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 of olive wood (vv. 23-28). They may have resembled "winged sphinxes."68In addition to the inner courtyard (v. 36), there was also an outer one (2 Chron. 4:9) that was slightly lower in elevation (Jer. 36:10).69
One problem that continues to puzzle scholars is the difference in height between the holy place (30 cubits or 45 feet, v. 2) and the most holy place (20 cubits or 30 feet, v. 20). Was the floor of the most holy place higher, and were there steps up to it from the holy place? Was the ceiling of the most holy place lower than that of the holy place? Was the most holy place a room within the holy place?70We do not know.
Scholars also debate what relationship the row of cedar beams had to the rows of cut stone (v. 36).71The cedar beams may have been cedar coping on top of the stone. They may have been cedar that lined the stone interior of the temple. Possibly cedar beams alternated with rows of stone. All of these are possibilities.
