not “couchant” nor “rampant” but standing, as the
winged bulls of Assyria stand.
_toward the house_] as though to protect the Holiest Place from
violation by anyone advancing through the house.
=14= (compare Exodus xxvi. 31, 32).
THE VEIL.
¹⁴And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and
fine linen, and wrought cherubim thereon.
No _veil_ for Solomon’s Temple is mentioned in 1 Kings, but (1 Kings vi.
31, 32) _doors_ of olive wood with cherubim carved upon them stood at
the entrance of the Holy of Holies. The description of the veil seems
to have been borrowed by the Chronicler from the account of the
tabernacle given in Exodus.
=15‒17= (compare 1 Kings vii. 15‒22).
THE PILLARS JACHIN AND BOAZ.
¹⁵Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five
cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of
them was five cubits.
=15.= _before the house two pillars_] Compare 1 Kings vii. 21, _he
set up the pillars at the porch of the temple_, and Jeremiah lii. 17
(translate, _the pillars ... that belonged to the house_). These
pillars were immediately in front of the porch, but (it seems) detached
from it. They were cast in brass (iv. 11‒17), were hollow (Jeremiah lii.
21), and were crowned with “chapiters” (capitals) in shape like bowls
(1 Kings vii. 41). A pair of lofty frontal pillars, detached from the
main building, was a not uncommon feature of temples in Western Asia
and Egypt――e.g. at the Temple of Hercules (Melkart) at Tyre (Herodotus
II. 44), the Temple of Paphos in Cyprus (see W. R. Smith, _Religion of
the Semites_², p. 488), at Karnak in Egypt (compare Perrot and Chipiez,
_Egyptian Art_, II. 170). In Solomon’s Temple these twin columns may
have been conventional imitations of the prevailing type of temple
building, but it is rather to be supposed that there also they were
considered to be symbolic of the presence of God, and were developments
of the ancient stone pillars (_maṣṣeboth_) which were a constant
feature at Semitic shrines and had originally been regarded as the
abode of the Deity.
_thirty and five cubits high_] 35 is also given in the LXX. of Jeremiah
lii. 21; but is almost certainly an error. Read _eighteen_, as in 1
Kings vii. 15; Jeremiah lii. 21 (Hebrew).
¹⁶And he made chains in the oracle, and put _them_ on the tops
of the pillars; and he made an hundred pomegranates, and put
them on the chains.
=16.= _he made chains in the oracle_] The words, _in the oracle_,
though found in LXX., are a gloss introduced from 1 Kings vi. 21
(_chains ... before the oracle_), or, more probably, a corruption of
a word meaning “like a necklace.” The Chronicler is here speaking of
the _outside_ of the Temple, having already described the “oracle,”
i.e. the Holy of Holies, in verses 8‒14. The Hebrew word _dĕbīr_ was
translated “oracle” because it was supposed to be derived from a word
meaning “to speak.” It means, however, simply “the hindermost part” of
the house (compare iv. 20, v. 7, 9).
¹⁷And he set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right
hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on
the right hand Jachin¹, and the name of that on the left Boaz².
¹ That is, _He shall establish_.
² That is, perhaps, _In it is strength_.
=17.= _Jachin ... Boaz_] Margin translates the two words; _Jachin_
“He shall establish,” _Boaz_ perhaps “In it is strength.” LXX. gives
Κατόρθωσις “setting up”) and Ἰσχύς (“strength”). The meaning of _Boaz_
is uncertain. It may be only a pious correction of an original _Baal_.
(For the avoidance of the word _Baal_, see the notes on xvii. 3,
1 Chronicles viii. 33; and for further comments on “Jachin” and
“Boaz” see _Encyclopedia Biblia_ II. 2. 304, and Barnes in _Journal
of Theological Studies_, v. 447 ff.)