2 chronicles 3 commentary

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.”
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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
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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 ‫ָה‬‫יּ‬ ִ‫ר‬ ‫מּ‬ ַ‫,ה‬ i.e., “the appearance of Jahve,” from
that event. It is the mountain which lies to the north-east of Zion, now called Haram
after the most sacred mosque of the Mohammedans, which is built there; cf. Rosen, das
Haram von Jerusalem, Gotha 1866. ‫לד‬ ‫ה‬ ָ‫א‬ ְ‫ר‬ִ‫נ‬ ‫ר‬ֶ‫ֲשׁ‬‫א‬ is usually translated: “which was
pointed out to David his father.” But ‫ה‬ ָ‫א‬ ָ‫ר‬ 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 ‫ר‬ֶ‫ֲשׁ‬‫א‬ ‫ר‬ ָ‫ה‬ ָ‫,בּ‬ “on the mountain where,” cf. ‫ר‬ֶ‫ֲשׁ‬‫א‬ ‫ם‬ ‫ק‬ ָ‫מּ‬ ַ‫,בּ‬ Gen_35:13.,
and Ew. §331, c, 3. ‫ין‬ ִ‫כ‬ ֵ‫ה‬ ‫ר‬ֶ‫ֲשׁ‬‫א‬ is separated from what precedes, and connected with what
follows, by the Athnach under ‫יהוּ‬ ִ‫ב‬ ָ‫,א‬ 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
‫ין‬ ִ‫כ‬ ֵ‫ה‬ occurs elsewhere only of David's activity in preparing for the building of the temple,
and “place of David” cannot, without further ceremony, mean the place which David had
chosen. He would therefore transpose the words thus: ‫יד‬ ִ‫ו‬ ָ‫ד‬ ‫ין‬ ִ‫כ‬ ֵ‫ה‬ ‫ר‬ֶ‫ֲשׁ‬‫א‬ ‫ם‬ ‫ק‬ ְ‫מ‬ ִ‫.בּ‬ But this
conjecture is by no means certain. In the first place, the mere transposition of the words
is not sufficient; we must also alter ‫ם‬ ‫ק‬ ְ‫מ‬ ִ‫בּ‬ into ‫ם‬ ‫ק‬ ָ‫מּ‬ ַ‫,בּ‬ to get the required sense; and,
further, Bertheau's reasons are not conclusive. ‫ין‬ ִ‫כ‬ ֵ‫ה‬ means not merely to make ready for
(zurüsten), to prepare, but also to make ready, make (bereiten), found e.g., 1Ki_6:19;
Ezr_3:3; and the frequent use of this word in reference to David's action in preparing for
the building of the temple does not prove that it has this signification here also. The
clause may be quite well translated, with J. J. Rambach: “quam domum praeparavit
(Salomo) in loco Davidis.” The expression “David's place,” for “place which David had
fixed upon,” cannot in this connection be misunderstood, but yet it cannot be denied
that the clause is stiff and constrained if we refer it to ‫יהוה‬ ‫ית‬ ֵ‫ת־בּ‬ ֶ‫.א‬ We would therefore
prefer to give up the Masoretic punctuation, and construe the words otherwise,
connecting ‫ין‬ ִ‫כ‬ ֵ‫ה‬ ‫ר‬ֶ‫ֲשׁ‬‫א‬ 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 ‫ק‬ ְ‫מ‬ ִ‫בּ‬ ‫,ד‬ with the
following designation of the place, to depend upon ‫ת‬ ‫נ‬ ְ‫ב‬ ִ‫ל‬ as a further explanation of the
‫הם‬ ‫ר‬ ַ‫ה‬ ְ‫,בּ‬ viz., in the place of David, i.e., on the place fixed by David on the threshing-
3

floor of the Jebusite Ornan; cf. 1Ch_21:18. - In 2Ch_3:2 ‫ת‬ ‫נ‬ ְ‫ב‬ ִ‫ל‬ ‫ל‬ ֶ‫ָח‬‫יּ‬ַ‫ו‬ is repeated in order
to fix the time of the building. In 1Ki_6:1 the time is fixed by its relation to the exodus of
the Israelites from Egypt. ‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ֵ‫שּׁ‬ ַ‫,בּ‬ 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 ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫ֹר‬‫ח‬ַ‫ל‬ or ‫ם‬ ‫,י‬ the month having
been previously given. Berth. therefore considers ‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ֵ‫שּׁ‬ ַ‫בּ‬ to be a gloss which has come into
the text by a repetition of ‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ֵ‫שּׁ‬ ַ‫,ה‬ 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 ‫ָה‬‫י‬‫מוֹר‬ 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.
‫ד‬ ַ‫הוּס‬ is used here and in Ezr_3:11 substantively. The measurements only of the length
and breadth of the building are given; the height, which is stated in 1Ki_6:2, is omitted
here. The former, i.e., the ancient measurement, is the Mosaic or sacred cubit, which,
according to Eze_40:5 and Eze_43:13, was a handbreadth longer than the civil cubit of
the earlier time; see on 1Ki_6:2.
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
‫ד‬ַ‫ָס‬‫י‬ to "found;" and the purport of the clause is that Solomon caused the
foundations 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 ‫ואשרים‬ ‫מאה‬ meah veesrim, one hundred and twenty. But probably the
letters in ‫מאה‬ meah, a hundred, are transposed for ‫אמה‬ ammah, a cubit, if, therefore, the
‫א‬ aleph be placed after the ‫מ‬ mem, then the word will be ‫מאה‬ meah one hundred; if
before it the word will be ‫אמה‬ ammah, a cubit; therefore ‫עשרים‬ ‫אמה‬ 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. ֶ‫אֹר‬ ָ‫ה‬ with the article refers back to ֶ‫ֹר‬‫א‬ ָ‫ה‬ in 2Ch_3:3 (the length of the house),
and ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ל־פּ‬ַ‫ע‬ 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 ‫ָיו‬‫נ‬ָ‫פּ‬ ‫ל‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫בּ‬ ְ‫ח‬ ָ‫ר‬ ָ‫ר‬ ‫ה‬ ָ‫מּ‬ ַ‫א‬ ָ‫בּ‬ ‫ר‬ֶ‫שׂ‬ֵ‫ע‬ ‫ת‬ִ‫י‬ ַ‫בּ‬ ַ‫ה‬
between ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ל־פּ‬ַ‫ע‬ and ֶ‫אֹר‬ ָ‫,ה‬ 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
‫ָיו‬‫נ‬ָ‫ל־פּ‬ַ‫,ע‬ but ‫ת‬ִ‫י‬ ַ‫בּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ל־פּ‬ַ‫,ע‬ and instead of ֶ‫ֹר‬‫א‬ ָ‫ה‬ would have written ‫י‬ֹ‫כּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫,ו‬ to
correspond with ‫בּ‬ ְ‫ח‬ ָ‫).ר‬
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 ‫ם‬ ָ‫;אוּל‬ it would have been a ‫ל‬ ָ‫דּ‬ְ‫ג‬ ִ‫,מ‬ 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" ( ‫ָם‬‫ל‬‫,אוּ‬ Greek, ὁ
πρόναος ). 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, ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫שׂ‬ ִ‫ﬠ‬ ְ‫ו‬ ‫ה‬ ָ‫א‬ ֵ‫,מ‬ read ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ֵ‫שׂ‬ ְ‫ﬠ‬ ‫מוֹת‬ ְ‫,ﬠ‬ 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 ( ‫יר‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ‫דּ‬
or ‫ים‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫ד‬ָ‫ק‬ ‫שׁ‬ ֶ‫ד‬ֹ‫04;)ק‬ for the holy place ( ‫ל‬ָ‫כ‬‫י‬ֵ‫;)ה‬ 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) ‫ה‬ָ‫פ‬ָ‫,ח‬ 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) ‫ָה‬‫ל‬ָ‫ﬠ‬ 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) ‫ה‬ָ‫פ‬ָ‫צ‬ 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) ַ‫ד‬ ָ‫ר‬ 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_3:5-7
The 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. ‫ה‬ָ‫פּ‬ ִ‫ח‬ from ‫ה‬ָ‫פ‬ ָ‫,ח‬ to cover, cover over,
alternates with the synonymous ‫ה‬ָ‫פּ‬ ִ‫צ‬ in the signification to coat or overlay with wood
and gold. ‫ים‬ ִ‫ֹר‬‫מּ‬ ִ‫תּ‬ .dlo as in Eze_41:18, for ‫ת‬ ‫ֹר‬‫מּ‬ ִ‫,תּ‬ 1Ki_6:29, 1Ki_6:35, are artificial
palms as wall ornaments. ‫ת‬ ‫ר‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ְ‫ר‬ַ‫שׁ‬ are in Exo_28:14 small scroll-formed chains of gold
wire, 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, ‫כָּר‬ ִ‫כּ‬ ) 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” ὑπερῷον
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 ( ‫ים‬ ִ‫ֻﬠ‬‫צ‬ֲ‫ﬠ‬ַ‫צ‬ ) translated thus in
our Authorized Version is a word unknown. Gesenius traces it to "an unused"
Hebrew root ‫ַע‬‫ו‬‫,צ‬ 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. ‫וּבוּץ‬ ‫יל‬ ִ‫מ‬ ְ‫ר‬ַ‫כּ‬ as in 2Ch_2:13. ‫ה‬ָ‫ל‬ָ‫ע‬
‫ל‬ַ‫,ע‬ to bring upon; an indefinite expression for: to weave into the material.
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

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