John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 3:1



INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KINGS 3



This chapter relates the marriage of Solomon with Pharaoh's daughter, 1Ki 3:1; his piety and devotion, 1Ki 3:2; his prayer for wisdom and understanding, which was acceptable to God, who promised to grant his request, with an addition to it, 1Ki 3:5; an instance and proof of the wisdom given him in determining a case between two harlots brought before him, which greatly raised his reputation, and gave him reverence among his people, 1Ki 3:16.



Ver. 1. And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt,.... Pharaoh was a common name of the kings of Egypt, of whom no mention is made in Scripture from the times of Moses until this time; which may seem strange, when it is considered that that kingdom was a potent one, and near the land of Canaan; but it was governed by a race of kings in this period of time, of whom, as Diodorus Siculus {i} says, there is nothing worthy of relation. The name of this Pharaoh, according to Eupolemus {k}, an Heathen writer, was Vaphres; for he says, that David contracted a friendship with this king, and he relates some letters which passed between him and Solomon, concerning sending him workmen for the building of the temple, which are still preserved; but Calvisius {l} thinks it was Sesostris; what this affinity was is next observed:



and took Pharaoh's daughter: that is, married her; who, according to Ben Gersom, was proselyted first to the Jewish religion; which is very probable, or otherwise it can hardly be thought Solomon would marry her; and as the forty fifth psalm, Ps 45:1, and the book of Canticles, supposed to be written on that occasion, seem to confirm; to which may be added, that it does not appear she ever enticed or drew him into idolatry; for, of all the idols his wives drew him into the worship of, no mention is made of any Egyptian deities. The Jews say {m} Rome was built the same day Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter, but without foundation: this was not Solomon's first wife; he was married to Naamah the Ammonitess before he was king, for he had Rehoboam by her a year before that for Solomon reigned only forty years, and Rehoboam, who succeeded him, was forty one years of age when he began to reign, 1Ki 11:41;



and brought her into the city of David; the fort of Zion:



until he had made an end of building his own house: which was thirteen years in building, and now seems to have been begun, 1Ki 7:1;



and the house of the Lord; the temple, which according: to the Jewish chronology {n}, was begun building before his marriage of Pharaoh's daughter, and was seven years in building; and therefore this marriage must be in the fourth year of his reign; for then he began to build the temple, 1Ki 6:37; and so it must be, since Shimei lived three years in Jerusalem before he was put to death, after which this marriage was, 1Ki 2:37;



and the wall of Jerusalem round about; all which he built by raising a levy on the people, 1Ki 9:15; and when these buildings were finished, he built a house for his wife, but in the mean while she dwelt in the city of David.



{i} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 42. {k} Apud. Euseb. Praeparet. Evangel. l. 9. c. 30, 31, 32. {l} Chronolog. p. 191, 192. {m} T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 56. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 21. 2. {n} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 15. p. 41.





1 Kings 3:2



Ver. 2. Only the people sacrificed in high places,.... On the tops of their houses, on hills and mountains, and particularly at the high place in Gibeon, where the tabernacle was:



because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord until those days; to which they were obliged to repair as afterwards, and there offer their sacrifices, as the Lord had commanded, De 12:5.





1 Kings 3:3



Ver. 3. And Solomon loved the Lord,.... The worship of the Lord, as the Targum: and which he showed by



walking in the statutes of David his father; in which his father walked, which were the statutes of the Lord, or which he exhorted him to walk in, and were the same, 1Ki 2:3;



only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places; besides that at Gibeon, which it seems David did not.





1 Kings 3:4



Ver. 4. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there,.... About four or five miles from Jerusalem; See Gill on "1Ki 2:28";



for that [was] the great high place; not that the place itself might be higher than others that were used; but here were the tabernacle of Moses, and the altar; so that it was a more dignified place, and more sacred because of them:



a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar; the brazen altar of burnt offerings there; not at one time, but on several days successively; though Jarchi says on one day; and which was a prodigious number, never was known the like, unless at the dedication of the temple, 1Ki 8:63.





1 Kings 3:5



Ver. 5. In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night,.... This was not a common natural dream, but an extraordinary, divine, and supernatural one, a prophetic dream, a night vision, such as God used to speak in to his prophets; in which he had the full use of his reasoning powers, was under divine impressions, and in a spiritual frame of mind, and in the exercise of grace; it was not a mere dream that the Lord did appear to him, but he really did appear to him while sleeping and dreaming, by some display of his glory in some way or another:



and God said, ask what I shall give thee; he did not hereby dream that God said to him, but he really did say this; bid him ask what he would and it should be given him; he knew what he designed to give, but he would have it asked of him, as he will be inquired of by all his people to do that for them which he has intended and provided for them; and it is encouragement enough for them to ask, since he has promised to give.





1 Kings 3:6



Ver. 6. And Solomon said,.... In his dream; not that he dreamt he said, when he did not; but he really said, as follows:



thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy; bestowed many favours and blessings upon him, both temporal and spiritual:



according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; in the truth of doctrine and worship, according to the revealed will and word of God, and which he observed with great strictness, living soberly, righteously, and godly, though not without failings and imperfections, yet with great integrity and sincerity; and this holy walk of his was not the cause of God's showing mercy to him, nor was it in proportion to that, but what he was influenced to by the mercy that was shown him:



and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as [it is] this day; a son to be his successor, meaning himself; which was an additional favour to all the rest, and was in reserve, and now bestowed, as time had made to appear.





1 Kings 3:7



Ver. 7. And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father,.... Removed by death, in whose stead he reigned by the appointment of God, and through his overruling providence, notwithstanding the attempts made to prevent it, and therefore to God he ascribes it:



and I [am but] a little child; not in age and stature, but in knowledge and understanding; for though his father called him a wise man, and he was judged so by others, and really was one, yet in his own opinion and thought of himself such was his modesty and humility, that he was but a child as to his intellectual powers and capacity for government: some understand this of age; and the Jews commonly say he was but twelve years of age when he was anointed king, which they reckon thus; that he was born at the time that Ammon ravished Tamar, two years after which was Absalom's sheep shearing, when he slew Amnon, on which he fled to Geshur, and was there three years; here are five years; he returned thence and was at Jerusalem two years; lo, seven years; he rebelled and was slain, and after that there was a famine of three years, which make ten; and in the year following David numbered the people, which was nine or ten months in doing; the next year he died, which was the fortieth of his reign, in all twelve years; so reckon Jarchi and Kimchi; and Eupolemus, an Heathen writer {n}, is express for it, who says, that David, when he had reigned forty years, delivered up the kingdom to Solomon his son, being then twelve years of age, which he must receive from the tradition of the Jews; the same is said by several of the ancient fathers, as Ignatius {o} and Jerom {p}; but this cannot be fact; for, if so, his son Rehoboam must be born to him when he was but eleven years of age; See Gill on "1Ki 3:5"; it is best therefore to interpret this of the sense he had of the weakness of his understanding, and of his incapacity for government, as the next clause explains it:



I know not [how] to go out or come in; in the administration of government, to execute his office as a king, in allusion to shepherds, as kings are sometimes called, going in and out before their sheep.



{n} Apud Euseb. ut supra. (Praeparat. Evangel. l. 9. c. 30, 31, 32.) {o} Epist. ad Magnesios, p. 141. Ed. Voss. {p} Epist. Rufino & Vitali, fol. 24, 25. tom. 3.





1 Kings 3:8



Ver. 8. And thy servant [is] in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen,.... To be his special and peculiar people above all people on the earth; this is not to be understood locally, though Jerusalem, where his palace was, was in the middle of the land; but of the exercise of his office, he being placed over the people, and among them, and having the care and inspection of them:



a great people, that cannot be numbered and counted for multitude; being for number as the stars in the sky, and as the sand upon the seashore, as had been promised.





1 Kings 3:9



Ver. 9. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart, to judge thy people,.... Not an understanding of things spiritual, nor of things natural, though both were given him, but of things political, what related to the civil government, that he might be able to judge or rule the people of Israel in the best manner:



that I may discern between good and bad; not merely between moral good and evil, of which he had a discernment; but between right and wrong in any case or controversy that came before him between man and man, that so he might be able to pass a right sentence, and do justice to every one:



for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? who are so very numerous, and have so many causes to be heard and and those many of them very intricate and difficult; so that no man is equal to such arduous work, unless he has more than an ordinary capacity given him by the Lord.





1 Kings 3:10



Ver. 10. And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. Understanding in the affairs of civil government; since he had respect not to his own private benefit and advantage, but the good of the people he governed, and the honour and glory of God, who had set him over them, they being his chosen people, and whose vicegerent he was.





1 Kings 3:11



Ver. 11. And God said unto him,.... Being yet in a dream:



because thou hast asked this thing; wisdom for government:



and hast not asked for thyself long life; which is naturally desired by men, and always reckoned a great temporal blessing, and especially to be wished for by a king living in great pomp and splendour:



neither hast asked riches for thyself; to support his grandeur; for though David his father had left him much, yet not for himself, but for the building of the temple:



nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; victory over them, and to have it in his power to take away their lives when he pleased; which kings, and especially tyrants, are desirous of, such as are ambitious, haughty, and revengeful:



but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; where the right of a cause lay, that so he might make a right judgment of it, and pass a righteous sentence, a sentence not to the injury of any.





1 Kings 3:12



Ver. 12. Behold, I have done according to thy words,.... Expressed in his request: he not only promised he would grant him it, but he had already done it, or at least had begun to do it:



lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; had greatly increased his wisdom and understanding in things political, things respecting civil government, and also in things natural, in the knowledge of the things of nature as appears from 1Ki 4:33; and of the arts and sciences:



so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee: which some restrain to kings, and to the kings of Israel; that there were none of the kings before him, as Saul and David, like him for wisdom, nor any of the kings of Judah and Israel after him; but it may include all men of all nations in the world, since he is said to be wiser than all men; and some other nations, and particular men of other nations, famous for wisdom, are expressly mentioned as inferior to him, 1Ki 4:30; but then this must be understood of men since the fall; for Adam, doubtless, had a larger stock of knowledge and understanding in his state of innocence than ever Solomon had; and it must be restrained to political and natural knowledge; for, as for divine knowledge, Kimchi excepts Moses; and we may well except the apostles of Christ for spiritual and evangelical knowledge; and as for our Lord, the antitype of Solomon, he is greater than him in all kind of knowledge, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge being hid in him, see Mt 12:42.





1 Kings 3:13



Ver. 13. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked,.... That is, intended to give him, and now promised it, and was about to bestow it on him:



both riches and honour; the former through the presents and tribute of the nations about him, and his trading to foreign parts; and the latter chiefly through his wisdom, the fame of which was spread everywhere:



so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days; that is, none like him for riches and honour among all the kings of the neighbouring nations so long as he lived; though there might be kings in later times as rich, or richer than he, as Croesus, Alexander, &c. but then not so honourable as he; so, putting both together, there were no kings like him before or after, and especially if wisdom be added to them, as in 2Ch 1:12.





1 Kings 3:14



Ver. 14. And if thou wilt walk in my ways,.... Prescribed and directed to in his word,



to keep my statutes and my commandments; ceremonial, moral, and judicial:



as thy father David did walk; which Solomon himself had observed, 1Ki 3:6; and whose walk was worthy of his imitation:



then I will lengthen thy days; the other promises of riches and honour are absolute, but this of long life conditional, depending upon his holy walk and conversation; and hence, because he failed in this the Jews observe he did not attain to long life, dying, as they suppose, at fifty two years of age; which is grounded on a wrong hypothesis, that he was but twelve years of age when he he began to reign, and he reigned forty years, as before observed.





1 Kings 3:15



Ver. 15. And Solomon awoke, and, behold, [it was] a dream,.... Not that it was nothing but a dream, a natural one, a vain and empty one, but a divine and supernatural one, a dream of prophecy, as the Jews call it, or a prophetic dream; a true one, which had its fall accomplishment in him, the truth of which he perceived as soon as he awoke; for he found himself possessed of such a measure of wisdom and knowledge he never had before, which occasioned the thanksgiving and joy next expressed:



and he came to Jerusalem; from Gibeon, accompanied by his nobles and servants:



and stood before the ark of the covenant the Lord; which was in a tent David had pitched for it there, 2Sa 6:17; here he stood with holy reverence, as in the presence of the Lord, and as a servant of his, to minister to him, and as a worshipper of him, with a heart full of gratitude for the great things he had done for him, and promised to him:



and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings; by way of thankfulness for his quiet settlement in the for the Lord's appearance to him at Gibeon, and what he had already given, and promised to give:



and made a feast to all his servants; in a way of joy and gladness for the above layouts; this feast was either the part of the peace offerings he offered, which belonged to the offerer to eat with his friends, or this was a special feast made at his own palace for his courtiers.





1 Kings 3:16



Ver. 16. Then came there two women [that] were harlots unto the king,.... The same day, as Abarbinel thinks, the night before which the Lord had appeared to Solomon; this came to pass through the providence of God, that there should be immediately an instance and proof of the wisdom and understanding the Lord had given to Solomon; these women, according to the Targum, were victuallers or inn keepers; and so Ben Gersom thinks they were sellers of food, as Rahab; though he observes it is possible they might, prostitute themselves: this may be said in their favour, that common prostitutes do not usually bear children, or, when they do, take no care of them, have no affection for them, and much less are fond of them, as these seem to be; but, on the other hand, no mention being made of their husbands, and living together in one house, and alone, and being impudent, brawling, and litigious, give great suspicion of the truth of the character they bear in our version and others:



and stood before him; to lay their case before him, and each plead their own cause; it may be, it had been tried in another court before, and could not be determined, and so was brought to the king; and, if so, the wisdom of Solomon was the more conspicuous, in deciding it in the manner he did.





1 Kings 3:17



Ver. 17. And the one woman said,.... Who was the plaintiff:



O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; pointing to the defendant, who stood by her:



and I was delivered of a child with her in the house; she being present at the delivery, and she only, as it should seem.





1 Kings 3:18



Ver. 18. And it came to pass, the third day after I was delivered,.... Of a child, as before expressed:



that this woman was delivered also; of another child; and being both of the same sex, both sons, as afterwards appears; and being so nearly of an age, it was difficult to distinguish them;



and we [were] together; [there was] no stranger with us in the house,

save we two in the house; so that in this trial no evidences could be produced on either side.





1 Kings 3:19



Ver. 19. And this woman's child died in the night,.... Whether the same night following the day it was born is not certain;



because she overlaid it; or laid upon it, being heavy through sleep, and not knowing what she did, turned herself upon it, and smothered it; because it had no previous illness, or any marks of any disease it could be thought to die of, and perhaps there might be some of its being overlaid.





1 Kings 3:20



Ver. 20. And she arose at midnight,.... Perceiving what she had done, that she had overlaid her child, and it was dead; either through fear of punishment inflicted on persons thus negligent, or because of the disgrace of it, taking no more care of her child, she made use of the following stratagem:



and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept; this served to puzzle the cause, for how could she know what she did when she was asleep? this she could not prove, it was only conjecture:



and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom; where she found it in the morning; but still what proof was there that it was the other woman's, and not her own, that lay dead in her bosom?





1 Kings 3:21



Ver. 21. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck,.... As she used to do:



behold, it was dead; her own child, as she thought at first:



but when I had considered it in the morning; it was towards morning, or just at break of day, when she arose to suckle it, and found it dead: but when it was broad day, and the light of the morning was increased, she more narrowly viewed it, and by its features, or some marks she had observed;



behold, it was not my son which I did bear: she was fully satisfied it was not her own child, but another.





1 Kings 3:22



Ver. 22. And the other woman said,.... The defendant:



nay, but the living [is] my son, and the dead [is] thy son; she denied what the other said, but offered nothing in proof of it:



and this said; she who was the plaintiff replied in the same language:



no: but the dead [is] thy son, and the living [is] my son; without being able to add anything in confirmation of what she had deposed:



thus they spake before the king; several times, over and over again, what is before expressed, having nothing to produce on either side in proof of their assertions; so that it was very difficult to determine to whom the living child belonged.





1 Kings 3:23



Ver. 23. Then said the king,.... As judge, summing up what had been said on both sides, which were only bare assertions without proof; the one affirming what the other denied, and the other denying what the other affirmed:



the one saith, this [is] my son that liveth, and thy son [is] the dead;

and the other saith nay; but thy son [is] the dead, and my son [is] the living; this he repeated to show to all present that no determination could be made by what had been said on each side, and that some other method must be taken.





1 Kings 3:24



Ver. 24. And the king said, bring me a sword,.... The design of which might not at first appear to the court, and it might be thought strange, and greatly wondered at: what should be the meaning of it:



and they brought a sword before the king; his commands were obeyed.





1 Kings 3:25



Ver. 25. And the king said,.... To one of his officers:



divide the living child in two; not that he meant it should be actually done, though it might at first be thought he really intended it, and so strike the minds of some with horror, as it did, however, the mother; but he ordered this, to try the affections of the women, and thereby come to the true knowledge of the affair; though, some think he knew it before by their countenances and manner of speech, but that he was desirous all present might see it, and be satisfied of it:



and give half to the one, and half to the other; since both claimed it.





1 Kings 3:26



Ver. 26. Then spake the woman, whose the living child [was], unto the king,.... In haste, and with great vehemency, lest the executioner should at once dispatch it:



(for her bowels yearned upon her son); not being able to bear to see his life taken away:



and she said, O my lord: or, "on me {q}, my lord"; let the sin, the lie that I have told, be on me, and the punishment of it; she rather chose to be reckoned a liar, and to endure any punishment such an offence deserved, than that her child should be cut asunder:



give her the living child, and in no wise slay it; being willing to part with her interest in it, rather than it should be put to death:



but the other said, let it be neither mine nor thine, [but] divide [it]; for as she knew it was not her own, she had no affection for it, nor desire to have it; chose rather to be clear of the expense of keeping and nursing it, and would, by its being put to death, be avenged of her adversary, who had brought this cause before the king.



{q} yb "in me", Montanus; so Abarbinel.





1 Kings 3:27



Ver. 27. Then the king answered and said, give her the living child,

and in no wise slay it,.... That is, to her who desired it might not be slain, but rather be given to her who had no right to it:



she [is] the mother thereof; which might be strongly concluded from her compassion for it, her eagerness and earnestness to have its life spared, and from the indifference of the other, yea, from her cruelty and barbarity in moving to have it divided.





1 Kings 3:28



Ver. 28. And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged,.... In the above case; the decision of it was divulged throughout the land, and the fame of it was spread everywhere:



and they feared the king; reverenced him as a wise, judicious, and faithful king, and feared to do anything of a criminal nature, as perceiving that he was so sagacious and penetrating, that he would discover it quickly, and bring them to shame and punishment:



for they saw that the wisdom of God [was] in him to do judgment; that God had put more than ordinary wisdom into him, to make a right judgment in causes that came before him, and finish them in the most just and equitable manner.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 4:1



INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KINGS 4



As in the preceding chapter we have a proof of the wisdom and understanding which the Lord gave to Solomon, as promised, so in this an account is given of the riches and honour he was possessed of; of him, as king over all Israel, and of his princes, 1Ki 4:1; of the providers of food for his household in the several parts of the land, 1Ki 4:7; of the largeness and extent of his dominions, and of the peace and prosperity thereof, 1Ki 4:20; of his daily provisions for his household and for his cattle, 1Ki 4:22; and of his superior wisdom and knowledge to all others in all nations, which brought some out of all to hear it, 1Ki 4:29.



Ver. 1. So King Solomon was king over all Israel. As David his father was not at first, only over Judah, and as Solomon's successors were not, after the division of the kingdom under his son Rehoboam; though this seems to have a particular respect to what is related in the preceding chapter concerning the wisdom of Solomon, for which he was so famous, that he reigned by the consent of all, and in the hearts of all the people of Israel.





1 Kings 4:2



Ver. 2. And these [were] the princes which he had,.... That were in office about him, in the highest posts of honour and trust:



Azariah the son of Zadok the priest: or rather his grandson, since Ahimaaz was the son of Zadok, and Azariah the son of Ahimaaz, 1Ch 6:8; though another Zadok may be meant, and his son not a priest but a prince, as the word may be rendered, and was Solomon's prime minister of state, and the rather, since he is mentioned first.





1 Kings 4:3



Ver. 3. Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes,.... Their father Shisha, the same with Sheva, was scribe only in David's time; and he being dead very probably, both his sons were continued in the office as secretaries of state, Solomon having more business for such an office, see 2Sa 20:25;



Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder; who was in the same office in the times of David, and now held it under Solomon, 2Sa 8:16.





1 Kings 4:4



Ver. 4. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada [was] over the host,.... General of the army in the room of Joab, 1Ki 2:35;



and Zadok and Abiathar [were] the priests; so they were when Solomon came to the throne; but Abiathar was deposed by him after some time, though he might retain the name afterwards, and be employed, as Ben Gersom thinks, in case of necessity, in the room of Zadok, or, however, be employed as a common priest at Jerusalem, upon a reconciliation with Solomon; though Kimchi thinks another Abiathar is meant, which is not so likely.





1 Kings 4:5



Ver. 5. And Azariah the son of Nathan [was] over the officers,.... The twelve officers who provided food for Solomon's household after mentioned:



and Zabud the son of Nathan; another of the sons of Nathan the prophet: for he being a principal instrument of settling Solomon on the throne, had interest enough to promote his sons to the chief places of honour and trust: and this here



[was] principal officer, [and] the king's friend; a chief minister about him, very intimate with him, that kept him company, privately conversed with him, was in his secrets, and admitted to great privacy and nearness to him.





1 Kings 4:6



Ver. 6. And Abiathar [was] over the household,.... Steward of the household:



and Adoniram the son of Abda [was] over the tribute, over those that collected the tribute, as the Targum, whether from the people of Israel or other nations, or both; this man was in the same post in David's time, 2Sa 20:24.





1 Kings 4:7



Ver. 7. And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel,.... Not with respect to the twelve tribes of Israel, for it does not appear that they had each of them a tribe under them, but some particular places in a tribe; but with respect to the twelve months of the year, in which each took his turn:



which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision; furnished food of all sorts out of the country in which they presided for the space of one month in a year; by which means there was always a plenty of provisions at court for the king's family, and for all strangers that came and went, and no one part of the land was burdened or drained, nor the price of provisions raised; these seem to be the twelve "phylarchi", or governors of tribes, Eupolemus {r}, an Heathen writer, speaks of, before whom, and the high priest, David delivered the kingdom to Solomon; though in that he was mistaken, that they were in being then, since these were officers of Solomon's creating.



{r} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 30.





1 Kings 4:8



Ver. 8. And these [are] their names,.... Or rather the names of their fathers; for of many of them not their own names but their fathers' names are given, as being well known:



the son of Hur, in Mount Ephraim; a fruitful country in the tribe of Ephraim, from whence this officer was to furnish the king with provisions for one month in the year.





1 Kings 4:9



Ver. 9. The son of Dekar in Makaz,.... A place in the tribe of Dan, on the borders of it:



and in Shaalbim, and Bethshemesh, and Elonbethhanan; all in the same tribe, see Jos 19:41.





1 Kings 4:10



Ver. 10. The son of Hesed in Aruboth,.... Which seems to have been in the tribe of Judah by the places that follow:



to him [pertained] Sochoh; there were two places of this name in that tribe, Jos 15:35;



and all the land of Hepher: there was an Hepher in the land of Canaan, which was a royal city in the times of the Canaanites, Jos 12:17; and there was an Hepher, the name of a man, a descendant of Judah, to whom, very probably, this land belonged, 1Ch 4:6; unless it can be thought to be the portion of land given to the daughters of Hepher, Jos 17:3.





1 Kings 4:11



Ver. 11. The son of Abinadab in all the region of Dor,.... The same with Dor and her towns, belonged to the half tribe of Manasseh, on this side Jordan, Jos 17:11;



which had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife; not when he was first put into this office, when, in all probability, Solomon had not a daughter marriageable; but behaving well in it, in process of time he bestowed a daughter of his on him.





1 Kings 4:12



Ver. 12. Baana the son of Ahilud, [to him pertained] Taanach and Megiddo, and all Bethshean,.... All which were places in the tribe of Manasseh, Jos 17:11;



which [is] by Zartanah beneath Jezreel; so described, to distinguish it, as is thought, from Zaretan in Jos 3:16; and the country this officer presided over reached also



from Bethshean to Abelmeholah, [even] unto [the place that is] beyond Jokneam; the two first of these were in the tribe of Manasseh, and the last in the tribe of Zebulun, Jos 19:11.





1 Kings 4:13



Ver. 13. The son of Geber in Ramothgilead,.... A city in the tribe of Gad, and was a city of refuge, Jos 20:8;



to him [pertained] the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which [are] in Gilead; of which see Nu 32:41;



to him [also pertained] the region of Argob, which [is] in Bashan,

threescore great cities with walls, and brasen bars; called by Josephus {s} Ragaba, beyond Jordan; See Gill on "De 3:4".



{s} Antiqu. l. 13. c. 15. sect. 5.





1 Kings 4:14



Ver. 14. Ahinadab the son of Iddo [had] Mahanaim. Another city on the other side Jordan, where both Ishbosheth and David sometimes dwelt, 2Sa 2:8; this and the places adjacent must be very fruitful, since this officer was to furnish the king with provisions for a month once a year from hence,





1 Kings 4:15



Ver. 15. Ahimaaz [was] in Naphtali,.... Out of that tribe he made a monthly provision annually:



he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon to wife; another daughter of Solomon's, in course of time; See Gill on "1Ki 4:11".





1 Kings 4:16



Ver. 16. Baanah the son of Hushai [was] in Asher,.... In the tribe of Asher; a very plentiful tribe, particularly for oil; this officer was perhaps the son of Hushai, the Archite, David's friend, and, it may be, promoted for his sake:



and in Aloth; which signifies ascensions, mountains went upon by steps; near to this place was an high mountain, called the ladder of Tyre {t}; perhaps that and the parts adjacent may be meant here.



{t} Vid. Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 10. sect. 2.





1 Kings 4:17



Ver. 17. Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah in Issachar. In the tribe of Issachar; he had the whole tribe at his command to make a monthly provision out of for the king once a year, as had the preceding officer and the following one.





1 Kings 4:18



Ver. 18. Shimei the son of Elah in Benjamin. So described, to distinguish him from that Shimei that cursed David, who was of the same tribe; See Gill on "2Sa 16:5".





1 Kings 4:19



Ver. 19. Geber the son of Uri [was] in the country of Gilead,.... Which was beyond Jordan, and inhabited by the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh; this must be understood of all the country, excepting what was under the jurisdiction of the son of Geber, 1Ki 4:13; and which had been



the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan; until it was taken from them by Moses, Nu 21:25;



and [he was] the only officer which [was] in the land; which is not true of Geber; for there was another officer in the land of Gilead besides him, the son of Geber before observed, unless it should be rendered "in that land", in that part of the land he had; but then the same might have been observed of all the rest of the officers: the words may be rendered best, "and there was one officer in the land"; which some understand of one officer over all the rest, Azariah the son of Nathan, 1Ki 4:5; but it seems best what other Jewish writers say {u}, that this was another officer appointed for the intercalated month; when there were thirteen months in the year, there was an officer in the land fixed for that month to make provision out of the land; perhaps any where, where he pleased, being not limited to any certain place. These twelve providers for Solomon's family were emblems of the twelve apostles of Christ, appointed to provide food for his family, the church; and if you add to them the Apostle Paul, it will make thirteen, as this officer did.



{u} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 12. 1.





1 Kings 4:20



Ver. 20. Judah and Israel [were] many, as the sand which [is] by the sea in multitude,.... Being blessed with great fruitfulness in their families, and having no pestilential disease among them, nor wars to lessen their number, and so the promise to Abraham was fulfilled, Ge 22:17; and which was an emblem of Christ's spiritual subjects, especially in the latter day, whom Solomon was a type of, see Ho 1:10;



eating, and drinking, and making merry; having a large increase of the fruits of the earth, and in no fear of any enemies; expressive of the spiritual joy of believers in the kingdom of Christ, and under the word and ordinances, So 2:3.





1 Kings 4:21



Ver. 21. And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms,.... Not only over Judah and Israel, but all people round about him, they standing in fear of him; or who brought him presents, or paid tribute to him, which was an acknowledgment of superiority over them, and doing homage to him:



from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt; that is, from the river Euphrates, as the Targum, which was the border of his proper domains to the east, to Palestine, inhabited by the Philistines, which lay to the west, and as far as the border of Egypt, which was the southern boundary; a like and larger extent of Christ's kingdom is given, Ps 72:8;



and they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life; this explains in what sense other kingdoms besides were ruled by Solomon, and subject to him; of Christ his antitype, see Ps 72:10.





1 Kings 4:22



Ver. 22. And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour,.... The measure here used was the "corus", or "cor", the same with the homer, which was equal to ten ephahs, and, according to Bishop Cumberland {w}, held seventy five wine gallons and five pints, and somewhat more; by which may be known how many gallons of fine flour these thirty measures held, which were all consumed in one day:



and threescore measures of meal: sixty measures of a coarser sort, for the servants, not so finely dressed; the same measure is here used as before; and it is observed by some, that one cor is equivalent to six hundred forty eight Roman pounds, and allowing to one man two pounds a day for his food, there would be food enough for 29,160 men out of 90 times 648, or 58,320 pounds {x}. Others exaggerate the account; Vilalpandus says it would have sufficed 48,600 persons; Seth Calvisius 54,000, and Salianus 70,000 {y}; the Jews say {z} that he had 60,000 that ate at his table; that is, who were maintained at his court.



{w} Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 3. p. 86. {x} Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. p. 516. {y} Vid. Witsii Miscellan. tom. 2. exercit. 10. sect. 26. {z} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 8. 2.





1 Kings 4:23



Ver. 23. Ten fat oxen,.... Such as were kept up in the stall and fatted:



and twenty oxen out of the pastures; which were killed as they were taken from thence, and not put up to be fed:



and an hundred sheep; out of the folds:



beside harts, and roebucks, and fallow deer; which were clean creatures, according to the Levitical law, De 14:5; these were hunted in fields, or taken out of the park, or were presents from other countries; so that here was plenty of beef, mutton, and venison: for the spiritual application of this to the antitypical Solomon, and his provisions, see Mt 22:4;



and fatted fowl; such as we call capons {a}; some Jewish writers {b}, because of the likeness of sound in the word here used, take them to be Barbary fowls, or such as were brought from that country: there is a sort of birds called barbaroi, which were without a voice, that neither heard men, nor knew their voice {c}.



{a} So David de Pomis, Tzemach David, fol. 12. 3. and some in Kimchi in loc. {b} Baal Aruch & R. Elias Levit. Tishbi, in voce rbrb. {c} Scholia in Aristoph. Aves, p. 550.





1 Kings 4:24



Ver. 24. For he had dominion over all [the region] on this side the river,.... Or beyond the river Euphrates, in the sense before given, 1Ki 4:21; which accounts for the plenty of provisions he had, and the revenue with which he supported such a table he kept:



from Tiphsah even to Azzah; or Gaza, one of the five principalities of the Philistines. Tiphsah is thought to be the Thapsacus of Pliny {d} which both he and Ptolemy {e} place near the river Euphrates, since called Amphipolis; the former places it in Syria, the latter in Arabia Deserta; and which Strabo {f}, from Eratosthenes, describes as 4800 furlongs or six hundred miles from Babylon, and from the place where Mesopotamia begins not less than two thousand furlongs or two hundred and fifty miles:



over all the kings on this side the river; the river Euphrates, or beyond it, in the sense before explained, as the kings of Syria, Arabia, &c.



and he had peace on all sides round about him; in which he was a type of Christ, the Prince of peace.



{d} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 24. {e} Geograph. l. 5. c. 19. {f} Geograph. l. 16. p. 514.





1 Kings 4:25



Ver. 25. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely,.... Without fear of any injury done to their persons or properties by any enemy; which is, and will be, more abundantly fulfilled in Christ, the antitype of Solomon, Jer 23:5;



every man under his vine, and under his fig tree; which were principal trees in the land of Judea, put for all the rest; and the phrase denotes the happy, safe, quiet, full, and peaceable enjoyment of all outward blessings, and is used of the times of the Messiah, Mic 4:4;



from Dan even to Beersheba; which were the two extremities of the land of Israel, north and south:



all the days of Solomon; so long this peace and safety continued, there being no wars in his time.





1 Kings 4:26



Ver. 26. And Solomon had forty thousand stalls for horses,.... In 2Ch 9:25; it is only four thousand; and therefore some think that here is a mistake of the copier, of "arbaim", forty, for "arbah", four; which it is thought might be through divine permission, in such lesser matters, without any prejudice to the authority of the Scriptures in matters of faith and practice; but without supposing this, a reconciliation may be made, by observing, that here the writer, as Ben Gersom notes, gives the number of the horses that were in the stables, which were forty thousand, there the stables themselves, which were four thousand, ten horses in a stable; or here he numbers the stalls, which were forty thousand, and there the stables, which were four thousand, there being ten stalls in each; and the word there has the letter "yod" in it more than here, which is the numerical letter for "ten", and may point thereunto; or here the writer speaks of all the stalls for horses Solomon had throughout the kingdom, there of those only he had in Jerusalem. Benjamin of Tudela {g} affirms, that these stalls, or stables, which Solomon built very strong of large stones, are still in being in Jerusalem, and that there is no building to be seen like it any where; but no other writer speaks of them; nor is it at all probable that they should remain:



for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; some of the said stalls of horses were for his chariots, to draw in them for various uses, of which had 1400, 1Ki 10:26; and others to mount twelve thousand horsemen, who were placed in various parts, to defend kingdom.



{g} Itinerar. p. 43.





1 Kings 4:27



Ver. 27. And these officers provided victuals for King Solomon,.... The twelve before mentioned; and this is repeated here, after the account of his horses, to observe, that they provided for them also, as well as for the sake of what follows; that the large provision made by them was not only for Solomon's family and domestic servants, but for strangers from different arts, who came upon messages to him, or to visit him, and to behold the splendour of his court:



and for all that came to Solomon's table; which was an open table for all comers, as there were some from all parts of the earth, 1Ki 4:34;



every man in his month; each of the twelve officers provided food in the month assigned to him:



they lacked nothing; they always had enough to supply the king with, and they failed not in the performance of their duty, nor came short of their salaries, being fully and punctually paid them.





1 Kings 4:28



Ver. 28. Barley also, and straw for the horses and dromedaries,.... Or rather mules, by comparing the passage with 2Ch 9:24; the particular kind of creatures meant is not agreed on; though all take them to be a swifter sort of creatures than horses; or the swifter of horses, as race horses or posts horses: barley was for their provender, that being the common food of horses in those times and countries, and in others, as Bochart {h} has shown from various writers; and in the Misnah {i} it is called the food of beasts; and Solomon is said to have every day his own horses two hundred thousand Neapolitan measures of called "tomboli" {k}; so the Roman soldiers, the horse were allowed a certain quantity of barley for their horses every morning, and sometimes they had money instead of it, which they therefore called "hordiarium" {l} and the "straw" was for the litter of them: these



brought they unto the place; where the officers were; not where the king was, as the Vulgate Latin version; where Solomon was, as the Arabic version, that is, in Jerusalem; nor



where [the officers] were; in their respective jurisdictions, as our version supplies it, which would be bringing them to themselves; but to the place where the beasts were, whether in Jerusalem, or in any, other parts of the kingdom:



every man according to his charge: which he was monthly to perform.



{h} Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 9. col. 158, 159. Vid. Homer. Iliad. 4. ver. 196. and Iliad. 8. ver. 560. {i} Sotah, c. 2. sect. 1. {k} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 10. 2. {l} Vid. Valtrinum de re Militar. Roman. l. 3. c. 15. p. 236.





1 Kings 4:29



Ver. 29. And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much,.... In things natural, moral, divine, and spiritual, and that not slight and superficial, but exceeding deep, and large beyond expression; and this he had not from the acuteness of his genius merely, nor from his industry and diligence; but by the gift of God, as whatsoever solid wisdom and understanding is in any man, it is from the liberal hand of God, the fountain of wisdom, Jas 1:5;



and largeness of heart, even as sand that [is] on the seashore; he had a genius and capacity to receive anything; his knowledge was vast and comprehensive; it reached to and included things innumerable, as the sand of the sea; there was scarce anything under the heavens, or on the earth, and in the sea, but came within the compass of it, as what are later mentioned show.





1 Kings 4:30



Ver. 30. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east,.... The Arabians, and Persians, famous for wisdom, and who lay to the east of the land of Judea; whose wisdom lay in the knowledge of the stars, in divination by birds, and soothsaying {m}:



and all the wisdom of Egypt; which it was eminent for in the times of Moses, and in which he was learned and well-skilled, Ac 7:22; and hence in later times the philosophers of the Gentiles travelled to get knowledge, as Pherecydes, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Plato, and others to Egypt, said to be the mother of arts and sciences {n}.



{m} Midrash Kohelet. fol. 76. 3. {n} Macrob. in Som. Scip. c. 19. 21. & Saturnal l. 1. c. 15.





1 Kings 4:31



Ver. 31. For he was wiser than all men,.... Not only that lived in his time, but in ages past since the fall of Adam, and in times to come, especially in natural wisdom and knowledge, in all the branches of it; for though some men excel in some part of knowledge, yet not in all, as Solomon did:



than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; men of the same names are said to be sons of Zerah, grandson of Judah, 1Ch 2:6; wherefore these are either other men, or their father had two names; or Mahol here may be an appellative, and describe the character of these then, and point at what they were famous for, as that they were sons of music, piping, and dancing, as Mahol may signify; the Jews have a tradition {o}, that Ethan is Abraham, and Heman Moses, and Chalcol Joseph:



and his fame was in all nations round about; not for his riches and grandeur only, but chiefly for his wisdom.



{o} Hieron. Trad. Heb. in 2 Reg. fol. 80. 1.





1 Kings 4:32



Ver. 32. And he spake three thousand proverbs,.... Wise sayings, short and pithy sentences, instructive in morality and civil life; these were not written as the book of Proverbs, but spoken only, and were taken from his lips, and spread by those that heard them for the use of others, but in process of time were lost; whereas the above book, being written under divine inspiration, is preserved: and



his songs were a thousand and five; some things that were useful to improve the minds and morals of men he delivered in verse, to make them more pleasant and agreeable, that they might be the more easily received and retained in memory; but of all his songs, the most: excellent is the book of Canticles, called "the Song of Songs", being divine and spiritual, and dictated by the inspiration of the Spirit of God: he was both a moral philosopher and poet, as well as a botanist and naturalist, and well-skilled in medicine, as the following words suggest, 1Ki 4:33.





1 Kings 4:33



Ver. 33. And he spake of trees,.... Of all trees, herbs, and plants, of the nature, virtues, and use them:



from the cedar tree that [is] in Lebanon: a mountain on the northern border of Judea, famous for cedars, the tallest and largest of trees:



even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; which grew about Jerusalem, and in the mountains of it, as an Arabic writes testifies {p}, the lowest and least herb; so that what is between the cedar and hyssop include trees and plants of every kind and sort: whether the same herb we call hyssop is meant, is not certain; some take it to be mint; others marjoram; some houseleek; others the wallflower; Levinus Lemnius {q} supposes it to be Adiantum, or maiden hair: the Targum interprets it allegorically, that he prophesied of the kings of the house of David in this world, and in the world to come of the Messiah:



he spake also of beasts, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes; he understood the nature of all sorts of animals in the earth, air, and sea, and discoursed of their names, kinds, qualities, and use, with the greatest ease and perspicuity; the Jews fancy that Aristotle's History of Animals is his, which that philosopher came upon, and published it in his own name. Suidas {r} says it was reported that Solomon wrote a book of medicines for all diseases, which was fixed to the entrance of the temple, which Hezekiah took away, because sick people applied to that for cure of their disorders, and neglected to pray to God.



{p} Isaac Ben Omram apud Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 50. col. 590. {q} Herb. Bibl. Explicat. c. 26. {r} In voce ezekiav.





1 Kings 4:34



Ver. 34. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon,

from all kings of the earth,.... Who sent their ambassadors to his court to know the truth of what was reported, and bring them some proofs and specimens, by which they might judge of the truth of the relations that had been told them; which perhaps might seem to them to be beyond all belief:



which had heard of his wisdom; for the fame of it was spread everywhere by merchants and travellers, and such sort of persons, who had been at Jerusalem, and were masters of various anecdotes relating to Solomon; which they industriously spread in the several parts of the world they had dealings in.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 5:1



INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KINGS 5



This chapter relates Solomon's preparation for building the temple: on Hiram, king of Tyre, sending a congratulatory letter to him, he returned another to him, signifying his intention to build an house for God, and requesting him to supply him with timber, and men to work it, 1Ki 5:1; to which Hiram readily agreed, and sent him cedar and fir, and Solomon in return sent him food for his household; and things went on very amicably between them, 1Ki 5:7; the chapter concludes with an account of Solomon's workmen, where, how, and in what they were employed, 1Ki 5:13.



Ver. 1. And Hiram king of Tyre sent servants unto Solomon,.... His ambassadors, to condole him on the death of his father, and congratulate him on his accession to the throne; this king is called by the Phoenician historians {s} Hirom, and by Eupolemus {t} Suron, as he is Huram in 2Ch 2:3; and by Theophilus of Antioch {u} Hierom the son of Abelmalus, in the twelfth year of whose reign the temple was built:



for he had heard that they had anointed him, king in the room of his father; that the Israelites had anointed him king:



for Hiram was ever a lover of David; a friend and ally of his; and we never read of the Tyrians being at war with him, or assisting any of his enemies.



{s} Apud Joseph. contr. Apion. l. 1. c. 17, 18. {t} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 33, 34. {u} Ad Antolyc. l. 3. p. 131, 132.





1 Kings 5:2



Ver. 2. And Solomon sent to Hiram,.... A letter, either by the hand of his ambassadors when they returned, as Kimchi thinks, or by ambassadors Solomon sent on purpose. Josephus {w} appeals to the Tyrian archives for the genuineness of these letters that passed between Hiram and Solomon; and Eupolemus, an Heathen writer {x} has both this which Solomon sent to Hiram, and that which Hiram sent in answer to it, which agree with those in the sacred records:



saying: as follows.



{w} Antiqu. l. 8. c. 2. sect. 8. {x} Ut Supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 32, 34.)





1 Kings 5:3



Ver. 3. Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the Lord his God,.... As he designed, and was desirous of; and which Hiram might know not only by common fame, but from David himself, between whom there was an intercourse, and that in relation to cedars for building, which David had of Hiram, 2Ch 2:3;



for the wars which were about him on every side; or warriors, as the Targum, the Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, and Syrians:



until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet; made them subject and tributary to him, as he did at length, see 2Sa 7:1, &c. so the "Cetib", or textual reading, is; but the "Keri", or marginal reading, is, "under the soles of my feet"; that is, Solomon's, which agrees with what follows; it was true of both.





1 Kings 5:4



Ver. 4. But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side,.... From foreign enemies; for Solomon had no wars with any:



[so that there is] neither adversary; or Satan, no internal enemy in his kingdom, as well as no external ones, Adonijah, Joab, and other ill-designing persons, being cut off:



nor evil occurrent; nothing that rose up, and met him, to discourage or hinder the prosecution of the good work he had in view.





1 Kings 5:5



Ver. 5. And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God,.... For his worship, and for his honour and glory:



as the Lord spake unto David my father; by the prophet Nathan, 2Sa 7:12;



saying, thy son whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name; which was no small encouragement to Solomon to go about this work; in which he was a type of Christ, the builder of his temple, the church, see Zec 6:12.





1 Kings 5:6



Ver. 6. Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedars out of Lebanon,.... That is, order his servants to cut them down there for him. Some think that Lebanon belonged to the land of Israel, and therefore Solomon did not ask for the cedars upon it, but for his servants to hew them for him; but as it lay upon the borders of Israel, part of it might belong to them, and another part to Hiram, and on which the best cedars might grow, and so he furnished Solomon both with trees, and men to cut them, as it seems from 1Ki 5:10; see also 2Ch 2:3;



and my servants shall be with thy servants: to assist them, and to carry the timber from place to place, and to learn how to hew timber:



and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants, according to all that thou shalt appoint; pay them for their work and service, as Hiram himself should judge fit and reasonable for them; no mention being made of paying for the timber, seems to countenance the notion that the trees were Solomon's; but when the quantity of provisions sent yearly to Hiram for his household, besides what the servants had, is observed, it seems to have been sent as an equivalent to the timber received by Solomon, see 1Ki 5:10;



for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians; it is not said Tyrians, the Sidonians, perhaps, being more skilful in this than they were; and the Sidonians are said by Homer {y} to be poludaidaloi, very ingenious: and they were both under the jurisdiction and at the command of Hiram; so Eupolemus {z} makes the inscription of Solomon's letter to him to run thus, to Suron (that is, Hiram) king of Tyre, Sidon, and Phoenicia. The Jews being chiefly employed in husbandry, and in feeding cattle, were very unskilful in mechanic arts, and in this of cutting down trees, and hewing timber; for there is skill to be exercised therein; the proper time of cutting down trees should be observed, the part in which they are to be cut, and the position in which they are to be put when cut down, as Vitruvius {a} directs, with other things, and Pliny {b} observes the same.



{y} Iliad. 23. ver. 743. {z} Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 32, 34.) {a} De Architectura, l. 2. c. 9. {b} Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 39.





1 Kings 5:7



Ver. 7. And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon,.... The letter read he sent him:



that he rejoiced greatly; that the friendship which had subsisted between him and David was like to be continued between him and his successor, but chiefly for what follows:



saying, blessed [be] the Lord this day; or Jehovah, by which he seems to have some knowledge of the true God, the God of Israel, and might worship him, though along with him other deities, as some Heathen princes did:



which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people; which he perceived by the letter he sent him, and by his solicitous concern to build an house for the worship and honour of God, and by various other things which his ambassadors reported to him they had seen and heard in Solomon's court.





1 Kings 5:8



Ver. 8. And Hiram sent to Solomon,.... A letter to him, to the following purpose:



saying, I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for; whether he could, and whether it was fitting he should grant his request; which was acting like a wise and prudent prince:



[and] I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir; or of cypress, as in Josephus's copy of this letter, and which grew on Lebanon {c}; these were odorous, sound, and durable timber, especially the cedar, and therefore chosen by Solomon for building.



{c} Diodor. Sic. l. 19. p. 700.





1 Kings 5:9



Ver. 9. My servants shall bring [them] down from Lebanon unto the sea,.... The Mediterranean sea, on which Tyre stood:



and I will convey them by sea in floats; which were either a sort of carriage for the timber the Tyrians and Sidonians had, being furnished with various navigable vessels; or these were the timber itself, and the planks of it, which being fastened together, were set afloat under the direction of some boats with oars, of which they had plenty:



unto the place that thou shalt appoint me; which was Joppa, as appears from 2Ch 2:16; belonging to the land of Israel, in the same sea:



and will cause them to be discharged there; either to be unloaded from the vessels, or to be unloosed and taken up separately:



and thou shalt receive [them]; by his servants appointed there to bring them to Jerusalem, which was forty miles from Joppa:



and thou shalt accomplish my desire in giving food for my household; signifying, that all that he desired in return was, that he would supply him with corn or wheat, which he stood in need of, and his letter in Josephus {d} expresses; and we find in later times this place was supplied with bread corn from Judea, see Ezr 3:7

Ac 12:20.



{d} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 8. c. 2. sect. 8.)





1 Kings 5:10



Ver. 10. So Hiram, gave Solomon cedar trees, and fir trees,.... Ordered his servants to cut them down from Lebanon, and sent them to him in floats, which he received:



[according to] all his desire; he had as many as he requested, and what he wanted.





1 Kings 5:11



Ver. 11. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat [for] food to his household,.... This measure was the Hebrew measure "cor", or "corus", and, according to Bishop Cumberland {e}, its contents were 17,477 solid inches; it was equal to ten ephahs, each of which held two gallons and an half, and the cor held seventy five wine gallons five pints, and somewhat more; according to some {f}, what it held was equal to six hundred forty eight Roman pounds; so that twenty thousand of them contained 12,960,000 pounds of wheat:



and twenty measures of pure oil; squeezed out of the olives without breaking them; the same kind of measure is here expressed as before, and the quantity answered to 12,960 Roman pounds; another writer {g} reckons a cor to contain 1080 Roman pounds; so that Hiram had every year 21,600 pounds of oil. In 2Ch 2:10, it is twenty thousand baths of oil now not to take notice that the measures are different, a bath was but the tenth part of a cor, reference is had to different things; here the writer relates what was given to Hiram for his own family, there what was given to the workmen, where several other things are mentioned besides these:



thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year: so long as the building lasted, and the workmen were employed; but Abarbinel thinks that he gave it to him as long as he lived, out of his great munificence and liberality.



{e} Scripture Weights and Measures, c. 3. p. 86. {f} Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. p. 517. {g} Van Till in Cantic. Mosis, p. 54.





1 Kings 5:12



Ver. 12. And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him,.... Which, among other things, appeared in his preparations for building the temple, and in his agreements with Hiram for timber and workmen for that purpose and by continuing and confirming friendship between himself and Hiram, who was so serviceable to him:



and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and they two made a league together; in order to continue and establish peace and friendship between them, which Solomon might lawfully do, the Tyrians being no part of the seven nations with whom alliances were forbidden.





1 Kings 5:13



Ver. 13. And King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel,.... Not of money, but of men, as follows:



and the levy was thirty thousand men; for what purpose, and how they were employed, 1Ki 5:14 shows.





1 Kings 5:14



Ver. 14. And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses,.... In their turns; these are the servants of his he proposed to be with Hiram's servants, assisting in cutting down the trees, and squaring the timber in Lebanon, 1Ki 5:6;



a month they were in Lebanon, [and] two months at home; that they might not be overworked; for they wrought but four months in the year in the hard service in Lebanon, the rest of their time was spent in managing their domestic affairs; these were Israelites:



and Adoniram [was] over the levy: the same that was over the tribute or the collectors of the tax, 1Ki 4:6; and, according to the Targum, these were such persons.





1 Kings 5:15



Ver. 15. And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens,.... Seventy thousand to carry the stones from the mountains out of which they were dug, and which were near Jerusalem, to the city; these were strangers in Israel, as were those that follow:



and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains: eighty thousand that dug the stones out of the quarries, and squared them; these, with the others, made 150,000, see 2Ch 2:17; according to Jacob Leon {g}, the number of workmen at the temple for seven years was 163,600, and some make them more.



{g} Relation of Memorable Things in the Temple, ch. 3. p. 14.





1 Kings 5:16



Ver. 16. Besides the chief of Solomon's officers which [were] over the work,.... Over the whole work, preparatory for the building of the temple; though it seems chiefly to have respect to that of hewing the stones, and bringing them to the city:



three thousand and three hundred which ruled over the people that wrought in the work; to keep them to their work, and to see that they performed it well: in 2Ch 2:18; they are said to be 3600, which is three hundred more than here; those three hundred are the chief officers mentioned in the former part of this verse, which were over the whole work, and even over the 3600 overseers, and with them made up the sum of 3600; so Jacob Leon {h} observes there were 3300 master workmen, and three hundred commanders over them all.



{h} Relation of Memorable Things in the Temple, ch. 3. p. 14.





1 Kings 5:17



Ver. 17. And the king commanded, and they brought great stones,.... Not in quality, but in quantity, large stones, fit to lay in the foundation; strong, and durable against all the injuries of time, as Josephus says {i}:



costly stones; not what are commonly called precious stones, as gems, pearls, &c. but stones of value, as marble, porphyry, &c.



[and] hewed stones; not rough as they were taken out of the quarry, but hewed, and made smooth:



to lay the foundation of the house; which, though out of sight, was to be laid with goodly stones for the magnificence of the building; so the church of Christ, its foundation is said to be laid even with sapphires and other precious stones, see Isa 54:11.



{i} Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect. 2.





1 Kings 5:18



Ver. 18. And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew [them],.... The stones; for it seems Solomon had not only hewers of wood, but of stone, from Hiram:



and the stonesquarers; or rather the Giblites, the men of Gebal, which were under the jurisdiction of Tyre, and were skilful in this sort of work, as some of them were in others, see Eze 27:9;



so they prepared timber and stones to build the house; both Solomon's and Hiram's builders, and the large number of workmen, both Israelites and strangers; which latter were an emblem of the Gentiles concerned in the building of the spiritual temple, the church of Christ, Zec 6:15; and whereas the number of strangers that wrought for the building was far greater than that of the Israelites, it may denote the greater number of Gentiles in the Gospel church state mentioned besides these: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year: so long as the building lasted, and the workmen were employed; but Abarbinel thinks that he gave it to him as long as he lived, out of his great munificence and liberality.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 6:1



INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KINGS 6



This chapter gives an account of the building of the temple, for which preparations were before made and begins with the time of its building, 1Ki 6:1; gives the dimensions of it and the porch before it, 1Ki 6:2; observes the windows in it and chambers about it, 1Ki 6:4; and while it was building, Solomon had a word from the Lord relative to it, 1Ki 6:11; and then the account goes on concerning the walls of the house, and the flooring of it, 1Ki 6:15; and the oracle in it, and the cherubim in that, 1Ki 6:19; and the doors into it, and the carved work of them, 1Ki 6:31; and the chapter is concluded with observing the time when it was begun and finished 1Ki 6:37.



Ver. 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,.... The Tyrian writers {k} make it five hundred sixty years from hence; but this no doubt is tightest, which Junius reckons thus; forty years Israel were in the wilderness, seventeen under Joshua, two hundred ninety nine under the judges, eighty under Eli, Samuel, and Saul, forty under David, add to which the four years of Solomon, and they make four hundred eighty {l}; they are somewhat differently reckoned by others {m} from the coming out of Egypt to Joshua forty years, from thence to the first servitude under Cushan twenty five, from thence to the death of Abimelech two hundred fifty six, under Thola twenty three, from thence to the Ammonitish servitude four, under that eighteen, under the judges, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, thirty one, Samuel and Saul forty, David forty, and Solomon three, in all four hundred eighty;



in the, fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel; when he was clear of all disturbers of his government, and had got all things ready for the building of the temple, and had gathered together gold and silver enough of his own to defray the expenses; for, as for what David gave him, he put that into the treasury of the Lord's house, see 1Ki 7:51;



in the month Zif, which [is] the second month; and so must be Jiar, for Abib or Nisan was the first, and Jiar was the second, which answered to part of our April and part of May; called Zif either from the splendour of the sun, being now higher, and so the greater; or from the trees and flowers of the field being in all their glory; and so the Targum here calls it, the month of splendour of flowers: and it was on the second day of it,



that he began to build the house of the Lord: and a very fit and proper season of the year it was to begin it in, see 2Ch 3:2.



{k} Apud Theophil. ad Autolyc. l. 3. p. 131. {l} So Gerard. Voss. Chron. Sacr. Isagoge, dissert. 8. c. 7. p. 128. {m} Vid. Vitring. Hypotypos. Hist. Sacr. p. 43.





1 Kings 6:2



Ver. 2. And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord,.... For his worship, honour, and glory:



the length thereof [was] threescore cubits; sixty cubits from east to west, including the holy place and the most holy place; the holy place was forty cubits, and the most holy place twenty; the same measure, as to length, Eupolemus, an Heathen writer {n}, gives of the temple, but is mistaken in the other measures:



and the breadth thereof twenty [cubits]; from north to south:



and the height thereof thirty cubits; this must be understood of the holy place, for the oracle or most holy place was but twenty cubits high, 1Ki 6:20; though the holy place, with the chambers that were over it, which were ninety cubits, three stories high, was in all an hundred twenty cubits, 2Ch 3:4; some restrain it to the porch only, which stood at the end, like one of our high steeples, as they think.



{n} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 34.





1 Kings 6:3



Ver. 3. And the porch before the temple of the house,.... Which stood at the east end of it:



twenty cubits [was] the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; which was from north to south, and of the same dimension, so that they exactly answered each other:



[and] ten cubits [was] the breadth thereof before the house; which being added to it, make the whole of the building, most holy place, holy place, and porch, seventy cubits; the height of the porch is not here given, but in 2Ch 3:4; where it is said to be an hundred twenty cubits high, equal to the height of the house, with the chambers over it; but there the breadth of the porch is not given, as it is here; by these dimensions we may observe the difference between the tabernacle and the temple; the temple was twice as long, and as broad, and thrice as high as that, see Ex 26:8. This fabric was an emblem of the church of God, sometimes called an holy temple, and the temple of the living God, 2Co 6:16.





1 Kings 6:4



Ver. 4. And for the house he made windows of narrow lights. Or "open, shut" {o}, which could be both, having shutters to them, to open or shut at pleasure; windows which they could open, and look through at them, or shut when they pleased; the Targum is,



"open within, and shut without;''



or, as others understand it, they were wide within, and narrow without; by being narrow without, the house was preserved from bad weather, as well as could not so easily be looked into by those without; and by being broader within, the light that was let in spread itself within the house; which some interpret only of the holy place, the most holy place having, as they suppose, no windows in it, which yet is not certain: now these windows may denote the word and ordinances of the church of God, whereby light is communicated to men; which in the present state is but narrow or small, in comparison of the new Jerusalem church state, and the ultimate glory; and especially so it was under the legal dispensation, which was very obscure; see So 2:9

Isa 55:8.



{o} Mypqv Mymja "apertas clausas", Vatablus; "perspectui accommodas, clausas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





1 Kings 6:5



Ver. 5. And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about,.... Or near it, as Jarchi interprets it, for the beams of them were not fastened in in it, 1Ki 6:6; or rather "upon" it {p}; and when they are said to be round about the house, it must be understood of the two sides, north and south, and of the west end only, for at the east end, where the porch was, there were none:



[against] the walls of the house round about, [both] of the temple and of the oracle; that is, both of the holy and the most holy place:



and he made chambers round about; the said buildings; which is repeated that it might be observed; how many chambers there were, is not said; Josephus says {q} there were thirty of them, and over them others of the same measure and number, and over them others also; so that there were three stories of them, and in all ninety; and which is countenanced by what follows in 1Ki 6:6, and agrees with

Eze 41:6; the Jewish doctors say {r}, there were thirty eight of them, fifteen on the north, fifteen on the south, and eight on the west; they that were to the north and south were five upon five, and five over them; and they that were to the west were three upon three, and two over them; upper rooms or chambers were rare in Heathen temples {s}: these chambers were for the priests, where they lodged and laid up their garments, and ate their holy things; and were emblems of congregated churches, where the true members thereof, who are priests to God, have communion with him, and partake of divine things.



{p} ryq le "super parietem", V. L. Montanus. {q} Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect. 2. {r} Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 3. {s} Pausan. Laconic. sive. l. 3. p. 190.





1 Kings 6:6



Ver. 6. And the nethermost chamber [was] five cubits broad,.... The nethermost row of them, which were upon the first floor:



and the middle [was] six cubits broad, and the third [was] seven cubits broad; so that the middlemost was a cubit larger than the lowest, and the highest a cubit larger than that: the reason of which was,



for without [in the wall] of the house he made narrowed rests round about; or rebatements; the thickness of the wall, as it was raised, became narrower at the height of every five cubits; thus the wall being supposed to be six cubits broad, as in Eze 41:5; when it came to be five cubits high, it was narrowed a cubit, which left a projection, rebatement, or bench for the beams of the first chambers to be laid upon, which made the second row of chambers broader by a cubit; and the same being observed in the next story, made the highest a cubit broader than the middlemost: and this was done,



that [the beams] should not be fastened in the walls of the house; or be inserted into them, which could not be done without making holes in it; and these holes could not be made without an iron instrument, and which was not to be used, as the next words show; whereas by the above method the beams of the chambers could be laid upon the buttresses, benches, or rebatements left, without the use of any: the gradual enlargement of these chambers, as they rose higher, may denote the enlargement of the church of God, both as to numbers, gifts, and grace, the nearer it comes to the heavenly state, as in the spiritual and personal reign of Christ.





1 Kings 6:7



Ver. 7. And the house, when it was in building,.... And all the while it was building:



was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; being hewn or squared by the builders and stonesquarers of Solomon and Hiram, 1Ki 5:18; wherefore the builders had nothing more to do than to lay them in their proper places in the building; it was built with these stones quite up to the ceiling, as Josephus says {t}; and these so admirably polished, and so artificially joined together, that not the least sign of an axe, or of any working tool, could be discerned in them:



so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, [nor] any tool of iron, heard in the house while it was in building; the first of these observations shows, that none are to be laid in the spiritual building of the church, but such as are first hewed and squared by the Spirit, grace, and word of God: or who have an experience of the grace of God, are sound in the faith, and of becoming lives and good conduct; and the other denotes, that such as are therein, whether ministers or members, should do all they do for the edification of the church in a quiet and peaceable manner, without clamour, contention, fights, and tumults.



{t} Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect. 2.





1 Kings 6:8



Ver. 8. The door of the middle chamber [was] in the right side of the house,.... The south side of it:



and they went up with winding stairs into the middle [chamber]; which were outside the chambers, and which winded about for the sake of taking up less room, and which led up to the door of the middle chamber, on the south of which they went into it; according to the Vulgate Latin and Tigurine versions, they went up in the forth of a cockle, or the shell of a snail; in like manner as was the ascent of the temple of Pan at Alexandria, as Strabo {u} relates:



and out of the middle into the third; the third chamber, and by winding stairs up to that; and the like might be on the north side, though not expressed, and on the west: the Jews say {w}, that in the second temple, these winding stairs went from the northeast to the northwest, whereby they went up to the roof of the chambers, and so to the south and west; with this compare Eze 41:7; and which may represent the windings and turnings of God's people in this present state, their many afflictions and tribulations, through which they pass from one state to another.



{u} Geograph. l. 17. p. 547. {w} Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 5. See Lightfoot's Prospect of the Temple, &c. c. 12. p. 1071.





1 Kings 6:9



Ver. 9. So he built the house, and finished it,.... The body of it, the walls of the holy and most holy place, with the chambers on the sides of them, and the porch at the end that led into them:



and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar; with hollow boards, as the Targum, which formed an arch ceiling to it, and made it look very grand and beautiful; and then over them were laid beams and planks of cedar, not properly as a flat roof to it, but rather as a flooring for other buildings; for upon this, as in 1Ki 6:10, there were chambers built.





1 Kings 6:10



Ver. 10. And [then] he built chambers against all the house five cubits high,.... Which some understand of the same chambers in 1Ki 6:5; here made mention of again for the sake of giving the height of them, not before given; but they were built against, or upon the wall of the house, these against, or rather upon the whole house itself; and are the chambers referred to, See Gill on "1Ki 6:2"; which consisting of three stories of ninety cubits, raised the whole house to an equal height with the porch, 2Ch 3:4; as is there intended {x}; these are the upper chambers in 2Ch 3:9; and they rested on the house [with] timber of cedar; or on the timber of cedar, the beams of cedar, with which the house was covered, as in 1Ki 6:9; on these the chambers rested, being built upon them; and in one of these chambers the disciples might be after Christ's ascension, Ac 1:13.



{x} Vid. Joseph. Antiqu. ut supra. (l. 8. c. 3. sect. 2.)





1 Kings 6:11



Ver. 11. And the word of the Lord came to Solomon,.... The word of prophecy, as the Targum, foretelling what would be the case of this building, according to the obedience or disobedience of him and the people of Israel; which was brought to him either by an impulse of the Spirit of God upon him; or by the hand of a prophet, as Kimchi thinks; and some of the Jewish writers {y}, as he particularly, name Ahijah the Shilonite as the prophet that was sent with this message to him:



saying, as follows.



{y} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 20. p. 53.





1 Kings 6:12



Ver. 12. [Concerning] this house which thou art in building,.... Or with respect to that, these things are to be said as from the Lord:



if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; even all the laws of God, moral, ceremonial, and judicial; and this respects not only Solomon personally, but his successors, and even all the people of Israel:



then will I perform my covenant with thee, which I spake unto David thy father; by Nathan the prophet; not only that he should build an house for God, which should be a settled dwelling place, but that his own house and kingdom should be established for a long time to come, and his posterity should enjoy the presence of God in this house, provided regard was had to the precepts and ordinances of the Lord, 2Sa 7:12.





1 Kings 6:13



Ver. 13. And I will dwell among the children of Israel,.... In this house now building, and which was in the middle of the land, and where he would meet with them, and accept their sacrifices, not only of slain beasts, but of prayer and praise:



and will not forsake my people Israel; and leave them to the mercy of their enemies, and to be carried captive by them, but protect and defend them.





1 Kings 6:14



Ver. 14. So Solomon built the house, and finished it. He went on with it until he had completed it, animated and encouraged by the promise of the divine Presence in it, provided a proper regard was had to the will and ways of God. Abarbinel thinks the above message was sent him in the midst of his work, to strengthen and caution him from a dependence on the continuance of the fabric, because of the strength of it; since its perpetuity depended on his, his successors', and the people's conduct and behaviour; wherefore conscious to himself of his own integrity, and hoping well of posterity, he was not discouraged, but proceeded in his undertaking until he had brought it to perfection.





1 Kings 6:15



Ver. 15. And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar,.... For as yet he had only built the stone walls of it without, but now he wainscotted it with cedar boards: and not only them, but



both the floor of the house, and the walls of the ceiling; or from "the floor of the house unto the walls of the ceiling"; that is, from the floor, including that, to the walls on each side, reaching up to the ceiling,



he covered [them] on the inside with wood: of one sort or another, cedar or fir, or both: particularly he



covered the floor of the house with planks of fir: which Hiram sent him, 1Ki 5:8; which is differently interpreted; by Josephus cypress; by others, as the Tigurine version, pine tree wood; it is very probable it was of the cedar kind, and not the floor only, but the ceiling also, 2Ch 3:5.





1 Kings 6:16



Ver. 16. And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house,.... At the end or extremity of it, as the Targum; that is, he built the most holy place, which was twenty two cubits long, at the end of the holy place, which he wainscotted as the other:



both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar; or from the floor, including that, to the walls on each side, from wall to wall, and taking in them, they were all lined with cedar wood:



he even built [them] for it within, [even] for the oracle, [even] for the most holy [place]; which explains what building is spoken of, and that the inside of that was covered with cedar from bottom to top.





1 Kings 6:17



Ver. 17. And the house, that [is], the temple before it,.... The holy place, which was before the of holies:



was forty cubits [long]; and which, with the most holy place, being twenty cubits, as in the preceding verse, made the length of the whole house sixty cubits, as in 1Ki 6:2.





1 Kings 6:18



Ver. 18. And the cedar of the house within,.... With which the inside of the place was lined:



[was] carved with knops; of an oval form; so the Targum says, they had the appearance of eggs; and Ben Gersom likewise, that they were in the form of eggs:



and open flowers; not in the figure of buds, but flowers blown, and open, as lilies and others; so the Targum:



all [was] cedar; the wainscotting of the house, the sides of it at least, if not the floor, and the carved work of it; and this was done, that the gold might be laid upon it, which could not be done on stone as on wood: and all was so covered, that



there was no stone seen; of which the outward walls were built: all this denotes the inward beauty of the church, and the curious workmanship of the Spirit of God in the hearts of his people, whereby they become all glorious within, adorned with the graces of the blessed Spirit, their stony hearts being kept out of sight, yea, taken away.





1 Kings 6:19



Ver. 19. And the oracle he prepared in the house within,.... In the innermost part of the house he fitted up the oracle, or speaking place, from whence the Lord spake and gave answer, to receive what was to be put into it: particularly



to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord; even the very same that Moses made, Ex 37:1, for which David had pitched a tent in Zion, 1Ch 15:1, and where it now was; for Solomon made no new ark.





1 Kings 6:20



Ver. 20. And the oracle in the forepart,.... Which stood in the forepart of the temple, before a man's face as he entered into it, and went on; or the forepart of the holy of holies, next to the holy place, was of the dimensions as follows, when the back part of it might be higher at least, and be equal to the holy place, even thirty feet; the forepart being lower, and left open to let in the light of the candlesticks, and the smoke of the incense, out of the holy place: this



[was] twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and was a perfect square, and as the most holy place may be an emblem of the church triumphant, it may denote the perfection of its heavenly state; so the new Jerusalem is a foursquare, Re 21:16;



and he overlaid it with pure gold; make it rich, glorious, and magnificent, and may denote the glory of the heavenly state, Re 21:21; and so Florus {z}, the Roman historian, calls it the golden heaven, as it were, into which Pompey went, and saw the great secret of the Jewish nation, the ark:



and [so] covered the altar [which was of] cedar; the altar of incense, which is here mentioned, because it was near the most holy place, 1Ki 6:22; this altar by Moses was made of shittim wood, but Solomon's was of cedar it seems; unless, as the words will bear to be rendered, "he covered the altar with cedar" {a}; though made of shittim wood, it had a covering of cedar over it; or if of stone, such a covering was on it, that it might better receive the gold which was afterwards put upon it.



{z} De Gest. Roman. l. 3. c. 5. {a} zra Puy "operuit cedro", Montanus.





1 Kings 6:21



Ver. 21. So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold,.... The inside of the holy of holies with fine gold, which gold amounted to six hundred talents, 2Ch 3:8; and these to 7,332,000 ducats of gold, or 3,045,000 pounds sterling:



and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; between the holy and the most holy, and were instead of a vail in the tabernacle of Moses between them; here was also a vail beside the partition made by chains of gold across the oracle; for the partition was a wall of the thickness of a cubit, as Maimonides {b} says; and in 2Ch 3:14 express mention is made of a vail of blue, &c. and in imitation of this had the Heathens their deities within vails {c}:



and he overlaid it with gold; the partition wall.



{b} Hilchot Beth Habechirah, c. 4. sect. 2. {c} Apulei Metamorph. l. xi. p. 176.





1 Kings 6:22



Ver. 22. And the whole house he overlaid with gold,.... Both the holy place, and the most holy place:



until he had finished all the house; in this splendid and glorious manner:



also the whole altar that [was] by the oracle; the altar of incense, which stood just before the entrance into the oracle, or most holy place:



he overlaid with gold; he overlaid it all over with gold; hence it is called the golden altar, and was an emblem of the excellent and effectual mediation and intercession of Christ, Re 8:3. Agreeably to this account Eupolemus, an Heathen writer {d} testifies, that the whole house, from the floor to the tool, was covered with gold, as well as with cedar and cypress wood, that the stonework might not appear; and so the capitol at Rome, perhaps in imitation of this temple, its roofs and tiles were glided with gold {e}; a magnificent temple, like this, was at Upsal in Switzerland, as Olaus Magnus relates {f}.



{d} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 34. p. 450. {e} Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 33. c. 3. Vid. Rycquium de Capitol. Roman. c. 16. {f} De Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 3. c. 5.





1 Kings 6:23



Ver. 23. And within the oracle he made two cherubim [of] olive tree,.... Or of the oil tree, as in Isa 41:19; see Ne 8:15; for there are other trees besides olives, out of which oil is pressed, as pine trees, cypress trees, &c. and which some think are here meant; though the Targum interprets it of the olive tree: these cherubim are different from those made by Moses, and were besides them; these were larger than they; these were made of olive wood, they of gold; these stood on the floor of the house, they at the two ends of the mercy seat, and were made out of it, and were with it in this holy place in Solomon's temple: these two cherubim may be emblems of the angels in their greatness and glory, who are always in the presence of God, behold his face, and wait to do his will; or it may be rather of the two witnesses, said to be the two olive trees standing before the God of the whole earth, Re 11:3; who have boldness to enter into the holiest of all, and have sight and knowledge of the mysteries of the ark and mercy seat; have their commission from heaven, and speak according to the oracles of God; these are said to be of image work, 2Ch 3:10; that is, of various forms, as the thee of a man, a lion, an ox, and eagle, Eze 1:10. Dr. Lightfoot thinks {g} they resembled the two Testaments, which in their beginning and end reach the two sides of the world, the creation and the last judgment, and in the middle do sweetly join the one to the other:



[each] ten cubits high; half as high as the most holy place; emblems either of the high angels, those thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, or of men of uncommon size as to their gifts and grace.



{g} Prospect of the Temple, c. 15. sect. 4.





1 Kings 6:24



Ver. 24. And five cubits [was] the one wing of the cherub,.... When stretched out on one side:



and five cubits the other wing of the cherub; on the other side him:



from the uttermost part of the one wing, to the uttermost part of the other wing, [were] ten cubits; half the breadth of the house.





1 Kings 6:25



Ver. 25. And the other cherub [was] ten cubits,.... That is, its wings stretched out measured so many cubits, as did those of the other:



both the cherubim [were] of one measure, and of one size; of the same height and stature, of the same breadth of their wings, and of the same bulk of their bodies; they were of "image work"; 2Ch 3:10; very probably in the form of men: and this uniformity may denote the perfect agreement of angels; or else the consent of the true faithful witnesses of Christ in all ages, who have all agreed in the person, office, and grace of Christ, as represented by the mercy seat and ark, which these cherubim covered with their wings.





1 Kings 6:26



Ver. 26. The height of the one cherub [was] ten cubits, and so [was it] of the other cherub. Which is repeated from 1Ki 6:23; that it might be observed, being of an extraordinary size.





1 Kings 6:27



Ver. 27. And he set the cherubim within the inner house,.... The holy of holies:



and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims; the carvers that framed them, they wrought them in that form; or impersonally, the wings of the cherubim were stretched out; this was the position of them, they overshadowed and covered the mercy seat and ark, and even the other two cherubim that were at the ends of the mercy seat:



so that the wing of the one touched the one wall; the southern wall:



and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; the northern wall; they reached from wall to wall, even the whole breadth of the house, which was twenty cubits, as their wings thus spread were, 1Ki 6:24;



and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house; which was ten cubits, and that was the spread of the wings of each of them; so that the wing of the right side of the one, stretched out, touched the wing of the left side of the other fit the same position; in 2Ch 3:13; their faces are said to be "inward", or "toward the house"; either toward the holy place, and so faced those that came into that and saw them; or towards the inner part of the holy of holies, their backs being to the holy place, or their faces were inward, and looked obliquely to each other.





1 Kings 6:28



Ver. 28. And he overlaid the cherubim with gold. Which may denote the purity and excellency of angels; or the precious gifts and graces of the Spirit, with which the witnesses of Christ are adorned.





1 Kings 6:29



Ver. 29. And he carved all the walls of the house about with carved figures of cherubim, and palm trees, and open flowers,.... That is, of palm trees, those in full blow: if the cherubim are an emblem of angels, the palm trees fitly enough represent just and upright men, who both appear in the church of God below, and in heaven above; in both which are to be seen the open and full-blown flowers of divine grace, especially in the latter state:



within and without; on the walls of the most holy place, both within and without; and so upon the walls of the holy place, in each of which were these sculptures, which were very ornamental, and were emblematical; see Eze 41:17.





1 Kings 6:30



Ver. 30. And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold within and without. Both the floor of the holy place, and of the holy of holies; so the street of the new Jerusalem is said to be pure gold, Re 21:21; this expresses the purity and magnificence of it, particularly the holy conversation of them that dwell in the church, in heaven, signified hereby.





1 Kings 6:31



Ver. 31. And for the entering of the oracle he made doors [of] olive tree,.... The door of the holy of holies was a two leaved or folding door, made of olive wood; typical of Christ, the door into the church above and below, the way to heaven and eternal life, the true olive tree:



the lintel [and] side posts [were] a fifth part [of the wall]; four cubits, twenty cubits being the breadth of the oracle; or the lintel was four cubits, twenty being the height of it also, 1Ki 6:20.





1 Kings 6:32



Ver. 32. The two doors also [were of] olive tree,.... The two leaves of the door, as before observed, repeated for the sake of the ornament of them, as follows:



and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims, and palm trees, and open flowers; as upon the walls, 1Ki 6:29;



and overlaid [them] with gold; the two doors:



and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees; thin plates of gold.





1 Kings 6:33



Ver. 33. So also made he for the door of the temple,.... The holy place:



posts [of] olive tree, a fourth part [of the wall]; which was five cubits, its breadth being twenty, 1Ki 6:20; this door was a cubit wider than that into the most holy place, 1Ki 6:31, more entering into the one than into the other; as more go into the church on earth than into the heavenly glory.





1 Kings 6:34



Ver. 34. And the two doors [were of] fir tree,.... the posts were of olive, but the doors of fir, and they were both folding doors, as appears by what follows:



the two leaves of the one door [were] folding, and the two leaves of the other door [were] folding; which, taking up less room, made the passage wider, see Eze 41:24.





1 Kings 6:35



Ver. 35. And he carved [thereon] cherubims, and palm trees, and open flowers,.... As upon the doors of the most holy place, 1Ki 6:32; see Eze 41:25;



and covered [them] with gold, fitted upon the carved work; plates of gold were fitted, as to the dimensions of them, to the cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.





1 Kings 6:36



Ver. 36. And he built the inner court,.... The court of the priests, 2Ch 4:9; so called to distinguish it from the outer court, where the people assembled: this was built



with three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams; the rows of stones were one upon another, topped with a row of cedar beams; or rather the cedar was a lining to the stones; and the whole is supposed to be about three cubits high, and was so low, that the people in the outward court might see priests ministering for them, and could converse with them; under the second temple, as Maimonides {h} says, the court of the priests was higher than that of the court of Israel two cubits and an half, called the great court, for which doors were made, and those overlaid with brass, 2Ch 4:9.



{h} Hilchot Beth Habechirah, c. 6. sect. 3.





1 Kings 6:37



Ver. 37. In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid,.... The fourth year of Solomon's reign:



in the month Zif; See Gill on "1Ki 6:1".





1 Kings 6:38



Ver. 38. In the eleventh year,.... That is, of the reign of Solomon:



in the month Bul, [which is] the eighth month; from the month Abib or Nisan; this month answers to part of our October, and part of November; it is the same month sometimes called Marchesvan; it had the name of Bul, because of the rains which usually fell in this month, as Kimchi thinks, like a flood; and Noah's flood is called Mabbul, from the same root {i}, and when all the fruits were withered, and the leaves were fallen from the trees; or, as Jarchi supposes, because the grass was consumed in the field, and they were obliged to mix provender for cattle, deriving the word from another root {k}: in this month



was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof; the porch, the holy place, and holy of holies, with all the chambers and courts belonging to it:



and according to all the fashion of it; which David had given to Solomon, to frame it by:



so he was seven years in building it; and six months, which are not mentioned, only the round number is given, as appears by comparing it with 1Ki 6:1.



{i} lbn "concidit", Buxtorf. {k} hlb "consumpsit, vel" llb "miscuit", ib.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

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