1 Kings 6--Solomon Builds the Temple

1 Kings 6
English Standard Version

Solomon Builds the Temple
6 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD. 2 The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. 3 The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house. 4 And he made for the house windows with recessed frames. 5 He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around. 6 The lowest story was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

7 When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

8 The entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third. 9 So he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar. 10 He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

11 Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon, 12 “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”

14 So Solomon built the house and finished it. 15 He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. 16 He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place. 17 The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. 18 The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen. 19 The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar. 21 And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. 22 And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. 24 Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. 25 The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. 26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. 27 He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. And the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. 28 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. 30 The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.

31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided. 32 He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

33 So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square, 34 and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. 35 On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. 36 He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.

37 In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid, in the month of Ziv. 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.

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It's been 480 years since the LORD brought the people out of Egypt at the first Passover and it's been four years since Solomon became king.  In the second month of that year, he decides that he's collected enough resources to officially begin construction of the Temple of the LORD.  Words like "beautiful" and "magnificent" aren't good enough to describe it, but as we said last time, it's only a glimpse of the beauty that awaits us in the New Jerusalem.  The Temple was 90 feet long by 30 feet wide, by 45 feet tall.  Not only are the dimensions of the actual Temple given but dimensions of the vestibule in front of it as well as descriptions of how the walls around the Temple were built and how the Temple was supported,  These are not numbers that are exaggerated or made up, but if you would give them to an architect today they would agree that this was a well thought-out plan that would accomplish the purpose of providing a strong support system while not allowing the supports to be an eyesore and let people's eyes be drawn to the beauty of the sanctuary itself.

No iron tool was used to quarry the stones used in building the Temple, for that would be a violation of what the LORD had commanded in how to build stone altars, and those some principles were used here in building His "house."  However, there was still only one entrance on the south side (this differs from how the entrance to the Tabernacle was made with its entrance always facing to the east).  When he finished building the exterior of the Temple, he paneled it in cedar wood and made a roof of cedar wood for it.

The LORD then comes to Solomon and says that His presence will only dwell among the people as long as they keep His covenant and obey His commands.  It is a conditional covenant.  That is not to say that the LORD will ever leave His people, but it is to say just the opposite.  If the people disobey and the LORD sends them away (as He will send them away to Babylon in the not too distant future), He will go with them.  He is not like a pagan god or goddess whose power is localized to their temple.  He can go wherever He wants whenever He wants, but as long as the people are obedient and receive the blessings of remaining in the Land, then the Temple will be a symbol of the LORD's continued Presence among them, just how the Tabernacle had been.  The LORD also renews His unconditional covenant with Solomon that He made with David to say that He would make a dynasty for David and that there would always be a descendant of David as king over Israel and that the LORD would establish and everlasting kingdom from the line of David (this was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus as He was the Son of David whose kingdom will be without end).

With the outside of the Temple built, Solomon then turns his focus to the inside of the Temple.  He lined all the walls and ceilings on the inside with cedar wood, and he made the floors of cypress wood.  He then built the Most Holy Place in the rear of the building so that it took the last 30 feet of the building.  It was designed to be a perfect cube just like the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle was so that its dimensions here were 30ft by 30ft by 30ft.  The Holy Place therefore was made of the other 60 feet in front of this, and within the paneling of the sanctuary, Solomon had intricate carvings of gourds and flowers, and the interior of the Temple was fully paneled so that no stone could be seen.

The Ark of the Covenant was then brought into the Most Holy Place (what is called the inner sanctuary here).  Solomon overlaid the Holy of Holies with pure gold.  He made the Altar of Incense out of cedar wood and overlaid it with pure gold, and he overlaid the entire Holy Place with pure gold as well.  He also made a "curtain" of gold chains in front of the Most Holy Place where the thick curtain had been, and all this was overlaid with gold

Within the Most Holy Place he made two cherubim of olivewood that were both 15 feet high.  The length of the wings on each was seven-and-one-half feet (half the height) so that the distance between them when their wings touched the walls.  These also were overlaid with gold.

Around all the walls Solomon engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and then everything was overlaid with gold.  Now Solomon went to work on making the entrance into the sanctuary.  He made doorposts that formed a square and he made two doors of cypress wood.  Each door was made of two leaves that folded together.  These two were engraved with the same kinds of intricate designs and overlaid with gold.

After this he started to build the courtyard which he constructed with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.  Nothing in the courtyard area was overlaid with gold--that was reserved for the inside of the sanctuary.

It took seven-and-a-half years for all this work to be completed (from the second month of the fourth year of King Solomon to the eighth month of his eleventh year).  This was the most important project to him and all of his resources were tied up during this time, but the LORD gave Solomon peace during this entire period so that he had no fear of war or plague or famine or anything else while he focused on building the Temple.  The LORD even gave Solomon allies to partner with him in this project  Everything was done according to the specifications given here.

Next time we'll see that this project made Solomon want to design a palace for himself, as well as some other important government buildings which he also wanted to look elegant and have a place of prominence.  We'll read about those next time before Solomon makes all the furnishings and instruments to be used in the Temple.