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The Building Itself
v. 1. And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, this exact chronological statement serving as a guide and norm for the solution of all problems concerned with the fixing of time in that period of Israel's history, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, corresponding roughly to our May, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord, evidently on the very day of the new moon.
v. 2. And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof, of the main building, of the Sanctuary proper, was threescore cubits, inside measure, the cubit used in this case being either eighteen or twenty-one inches in length, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.
v. 3. And the porch, a sort of entrance-hall, before the Temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, it was as long as the Sanctuary was wide, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof, its depth, before the house.
v. 4. And for the house he made windows of narrow lights, set apparently near the ceiling, with a wide opening on the inside, but gradually becoming narrower toward the outside, and covered with heavy screens, or grilles.
v. 5. And against the wall of the house, leaning against the Sanctuary, as it were, he built chambers round about, wings flanking the main building, both of the temple, the Holy Place, and of the oracle, the Most Holy Place; and he made chambers round about, ribs, or joints, which divided the wings into distinct compartments.
v. 6. The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle, the second story, was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, literally, "he provided lessening to the house round about outside," that is, the wall was recessed or made thinner for each succeeding story of the outer structure, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house, for the fine, costly stones of the Temple proper were to remain whole and uninjured, that no holes should be cut into them for the purpose of inserting the ends of the ceiling-beams.
v. 7. And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither, hewn and prepared according to careful measurements at the quarries, so that there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building.
v. 8. The door for the middle chamber, the side-structure, or wings, was in the right side of the house, on the south side; and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, inside the side-structure, and out of the middle into the third.
v. 9. So he built the house and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar. This was the roof-construction, a flat roof, whose cedar-beams were covered with cedar-boards, as the roof proper.
v. 10. And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high, for each story; and they rested on the house with timber of cedar, whose ends, resting upon the top of the walls of the Temple, served to unite the side structure with the main building.
v. 11. And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, probably through one of the prophets, saying,
v. 12. Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in My statutes, and execute My judgments, and keep all My commandments to walk in them, then will I perform My word with thee which I spake unto David, thy father, that contained in the wonderful Messianic promise, 2Sa_7:13;
v. 13. and I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. The eternal confirmation and establishment of the throne of David included the living of Jehovah among His people, presupposed this, in fact. "Such a promise necessarily encouraged and strengthened Solomon in his great and difficult undertaking, as it reminded and urged him to the performance of his sacred obligations. " (Lange. )
v. 14. So Solomon built the house and finished it, under the inspiration of this promise. The Temple of Solomon is a type of the great Temple of the New Testament, the Christian Church. There Jehovah lives in the midst of His people, through His Word and Spirit. But only those who truly believe and live a life of faith are citizens with the saints and of the household of God.