Bible Commentaries

III.

THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE AND MAKING OF THE SACRED VESSELS (2 Chronicles 3:1 to 2 Chronicles 5:1; comp. 1 Kings 6, 7).

(a) Site and date (2 Chronicles 3:1-2). (b) Its dimensions: the porch and the Holy Place, or nave (2 Chronicles 3:3-7). (c) The Holy of holies, or chancel, with the cherubim and the vail (2 Chronicles 3:8-14). (d) The two bronze pillars in the porch (2 Chronicles 3:15-17).

(a) SITE AND DATE (2 Chronicles 3:1-2).

(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 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.

(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.

(b) DIMENSIONS OF THE TEMPLE THE PORCK AND THE HOLY PLACE, OR NAVE (2 Chronicles 3:3-7).

(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).

(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 Kings 6:3.)

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

(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.”

(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.

(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

With golden cherubins is fretted.”

Cymbeline, .

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

(c) THE HOLY OF HOLIES, OR CHANCEL, WITH THE CHERUBIM AND THE VAIL (2 Chronicles 3:8-14).

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

(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.

(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.

(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.

(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 cherubims.—Or, These wings of the 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).

(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, 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.)

(d) THE TWO BRONZE PILLARS IN THE PORCH
(2 Chronicles 3:15-17). Comp. 1 Kings 7:15-22.

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

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

The chapiter—i.e., the capital. French, chapitre. Literally, the ornament. 1 Kings 7:16 has “the crown; “so 2 Chronicles 4:12.

(16) And he made chains, as in the oracle.—Heb., And he made chainwork in the oracle, or chancel, which is clearly corrupt. But if we read kad-debîr for bad-debîr, an infinitesimal change in Hebrew writing, we get the sense which our version suggests: And he made chainwork as in the chancel. It is true that the sacred writer has not told us that the walls of the Holy of Holies were so ornamented, but in 2 Chronicles 3:5 he states it of the great hall or holy place, and 1 Kings 6:29 declares that the whole house was adorned with mural carvings. It was quite natural to write, “and he made chainwork as in the oracle,” assuming that such decorations really existed in the inner chamber. There seems therefore to be no need to alter debîr into rabîd, (“collar”) as most commentators have done, although the change is very slight in Hebrew writing. The LXX. had the present Hebrew text, but, apparently, not understanding it transliterated the Hebrew words: “He made serserôth in the dabir.” So Vulg., “as it were chainlets in the oracle.” The Syriac and Arabic have “and he made chains of fifty cubits.”

An hundred pomegranates.—So Jeremiah 52:23. (See 1 Kings 7:20; 1 Kings 7:42, from which it appears that there were altogether four hundred pomegranates, viz., an upper and lower row of one hundred each upon the chainwork of each pillar. So 2 Chronicles 4:13.)

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

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