41:16-20 The whole interior of the temple structure, including the side rooms, was paneled with wood.526The wood was carved with alternating cherubs and palm trees. Each cherub had two faces, the face of a man and the face of a lion, one looking left and the other right (cf. 1:5-25; 10:9-17). Cherubim (the Hebrew plural of "cherub") elsewhere in Scripture guarded the holiness of God (cf. Gen. 3:22-24; Exod. 25:18-22; 26:31).
41:21-22 The doorposts between the vestibule and the holy place were square and identical. The altar in the holy place was completely wooden and was three cubits high and two cubits square. It stood before the Lord's presence there. Its function is also obscure, but it may correspond to the altar of incense or the table of showbread in Israel's earlier tabernacle and temples. If so, it has some connection with prayer or remembrance.
41:23-26 The doors leading into the holy place and the most holy place were double doors, hinged with two leaves for each door. These doors were also carved with cherubs and palm trees. The floor of the vestibule of the temple was also covered with wood. The vestibule also had latticed windows and representations of palm trees on its side walls. The temple will be beautiful.
"This building was decorated in a manner befitting its role as the symbolic earthly house of the one who is altogether lovely.'"527
