Bible Commentaries

The breadth - These walls in their thickness took up as much space as the whole breadth of Moses's tabernacle, Exodus 26:16 , Exodus 26:22 .

Went he - From the porch thro' the body of the temple, to the partition between the body of the temple and the holy of holies. Measured - Either the thickness of that partition wall, or of the pilasters, which stood one on the one side, and the other on the other side of the door. Of the door - Or entrance out of the temple into the oracle. And the door - This door was six cubits broad, and an upright bar or post on which the leaves met, and which was of one cubit's breadth, make out seven cubits.

Thereof - Of the holy of holies, which was an exact square. Before - Parallel with the breadth of the temple.

After - Having left the holy of holies, now he is come to take the measures of the outer wall. The house - The temple. Six cubits - Three yards thick was this wall from the ground to the first story of the side - chambers. Side - chamber - Of the lowest floor; for there were three stories of these, and they differed in their breadth, as the wall of the temple, on which they rested, abated of its thickness; for the middle chambers were broader than the lowest by a cubit, and the highest as much broader than the middle. Round about - On the north, south, and west parts, on each side of every one of these three gates.

They might - That the beams of the chambers might have good and firm resting - hold. Had not hold - The ends of the beams were not thrust into the main body of the wall of the temple.

An enlarging - Of the side chambers, so much of breadth added to the chamber, as was taken from the thickness of the wall; that is, two cubits in the uppermost, and one cubit in the middle - most, more than in the lowest chambers. A winding about - Winding stairs, which enlarged as the rooms did, and these run up between each two chambers from the bottom to the top; so there were two doors at the head of each pair of stairs, one door opening into one chamber, and the other into the opposite chamber. For the winding about - These stairs, as they rose in height, enlarged themselves too. Round about - On all sides of the house where these chambers were. The breadth - Of each chamber. Increased - Grew broader by one cubit in every upper chamber. From five in the lowest to six in the middle, and to seven in the highest chamber.

The foundations - The lowest chamber had properly a foundation laid on the earth, but the floor of the middle, and highest story must be accounted here a foundation; so from the ground to the ceiling of the first room, was six great cubits; from the first to the second, six great cubits; and from the third floor to the roof of the chamber, a like number; to which add we one cubit for thickness of each of the three floors, you have twenty - one cubits for height, ten yards and a half high.

The place - The walk and wall.

The doors - The doors of the lowest row opened into this void paved space.

The building - This is a new building not yet mentioned, but now measured by itself.

The house - The whole temple, oracle, sanctuary and porch, with the walls. The building - On both the north and south - side of the temple.

The breadth - The whole front of the house eastward.

Cherubim - Generally taken for the portrait of angels, or young men with wings: yet is the description of them very different in different places; in Ezekiel's vision, Ezekiel 1:5-14 , Ezekiel 10:14 , Isaiah's vision, Isaiah 6:2 , John's vision, Revelation 4:6-8 , and in Solomon's temple, 1 Kings 6:23-26 .

Through all the house - And thus it was through the whole house round about.

The face - The door or gate of the temple was square, not arched. As the appearance - As was the form of the gate of the temple in its larger, so was the form of the gate of the oracle in its lesser dimensions.

The altar - Of incense. The corners - The horns framed out of the four posts at each angle on the top of the altar. The walls - The sides. Before the Lord - In the temple, not in the holy of holies.

Two doors - Each had one.

Them - The doors of both temple and oracle. The temple - Including the holy of holies also.