Chapter III

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 Semites², 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.)