2 CHRONICLES 3 COMMENTARY

EDITED BY GLENN PEASE

Solomon Builds the Temple

1 Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah[a] the Jebusite, the place provided by David.

BARNES, "Where the Lord appeared unto David - The marginal rendering, or “which was shown to David,” is preferred by some; and the expression is understood to point out to David the proper site for the temple by the appearance of the Angels and the command to build an altar 2Sa_24:17-25; 1Ch_21:16-26.

In the place that David had prepared - This seems to be the true meaning of the passage, though the order of the words in the original has been accidentally deranged.

CLARKE, "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.”

1

HENRY, "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 (1Ch_22:1), 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, Psa_122:4, Psa_122:5. 2. It must be on Mount Moriah, which, some think, was that very place in the land of Moriah where Abraham offered Isaac, Gen_22:2. 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, 1Ch_21:18, 1Ch_21:26. There atonement was made once; and therefore, in remembrance of that, 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 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 dos that of the body.

JAMISON, "2Ch_3:1, 2Ch_3:2. Place and time of building the Temple.

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 (Gen_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 leveling 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

2

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.

K&D, "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 ריה i.e., “the appearance of Jahve,” from ,המthat 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. אשר נראה לד 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 בהר אשר, “on the mountain where,” cf. ם אשר ,.Gen_35:13 ,במק

and Ew. §331, c, 3. אשר הכין is separated from what precedes, and connected with what

follows, by the Athnach under אביהו, 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 ,occurs elsewhere only of David's activity in preparing for the building of the temple הכיןand “place of David” cannot, without further ceremony, mean the place which David had chosen. He would therefore transpose the words thus: ם אשר הכין דויד But this .במקconjecture is by no means certain. In the first place, the mere transposition of the words is not sufficient; we must also alter ם ם into במק ,to get the required sense; and ,במק

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 את־בית יהוה. We would therefore prefer to give up the Masoretic punctuation, and construe the words otherwise, connecting אשר הכין 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 ם with the ,ד במק

following designation of the place, to depend upon ת as a further explanation of the לבנ

-viz., in the place of David, i.e., on the place fixed by David on the threshing ,בהר הם

3

floor of the Jebusite Ornan; cf. 1Ch_21:18. - In 2Ch_3:2 ת is repeated in order ויחל לבנto 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. בשני, 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 לחרש or ם the month having ,י

been previously given. Berth. therefore considers בשני to be a gloss which has come into

the text by a repetition of השני, since the lxx and Vulg. have not expressed it.

BENSON, "2 Chronicles 3:1. In mount Moriah — Part of this mountain was in the tribe of Judah, and part of it in the tribe of Benjamin: so that the temple is ascribed to them both. To Judah, Psalm 77:68, 69, and to Benjamin, Deuteronomy 33:12. For the greatest part of the courts were in the tribe of Judah; but the altar, the porch, the most holy part of the temple, where the ark and the cherubim were, in the tribe of Benjamin. It was the belief of the ancient Jews, that the temple was built on the very spot where Abraham offered up Isaac. So the Jewish Targum (a paraphrase on the books of Moses, in the Chaldee language) says expressly, adding, But he (Isaac) was delivered by the word of the Lord, and a ram provided in his place. That offering of Isaac was typical of Christ’s sacrifice of himself: therefore fitly was the temple built there, which was also a type of him. Where the Lord appeared unto David — That is, which place the Lord had consecrated by his gracious appearance there, 1 Chronicles 21:26. The place that David had prepared — Which he had not only purchased with his money, but which he had pitched upon by divine direction, and made ready for the purpose by pulling down the buildings that 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 probably very particularly and exactly understood by the Spirit of God. In the thrashing-floor of Ornan — In that place where the thrashing-floor formerly was.

ELLICOTT, "(1) At Jerusalem in mount Moriah.—Nowhere else in the Old Testament is the Temple site so specified. (Comp. “the land of Moriah,” the place appointed for the sacrifice of Isaac, Genesis 22:2.)

Where the Lord appeared unto David his father.—So LXX.; rather, who appeared unto David his father. Such is the meaning according to the common use of words. There is clearly an allusion to the etymology of MORIAH, which is assumed to signify “appearance of Jah.” (Comp. Genesis 22:14.) Translate, “in the mount of the Appearance of Jah, who appeared unto David his father.” The Vulgate reads: “in

4

Monte Moria qui demonstratus fuerat David patri ejus;” but nir’ah never means to be shown or pointed out. The Syriac, misunderstanding the LXX. ( ἀμωρία), renders “in the hill of the Amorites.”

In the place that David had prepared.—This is no doubt correct, as the versions indicate. The Hebrew has suffered an accidental transposition.

In the threshingfloor of Ornan.—1 Chronicles 21:28; 1 Chronicles 22:1.

POOLE, "The place and time of building the temple. The measure and ornaments thereof, 2 Chronicles 3:1-9. The cherubims, 2 Chronicles 3:10-13. The veil and the pillars, 2 Chronicles 3:14-17.

Where the Lord appeared unto David; which place the Lord had consecrated by his gracious appearance there, 1 Chronicles 21:26. Or, which was showed 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. The place that David had prepared, 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. In the threshing-floor, i.e. in the place where that threshing-floor formerly stood.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 3:1 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.

Ver. 1. Then Solomon began to build.] {See Trapp on "1 Kings 6:1"} &c

At Jerusalem in mount Moriah.] Where Isaac, as a type of Christ, bore the wood, obeyed his father, and should have been sacrificed. Calvary, where our Saviour suffered, was either a part of this mount, or very near unto it.

COFFMAN, "INSTRUCTIONS SOLOMON RECEIVED FOR BUILDING THE TEMPLE; AND THINGS HE DID SINFULLY

5

The chief problem in this chapter relates to verse 3, which in our version states that:

"These are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of the house of God."

Yet the foundations are not even mentioned in this chapter. Furthermore, the RSV states that "These are Solomon's measurements." The Good News Bible omits the statement, and James Moffat has; "Here is the ground-plan drawn up by Solomon." It is quite evident that the true meaning of the verse is disputed.

This writer believes that the KJV should be followed in verse 3. The translators of that version believed that they were translating God's Word, but that conviction no longer guides the renditions of many modern translators; and their fanciful `emendations,' given for the purpose of giving `what the Spirit intended to say,' or `what He really meant.' are frequently inaccurate.

"Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God" - KJV.

This rendition is undoubtedly the best one; and it has the utility of clearing up what would otherwise be an impossible contradiction later in 2 Chronicles 3:14. Also the ASV honored this translation of the passage by including it in the marginal reference.

What is the significance of this? 2 Chronicles 3:14 below mentions Solomon's making the veil of the temple; but we have already noted that Solomon actually made two doors of olive-wood for the entrance to the oracle, and not a veil; therefore the reference here to his `making the veil' should be understood, not as what he did, but as what he was instructed to do, as plainly indicated in 2 Chronicles 3:3. (See our comment on this in the commentary on 1Kings, p. 76.)

6

Of course, there is another way of reconciling Kings and Chronicles regarding the two olive-wood doors (Kings) and the veil (Chronicles), namely, by the conclusion that the temple had both! While such is possible, that idea will not appeal to very many people.

Contrary to the usual opinion of commentators that the Chronicler was attempting to glorify Solomon in these chapters, this writer believes he had a totally different purpose, including here, not what Solomon had done with those olive-wood doors, but what he had been instructed to do by his father David, namely, to make the veil.

This was by no means all of Solomon's violations of God's Word. Those extravagantly large cherubim, the graven images of lions on each side of his throne, and the twelve brazen oxen that supported the laver, and the pagan pillars Jachin and Boaz - all of which violations are mentioned by the Chronicler, and to indicate, contrary to what many suppose, that the Chronicler was not attempting to glorify Solomon.

SOLOMON BEGINS ACTUAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE

"Then Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where Jehovah appeared unto David his father, which he made ready in the place which David had appointed, in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. And the porch that was before the house, the length of it, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height a hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold. And the greater house he ceiled with fir-wood; which he overlaid with fine gold, and wrought thereon palm-trees and chains. And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim. And he overlaid also the house, the beams, the thresholds, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubim on the walls."

"And he began to build ... in the fourth year of his reign" (2 Chronicles 3:2). "The delay to the fourth year may have been due to the problems of collecting materials,

7

or it may represent a four-year co-regency of Solomon with his father David."[1]

(See the chapter heading for a discussion of 2 Chronicles 3:3.)

"And the porch ... the height a hundred and twenty (cubits)" (2 Chronicles 3:4). "This height which so much exceeds the height of the main building (1 Kings 6:2) should probably be corrected by the reading of the Arabic version and by the Alexandrian Septuagint, which read twenty cubits."[2]

In this connection, we wonder why the RSV failed to make this obviously indicated correction. They have not failed to make many other changes with even less authority.

PARKER 1-3, "The Building of the Temple

"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.

"And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign" ( 2 Chronicles 3:1-2).

WE do not want commonplace diaries. If diaries were commonplace they could be done without; it is because they are special that they acquire their uniqueness and their value. Who could do without memorable days, hours never to be forgotten, occasions that focalise a lifetime, red-letter days? They help us to live the rest of the time. The week may be barren, exacting, difficult of management, but a sweet Sabbath, a day right royal in its engagements and in its enjoyments, helps us through the six days with the sublety, the grace, and the comfort of an inspiration. Have we not all had memorable days?—the day when the boy left home, the second day of the second month, in the fifteenth year of his age. He can never know what emptiness he left behind him. The people he left professed to smile, and laughed a glad laugh, but they had a sore time of it after the boy had left. The day when the young man finds his first friend in business, the head that can direct him, the hand strong enough to give him assurance of protection, the voice all strength and music that charmed his fears away, and gave him consciousness of latent possibilities of his

8

own; the day when the young man got his first practical hold of life and business,—how much he made in his first little profit, his introductory return, the very first sovereign he honestly made by his own wits and energy; he never could have another sovereign with so many shillings in it as that,—it was in the second day of the second month, in the twentieth year of his age. He thought he would send it home to be looked at; he imagined that in the little village he had left that sovereign would create quite a sensation. Yet he dare not trust it out of his sight. Six times a day he examined it to feel that it was real metal and no painted gold: for he made it, his labour won it, and he accepts it as an assurance that God will not forsake him. Do not let all days be alike; save yourselves from so running one day into another as to drop the dignity, the accent, and the significance of special occasions. Nor turn these occasions into opportunities for mere sentimentality. There is another boy leaving home, there is another youth wanting a first friend, there is another struggler panting to win the first prize. By the memory of what you did in the second day of the second month, in the twentieth year of your age, stop, and help him who hath no helper.

"Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God" ( 2 Chronicles 3:3).

The building of the temple is a striking example of life-building. Instead of saying Solomon began to build a temple, say Solomon began to build a life, and all that he did will fall into its proper place, and every item in the specification will be useful. It is folly to build a temple if you are not building a life. It aggravates the mischief of life to be doing some good things, and leaving the best things undone. Better do nothing, better be a whole fool and absolute, than be so wise in little points as to turn all the rest of life into practical madness. "Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed:" literally, Now this is the ground-plan. So many people are building without a ground-plan. It would seem as if they were attempting to perform the impossibility of building from the top; they have no foundations, no great principles, no settled, vital, unchangeable convictions; there is a brick here, and a stone there, and a beam of wood yonder,—but there is no grand scheme, no grasp, no plan approved by architectural experience. "Solomon was instructed." Then Solomon was not a born builder,—that is to say, a man who needed no instruction, no hint, no apprenticeship, in these things. He was a man who began with instruction. Who does not feel that he is wholly independent of education in the matter of life-building? Man often makes himself the victim of a phrase; so he

9

claims the right of private judgment, the right of individual conscience. Noble words when nobly used, when used wisely in the scheme of life; but if made to minister to conceit, to the individualism which is solitude, and to the solitude which is atheistic, then there is no right in the matter from beginning to end, it is vanity, and wind, and folly. A man is none the worse for having his little book of instructions in his pocket when he goes abroad. The book is not a large one in mere superficies, but who can declare in arithmetical numbers its cubical contents? Every line is a volume; every sentence is a time-bill; every proposition is a philosophy. Even Solomon accepted instruction. It is never wise to be beyond a hint, beyond the counsel of experience, or beyond the encouragement of men who have done a great deal of life-building and who know all the difficulties of the situation.

Solomon began well: what wonder if he continue well! He said he would start life with the dowry of wisdom. Then he could never be poor. Men could spend all the stars if they were sovereigns: they can never spend the inheritance of wisdom; the more you utilise it the more it becomes; it is a kind of bread which grows in the breaking of it, so that having fed five thousand men you have whole basketfuls of fragments to take up, and you perform the arithmetical miracle of having more at the end than you had at the beginning. Give a spendthrift the universe in golden coins, and he will stand at the other end of it a pauper, and will be wholly unable to tell you how he spent the money. Wisdom is wealth. Knowledge is power. To have a real philosophy of life—not an outward mechanism of it, but a vital conception of its meaning and its purpose—is to be really rich. Men should set themselves down and ask some questions:—What is life? How long is it? How much is there of it? At what counter is this gold to be spent? Were men to ask questions so far-reaching and much-involving there would indeed be a revival of religion, because there would be a revival of common-sense, a revival of practical philosophy, a revival of truest wisdom. But men perish for the want of a plan; they do not know where they begin, or in what course they are going. What wonder if experience has written as its proverb, The chapter of accidents is the Bible of the fool? No accidents could happen to Song of Solomon , because he started at the right point; accepted the true definition of life, function, and faculty; and walked in the light of wisdom. If it happened that Solomon should ever trifle with that light, conceal it, modify it, despise it, he would go to the devil. No matter though he had built a thousand temples he would land in perdition if he ceased to walk in the ways of wisdom. No man can build himself up to heaven, however many temples he may build: he must build up from within, build up in the matter of conviction, principles, life, character; he must blossom into purity, he must fructify into love; he must breathe

10

himself into heaven by the power and grace of God. Men are not dragged into heaven against their will: they grow in grace and knowledge and liberty, and they are in heaven almost imperceptibly. Let every man take heed how he useth Wisdom of Solomon , and let him take heed especially who imagines that his feet cannot slip.

Sometimes we wish that we had a rehearsal of life; and that we might come back and begin at the beginning, and walk in the light of experience. Some men have thought to amend Providence in these arrangements; thus: suppose a man could live until thirty years of age a kind of rehearsal life, trying life, tasting its various cups, walking in its various ways, ascertaining the key or clue to the labyrinth, and then coming back and beginning, so that we might live after the manner dictated and justified by experience. There is no need of it; there is something better than experience, something infinitely preferable. What is that something? Revelation. The whole map is laid out; every man may tell exactly where he is at any moment If men will close the specification and begin to build after their own invention, what wonder if they should be ashamed of their own architecture and never trust themselves to the roof of their own building? If men will close the book, and abandon the instructions and play at being God on their own account, what wonder if we should find them next in a swamp? Life has been lived, right away down to old age. There is nothing unfamiliar in life; we find it in infancy, in youth, and in manhood; in business, in literature, in pleasure; in selfishness, in nobility; in misanthropy, in philanthropy; we find it in old age, we find it struggling with death: what more do we want? All the sea has been marked out, the chart is plainly written—here is a rock, there a reef, yonder a dangerous whirl of water,—if men will leave the chart at home, and throw the compass overboard, who will pity their fate should they be lost at sea? The Christian claims that the whole map or chart of life is to be found in the Book of God; and so it is. There is nothing fantastic in the claim. If there were no spiritual philosophy in it, it overflows with common-sense. It is a treasure-house of experience. So there need be no pensive desire for a trial-trip in the ways of life. All the dead say, they will accompany us; all hell says that it would come with us if it could to prevent our going to that place of torment. Not only living teachers, frail as ourselves, but the innumerable dead,—wise as philosophy, foolish as madness,—all want to go with the young traveller, and to tell him what waters to drink, what food to avoid, what herbs to pluck for healing, what gates to open upon larger spaces for cultivation and ownership. No man needs go the life-road alone. Every stone is known, every footprint is identified, and the lifting of a hand is foretold with infinite precision. Everything now is in weights and scales and balances and standards, and no man can be at any uncertainty as to the value of

11

a thought or the issue of a volition. Let revelation take the place of rehearsal.

Solomon had a definite purpose in view,—he was building a temple. Definiteness of purpose economises time, enables strength to issue in the noblest accomplishments; want of definiteness means frivolity, extravagance, or selfishness, or narrowness of policy, certainly it means ultimate disappointment and mortification. We cannot all build the same kind of building. Each man is appointed to carry out his own particular work: let each see that he make his calling and election sure. Sometimes we may be working at various points of the same temple. There is a great law of combination and cooperation, so that every man"s work should be of no value in itself, but when all the work is brought together and fashioned in its first and its ulterior meaning, then every man has glory or satisfaction in his own particular contribution. Take any instrument; divide its construction into a dozen sections; let each labour according to his own particular skill and experience: let each hold up the part which he has done, and there is no value in any one part: bring them together by a master hand, bring them into accord, then the angel of music will descend to dwell in that tabernacle, to speak through every door and window, and make a wide circle glad with heaven"s joy. So we cannot sometimes tell what we are doing. We have to wait until the master brings all the work together; then some who have been working in the dark, hardly knowing what they have been doing, will see that they have been making unconscious contributions to life"s organ, to life"s temple. A man will have good reason to know what he is doing if he pay attention to Providence. There need not be so much darkness in the ways of life as is often supposed.

PULPIT, "Mount Moriah. This name מוריה occurs twice in the Old Testament, viz. here and Genesis 22:2, in which latter reference it is alluded to as "the land of Moriah," and "one of the mountains" in it is spoken of. Whether the name designates the same place in each instance is more than doubtful. In the present passage the connection of the place with David is marked. Had it been the spot connected with Abraham and the proposed sacrifice of Isaac, it is at least probable that this also would have been emphasized, and not here only, but in 2 Samuel

25-24:17 and 1 Chronicles 26-21:16 ; but in neither of these places is there the remotest suggestion of such fame of old belonging to it. Nor in later passages of history (e.g. Nehemiah's rebuilding, and in the prophets, and the New Testament), where the opportunities would have been of the most tempting, is there found one single suggestion of the kind. There am also at fewest two reasons of a positive and

12

intriusic character against Solomon's Moriah being Abraham's—in that this latter was a specially conspicuous height (Genesis 22:4), and was a secluded and comparatively desolate place, neither of which features attach to Solomon's Moriah. Nevertheless the identity theory is stoutly maintained by names as good as those of Thomson; Tristram; Hengstenberg ('Genuineness of Pentateuch, 2.162, Ryland's tr.); Kurtz ('History of O. C.,' 1.271); and Knobel and Kalisch under the passage in Genesis—against Grove (in Dr. Smith's ' Bible Dictionary'); Stanley; De Wette, Bleek, and Tischendorf [see 'Speaker's Commentary,' under Genesis 22:2]. Though there is some uncertainty as to the more exact form of the derivation of the name Moriah, it seems most probable that the meaning of it may be "the sight of Jehovah." Where the Lord appeared unto David his father. The clause is no doubt elliptical, and probably it is not to be mended by the inserting of the words," the Lord," as in our Authorized Version. We do not read anywhere that the Lord did then and there appear to David, though we do read that "the angel of the Lord" appeared to him (2 Samuel 24:16, passim; 1 Chronicles 21:15, 1 Chronicles 21:19, passim). Nor is it desirable to force the niph. preterite of the verb here, rightly rendered "appeared" or "was seen," into "was shown." We should prefer to solve the difficulty occasioned by the somewhat unfinished shape of the clause (or clauses) by reading it in close relation to 1 Chronicles 22:1. Then the vivid impressions that had been made both by works and words of the angel of the Lord caused David to feel and to say with emphasis, "This is the (destined) house of the Lord God," etc. In this light our present passage would read, in a parenthetic manner, "which (i.e. the house, its Moriah position and all) was seen of David;" or with somewhat more of ease, "as was seen of David;" and the following "in the place," etc; will read in a breath with the preceding "began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem … in the place," etc. David had prepared (so 1 Chronicles 22:2-4). In the threshing-floor of Ornan (so 2 Samuel 24:18; 1 Chronicles 21:15,1 Chronicles 21:16, 1 Chronicles 21:18, 1 Chronicles 21:21-28).

BI 1-14, "Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem.

The surpassing beauty of the temple

I. That God did not need this lavish expenditure of gold and gems and rich ornaments

II. Yet Divine condescension accepted this offering of human gratitude.

III. The beauty and costliness of the temple served to impress the mind of surrounding nations with the feelings of the people of israel towards their great God.

IV. The adornment of the temple a rebuke to mere utilitarian views. (Biblical Museum.)

13

And he began to build in the second day of the second month.

Memorable days

Have we not all had memorable days?

1. The day when the boy left home.

2. The day when the young man finds his first friend in business, the head that can direct him, the hand strong enough to give him assurance of protection, the voice all strength and music that charmed his fears away, and gave him consciousness of latent possibilities of his own.

3. The day when the young man got his first practical hold of life and business, how much he made in his first little profit, the very first sovereign he made by his own wits and energy. Do not let all days be alike; save yourselves from so running one day into another as to drop the dignity, the accent, the significance of special occasions. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God.—

Life-building

The building of the temple is a striking example of life-building.

I. Solomon began with instruction. “Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed”: literally, “Now this is the ground-plan.” So many people are building without a ground-plan. It would seem as if they were attempting to perform the impossibility of building from the top; they have no foundations, no great principles; there is a brick here, and a stone there, and a beam of wood yonder, but there is no grand scheme. “Solomon was instructed.” Then Solomon was not a born builder that is to say, a man who needed no instruction, no hint, no apprenticeship, in these things. He was a man who began with instruction. A man is none the worse for having his little book of instructions in his pocket when he goes abroad. The book is not a large one in mere superficies, but who can declare in arithmetical numbers its cubical contents? Every line is a volume; every sentence is a time-bill; every proposition is a philosophy. Even Solomon accepted instruction. It is never wise to be beyond a hint, beyond the counsel of experience.

II. Solomon began well: what wonder if he continue well? He said he would start life with the dowry of wisdom. No accidents could happen to Solomon, because he started at the right point; accepted the true definition of life, and walked in the light of wisdom. If it happened that Solomon should ever trifle with that light, conceal it, modify it, despise it, he would go to the devil. No matter if he had built s thousand temples, he would land in perdition if he ceases to walk in the ways of wisdom. No man can build himself up to heaven, however many temples he may build; he must build up from within—in the matter of conviction, principles, life, character, he must blossom into purity, he must fructify into love.

III. Solomon’s instructions were sufficient. Sometimes we wish that we had a rehearsal of life, and that we might come back and begin at the beginning, and walk in the light of experience. There is something better than experience, and that is revelation. The

14

Christian claims that the whole map or chart of life is to be found in the Book of God; and co it is. So there need be no pensive desire for a trial-trip in the ways of life.

IV. Solomon had a definite purpose in view: he was building a temple. Definiteness of purpose economise time, enables strength to issue in the noblest accomplishments. A man will have good reason to know what he is doing if he pay attention to Providence. There need not be so much darkness in the ways of life as is often supposed. (J. Parker, D. D.)

2 He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

HENRY, "II. The time when it was begun; not till the fourth year of Solomon's reign, 2Ch_3:2. 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.

BENSON, "2 Chronicles 3:2. He began to build in the second day, &c. — Concerning the contents of this verse, and the rest of the chapter, see notes on 1 Kings 6.

ELLICOTT, "(2) In the second day of the second month.—Heb., in the second month in the second. The versions omit the repetition, which is probably a scribe’s error. “On the second day” would be expressed in Hebrew differently. Read simply, “And he began to build in the second month,” i.e., in Zif (or April—May). See 1 Kings 6:1.

15

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 3:2 And he began to build in the second [day] of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

Ver. 2. In the fourth year of his reign.] Temple work meets with many problems, and goes not on too hastily.

PULPIT, "In the second day. The word "day" as italicized in our Authorized Version type is of course not found in the Hebrew text. Several manuscripts fail also to show the other words of this clause, viz. "In the second;" and that they are probably spurious derives confirmation from the fact that neither the Arabic nor Syriac Versions, nor the Septuagint nor Vulgate translations, produce them. In the second month, in the fourth year. Reading the verse, therefore, as though it began thus, the most interesting but doubtful question of fixing an exact chronology for what preceded Solomon's reign is opened. In our present text there is little sign of anything to satisfy the offers to do so, if only again to disappoint the more grievously. There we read of "four hundred and eighty years" from the Exodus to this beginning of the building of Solomon's temple. Now, this latter date can be determined with tolerable accuracy by travelling backwards from the date of Cyrus taking Babylon, and the beginning of the return from the Captivity, making allowance for the seventy years of the Captivity, the duration of the line of separate Judah-kings, and the remanet, a large one, of the years of Solomon's reign. All this, however, helps nothing at all the period stretching from the Exodus to the beginning of the building of the temple. And the events of this period, strongly corroborated by other testimony, seem to show convincingly that no faith can be reposed in the authenticity of the chronological statement of our parallel.

3 The foundation Solomon laid for building the temple of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide[b] (using the cubit of the old standard).

16

BARNES, "The marginal “founded” gives a clue to another meaning of this passage, which may be translated: “Now this is the ground-plan of Solomon for the building, etc.”

Cubits after the first measure - i. e., cubits according to the ancient standard. The Jews, it is probable, adopted the Babylonian measures during the captivity, and carried them back into their own country. The writer notes that the cubit of which he here speaks is the old (Mosaic) cubit.

CLARKE, "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).

JAMISON, "2Ch_3:3-7. Measures and ornaments of the House.

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.

K&D, "“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. is used here and in Ezr_3:11 substantively. The measurements only of the length הוסדand 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.

17

BENSON, "Verses 3-5

2 Chronicles 3:3-5. These are the things wherein Solomon was instructed — By David his father, and by the Spirit of God. After the first measure threescore cubits — According to the measure which was first fixed. The porch, the height was a hundred and twenty — This being a kind of turret to the building. How this may be reconciled with 1 Kings 6:3, see the notes there. The breadth of it, here omitted, is there said to be ten cubits. The greater house he ceiled with fir-tree — Namely, the holy place, which was twice as large as the lesser house, or the holy of holies, which is called the most holy house, 2 Chronicles 3:8. The outward part of the former was of fir- tree, to bear the weather better; but the inside was lined with cedar, overlaid with gold, and figures, or sculptures, of palm-trees, chains, and other ornaments.

ELLICOTT, "(3) Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed.—Rather, And this is the foundation (or ground-plan) of Solomon. The plural pronoun ‘çllè, “these,” is used as a neut. sing. “this” (comp. 1 Chronicles 24:19), and the hophal infinitive hûsad, “to be founded,” is used substantively, as in Ezra 3:11. So Vulgate, “Et haec sunt fundamenta quae jecit Solomon.”

After the first measure.—Rather, in the ancient measure, an explanation not found in the parallel passage, 1 Kings 6:2. The ancient or Mosaic cubit was one hand -breadth longer than the cubit of later times (Ezekiel 40:5; Ezekiel 43:13). The chronicler has omitted the height, which was thirty cubits (1 Kings 6:2).

POOLE, " Solomon was instructed; partly by his father David, and partly by the Spirit of God, which inspired and guided him in the whole work. Or, these were Solomon’s foundations, the Hebrew verb being put for the noun, as it is elsewhere. The sense is, These were the measures of the foundations upon which he intended to build the temple.

After the first measure, 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 Ezekiel 40:5 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.

18

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 3:3 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.

Ver. 3. Wherein Solomon was instructed.] Heb., Founded. To be well instructed, is to be well grounded; for want whereof, many are wherried about with divers and strange doctrines. [Hebrews 13:9]

PULPIT, "Now these. Perhaps the easiest predicate to supply to this elliptical clause is are the measures, or the cubits. Was instructed. The verb is hoph. conjugation of to "found;" and the purport of the clause is that Solomon caused the יסדfoundations of the building to be laid of such dimensions by cubit. Ezra 3:11 and Isaiah 28:16 give the only other occurrences of the hoph. conjugation of this verb. Cubits after the first measure. This possibly means the cubit of pre-Captivity times, but at all events the Israelites' own ancient cubit—perhaps a hand-breadth (Ezekiel 43:13) longer than the present, or seven in place of six. The cubit (divided into six palms, and a palm into four finger-breadths) was the unit of Hebrew lineal measure. It stands for the length from the elbow to the wrist, the knuckle, or the tip of the longest finger. There is still considerable variation in opinion as to the number of inches that the cubit represents, and considerable perplexity as to the two or three different cubits (Deuteronomy 3:11; Ezekiel 40:5; Ezekiel 43:13) mentioned in Scripture. One of the latest authorities, Conder, gives what seem to be reasons of almost decisive character for regarding the cubit of the temple buildings as one of sixteen inches. The subject is also discussed at length in Smith's ' Bible Dictionary,' 3.1736—1739. And the writer finally concludes to accept, under protest, Thenius's calculations, which give the cubit as rather over nineteen inches.

4 The portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits[c] long across the width of the building and twenty[d] cubits high.

19

He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

BARNES, "The height was an hundred and twenty cubits - This height, which so much exceeds that of the main building 1Ki_6:2, is probably to be corrected by the reading of the Arabic Version and the Alexandrian Septuagint, “twenty cubits.” But see 2Ch_3:9.

CLARKE, "The height was a hundred and twenty - Some think this should be twenty only; but if the same building is spoken of as in 1Ki_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

meah one hundred; if מאה mem, then the word will be מ aleph be placed after the א

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.

JAMISON, "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 propylaeum or gateway of the palace of Khorsabad [Layard], or at the temple of Edfou.

K&D, "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

20

sense. האר with the article refers back to האר in 2Ch_3:3 (the length of the house),

and על־פני 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.”

(Note: There is consequently no need to alter the text according to 1Ki_6:3, from which passage Berth. would interpolate the words הבית עשר באמה ר רחב על פניו

between על־פני and האר, 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 to ,וערכי would have written האר and instead of ,על־פני הבית but ,על־פניו

correspond with רחב.)

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 אולם; it would have been a מגדל, 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.

ELLICOTT, " (4) And the porch . . . twenty cubits.—Heb., and the porch that was before the length (i.e., that lay in front of the oblong main building), before the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits (i.e., the porch was as. long as the house was broad). This curious statement answers to what we read in 1 Kings 6:3 : “And the porch before the hall of the house, twenty cubits was its length, before the breadth of the house.” But the Hebrew is too singular to pass without challenge, and comparison of the versions suggests that we ought to read here: “And the porch which was before it (Syriac), or before the house (LXX.), its length before the breadth of the house was twenty cubits.” This would involve but slight alteration of the Hebrew text. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 3:8.)

And the height was an hundred and twenty. This would make the porch four times the height of the main building, which was thirty cubits. The Alexandrine MS. of the LXX., and the Arabic version, read “twenty cubits;” the Syriac omits the whole clause,, which has no parallel in Kings, and is further suspicious as wanting the word “cubits,” usually expressed after the number (see 2 Chronicles 3:3). The Hebrew may be a corruption of the clause, “and its breadth ten cubits.” (Comp. 1

21

Kings 6:3.)

And he overlaid it within with pure gold.—See 1 Kings 6:21.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 3:4 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.

Ver. 4. And the porch.] See on 1 Kings 6:3.

And he overlaid it within with pure gold.] Such was Christ’s inside; [Colossians 2:9] in his outside was no such desirable beauty; so [Isaiah 53:2] the Church’s glory is inward, [Psalms 45:13] in the hidden man of the heart. [1 Peter 3:4]

PULPIT, "The porch … an hundred and twenty. The "porch" ( אולם, Greek, ο προναος ). It is out of the question that the porch should be of this height in itself. And almost as much out of the question that, if it could be so, this should be the only place to mention it by word or. description. There can be no doubt that the text is here slightly corrupt, and perhaps it is a further indication of this that, while the parallel contains nothing of the height, this place fails (but comp. our 2 Chronicles 3:8) to give the breadth ("ten cubits"), which the parallel does give. The words for" hundred" and for "cubit" easily confuse with one another. And our present Hebrew text, מאה ועשרים, read עמות עשרים, will make good Hebrew syntax, and be in harmony with the Septuagint (Alexandrian), and with the Syriac and Arabic Versions. This gives the height of the porch as 20 cubits, which will be in harmony with the general height of the building, which was 30 cubits. Thus far, then, the plan of the temple is plain. The house is 60 cubits long, i.e. 20 for the holy of holies ( דביר or 40;(קדש קדשים for the holy place ( היכל); and for breadth 20 cubits. The porch was in length the same as the breadth of the house, viz. 20 cubits, but in breadth it was 10 cubits (l Kings 2 Chronicles 6:3) only, while its height was 20 cubits, against a height of 30 cubits for the "house" (1 Kings 6:2). Overlaid it within with pure gold; i.e. covered the planks with gold leaf, or sometimes with plates of gold (Ovid; 'L Epp. ex. Pont,' 1.37, 38, 41, 42; Herod; 1.98; Polyb; 10.27. § 10). The appreciation, as well as bare knowledge, of gold belonged to a very early date (Genesis 2:12). The days when it was used in ring or lump (though not in coin) for sign of wealth and for purposes of exchange, and also for ornament (Genesis 13:2; Genesis 24:22; Genesis 42:21), indicate how early were the beginnings of metallurgy as regards it, though much more developed afterwards ( 17:4; Proverbs 17:3; Isaiah 40:19; Isaiah 46:9);

22

and show it in the time of David and Solomon no rare art, even though foreign workmen, for obvious reasons, were the most skilful workers with it. There are four verbs used to express the idea of overlaying, viz.

(a) חפה, in hiph. This occurs only in this chapter, 2 Chronicles 3:5, 2 Chronicles 3:7, 2 Chronicles 3:8, 2 Chronicles 3:9 ; but in niph. Psalms 68:13 may be compared.

(b) עלה in hiph. This occurs in the present sense, though not necessarily staying very closely by it; in 2 Chronicles 9:15, 2 Chronicles 9:16, and its parallel (1 Kings 10:16, 1 Kings 10:17); and perhaps in 2 Samuel 1:24. The meaning of the word, however, is evidently so generic that it scarcely postulates the rendering "overlay."

(c) צפה in piel. This occurs in our present verse, as also in a multitude of other places in Chronicles, Kings, Samuel, and Exodus. The radical idea of the verb (kal) is "to be bright."

(d) רד in hiph. This occurs only once (1 Kings 6:32). No one of these verbs in itself bespeaks certainly of which or what kind the overlaying might be, unless it be the last, the analogy of which certainly points to the sense of a thin spreading.

5 He paneled the main hall with juniper and covered it with fine gold and decorated it with palm tree and chain designs.

BARNES, "The greater house - i. e., the holy place, or main chamber of the temple, intervening between the porch and the holy of holies (so in 2Ch_3:7).

He cieled with fir tree - Rather, “he covered,” or “lined.” The reference is not to the ceiling, which was entirely of wood, but to the walls and floor, which were of stone, with a covering of planks (marginal reference). The word translated “fir” bears probably in this place, not the narrow meaning which it has in 2Ch_2:8, where it is opposed to

23

cedar, but a wider one, in which cedar is included.Palm trees and chains - See 1Ki_6:29. The “chains” are supposed to be garlands or

festoons.

JAMISON, "the greater house — that is, the holy places, the front or outer chamber (see 1Ki_6:17).

K&D, "2Ch_3:5-7The interior of the holy place. - 2Ch_3:5. The “great house,” i.e., the large apartment

of the house, the holy place, he wainscotted with cypresses, and overlaid it with good gold, and carved thereon palms and garlands. חפה from חפה, to cover, cover over,

alternates with the synonymous צפה in the signification to coat or overlay with wood

and gold. תמרים .dlo as in Eze_41:18, for ת 1Ki_6:29, 1Ki_6:35, are artificial ,תמר

palms as wall ornaments. ת are in Exo_28:14 small scroll-formed chains of gold שרשרwire, here spiral chain-like decorations on the walls, garlands of flowers carved on the wainscot, as we learn from 1Ki_6:18.

ELLICOTT, " (5) The greater house.—Or, the great chamber, i.e. the Holy Place, or nave. (Comp. 1 Chronicles 28:11.)

He cieled with fir tree.—He covered with planks of fir; or, panelled with fir. To ciel, or rather seel (from syle or cyll, a canopy: Skeat, Etymol. Dict. s.v.) a room, meant in old English to wainscot or panel it. (Comp. 1 Kings 6:15-16.)

Which he overlaid with fine gold.—And covered it (the chamber) with good gold. The cypress wainscoting was plated with gold.

And set thereon palm trees and chains.—Brought up on it (i.e., carved upon it) palms and chain-work (1 Kings 7:17). (For the palms, see 1 Kings 6:29; Ezekiel 41:18.) The chain-work must have consisted of garland-like carvings on the fir panels. 1 Kings 6:18 omits mention of it; LXX., “carved on it palms and chains”; Syriac, “figured on it the likeness of palms and lilies”; Vulgate, “graved on it palms and as it were chainlets intertwining.”

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 3:5 And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.

24

Ver. 5. Which he overlaid with fine gold.] As the parts of this temple were not seen naked, so neither must our souls be seen without faith, love, and other golden graces.

PULPIT, "The greater house; i.e. the holy place. He ceiled. This rendering is wrong. The verb is (a) given above (2 Chronicles 3:4). It is repeated in the next clause of this very verse as "overlaid," as also in 2 Chronicles 3:7, 2 Chronicles 3:8, 2 Chronicles 3:9. The generic word "covered" would serve all the occasions on which the word occurs here. From a comparison of the parallel it becomes plain that the meaning is that the crone structure of floor and walls was covered over with wood (1 Kings 6:7, 1 Kings 6:15, 1 Kings 6:18). That wood for the floor was fir (1 Kings 6:15), probably slim for the walls, which must depend partly on the translation of this 2 Chronicles 3:15. It would seem to say that (beside the stone) there was an inner stratum, both to walls and floor, of cedar (reason for which would be easy of conjecture). But another translation obviates the necessity of this inner stratum supposition, rendering "from the floor to the top of the wall." According to this, while the overlaying gold was on cedar for walls and ceiling (1 Kings 6:9), it was on fir for the floor, which does not seem what our present verse purports, unless, according to the suggestion of some, "fir" be interpreted to include cedar. Set thereon palm trees and chains. These were, of course, carvings. The chains, not mentioned in the parallel (1 Kings 6:29; but see 1 Kings 7:17), were probably wreaths of chain design or pattern. Easier modern English would read "put thereon."

6 He adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim.

BARNES, "Precious stones for beauty - Not marbles but gems (compare 1Ch_29:2). The phrase translated “for beauty” means “for its beautification,” “to beautify it.”

Parvaim is probably the name of a place, but what is quite uncertain.

25

CLARKE, "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, 2Ki_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.

JAMISON, "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).

BENSON, "Verse 6-7

2 Chronicles 3:6-7. He garnished the house with precious stones for beauty — A great many precious stones were dedicated to God 1 Chronicles 29:2; 1 Chronicles 29:8, and these were set here and there where they would show to the best advantage. And the gold was gold of Parvaim — That is, of Taprobana, or Ceylon, as Bochart hath satisfactorily proved. See note on 1 Kings 9:28. With this gold, which was deemed the best, Solomon overlaid even the beams, the posts, the walls, and the doors, graving also cherubim on the walls — The finest houses now pretend to no better garnishing than good paint on the doors, posts, and walls: but the ornaments of the temple were more substantially rich. For it was to be a type of the New Jerusalem, which has therefore no temple in it, because it is all temple, and the walls, gates, and foundations of it are said to be precious stones and pearls.

COKE, "2 Chronicles 3:6. And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty— And he paved the floor with beautiful and excellent stones. Houbigant.

26

The Vulgate has it, with marble. Houbigant thinks that the next clause belongs to the 7th verse, where accordingly he places it. The doors thereof with gold, and the gold was gold of Parvaim; which some take for the name of a place, supposed by them to have been the island Taprobanes, now called Sumatra, which abounds with fine gold: while others imagine, that the word is expressive of the quality of the gold, deep and red in its colour, like the blood of bullocks; deriving the word פרוים parvaiim from פר par, a bullock. See Parkhurst's Lexicon.

ELLICOTT, " (6) Garnished.—Overlaid (2 Chronicles 3:4) the chamber.

Precious stones.—See 1 Chronicles 29:2; and 1 Kings 10:11, which relates that Hiram’s fleet brought “precious stones” from Ophir for Solomon. But no mention of this kind of decoration is made in 1 Kings 6. The Vulgate explains the phrase as meaning a floor of costly marble.

Gold of Parvaim.—Perhaps Farwâ, an auriferous region in S. Arabia. Others connect the word with the Sanskrit pûrva, “eastern,” and seek Parvaim, like Ophir, in India. The name does not recur in the Old Testament.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 3:6 And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold [was] gold of Parvaim.

Ver. 6. And he garnished the house with precious stones.] Every one of which had some egregious virtue: so, much more hath effectual faith, laborious love, reverent fear, patient hope, right repentance, assured confidence, &c., and - that which holdeth all these together lovely lowly mindedness. See 1 Peter 5:5. {See Trapp on "1 Peter 5:5"}

And the gold was gold of Parvaim.] That is, Of Havilah, [Genesis 2:11] where the best gold is, saith Junius, and where, Pliny saith, (a) there is a town called, corruptly, Parbacia. Others take it for Ophir, now called Peru, the greater and the lesser; whence the word here used is of the dual number. It hath affinity with Epher, dust, and Peer, comeliness: the finest gold is but yellow earth.

PULPIT, "He garnished. The verb employed is (e) of 2 Chronicles 3:4, supra (Revelation 21:19). Precious stones. The exact manner in which these were applied or fixed is not stated. What the precious stones were, however, need not be doubtful

27

(1 Chronicles 29:2; the obvious references for which passage, Isaiah 54:11, Isaiah 54:12 and Revelation 21:18-21, cannot be forgotten. See also Ezekiel 27:16; So Ezekiel 5:14; Lamentations 4:7). For beauty; i.e. to add beauty to the house. Parvaim. What this word designates, or, if a place, where the place was, is not known. Gesenius ('Lexicon,' sub vet.) would derive it from a Sanskrit word, purva, meaning "oriental." Hitzig suggests another Sanskrit word, paru, meaning "hill," and indicating the "twin hills" of Arabia (Prof; 6.7. § 11) as the derivation. And Knobel suggests that it is a form of Sepharvaim, the Syriac and Jonathan Targum version of Sephar (Genesis 10:30). The word does not occur in any other Bible passage.

7 He overlaid the ceiling beams, doorframes, walls and doors of the temple with gold, and he carved cherubim on the walls.

ELLICOTT, " (7) He overlaid also the house.—And he covered (2 Chronicles 3:5) the chamber—that is, the great chamber or Holy Place. (See 1 Kings 6:21-23.)

The beams.—Of the roof.

The posts.—The thresholds (Isaiah 6:4).

And graved cherubims on the walls.—See 1 Kings 6:29, which gives a fuller account of the mural decorations.

Cherubims.—Cherubim, or cherubs (Psalms 18:10). Cherubim is the Hebrew plural, for which we have the Chaldee (Aramaic) form “cherubin” in the Te Deum. Shakspeare has:—

“The roof of the chamber

28

With golden cherubins is fretted.”

Cymbeline, .

Why Reuss calls this sketch of the porch and nave “confused” is hardly evident.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 3:7 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.

Ver. 7. He overlaid also the house.] All the inside of it. Let us spare for no cost, ut aureos et argenteos animos, hoc est, variis virtutibus excultos habeamus. (a) Gold and silver will perish, though they be tried in the fire; [1 Peter 1:7] so will not true grace: it will one day be glory.

PULPIT, "And graved cherubim. In the parallel this statement is placed in company with that respecting the "palms and flowers." Layard tells us that all the present description of decoration bears strong resemblance to the Assyrian. There can be no difficulty in imagining this, both in other respects, and in connection with the fact that foreigners, headed by the chief designer Hiram, had so large a share in planning the details of temple workmanship.

8 He built the Most Holy Place, its length corresponding to the width of the temple—twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. He overlaid

the inside with six hundred talents[e] of fine gold.

29

BARNES, "The most holy house - i. e., the sanctuary, or holy of holies. On the probable value of the gold, see 1Ki_10:14 note.

JAMISON, "2Ch_3:8-13. Dimensions, etc. of the Most Holy House.

the most holy house — It was a perfect cube (compare 1Ki_6:20).overlaid it with ... gold, amounting to six hundred talents — equal to about

$16,000,000.

K&D 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.

BENSON, "Verses 8-10

2 Chronicles 3:8-10. Fine gold amounting to six hundred talents — That is, upward of three millions forty-five thousand pounds sterling. This vast sum was expended on the holy of holies alone, a room only ten yards square. The weight of the nails — That is, of each of the nails, screws, or pins, by which the golden plates were fastened to the walls that were overlaid with them, was fifty shekels of gold — The meaning seems to be, that each weighed or was worth that sum, workmanship and all. Two cherubims of image-work — Or, sculpture-work. And overlaid them with gold — For they were made of olive-wood, and were not, like those of Moses, of beaten gold. Nor were they fixed, as his were, to the mercy-seat, but appeared in a moving posture.

ELLICOTT, "(8) The most holy house.—The chamber of the Holy of holies, or chancel, called also the oracle (Dĕbîr), 1

30

Kings 6:5. (So 2 Chronicles 3:10.)

The length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits.—Its length before the breadth of the house was twenty cubits. (See Note on 2 Chronicles 3:4.)

And the breadth thereof twenty cubits.—1 Kings 6:20 adds that the height also was twenty cubits, so that the chamber formed a perfect cube.

Six hundred talents.—The weight of gold thus expended on the plating of the walls of the inner shrine is not given in Kings. Solomon’s whole yearly revenue was 666 talents (1 Kings 10:14).

TRAPP, "And graved cherubims.] See 1 Kings 6:23. Angels are present in the assemblies of God’s people.

2 Chronicles 3:8 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.

Ver. 8. Six hundred talents.] Which is, as we count it, two millions and two hundred and fifty thousand pound.

COFFMAN, "REGARDING THE HOLY OF HOLIES

"And 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. And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold."

The upper chambers mentioned here do not conform to any architectural description, either of their utility, or their exact location. The whole chapter appears to have a strange mixture of things that Solomon was instructed to do, and did not do, and of things which he did contrary to God's will.

31

PULPIT, "The most holy house. The writer proceeds from speaking of "the greater house" (2 Chronicles 3:5), or holy place, to the "holy of holies." The parallel (1 Kings 6:20) adds the height, as also 20 cubits. Six hundred talents. It is impossible to assert with any accuracy the money value intended here. Six hundred talents of gold is an amazing proportion of the yearly revenue of 666 talents of gold, spoken of in 1 Kings 10:14. This latter amount is worth, in Keil's estimate, about three million and three quarters of our money, but in Peele's estimate nearer double that! The Hebrew, Phoenician, and Assyrian unit of weight is the same, and one quite different from the Egyptian. The silver talent (Hebrew, ciccar, ככר ) contained 60 manehs, each maneh being equal to 50 shekels, and a shekel being worth 220 grains; i.e. there were 3000 shekels, or 660,000 grains, in such talent. But the gold talent contained 100 manehs, the maneh 100 shekels, and the shekel 132 grains, making this gold talent the equivalent of 10,000 shekels, or 1,320,000 grains. The "holy shekel," or "shekel of the sanctuary," could be either of gold or silver (Exodus 38:4, Exodus 38:5).

9 The gold nails weighed fifty shekels.[f] He also overlaid the upper parts with gold.

BARNES, "The upper chambers - Compare 1Ch_28:11. Their position is uncertain. Some place them above the holy of holies, which was ten cubits, or fifteen feet lower than the main building (compare 1Ki_6:2, 1Ki_6:20); others, accepting the height of the porch 120 cubits 2Ch_3:4, regard the “upper chambers” or “chamber” ὑπερωον huperōon, Septuagint), as having been a lofty building erected over the entrance to the temple; others suggest that the chambers intended are simply the uppermost of the three sets of chambers which on three sides surrounded the temple (see 1Ki_6:5-10). This would seem to be the simplest and best explanation, though we cannot see any reason for the rich ornamentation of these apartments, or for David’s special directions concerning them.

32

CLARKE, "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.

ELLICOTT, " (9) And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold.—Literally, And a weight for nails for shekels—fifty in gold. The LXX. and Vulg. take this to mean that the weight of each nail was fifty shekels; and this is probably right, for fifty shekels as a total would be a trifling sum to record along with six hundred talents. The nails were used to fasten the golden plates to the wooden wainscoting of the edifice.

Whatever may be thought of the apparently incredible quantities of gold and silver stated to have been amassed by David for the Temple (1 Chronicles 22:14; 1 Chronicles 29:4; 1 Chronicles 29:7), it is clear that no inconsiderable amount of the former metal would be required for the plating of the chambers as described in this chapter. And it is well known, from their own monuments, that the Babylonian sovereigns of a later age were in the habit of thus adorning the houses of their gods. Nebuchadnezzar, for instance, who restored the great temple of Borsippa, says: “E-zida, the strong house, in the midst thereof I caused to make, with silver, gold, alabaster, bronze . . . cedar I caused to adorn (or, completed) its sibir. The cedar of the roof (?) of the shrines of Nebo with gold I caused to clothe.” In another inscription we read: “The shrine of Nebo, which is amid E-Sagili, its threshold, its bolt, and its babnaku, with gold I caused to clothe.” And again: “The cedar roof of the oracle I caused to clothe with bright silver.” The Assyrian Esarhaddon, a century earlier, boasts that he built ten castles in Assyria and Accad, and “made them shine like day with silver and gold.”

And he overlaid.—And the upper chambers he covered with gold. The chambers over the Holy of holies are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 28:11. The two statements of this verse are peculiar to the chronicle. The Syriac and Arabic omit the verse.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 3:9 And the weight of the nails [was] fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

Ver. 9. And he overlaid the upper chambers.] These were, saith Diodate, certain principal rooms of the building of the porticoes, appointed for the holy ministers to

33

make their meals in, like unto refectories; or else for places of meetings and counsel. See 1 Chronicles 28:11.

PULPIT, "The weight of the nails, fifty shekels of gold. According to the above scale, therefore, this weight would be a twelve-thousandth part for the nails of all the weight of the overlaying plates of gold. The upper chambers. This is the first mention of these "chambers" in the present description, but they have been alluded to by the Chronicle writer before, in 1 Chronicles 28:11. What or where they were is as yet not certainly ascertained. Presumably they were the highest tier of those chambers which surrounded three sides of the main building. But some think they were a superstructure to the holy of holies; others, high chambers in the supposed very lofty superstructure of the porch. Both of these suppositions seem to us of the unlikeliest. It would, however, be much more satisfactory, considering that all the subject before and after treats of the most holy place, to be able to connect this expression in some way with it, nor is there any reason evident for overlaying richly with gold the aforesaid chambers (2 Chronicles 9:4 compared with 2 Chronicles 22:11) of the third tier.

10 For the Most Holy Place he made a pair of sculptured cherubim and overlaid them with gold.

BARNES, "The word translated “image work,” or, in the margin, “moveable work,” occurs only in this passage, and has not even a Hebrew derivation. Modern Hebraists find an Arabic derivation, and explain the word to mean “carved work.”

HENRY 10-17, "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

34

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 (2Ch_3:10), 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 (2Ch_3:12, 2Ch_3:13), which was just the breadth of the most holy place, 2Ch_3:8. They stood on their feet, as servants, their faces inward toward the ark (2Ch_3:13), 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_12:22), 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 1Co_11:10 with Isa_6:2. 2. The veil that parted between the temple and the most holy place, 2Ch_3:14. 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 (2Ch_3:15), about eighteen cubits high a-piece. See 1Ki_7:15, etc., where we took a view of those pillars, Jachin and Boaz, establishment and strength in temple-work and by it.

JAMISON10-13, "two cherubims — These figures in the tabernacle were of pure gold (Exo_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.

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 mold 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.

K&D, "

35

COKE, "2 Chronicles 3:10. Cherubims of image work— Of wrought work. Le Clerc. Opere coagmentato, or of work formed in different parts, which might easily be taken in pieces. Houbigant. Parkhurst says, that the original word צעצעים tsaatsuiim expresses the manner of the workmanship, or of covering the cherubims with gold, to have been by spreading or laying along the gold close upon all the parts. See his Lexicon צעה tsaah.

ELLICOTT, " (10) Two cherubims.—1 Kings 6:23-28. They were made of oleaster, plated with gold.

Of image work.—Literally, a work of statuary. The Hebrew word meaning “statuary” occurs here only, and looks suspicious. The Vulg. renders opere statuario; the LXX. “a work of logs”; the Syriac “a durable work.” With the last three renderings comp. 1 Kings 6:23, “wood (or blocks) of oleaster,” a specially hard wood. The rendering of the LXX. suggests that the original reading may have been ma‘asçh ‘ççîm, “woodwork.”

And overlaid.—Heb., and they overlaid.

POOLE, "Of image work; made in the shape of young men or boys, as they commonly are. Or, of movable 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 2 Chronicles 3:13, in a moving posture.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 3:10 And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold.

Ver. 10. Two cherubims of image work.] Opere exemtili, so Tremellius; of work that might be taken asunder. Or of moving work, so others; that is to say, made as if they were in the act of flying or going. If it were image work - cherubims were made like boys, - yet this is no plea for Popish images; since they are flatly forbidden; and God made the law for us, not for himself.

COFFMAN, "THOSE GARGANTUAN CHERUBIM

36

"And in the most holy house he made two cherubim of image work; and they overlaid them with gold. And 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. And 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. The wings of the cherubim spread themselves forth twenty cubits; and they stood on their feet; and their faces were toward the house."

These colossal figures violated all of Moses' instructions regarding their use in the tabernacle. They were not supposed to fill up the house, but were intended to decorate the mercy seat, which was in fact a lid for the ark of the covenant. Furthermore, they were not supposed to "face the house" but to be in a posture of peering down intently into the mercy seat. One may find what these figurines were supposed to be in Exodus 25. They were to face each other, with their wings overshadowing the mercy seat, not to be standing side by side facing the outer sanctuary. Their wings were to pertain not to the whole Holy of Holies, but to the mercy seat alone. The apostle Peter referred to the symbolical significance of these cherubim in 1 Peter 1:12.

PARKER ""And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work" ( 2 Chronicles 3:10).

That was bold, yet it was necessary. We must paint, we must have pictures; if we cannot have reds and golds and blues and subtle mixtures of hue, we must have black and white. It is in us that we should have something beautiful to look at. Solomon had graved or painted cherubims. Think of painted wings; what mockeries! wings that never stirred, never fluttered, never warmed themselves in the waiting sun. The Church is full of these wings now, painted wings, painted cherubim. We have not these names, but we have other names that we idolize. We have now painted creeds: how astonishingly hideous they look! they are painted on the walls in blue, shaded with gilt,—"I believe in God." Is that a painted creed? Yes. A painted wing is an intolerable offence to the imagination, but a painted faith, who can bear it? If it stand there as a mere symbol, it may be beautiful; if it mean that what is painted on the wall is painted with blood in the life, let it stand: the eye may help the fancy and the soul; but if our creed be only painted, it is as a painted wing:

37

you will always find it where you left it—a wing that cannot flutter, much less fly, a wing that is useless in every aspect. The poet says—

So with our painted faiths. If our creed be not in our heart it will be as a millstone round about our neck. We have painted resolutions. They are the gallery which, if it were to be sold at a pound a foot, would make the Church a millionaire. What resolutions the Church has passed—and forgotten!

PULPIT, "Image work. The word in the Hebrew text ( צעצעים ) translated thus in our Authorized Version is a word unknown. Gesenius traces it to "an unused" Hebrew root צוע, of Arabic derivation (meaning "to carry on the trade of a goldsmith"), and offers to translate it "statuary" work with the Vulgate (opus statuarium). The parallel (1 Kings 6:23) gives simply "wood of oil" (not "olive," Nehemiah 8:15), i.e. the oleaster tree wood. It is obvious that some of the characters of these words would go some way to make the other unknown word. But it must be confessed that our text shows no external indications of a corrupt reading.

11 The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits[g] long and touched the temple wall, while its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the other cherub.

BARNES 11-12, "The wings of the cherubims - Compare 1Ki_6:24-27.

BENSON, "Verses 11-13

38

2 Chronicles 3:11-13. The wings of the cherubims were twenty cubits long — Which was just the breadth of the most holy place. And they stood on their feet — As servants, being designed, it seems, to represent the angels, those ministers of God who do his pleasure, Psalms 103:21, and who always attend the Divine Majesty. And their faces were inward — Toward the ark, that it might appear they were not set there to be adored, for then they would have been formed as sitting on a throne, and their faces would have been toward their worshippers.

ELLICOTT, " (11) And the wings of the cherubims were twenty cubits long.—Their length was, altogether, twenty cubits; so that, being outspread, they reached from wall to wall of the Holy of holies, which was twenty cubits wide. Of this breadth each cherub covered half, or ten cubits, with his wings, which were five cubits apiece in length. Obviously the inner wing of each cherub met the inner wing of the other in the middle of the wall.

One wing . . . other cherub.—The wing of the one, extending to five cubits, was touching the wall of the chamber, and the other wing—five cubits—was touching the wing of the other cherub.

TRAPP, "Verse 11-12

2 Chronicles 3:11 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.

2 Chronicles 3:12 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.

Ver. 11, 12. See on 1 Kings 6:24, &c.

PULPIT, "Twenty cubits. This, like all the preceding cubit measurings of the temple foundations and heights, and with all the succeeding cherubim measurings, is the exact double of that observed by Moses (Exodus 37:6-9). The height of the cherubim, ten cubits, not mentioned in our text, is given in the parallel (1 Kings 6:26).

39

12 Similarly one wing of the second cherub was five cubits long and touched the other temple wall, and its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the first cherub.

ELLICOTT, " (12) Literally, And the wing of the one cherub—five cubits—was touching the wall of the chamber, and the other wing—five cubits—was cleaving to the wing of the other cherub.

13 The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, facing the main hall.[h]

BARNES, "Their faces were inward - literally, as in the margin. Instead of looking toward one another, with heads bent downward over the mercy Seat, like the cherubim of Moses Exo_37:9, these of Solomon looked out from the sanctuary into the great chamber (“the house”). The cherubim thus stood upright on either side of the ark, like two sentinels guarding it.

ELLICOTT, " (13) The wings of these cherubims.—Or, These wings of the

40

cherubim.

Spread themselves forth.—Were outspreading (participle), 1 Chronicles 28:18.

And they stood.—Were standing. They were ten cubits high (1 Kings 6:26).

Inward.—See margin. Translate, toward the chamber. The cherubs did not face each other like the cherubim on the mercy seat (Exodus 25:20).

POOLE, "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’s cherubims, which looked towards it; but the most holy house, which was last named, 1 Chronicles 3:8, 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 expressly affirmed below, 1 Chronicles 5:8.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 3:13 The wings of these cherubims spread themselves forth twenty cubits: and they stood on their feet, and their faces [were] inward.

Ver. 13. And their faces were inward.] Heb., Toward the house; i.e., toward the holy place, called the greater house. [2 Chronicles 3:5]

PULPIT, "Their faces were inward; Hebrew, "were to the house," viz. to the holy place. The position of these cherubim, both as to wings and faces, was clearly different from that of those for the tabernacle of Moses. There they "cover the mercy-seat with their wings, and their faces are one to another … toward the mercy-seat were the faces of the cherubim" (Exodus 25:20; Exodus 37:9). May this alteration in the time of Solomon indicate possibly one more advance in the developing outlook of Divine mercy to a whole world? Neither this place nor the parallel makes it certain whether the cherubim, that are here said to stand on their feet, stood on the ground, as some say they did. As regards those of the tabernacle, the prepositions used in Exodus 25:18, Exodus 25:19 and Exodus 37:7, Exodus 37:8 appear to lay stress on their position being a fixture at and on each extremity of the mercy-seat.

41

14 He made the curtain of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim worked into it.

BARNES, "This is an important addition to the description in Kings, where the veil is not mentioned. It was made of exactly the same colors as the veil of the tabernacle Exo_26:31.

K&D, "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. כרמיל ובוץ as in 2Ch_2:13. עלה.to bring upon; an indefinite expression for: to weave into the material ,על

BENSON, "2 Chronicles 3:14. And he made the veil, &c. — The inner veil, which parted between the holy and 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 through him we are brought nigh, and have boldness, or παρρησια, liberty, Hebrews 10:19, not only to look, but to enter into the holiest. And wrought cherubims thereon — Hebrew, ויעל, vajagnal, he caused to ascend; that is, they were made in raised work, embossed, and appeared probably on the wing, in an ascending posture, to remind the worshippers to raise their thoughts and affections to God, and to soar upward in their devotions.

ELLICOTT, " (14) The vail.—The Pârôkheth, or curtain, which divided the holy place from the holy of holies, is not mentioned in the existing text of 1 Kings 6:21,

42

which passage, however, speaks of the chains of gold by which the vail was probably suspended.

Blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen.—See Notes on 2 Chronicles 2:7; 2 Chronicles 2:14.

Wrought.—See Note on “set,” 2 Chronicles 3:5. Here raised figures in tapestry or broidered work are meant. (See Exodus 26:31, which gives an identical description of the vail of the tabernacle.)

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 3:14 And he made the vail [of] blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.

Ver. 14. And he made the veil.] See on 1 Kings 6:21.

COFFMAN, ""And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubim thereon."

(See the chapter heading for our perplexity regarding this verse.) Significantly, it is not stated that this veil sealed off the Holy of Holies, although it may be implied. Certainly that is what should have been done; but 1 Kings 6 indicates that olive-wood doors were used. One thing is certain, the Herodian temple had the veil.

PULPIT, "The veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen (so Exodus 26:31, Exodus 26:33, Exodus 26:35; Exodus 36:35; Exodus 40:3, Exodus 40:21). It is remarkable that our parallel (1 Kings 6:1-38.) does not make mention of the veil, though a feature of which so much was always made. On the other hand, it is remarkable that our present passage does not make mention of the folding "doors of olive tree," which, with "the veil," intercepted the approach to the oracle (1 Kings 6:31, 1 Kings 6:32), nor of the partition walls (1 Kings 6:16) in which they were situate, nor of the "partition chains [1 Kings 6:21] of gold before the oracle."

43

15 For the front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits[i] long, each with a capital five cubits high.

BARNES, "Of thirty and five cubits - See 1Ki_7:15 note. Some suppose that there has been a corruption of the number in the present passage.

K&D, "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 18 = יח with 35 = לה; see on 1Ki_7:16.

,overlay, cover, is the hood of the pillar, i.e., the capital ,צפה from (.ἁπ. λεγ) הצפת

called in 1Ki_7:16. כתרת, crown, capital, five cubits high, as in 1Ki_7:16.

BENSON, "Verse 15-16

2 Chronicles 3:15-16. He also made before the house — That is, before the holy house, or temple, as it is explained 2 Chronicles 3:17; two pillars of thirty and five cubits high — Namely, both taken together, being each near eighteen cubits, 1 Kings 7:15. He made chains as in the oracle — Like unto those which he made in the oracle, of which see 1 Kings 6:21. And made a hundred pomegranates — In each row, or two hundred in all, as it is said 1 Kings 7:20. These pillars, according to the signification of their names, Jachin and Boaz, mean establishment and strength. See the margin.

COKE, "2 Chronicles 3:15. Two pillars of thirty and five cubits— See 1 Kings 7:15.

REFLECTIONS.—1st, The account of the building of the temple, we had, 1 Kings 6 more at large. Three years were taken up in needful preparations; on the fourth,

44

Solomon laid the foundation. The dimensions exactly corresponded with the pattern given him by David, 1 Chronicles 28:2. The porch led into the greater house, or the holy place; and that into the holiest of all, within the vail. The whole was covered throughout, on the inside, with plates of gold, with golden chains, and palm-trees embossed; the very nails were fine gold, each of fifty shekels weight, or perhaps of that value. In the gold, the precious stones were set, glittering by the light of the lamps with inconceivable lustre; yet how poor all this, great and glorious as it was, compared with that heavenly temple, where every faithful believer consecrated to God is not only for a time to minister, but for eternity to dwell! See Revelation 21:18-19; Revelation 21:21.

2nd, The cherubims represented the angels, bending in adoration towards the mercy-seat, to teach us, that what is their work should be ours. A vail separated the most holy place: that dispensation was dark; but the vail is done away in Christ, and the mercy-seat open to every believing sinner. On this vail cherubims were wrought, or caused to ascend, either raised work, or in an ascending posture, as if mounting to heaven, whither in our devotions our hearts should soar. The two pillars were at the entrance; see 1 Kings 7:15. Every true believer is like these, firm and immoveable against all enemies; and adorned with divine graces more precious than wrought gold.

ELLICOTT, " (d) THE TWO BRONZE PILLARS IN THE PORCH

(2 Chronicles 3:15-17). Comp. 1 Kings 7:15-22.

(15) Before the house.—Before the holy place, in the porch.

Two pillars of thirty and five cubits high.—Two pillars thirty and five cubits in length. 1 Kings 7:15 says “eighteen cubits,” so also 2 Kings 25:17; Jeremiah 52:21; and no doubt correctly. Of the versions, the LXX. and Vulg. have “thirty-five;” the Syriac and Arabic, “eighteen.”

The chapiter—i.e., the capital. French, chapitre. Literally, the ornament. 1 Kings

45

7:16 has “the crown; “so 2 Chronicles 4:12.

POOLE. " Before the house, i.e. before the holy house, or before the temple as this is explained, 1 Chronicles 3:17, lest it should be understood of the most holy house, of which he had spoken before.

Thirty and five cubits high, to wit, both of them; of which See Poole "1 Kings 7:15".

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 3:15 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.

Ver. 15. Also he made before the house two pillars.] These were cast by Hiram, as great ordnance are now-a-days, round and hollow. See on 1 Kings 7:15.

COFFMAN, "ANOTHER ONE OF SOLOMON'S SINS: JACHIN AND BOAZ

"And he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the capital that was upon each of them was five cubits. And he made chains in the oracle, and put them on the tops of the pillars; and he made a hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains. And he set up the pillars before the temple, one of the right hand, and the other on the left; and he called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz."

(See our full discussion of these pagan pillars which Solomon put in front of the temple in our commentary on 1Kings, pp. 83-85.)

The accounts in Kings and Chronicles vary as to the exact dimensions of those pillars; but so what? They were sinful innovations anyway.

PULPIT, "Thirty and five cubits. The height of these pillars is attested in three places to have been 18 cubits (1 Kings 7:15; 2 Kings 25:17; Jeremiah 52:21). Some therefore think that the height given in our text describes rather the distance of the one pillar from the other, which would be just 35 cubits, if they stood at the extreme points of the line of the porch front; since the wings on each side (5 cubits for the lowest chamber, and 2.5 cubits for the thickness of the walls) would make up this

46

amount. It is further noticed with this explanation that their height (18 cubits) with the chapiters (5 cubits) added, would bring them to the same height as the porch, and that their ornamentation agrees with that of the porch (1 Kings 7:19). All this may be the ease. Yet considering other indications of uncertainty about our text, and the fact that the characters yod kheth (18) are easily superseded by lamed he (35), it is perhaps likelier that we have here simply a clerical error. The parallel place tells us that these pillars and the chapiters were cast of brass; that "a line [1 Kings 7:15; Jeremiah 52:1-34 :41] of twelve cubits [not seven] did compass either of them about;" that the ornamentation of each chapiter was "a net of checker-work, and a wreath of chain-work;" that upon the five cubits of chapiter there was another "four cubits of lily-work," etc. If this last feature apply to the two pillars, and not (as some think) to the porch only, the pillars would reach a height of 27 cubits, and if it be supposed that they stood on some stone or other superstructure, it may still be that our "thirty-five cubits" has its meaning. Meantime the passage in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 52:1-34 :41) tells us that the pillars were hollow, and that the thickness of the metal was "four fingers."

16 He made interwoven chains[j] and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains.

BARNES, "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, בדביר, “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

47

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 דביר must

signify the same as the more usual שבכה, 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 ברביד by a transposition of the letters. ברביד (chains) should be read here. This conjecture so decidedly commends itself, that we regard it as certainly correct, since denotes in Gen_41:42; Eze_16:11, a necklace, and so may easily denote also a ring רבידor hoop; but we cannot adopt the translation “chains on a ring,” nor the idea that the since it surrounded the head of the pillars as a girdle or broad ring, is called the ,שבכהring 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

ת) גלה but rather corresponds to that part of the capital which is called ,שבכה in (גל

1Ki_7:14; for the ת ת served to cover the שבכ and were consequently placed on or ,גל

over the ת denotes the הגלה .as the pomegranates were on the chains or woven work ,גל

curve, the circumvolution, which is in 1Ki_7:20 called הבטן, 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 (כתרת( xylac-).

POOLE, " As in the oracle; as he had done, or like unto those which he made, in the oracle; of which see 1 Kings 6:21. The particle as is oft understood, as Genesis 49:9 Deuteronomy 33:22, &c.

An hundred pomegranates in each row, or two hundred in all, as it is said, 1 Kings 7:20.

TRAPP, "Verse 16-17

2 Chronicles 3:16 And he made chains, [as] in the oracle, and put [them] on the heads of the pillars; and made an hundred pomegranates, and put [them] on the chains.

48

2 Chronicles 3:17 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.

Ver. 16,17. See 1 Kings 7:17-18; 1 Kings 7:21.

PULPIT, "Chains, as in the oracle. Though the writer of Chronicles has not in this description mentioned any chains as appertaining to the oracle, yet they are mentioned in the parallel. The selection of what is said has in our present text so much the appearance of haste, that this may account for the abrupt appearance of the allusion here. Otherwise the words, "in the oracle," tempt us to fear some corruptness of text, scarcely safely removed by Bertheau's suggestion to substitute An hundred pomegranates. These passages indicate .("oracle") דביר for ("ring") רבידthat the total number of pomegranates was two hundred for each pillar.

17 He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakin[k] and the one to the north Boaz.[l]

CLARKE, "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 1Ki_7:21 (note); and see the parallel places for other matters contained in this chapter.

ELLICOTT, "(17) Before the temple.—Vulg., in vestibulo templi. So 1 Kings 7:21 has, “at the porch of the temple.” 1 Kings 7:22 adds, “and upon the top of the pillars was lily-work.”

49

Jachin . . . Boaz.—See 1 Kings 7:21. “The description of the two brazen pillars,” says Reuss, “much more detailed in 1 Kings 7:15 ff., has become almost unintelligible, under the pen of the abbreviate.” This is a strong exaggeration. He also pronounces the word bad-debîr in 2 Chronicles 3:16 “absolutely unintelligible,” and to be accounted “foreign to the text.” How little we agree with this hasty decision will be evident from our Note on that verse.

PARKER, "Solomon having carried forward the temple so far,

"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" ( 2 Chronicles 3:17).

There is wonderful suggestion of strength in a pillar. What dignity, too, that straight line has! Who can look at a pillar and be unmoved? To some blind eyes it is nothing, but to those whose eyes are in their heads, what is signified by its uprightness, its solidity, its obvious utility, its preparedness to stand there and take the risks of the building upon it? Mr. Ruskin says that not only must a pillar be strong, it must look strong. That gives men confidence in a public building. A pillar an inch in diameter might be perfectly sufficient for its work, but it does not look sufficient. All God"s building is manifestly established, strong, solid; the very gossamer which God weaves is more enduring than a plate of steel. "The foundation of the Lord standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." And yet on the top of the pillars we find lily-work, little tufts of beauty; so that we must not only have utility, but decoration. Beauty has a great part to play in the ministry of life. Little flowers come and go, but they always come as gospels, and leave behind them a sense of benediction. So it is in great character. Men may be too severe in their righteousness. They may be of that quality which men like to admire through a telescope, but which no little child would ever come near were there any other road to fly away by. Add to your faith until you reach brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness add charity—a great pillar, with a capital of beauty. We cannot live upon severity, we cannot feast upon righteousness; and we cannot live without truth and without uprightness. In Christ we find strength and beauty.

50

Solomon did one thing which is of infinite significance,—Solomon having finished his building brought up the ark. It was a new building, but it was an old ark. You cannot make two arks. Some things are done once for all. So in life we may have new situations, but the old truth; new churches, but the old Bible. No man may publish a supplement to the Bible: he may plant its acorns, and grow them into oaks; he may sow flowers, and grow them into new paradises of beauty; but a new temple with a new Bible would be an intolerable novelty—it would be too new. See Solomon"s temple, which he spoke of in terms that to our modern conceptions of building are almost fabulous, but see within that magical fabric the old ark—the ark that had seen the wilderness and seen the battle, and gone through all the varieties of an eventful fortune; yet there it stood, still the treasure-house of the heart, still the light of the Church, still the security of the spiritual kingdom upon the earth. But even here we find encouragement to persevere, for even here we may have novelty and antiquity—a new head-dress, but the old philosophies inhabiting the brain, and taking possession and dominion of the soul and ruling it with gentle sway. We may have a new house, larger than the last by many a room, even by story upon story, for our last house was a little one, and our present house is an ample habitation, the one a habi-taculum, the other a palace, but in both the old Bible, the old ark, the old commandments, the old mercy-seat. If you had encouragement to proceed, you could build elaborately, and prove your earnestness by your expenditure. Solomon so proved his enthusiasm. He kept back nothing. And he sent to heathen nations to send in all they could gather. But he never sent to them to furnish him with an ark; he never said, If you can find me a new altar, a new God, a new faith, I should be obliged to you. The temple was nothing until the ark was put into it: the church is nothing until the Bible is read in it: then every stone is consecrated, the roof is a sky. So it must be in all life; we must have wisdom to start with, instruction to proceed with, enthusiasm attested by expenditure, strength and beauty, establishment and direction, and within all our novelties we must have the eternal, the unchangeable ark, the verity that submits to no modification, the law that grows into love, the righteousness clothed with garments of mercy. Let men who have hitherto been acting the part that is foolish take up the policy that is wise. Have a programme or ground-plan of life, a brief creed and yet an infinite faith: having some things that cannot be exchanged for gold, and compared with which rubies would be worthless dust. What will the end be of a man who adopts this course? The end will be a living temple, a divine ark,--music, peace, joy, infinite contentment.

PULPIT, "Jachin … Boaz. The margin of our Authorized Version gives with sufficient correctness the meaning of these names of the pillars, which purport to set

51

forth the safety and sure strength that belong to those who wait on, and who calmly and constantly abide by, the Divine leading. The latter, however, is one word, a substantive, not a compound of preposition, pronoun, and substantive; and the former, though by derivation the future of the hiph. conjugation of the verb הון, is established as a substantive in its own right.

Footnotes:

2 Chronicles 3:1 Hebrew Ornan, a variant of Araunah

2 Chronicles 3:3 That is, about 90 feet long and 30 feet wide or about 27 meters long and 9 meters wide

2 Chronicles 3:4 That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters; also in verses 8, 11 and 13

2 Chronicles 3:4 Some Septuagint and Syriac manuscripts; Hebrew and a hundred and twenty

2 Chronicles 3:8 That is, about 23 tons or about 21 metric tons

2 Chronicles 3:9 That is, about 1 1/4 pounds or about 575 grams

2 Chronicles 3:11 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters; also in verse 15

2 Chronicles 3:13 Or facing inward

2 Chronicles 3:15 That is, about 53 feet or about 16 meters

52

2 Chronicles 3:16 Or possibly made chains in the inner sanctuary; the meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.

2 Chronicles 3:17 Jakin probably means he establishes.

2 Chronicles 3:17 Boaz probably means in him is strength.

53