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Texts -- 1 Kings 6:1-24 (NET)

Context
The Building of the Temple
6:1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left Egypt , in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel , during the month Ziv (the second month ), he began building the Lord’s temple . 6:2 The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long , 30 feet wide , and 45 feet high . 6:3 The porch in front of the main hall of the temple was 30 feet long , corresponding to the width of the temple . It was 15 feet wide , extending out from the front of the temple . 6:4 He made framed windows for the temple . 6:5 He built an extension all around the walls of the temple’s main hall and holy place and constructed side rooms in it. 6:6 The bottom floor of the extension was seven and a half feet wide , the middle floor nine feet wide , and the third floor ten and a half feet wide . He made ledges on the temple’s outer walls so the beams would not have to be inserted into the walls . 6:7 As the temple was being built , only stones shaped at the quarry were used ; the sound of hammers , pickaxes , or any other iron tool was not heard at the temple while it was being built . 6:8 The entrance to the bottom level of side rooms was on the south side of the temple ; stairs went up to the middle floor and then on up to the third floor . 6:9 He finished building the temple and covered it with rafters and boards made of cedar . 6:10 He built an extension all around the temple ; it was seven and a half feet high and it was attached to the temple by cedar beams . 6:11 The Lord said to Solomon : 6:12 “As for this temple you are building , if you follow my rules , observe my regulations , and obey all my commandments , I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David . 6:13 I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel .” 6:14 So Solomon finished building the temple . 6:15 He constructed the walls inside the temple with cedar planks ; he paneled the inside with wood from the floor of the temple to the rafters of the ceiling . He covered the temple floor with boards made from the wood of evergreens . 6:16 He built a wall 30 feet in from the rear of the temple as a partition for an inner sanctuary that would be the most holy place . He paneled the wall with cedar planks from the floor to the rafters . 6:17 The main hall in front of the inner sanctuary was 60 feet long. 6:18 The inside of the temple was all cedar and was adorned with carvings of round ornaments and of flowers in bloom . Everything was cedar ; no stones were visible . 6:19 He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord could be placed there . 6:20 The inner sanctuary was 30 feet long , 30 feet wide , and 30 feet high . He plated it with gold , as well as the cedar altar . 6:21 Solomon plated the inside of the temple with gold . He hung golden chains in front of the inner sanctuary and plated the inner sanctuary with gold . 6:22 He plated the entire inside of the temple with gold , as well as the altar inside the inner sanctuary . 6:23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubs of olive wood ; each stood 15 feet high . 6:24 Each of the first cherub’s wings was seven and a half feet long; its entire wingspan was 15 feet .

Pericope

NET

Bible Dictionary

  • Temple, Solomon's

    [ebd] Before his death David had "with all his might" provided materials in great abundance for the building of the temple on the summit of Mount Moriah (1 Chr. 22:14; 29:4; 2 Chr. 3:1), on the east of the city, on the spot where ...

  • Temple

    [ebd] first used of the tabernacle, which is called "the temple of the Lord" (1 Sam. 1:9). In the New Testament the word is used figuratively of Christ's human body (John 2:19, 21). Believers are called "the temple of God" (1 Cor....
    [smith] There is perhaps no building of the ancient world which has excited so much attention since the time of its destruction as the temple which Solomon built by Herod. Its spoils were considered worthy of forming the principal il...
    [nave] TEMPLE. Solomon's Called also Temple of the Lord, 2 Kin. 11:10; Holy Temple, Psa. 79:1; Holy House, 1 Chr. 29:3; House of God, 1 Chr. 29:2; 2 Chr. 23:9; House of the Lord, 2 Chr. 23:5, 12; Jer. 28:5; Father's House, John 2...

  • TEMPLE, A1

    [isbe] TEMPLE, A1 - tem'-p'l (hekhal, "palace"; sometimes, as in 1 Ki 6:3,5, etc.; Ezek 41:1,15 ff, used for "the holy place" only; bayith, "house," thus always in the Revised Version (British and American); hieron, naos): A. STRUC...

  • Solomon

    [ebd] peaceful, (Heb. Shelomoh), David's second son by Bathsheba, i.e., the first after their legal marriage (2 Sam. 12). He was probably born about B.C. 1035 (1 Chr. 22:5; 29:1). He succeeded his father on the throne in early man...
    [smith] (peaceful). I. Early life and occasion to the throne . --Solomon was the child of David?s old age, the last born of all his sons. (1 Chronicles 3:5) The yearnings of the "man of war" led him to give to the new-horn infant ...
    [nave] SOLOMON Son of David by Bathsheba, 2 Sam. 12:24; 1 Kin. 1:13, 17, 21. Named Jedidiah, by Nathan the prophet, 2 Sam. 12:24, 25. Ancestor of Joseph, Matt. 1:6. Succeeds David to the throne of Israel, 1 Kin. 1:11-48; 2:12; 1...

  • Parlour

    [ebd] (from the Fr. parler, "to speak") denotes an "audience chamber," but that is not the import of the Hebrew word so rendered. It corresponds to what the Turks call a kiosk, as in Judg. 3:20 (the "summer parlour"), or as in the...

  • Oil-tree

    [ebd] (Isa. 41:19; R.V. marg., "oleaster"), Heb. 'etz shemen, rendered "olive tree" in 1 Kings 6:23, 31, 32, 33 (R.V., "olive wood") and "pine branches" in Neh. 8:15 (R.V., "branches of wild olive"), was some tree distinct from th...

  • Micah, Book of

    [ebd] the sixth in order of the so-called minor prophets. The superscription to this book states that the prophet exercised his office in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. If we reckon from the beginning of Jotham's reign ...

  • Liberality

    [nave] LIBERALITY. Ex. 22:29, 30 Ex. 13:2, 12. Ex. 23:15 Ex. 34:20. Ex. 25:1-8; Ex. 35:4-29; Ex. 36:3-6; Ex. 38:8; Lev. 19:5 Lev. 22:29; Num. 35:8. Deut. 12:11, 12, 17-19; Deut. 14:27-29; Deut. 15:7-18; Deut. 16:10, 17; Deut. 18:1...

  • Israel

    [nave] ISRAEL 1. A name given to Jacob, Gen. 32:24-32; 2 Kin. 17:34; Hos. 12:3, 4. 2. A name of the Christ in prophecy, Isa. 49:3. 3. A name given to the descendants of Jacob, a nation. Called also Israelites, and Hebrews, Gen. 4...

  • HOLY PLACE

    [isbe] HOLY PLACE - (ha-qodhesh, Ex 26:33, ha-hekhal, 1 Ki 6:17, etc.; he prote skene, Heb 9:6 f): 1. The Terms: The tabernacle consisted of two divisions to which a graduated scale of holiness is attached: "The veil shall separate...

  • Fir

    [ebd] the uniform rendering in the Authorized Version (marg. R.V., "cypress") of berosh (2 Sam. 6:5; 1 Kings 5:8, 10; 6:15, 34; 9:11, etc.), a lofty tree (Isa. 55:13) growing on Lebanon (37:24). Its wood was used in making musical...

  • Exodus

    [ebd] the great deliverance wrought for the children of Isreal when they were brought out of the land of Egypt with "a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm" (Ex 12:51; Deut. 26:8; Ps 114; 136), about B.C. 1490, and four hundre...

  • Church and State

    [nave] CHURCH AND STATE (Identical in the theocratic period. No particular Scripture can be cited, but the student is directed to the legislative, judicial, and administrative functions of Moses, Joshua, the Judges, and Samuel as s...

  • Chronology

    [ebd] is the arrangement of facts and events in the order of time. The writers of the Bible themselves do not adopt any standard era according to which they date events. Sometimes the years are reckoned, e.g., from the time of the...

  • Censer

    [ebd] the vessel in which incense was presented on "the golden altar" before the Lord in the temple (Ex. 30:1-9). The priest filled the censer with live coal from the sacred fire on the altar of burnt-offering, and having carried ...

  • Carve

    [ebd] The arts of engraving and carving were much practised among the Jews. They were practised in connection with the construction of the tabernacle and the temple (Ex. 31:2, 5; 35:33; 1 Kings 6:18, 35; Ps. 74:6), as well as in t...

  • CHAMBER

    [isbe] CHAMBER - cham'-ber (the translation of the following Hebrew words: chedher, chuppah, yatsia`, yatsua`, lishkah, nishkah, `aliyah, tsela`, and the Aramaic word `illith): For the most part the word chamber is the expression o...

  • CEILING

    [ebd] the covering (1 Kings 7:3,7) of the inside roof and walls of a house with planks of wood (2 Chr. 3:5; Jer. 22:14). Ceilings were sometimes adorned with various ornaments in stucco, gold, silver, gems, and ivory. The ceilings...
    [smith] The descriptions of Scripture, (1 Kings 6:9,15; 7:3; 2 Chronicles 3:5,9; Jeremiah 22:14; Haggai 1:4) and of Josephus, show that the ceilings of the temple and the palaces of the Jewish kings were formed of cedar planks ...

  • CEDAR

    [ebd] (Heb. e'rez, Gr. kedros, Lat. cedrus), a tree very frequently mentioned in Scripture. It was stately (Ezek. 31:3-5), long-branched (Ps. 80:10; 92:12; Ezek. 31:6-9), odoriferous (Cant. 4:11; Hos. 14:6), durable, and therefore...
    [isbe] CEDAR - se'-dar, se'-der ('erez, from Hebrew root meaning "to be firm"; kedros): The 'erez was in almost all the Old Testament references the true cedar, Cedrus libani, but the name may have been applied in a loose way to al...

  • Axe

    [ebd] used in the Authorized Version of Deut. 19:5; 20:19; 1 Kings 6:7, as the translation of a Hebrew word which means "chopping." It was used for felling trees (Isa. 10:34) and hewing timber for building. It is the rendering of ...

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • "The Babel account (11:1-9) is not the end of early Genesis. If it were, the story would conclude on the sad note of human failure. But as with earlier events in Genesis 1-11, God's grace once again supersedes human sin, insu...
  • The major purpose of this section is probably to show how God sustained and blessed Jacob's family in Egypt during the remaining five years of the famine (cf. vv. 12-13). It is also to demonstrate how He partially fulfilled H...
  • 12:37-39 The record of Israel's sojourn in the wilderness really begins here.Rameses is probably the same city as Raamses, also called Avaris (v. 37; cf. 1:11). It was the city from which the Israelites left Egypt, and it lay...
  • As I have explained previously, the date of the Exodus was about 1446 B.C. (cf. 1 Kings 6:1).7Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness (Exod. 16:35; Num. 14:33-34). Thus Israel crossed the Jordan River and entered the land abo...
  • Jephthah did not rush into battle but wisely tried to settle the Ammonites' grievance with Israel peacefully. His approach reveals his humility as well as his wisdom. Most men would have wanted to demonstrate their prowess in...
  • The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
  • The promises Yahweh made to David here are an important key to understanding God's program for the future.God rejected David's suggestion that he build a temple for the Lord and gave three reasons. First, there was no pressin...
  • I. The reign of Solomon chs. 1-11A. Solomon's succession to David's throne 1:1-2:121. David's declining health 1:1-42. Adonijah's attempt to seize the throne 1:5-533. David's charge to Solomon 2:1-94. David's death 2:10-12B. ...
  • The Holy Spirit led the writer of Kings to give an interpretation of history, not just a chronologically sequential record of events. This is true of all the writers of the Old Testament historical books. Some of the events i...
  • The flowing narrative of chapters 1-2 now gives way to reports and lists that catalogue facts about Solomon's reign.The writer constructed the Solomon narrative (chs. 3-11), like so many others in the Old Testament, to draw a...
  • Verse 1 is one of the most important verses in the Old Testament chronologically. The dates of Solomon's reign (971-931 B.C.) are quite certain. They rest on references that other ancient Near Eastern king lists coroborate. S...
  • Evidently this word from the Lord came to Solomon during temple construction. Note that this was a conditional promise based on obedience to the Mosaic Covenant. God would establish Solomon's kingdom forever (i.e., it would r...
  • The altar (vv. 19, 22) refers to the altar of incense (cf. 7:48). This altar evidently stood in the west end of the holy place (cf. Exod. 30:6; 40:5; Lev. 16:2; Heb. 9:4, 7).The cherubim were figures of angels sculptured out ...
  • This Hiram was obviously a different person from the King of Tyre (5:1). God evidently guided him as he fashioned the furnishings (cf. Exod. 31:1-11).80The two pillars on the temple porch were common features that flanked the...
  • The priests probably placed the treasures David had collected in the rooms of the structure that surrounded the temple (6:5-6) for use in Israel's worship as needed. The temple, then, became the treasury (bank) of Israel in t...
  • The writer of Kings referred to other ancient records (v. 41; cf. 14:19, 29). The Acts of Solomon was the first of these.120It is no longer extant.Solomon's long reign of 40 years (971-931 B.C.) ended with the king in decline...
  • Aharoni, Yohanan. "The Building Activities of David and Solomon."Israel Exploration Journal24:1(1974):13-16.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonahl. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed., New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.,...
  • The Chronicler's main interest in David's reign, as we have seen, focused on the Davidic Covenant with its promises to David and his descendants. In recounting the events of Solomon's reign he proceeded to emphasize the templ...
  • The memorandum provided details that the edict did not contain. Among these details were the dimensions of the proposed temple. It was to be twice as high and three times as wide as Solomon's temple (v. 3; cf. 1 Kings 6:2). O...
  • 99:1-3 Because the God who reigns is so great everyone should tremble in reverential fear. In the temple God dwelt between the cherubim (1 Kings 6:23-28; cf. Ps. 80:1). The cherubim were representations of angelic beings that...
  • 35:1 This oracle came to Jeremiah during King Jehoiakim's reign (609-598 B.C.) after the Babylonians had begun to invade Judah (v. 11). Second Kings 24:1-2 reads, "In his [Jehoiakim's] days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came...
  • 1:22 Ezekiel also saw something like a clear expanse (Heb. raqia', firmament, Gen. 1:6; Ps. 19:1; 150:1; Dan. 12:3) of ice (Heb. qerah, crystal) over the heads of these four living creatures. Rather than being empty space thi...
  • It is interesting to compare this temple with the one that Solomon built (1 Kings 6-7). There are similarities but also differences.
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