2 Chronicles 3 commentary

There is a more particular account of the building of the temple in 1Ki 6. It must be in the place David had prepared, not only which he had purchased, but which he had fixed on by Divine direction. Full instructions enable us to go about our work with certainty and to proceed therein with comfort. Blessed be God, the Scriptures are enough to render the man of God thoroughly furnished for every good work. Let us search the Scriptures daily, beseeching the Lord to enable us to understand, believe, and obey his word, that our work and our way may be made plain, and that all may be begun, continued, and ended in him. Beholding God, in Christ, his true Temple, more glorious than that of Solomon's, may we become a spiritual house, a habitation of God through the Spirit.

CHAPTER 3

2Ch 3:1, 2. Place and Time of Building the Temple.

1. Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David--These words seem to intimate that the region where the temple was built was previously known by the name of Moriah (Ge 22:2), and do not afford sufficient evidence for affirming, as has been done [Stanley], that the name was first given to the mount, in consequence of the vision seen by David. Mount Moriah was one summit of a range of hills which went under the general name of Zion. The platform of the temple is now, and has long been, occupied by the haram, or sacred enclosure, within which stand the three mosques of Omar (the smallest), of El Aksa, which in early times was a Christian church, and of Kubbet el Sakhara, "The dome of the rock," so called from a huge block of limestone rock in the center of the floor, which, it is supposed, formed the elevated threshing-floor of Araunah, and on which the great brazen altar stood. The site of the temple, then, is so far established for an almost universal belief is entertained in the authenticity of the tradition regarding the rock El Sakhara; and it has also been conclusively proved that the area of the temple was identical on its western, eastern, and southern sides with the present enclosure of the haram [Robinson]. "That the temple was situated somewhere within the oblong enclosure on Mount Moriah, all topographers are agreed, although there is not the slightest vestige of the sacred fane now remaining; and the greatest diversity of sentiment prevails as to its exact position within that large area, whether in the center of the haram, or in its southwest corner" [Barclay]. Moreover, the full extent of the temple area is a problem that remains to be solved, for the platform of Mount Moriah being too narrow for the extensive buildings and courts attached to the sacred edifice, Solomon resorted to artificial means of enlarging and levelling it, by erecting vaults, which, as Josephus states, rested on immense earthen mounds raised from the slope of the hill. It should be borne in mind at the outset that the grandeur of the temple did not consist in its colossal structure so much as in its internal splendor, and the vast courts and buildings attached to it. It was not intended for the reception of a worshipping assembly, for the people always stood in the outer courts of the sanctuary.

2Ch 3:3-7. Measures and Ornaments of the House.

3. these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God--by the written plan and specifications given him by his father. The measurements are reckoned by cubits, "after the first measure," that is, the old Mosaic standard. But there is great difference of opinion about this, some making the cubit eighteen, others twenty-one inches. The temple, which embodied in more solid and durable materials the ground-form of the tabernacle (only being twice as large), was a rectangular building, seventy cubits long from east to west, and twenty cubits wide from north to south.

4. the porch--The breadth of the house, whose length ran from east to west, is here given as the measure of the length of the piazza. The portico would thus be from thirty to thirty-five feet long, and from fifteen to seventeen and a half feet broad.

the height was an hundred and twenty cubits--This, taking the cubit at eighteen inches, would be one hundred eighty feet; at twenty-one inches, two hundred ten feet; so that the porch would rise in the form of a tower, or two pyramidal towers, whose united height was one hundred twenty cubits, and each of them about ninety or one hundred five feet high [Stieglitz]. This porch would thus be like the propylæum or gateway of the palace of Khorsabad [Layard], or at the temple of Edfou.

5. the greater house--that is, the holy places, the front or outer chamber (see 1Ki 6:17).

6. he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty--better, he paved the house with precious and beautiful marble [Kitto]. It may be, after all, that these were stones with veins of different colors for decorating the walls. This was an ancient and thoroughly Oriental kind of embellishment. There was an under pavement of marble, which was covered with planks of fir. The whole interior was lined with boards, richly decorated with carved work, clusters of foliage and flowers, among which the pomegranate and lotus (or water-lily) were conspicuous; and overlaid, excepting the floor, with gold, either by gilding or in plates (1Ki 6:1-38).

2Ch 3:8-13. Dimensions, &C., OF THE Most Holy House.

8. the most holy house--It was a perfect cube (compare 1Ki 6:20).

overlaid it with ... gold, amounting to six hundred talents--at £4 per ounce, equal to £3,600,000.

10-13. two cherubims--These figures in the tabernacle were of pure gold (Ex 25:1-40) and overshadowed the mercy seat. The two placed in the temple were made of olive wood, overlaid with gold. They were of colossal size, like the Assyrian sculptures; for each, with expanded wings, covered a space of ten cubits in height and length--two wings touched each other, while the other two reached the opposite walls; their faces were inward, that is, towards the most holy house, conformably to their use, which was to veil the ark.

2Ch 3:14-17. Veil and Pillars (see 1Ki 6:21).

The united height is here given; and though the exact dimensions would be thirty-six cubits, each column was only seventeen cubits and a half, a half cubit being taken up by the capital or the base. They were probably described as they were lying together in the mould before they were set up [Poole]. They would be from eighteen to twenty-one feet in circumference, and stand forty feet in height. These pillars, or obelisks, as some call them, were highly ornamented, and formed an entrance in keeping with the splendid interior of the temple.

In Mount Moriah - Supposed to be the same place where Abraham was about to offer his son Isaac; so the Targum: "Solomon began to build the house of the sanctuary of the Lord at Jerusalem, in the place where Abraham had prayed and worshipped in the name of the Lord. This is the place of the earth where all generations shall worship the Lord. Here Abraham was about to offer his son Isaac for a burnt-offering; but he was snatched away by the Word of the Lord, and a ram placed in his stead. Here Jacob prayed when he fled from the face of Esau his brother; and here the angel of the Lord appeared to David, at which time David built an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor which he bought from Araunah the Jebusite."

The length - after the first measure was threescore cubits - It is supposed that the first measure means the cubit used in the time of Moses, contradistinguished from that used in Babylon, and which the Israelites used after their return from captivity; and, as the books of Chronicles were written after the captivity, it was necessary for the writer to make this remark, lest it should be thought that the measurement was by the Babylonish cubit, which was a palm or one-sixth shorter than the cubit of Moses. See the same distinction observed by Ezekiel, Eze 40:5 (note); Eze 43:13 (note).

The height was a hundred and twenty - Some think this should be twenty only; but if the same building is spoken of as in 1Kgs 6:2, the height was only thirty cubits. Twenty is the reading of the Syriac, the Arabic, and the Septuagint in the Codex Alexandrinus. The MSS. give us no help. There is probably a mistake here, which, from the similarity of the letters, might easily occur. The words, as they now stand in the Hebrew text, are מאה ואשרים meah veesrim, one hundred and twenty. But probably the letters in מאה meah, a hundred, are transposed for אמה ammah, a cubit, if, therefore, the א aleph be placed after the מ mem, then the word will be מאה meah one hundred; if before it the word will be אמה ammah, a cubit; therefore אמה עשרים ammah esrim will be twenty cubits; and thus the Syriac, Arabic, and Septuagint appear to have read. This will bring it within the proportion of the other measures, but a hundred and twenty seems too great a height.

Gold of Parvaim - We know not what this place was; some think it is the same as Sepharvaim, a place in Armenia or Media, conquered by the king of Assyria, 2Kgs 17:24, etc. Others, that it is Taprobane, now the island of Ceylon, which Bochart derives from taph, signifying the border, and Parvan, i.e., the coast of Parvan. The rabbins say that it was gold of a blood-red color, and had its name from פרים parim, heifers, being like to bullocks' blood.

The Vulgate translates the passage thus: Stravit quoque pavimentum templi pretiosissimo marmore, decore multo; porro aurum erat probatissimum; "And he made the pavement of the temple of the most precious marble; and moreover the gold was of the best quality," etc.

The weight of the nails was fifty shekels - Bolts must be here intended, as it should be preposterous to suppose nails of nearly two pounds' weight.

The supper chambers - Probably the ceiling is meant.

He reared up the pillars - "The name of that on the right hand was Jachin, because the kingdom of the house of David was established; and the name of the left was Boaz, from the name of Boaz the patriarch of the family of Judah, from whom all the kings of the house of Judah have descended." - Targum. See on 1Kgs 7:21 (note); and see the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter.

Moriah - It was the belief of the ancient Jews, that the temple was built on that very place, where Abraham offered up Issac.

Instructed - By David, and by the Spirit of God. The measure - According to he measure which was first fixed.

The height - This being a kind of turret to the building.

Greater house - The holy place, which was thrice as large as the holy of holies.

Nails - Each of the nails, screws, or pins, by which the golden plates were fastened to the walls, weighed, or rather was worth, fifty shekels, workmanship and all. Upper chambers - Rather, the roof.

Image work - Or, of moveable work, not fixed to the mercy - seat, as the Mosaical cherubim, but in a moving posture. It seems, they were designed to represent the angels, who attend the Divine Majesty.

Inward - Heb. towards the house, that is, the most holy house.

The veil - The inner veil before the most holy place. This denoted the darkness of that dispensation and the distance at which the worshippers were kept. But at the death of Christ this veil was rent; for thro' him we are brought nigh, and have boldness, or liberty, not only to look, but to enter into the holiest.

Jachin - That is, He shall establish. Boaz - That is, In it is strength.

1 THen Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Which Place the Lord had Consecrated by his gracious Appearance there, 1 Chron. 21. 26. Or, which was shewed unto David, to wit, to be the Place where the Temple should be built; which God pointed out to him partly by his Appearance, and principally by his Spirit suggesting this to David at that time.

By pulling down the Buildings which were upon it or near it, by levelling the Ground, and possibly by marking it out for the Temple and Courts, the Dimensions whereof he very particularly and exactly understood by the Spirit of God.

i. e. In the place where that Threshing-floor formerly stood.

Marginal references: 1 Kin. 1, &c.; Or, [illegible: 1 word] was [illegible: 1 word] if David [illegible: 1 word].; 1 Chr. [illegible: 1+ letters]1. [illegible: 1 word]. & 22. 1.; Or, [illegible: 1 word], 2 Sam. 24. 25.

2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month , in the fourth year of his reign.

Of this Verse and the rest of this Chapter see my Notes on 1 King. 6.

3 Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

Partly by his Father David; and partly by the Spirit of God which inspired and guided him in the whole Work. Or, these were Solomons Foundations, the Hebrew verb being put for the noun, as it is elsewhere. The Sence is, These were the Measures of the Foundations, upon which he intended to build the Temple.

i. e. According to the Measure of the first and ancient Cubit. By which it is evident that there were Cubits of different sorts and sizes; which also appears from Ezek. 40. 5. and 43. 13. But how big those Cubits were, and how much larger than the common Cubits, and whether this was the Cubit used by Moses in the building of the Tabernacle, which seems most probable, or some other and yet larger Cubit, is not agreed among Learned Men, and cannot now be exactly known, nor is it of any great moment for us to know.

Marginal references: 1 Kin. 6. 2.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

4 And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was an hundred and twenty : and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

This being a kind of Turret to the Building. The breadth of it here omitted is expressed to be ten Cubits, 1 King. 6. 3.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span].

5 And the greater house he ceiled with fir-tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm-trees and chains.

i. e. The Holy Place, which was thrice as large as the lesser house or the Holy of Holies, which is called the most Holy House, v. 8. See the notes on 1 Chron. 28. 11.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span].

6 And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim .

See the Notes on 1 King. 9. 26, &c.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span].; [illegible: 1 span].

9 And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold: and he overlayed the upper chambers with gold.

i. e. Of each of the Nails or Heads of those Nails whereby the Pla[illegible: 1+ letters]es were fastned to the Boards.

Of which see on 1 Chro. 28. 11.

10 And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image-work , and overlaid them with gold.

Made in the shape of Young Men or Boyes, as they commonly are. Or, of moveable work, so called because they were not fixed to the Mercy-seat, as the Mosaical Cherubims were, but stood upon their Feet, as it is said here v. 13. in a moving posture.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span] ▪

13 The wings of these cherubims spread themselves forth twenty cubits: and they stood on their feet, and their faces were inward n.

Heb. Towards the House, or rather, that House, not the Holy House, as divers understand it; for then their backs must have been turned towards the Ark, which was indecent and directly contrary to the posture of Moses his Cherubims which looked towards it, but the Most Holy House, which was last named, v. 8. and of which he continues yet to speak; this Posture being most agreeable to their Use, which was with their Wings to close in the Ark and cover it, as it is expresly affirmed below, ch. 5. 8.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span].

14 And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.

To wit, the Inner Vail before the Most Holy Place, by comparing this with Exod. 26. 31. 1 King. 6. 21.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span].; [illegible: 1 span] ▪

15 Also 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.

i. e. Before the Holy House, or before the Temple, as this is explained, v. 17. lest it should be understood of the Most Holy House, of which he had spoken before.

To wit, both of them: of which see the Notes on 1 King. 7. 15.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1+ letters]. 15▪ 21; [illegible: 1 span].

16 And he made chains, as in the oracle , and put them on the heads of the pillars, and made an hundred pomegranats , and put them on the chains.

As he had done, or like unto those which he made, in the Oracle; of which see 1 King. 6. 21. The particle, as, is oft understood, as Gen. 49. 9. Deut. 33. 22, &c.

In each Row; or 200 in all, as it is said 1 King. 7. 20.

The Building of the Temple - 2 Chronicles 3-5:1 (Cf. 1 Kings 6; 7:13-51.)

The description of the building begins with a statement of the place where and of the time when the temple was built (2Ch 3:1-2). Then follows an account of the proportions of the building, a description of the individual parts, commencing on the outside and advancing inwards. First we have the porch (2Ch 3:3, 2Ch 3:4), then the house, i.e., the interior apartment or the holy place (2Ch 3:5-7), then the holiest of all, and cherubim therein (2Ch 3:8-13), and the veil of partition between the holy place and the most holy (2Ch 3:14). After that we have the furniture of the court, the pillars of the porch (2Ch 3:15-17), the brazen altar (2Ch 4:1), the brazen sea (2Ch 4:2-5), the ten lavers (2Ch 4:6), the furniture of the holy place, candlesticks and tables (2Ch 4:7, 2Ch 4:8), and of the two courts (2Ch 4:9, 2Ch 4:10), and finally a summary enumeration of the brazen and golden utensils of the temple (2Ch 4:11, 2Ch 4:12). The description in 1 Kings 6 and 7 is differently arranged; the divine promise which Solomon received while the building was in progress, and a description of the building of the palace, being inserted: see on 1 Kings 6 and 7.

2Ch 3:1-2 The building of the temple. - 2Ch 3:1-3. The statements as to the place where the temple was built (2Ch 3:1) are found here only. Mount Moriah is manifestly the mountain in the land of Moriah where Abraham was to have sacrificed his son Isaac (Gen 22:2), which had received the name המּוריּה, i.e., “the appearance of Jahve,” from that event. It is the mountain which lies to the north-east of Zion, now called Haram after the most sacred mosque of the Mohammedans, which is built there; cf. Rosen, das Haram von Jerusalem, Gotha 1866. לד נראה אשׁר is usually translated: “which was pointed out to David his father.” But ראה has not in Niphal the signification “to be pointed out,” which is peculiar to the Hophal (cf. Exo 25:40; Exo 26:30; Deu 4:35, etc.); it means only “to be seen,” “to let oneself be seen,” to appear, especially used of appearances of God. It cannot be shown to be anywhere used of a place which lets itself be seen, or appears to one. We must therefore translate: “on mount Moriah, where He had appeared to David his father.” The unexpressed subject יהוה is easily supplied from the context; and with אשׁר בּהר, “on the mountain where,” cf. אשׁר בּמּקום, Gen 35:13., and Ew. §331, c, 3. הכין אשׁר is separated from what precedes, and connected with what follows, by the Athnach under אביהוּ, and is translated, after the lxx, Vulg., and Syr., as a hyperbaton thus: “in the place where David had prepared,” scil. the building of the temple by the laying up of the materials there (1Ch 22:5; 1Ch 29:2). But there are no proper analogies to such a hyperbaton, since Jer 14:1 and Jer 46:1 are differently constituted. Berth. therefore is of opinion that our text can only signify, “which temple he prepared on the place of David,” and that this reading cannot be the original, because הכין occurs elsewhere only of David’s activity in preparing for the building of the temple, and “place of David” cannot, without further ceremony, mean the place which David had chosen. He would therefore transpose the words thus: דויד הכין אשׁר בּמקום. But this conjecture is by no means certain. In the first place, the mere transposition of the words is not sufficient; we must also alter בּמקום into בּמּקום, to get the required sense; and, further, Bertheau’s reasons are not conclusive. הכין means not merely to make ready for (zurüsten), to prepare, but also to make ready, make (bereiten), found e.g., 1Ki 6:19; Ezr 3:3; and the frequent use of this word in reference to David’s action in preparing for the building of the temple does not prove that it has this signification here also. The clause may be quite well translated, with J. J. Rambach: “quam domum praeparavit (Salomo) in loco Davidis.” The expression “David’s place,” for “place which David had fixed upon,” cannot in this connection be misunderstood, but yet it cannot be denied that the clause is stiff and constrained if we refer it to יהוה את־בּית. We would therefore prefer to give up the Masoretic punctuation, and construe the words otherwise, connecting הכין אשׁר with the preceding thus: where Jahve had appeared to his father David, who had prepared (the house, i.e., the building of it), and make בּמקום ד, with the following designation of the place, to depend upon לבנות as a further explanation of the הם בּהר, viz., in the place of David, i.e., on the place fixed by David on the threshing-floor of the Jebusite Ornan; cf. 1Ch 21:18. - In 2Ch 3:2 לבנות ויּחל is repeated in order to fix the time of the building. In 1Ki 6:1 the time is fixed by its relation to the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. בּשּׁני, which the older commentators always understood of the second day of the month, is strange. Elsewhere the day of the month is always designated by the cardinal number with the addition of לחרשׁ or יום, the month having been previously given. Berth. therefore considers בּשּׁני to be a gloss which has come into the text by a repetition of השּׁני, since the lxx and Vulg. have not expressed it.

2Ch 3:3 “And this is Solomon’s founding, to build the house of God;” i.e., this is the foundation which Solomon laid for the building of the house of God. The infin. Hoph. הוּסד is used here and in Ezr 3:11 substantively. The measurements only of the length and breadth of the building are given; the height, which is stated in 1Ki 6:2, is omitted here. The former, i.e., the ancient measurement, is the Mosaic or sacred cubit, which, according to Eze 40:5 and Eze 43:13, was a handbreadth longer than the civil cubit of the earlier time; see on 1Ki 6:2.

2Ch 3:4-7 The porch and the interior of the holy place. - 2Ch 3:4. The porch which was before (i.e., in front of) the length (of the house), was twenty cubits before the breadth of the house, i.e., was as broad as the house. So understood, the words give an intelligible sense. הארך with the article refers back to הארך in 2Ch 3:3 (the length of the house), and על־פּני in the two defining clauses means “in front;” but in the first clause it is “lying in front of the house,” i.e., built in front; in the second it is “measured across the front of the breadth of the house.”There is consequently no need to alter the text according to 1Ki 6:3, from which passage Berth. would interpolate the words פּניו על רחבּו בּאמּה ר עשׂר הבּית between על־פּני and הארך, and thereby get the signification: “and the porch which is before the house, ten cubits is its breadth before the same, and the length which is before the breadth twenty cubits.” But this conjecture is neither necessary nor probable. It is not necessary, for (1) the present text gives an intelligible sense; (2) the assertion that the length and breadth of the porch must be stated cannot be justified, if for no other reason, for this, that even of the main buildings all three dimensions are not given, only two being stated, and that it was not the purpose of the author of the Chronicle to give an architecturally complete statement, his main anxiety being to supply a general idea of the splendour of the temple. It is not probable; because the chronicler, if he had followed 1Ki 6:3, would not have written על־פּניו, but הבּית על־פּני, and instead of הארך would have written וערכּי, to correspond with רחבּו.

There is certainly either a corruption of the text, or a wrong number in the statement of the height of the porch, 120 cubits; for a front 120 cubits high to a house only thirty cubits high could not be called אוּלם; it would have been a מגדּל, a tower. It cannot with certainty be determined whether we should read twenty or thirty cubits; see in 1Ki 6:3. He overlaid it (the porch) with pure gold; cf. 1Ki 6:21.

2Ch 3:8-9 The most holy place, with the figures of the cherubim and the veil; cf. 1Ki 6:19-28. - The length of the most holy place in front of the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, consequently measured in the same way as the porch (2Ch 3:4); the breadth, i.e., the depth of it, also twenty cubits. The height, which was the same (1Ki 6:20), is not stated; but instead of that we have the weight of the gold which was used for the gilding, which is omitted in 1 Kings 6, viz., 600 talents for the overlaying of the walls, and 50 shekels for the nails to fasten the sheet gold on the wainscotting. He covered the upper chambers of the most holy place also with gold; see 1Ch 28:11. This is not noticed in 1 Kings 6.

2Ch 3:10-13

The figures of the cherubim are called צעצעים מעשׂה, sculpture work. The ἁπ. λεγ.. צעצעים comes from צוּע, Arab. ṣâǵ, formavit, finxit, and signifies sculptures. The plur. יצפּוּ, “they overlaid them,” is indefinite. The length of the wings was five cubits, and the four outspread wings extended across the whole width of the most holy place from one wall to the other. The repetition of the clauses האהר הכּרוּב...האהד כּנף (2Ch 3:11, 2Ch 3:12) has a distributive force: the top of one wing of each cherub reached the wall of the house, that of the other wing reached the wing of the other cherub standing by. In the repetition the masc. מגּיע alternates with the fem. מגּעת, being construed in a freer way as the principal gender with the fem. כּנף, and also with דּבקה, adhaerebat, in the last clause. - In 2Ch 3:12 Bertheau would strike out the word כּנפי because it does not suit פּרשׂים, which occurs in 1Ch 28:17; 2Ch 5:8; 1Ki 8:7, in the transitive signification, “to stretch out the wings.” But nothing is gained by that, for we must then supply the erased word after פּרשׂים again. And, moreover, the succeeding clause is introduced by והם, just because in the first clause the wings, and not the cherubim, were the subject. We hold the text to be correct, and translate: “the wings of these cherubim were, for they stretched them out, twenty cubits.” והם refers to הכּרוּבים. They stood upon their feet, consequently upright, and were, according to 1Ki 6:26, ten cubits high. “And their faces towards the house,” i.e., turned towards the holy place, not having their faces turned towards each other, as was the case with the cherubim upon the Capporeth (Exo 25:20).

2Ch 3:14

The veil between the holy place and the most holy, not mentioned in 1Ki 6:21, was made of the same materials and colours as the veil on the tabernacle, and was inwoven with similar cherub figures; cf. Exo 26:31. וּבוּץ כּרמיל as in 2Ch 2:13.   עלה על, to bring upon; an indefinite expression for: to weave into the material.

2Ch 3:15 The two brazen pillars before the house, i.e., before the porch, whose form is more accurately described in 1Ki 7:15-22. The height of it is here given at thirty-five cubits, while, according to 1Ki 7:15; 2Ki 25:17; Jer 52:21, it was only eighteen cubits. The number thirty-five has arisen by confounding יח = 18 with לה = 35; see on 1Ki 7:16. הצּפת (ἁπ. λεγ.) from צפה, overlay, cover, is the hood of the pillar, i.e., the capital, called in 1Ki 7:16. כּתרת, crown, capital, five cubits high, as in 1Ki 7:16.

2Ch 3:16 “And he made little chains on the collar (Halsreife), and put it on the top of the pillars, and made 100 pomegranates, and put them on the chains.” In the first clause of this verse, בּדּביר, “in (on) the most holy place,” has no meaning, for the most holy place is not here being discussed, but the pillars before the porch, or rather an ornament on the capital of these pillars. We must not therefore think of chains in the most holy place, which extended thence out to the pillars, as the Syriac and Arabic seem to have done, paraphrasing as they do: chains of fifty cubits (i.e., the length of the holy place and the porch). According to 1Ki 7:17-20 and 1Ki 7:41., compared with 2Ch 4:12-13, each capital consisted of two parts. The lower part was a circumvolution (Wulst) covered with chain-like net-work, one cubit high, with a setting of carved pomegranates one row above and one row below. The upper part, or that which formed the crown of the capital, was four cubits high, and carved in the form of an open lily-calyx. In our verse it is the lower part of the capital, the circumvolution, with the chain net-work and the pomegranates, which is spoken of. From this, Bertheau concludes that דּביר must signify the same as the more usual שׂבכה, viz., “the lattice-work which was set about the top of the pillars, and served to fasten the pomegranates,” and that bdbyr has arisen out of בּרביד by a transposition of the letters. בּרביד (chains) should be read here. This conjecture so decidedly commends itself, that we regard it as certainly correct, since רביד denotes in Gen 41:42; Eze 16:11, a necklace, and so may easily denote also a ring or hoop; but we cannot adopt the translation “chains on a ring,” nor the idea that the שׂבכה, since it surrounded the head of the pillars as a girdle or broad ring, is called the ring of the pillars. For this idea does not agree with the translation “chains in a ring,” even when they are conceived of as “chain-like ornaments, which could scarcely otherwise be made visible on the ring than by open work.” Then the chain-like decorations were not, as Bertheau thinks, on the upper and under border of the ring, but formed a net-work which surrounded the lower part of the capital of the pillar like a ring, as though a necklace had been drawn round it. רביד consequently is not the same as שׂבכה, but rather corresponds to that part of the capital which is called גּלּה (גּלּות) in 1Ki 7:14; for the שׂבכות served to cover the גּלּות, and were consequently placed on or over the גּלּות, as the pomegranates were on the chains or woven work. הגּלּה denotes the curve, the circumvolution, which is in 1Ki 7:20 called הבּטן, a broad-arched band, bulging towards the middle, which formed the lower part of the capital. This arched part of the capital the author of the Chronicle calls רביד, ring or collar, because it may be regarded as the neck ornament of the head of the pillar, in contrast to the upper part of the capital, that consisted in lily-work, i.e., the ball wrought into the form of an open lily-calyx (כּתרת( xylac-).

2Ch 3:17

As to the position of the pillars, and their names, see on 1Ki 7:21.

The Temple Built. (b. c. 1012.)

1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. 3 Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. 4 And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was a hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold. 5 And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains. 6 And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim. 7 He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls. 8 And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. 9 And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

Here is, I. The place where the temple was built. Solomon was neither at liberty to choose nor at a loss to fix the place. It was before determined (1 Chron. xxii. 1), which was an ease to his mind. 1. It must be at Jerusalem; for that was the place where God had chosen to put his name there. The royal city must be the holy city. There must be the testimony of Israel; for there are set the thrones of judgment, Ps. cxxii. 4, 5. 2. It must be on Mount Moriah, which, some think, was that very place in the land of Moriah where Abraham offered Isaac, Gen. xxii. 2. So the Targum says expressly, adding, But he was delivered by the word of the Lord, and a ram provided in his place. That was typical of Christ's sacrifice of himself; therefore fitly was the temple, which was likewise a type of him, built there. 3. It must be where the Lord appeared to David, and answered him by fire, 1 Chron. xxi. 18, 26. There atonement was made once; and therefore, in remembrance of that, there atonement must still be made. Where God has met with me it is to be hoped that he will still manifest himself. 4. It must be in the place which David has prepared, not only which he had purchased with his money, but which he had pitched upon divine direction. It was Solomon's wisdom not to enquire out a more convenient place, but to acquiesce in the appointment of God, whatever might be objected against it. 5. It must be in the threshold floor of Ornan, which, if (as a Jebusite) it gives encouragement to the Gentiles, obliges us to look upon temple-work as that which requires the labour of the mind, no less than threshing-work does that of the body.

II. The time when it was begun; not till the fourth year of Solomon's reign, v. 2. Not that the first three years were trifled away, or spent in deliberating whether they should build the temple or no; but they were employed in the necessary preparations for it, wherein three years would be soon gone, considering how many hands were to be got together and set to work. Some conjecture that this was a sabbatical year, or year of release and rest to the land, when the people, being discharged from their husbandry, might more easily lend a hand to the beginning of this work; and then the year in which it was finished would fall out to be another sabbatical year, when they would likewise have leisure to attend the solemnity of the dedication of it.

III. The dimensions of it, in which Solomon was instructed (v. 3), as he was in other things, by his father. This was the foundation (so it may be read) which Solomon laid for the building of the house. This was the rule he went by, so many cubits the length and breadth, after the first measure, that is, according to the measure first fixed, which there was no reason to make any alteration of when the work came to be done; for the dimensions were given by divine wisdom, and what God does shall be for ever; nothing can be put to it, or taken from it, Eccl. iii. 14. His first measure will be the last.

IV. The ornaments of the temple. The timber-work was very fine, and yet, within, it was overlaid with pure gold (v. 4), with fine gold (v. 5), and that embossed with palm-trees and chains. It was gold of Parvaim (v. 6), the best gold. The beams and posts, the walls and doors, were overlaid with gold, v. 7. The most holy place, which was ten yards square, was all overlaid with fine gold (v. 8), even the upper chambers, or rather the upper floor or roof—top, bottom, and sides, were all overlaid with gold. Every nail, or screw, or pin, with which the golden plates were fastened to the walls that were overlaid with them, weighed fifty shekels, or was worth so much, workmanship and all. A great many precious stones were dedicated to God (1 Chron. xxix. 2, 8), and these were set here and there, where they would show to the best advantage. The finest houses now pretend to no better garnishing than good paint on the roof and walls; but the ornaments of the temple were most substantially rich. It was set with precious stones, because it was a type of the new Jerusalem, which has no temple in it because it is all temple, and the walls, gates, and foundations of which are said to be of precious stones and pearls, Rev. xxi. 18, 19, 21.

The Furniture of the Temple. (b. c. 1012.)

10 And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold. 11 And the wings of the cherubims were twenty cubits long: one 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. 12 And one 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. 13 The wings of these cherubims spread themselves forth twenty cubits: and they stood on their feet, and their faces were inward. 14 And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon. 15 Also 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. 16 And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars; and made a hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains. 17 And he reared 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 Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

Here is an account of 1. The two cherubim, which were set up in the holy of holies. There were two already over the ark, which covered the mercy-seat with their wings; these were small ones. Now that the most holy place was enlarged, though these were continued (being appurtenances to the ark, which was not to be made new, as all the other utensils of the tabernacle were), yet those two large ones were added, doubtless by divine appointment, to fill up the holy place, which otherwise would have looked bare, like a room unfurnished. These cherubim are said to be of image-work (v. 10), designed, it is likely, to represent the angels who attend the divine Majesty. Each wing extended five cubits, so that the whole was twenty cubits (v. 12, 13), which was just the breadth of the most holy place, v. 8. They stood on their feet, as servants, their faces inward toward the ark (v. 13), that it might appear they were not set there to be adored (for then they would have been made sitting, as on a throne, and their faces towards their worshippers), but rather as themselves attendants on the invisible God. We must not worship angels, but we must worship with angels; for we have come into communion with them (Heb. xii. 22), and must do the will of God as the angels do it. The thought that we are worshipping him before whom the angels cover their faces will help to inspire us with reverence in all our approaches to God. Compare 1 Cor. xi. 10 with Isa. vi. 2. 2. The veil that parted between the temple and the most holy place, v. 14. This denoted the darkness of that dispensation, and the distance which the worshippers were kept at; but, at the death of Christ, this veil was rent; for through him we are made nigh, and have boldness not only to look, but to enter, into the holiest. On this he was wrought cherubim. Heb. he caused them to ascend, that is, they were made in raised work, embossed. Or he made them on the wing in an ascending posture, as the other two that stood on their feet in an attending posture, to remind the worshippers to lift up their hearts, and to soar upwards in their devotions. 3. The two pillars which were set up before the temple. Both together were somewhat above thirty-five cubits in length (v. 15), about eighteen cubits high a-piece. See 1 Kings vii. 15, &c., where we took a view of those pillars, Jachin and Boaz, establishment and strength in temple-work and by it.