The Building of the Temple
6:1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, during the month Ziv (the second month), he began building the Lord’s temple.
This verse is one of the most important verses in the Old Testament, because it enables one to fix the chronology of Israel’s history. Solomon began to build the temple in 966 B.C. The Exodus took place 480 years earlier in 1446 B.C. Secular archaeologists dispute the Biblical chronology, but only because of bias. There are many uncertainties in secular dating methods which certainly do not warrant much confidence in them. The Biblical record is fully reliable and will eventually prove to be fully validated.
6:2 The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
The tabernacle was only a large tent. The temple was twice as big as the tabernacle.
6:3 The porch in front of the main hall of the temple was 30 feet long, corresponding to the width of the temple. It was 15 feet wide, extending out from the front of the temple.
There was a large porch in front of the temple. Dancers, speakers, actors, and choirs could stand on the porch and be seen and heard by everyone in the courtyard.
6:4 He made framed windows for the temple.
The tabernacle had no windows. The Holy Place was lit up by candles. The Holy of Holies was lit by the divine illumination of the Shechinah Glory. The temple had some light from the outside, making it inferior to that of the Tabernacle.
6:5 He built an extension all around the walls of the temple’s main hall and holy place and constructed side rooms in it.
The side rooms were used by the priests for storage and service. This was the place where the priests lived during their course of service.
6:6 The bottom floor of the extension was seven and a half feet wide, the middle floor nine feet wide, and the third floor ten and a half feet wide. He made ledges on the temple’s outer walls so the beams would not have to be inserted into the walls.
The temple was three stories tall with three floors.
6:7 As the temple was being built, only stones shaped at the quarry were used; the sound of hammers, pickaxes, or any other iron tool was not heard at the temple while it was being built.
Solomon did not want the sound of tools to be heard while building the temple. Therefore, all of the hammering and cutting occurred at a different site. This is a remarkable testimony to the engineering, architectural and construction skills of Solomon. In order to build this temple, every portion was so carefully designed away from the construction site itself, that the building could be completely built in silence.
6:8 The entrance to the bottom level of side rooms was on the south side of the temple; stairs went up to the middle floor and then on up to the third floor.
Stairs connected the three stories of the temple.
6:9 He finished building the temple and covered it with rafters and boards made of cedar.
The rafters and borders of the temple were made of cedar.
6:10 He built an extension all around the temple; it was seven and a half feet high and it was attached to the temple by cedar beams.
An extension was added around the temple.
6:11 The Lord said to Solomon:
Jehovah most likely talked to Solomon by prophets.
6:12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my rules, observe my regulations, and obey all my commandments, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.
If Solomon kept the Mosaic Law, then the descendants of Solomon would bring the Messiah into the world. Solomon did not keep the Law, so the Messiah came later though the line of Nathan. Nathan was a half-brother of Solomon. The Virgin Mary would become the descendant of Nathan who would bring the Messiah into the world.
6:13 I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”
The Shechinah Glory lived among Israel as long as they were obedient. During the days of Ezekiel, Israel fell into idolatry. At this time, the Shechinah Glory would depart from the temple.
6:14 So Solomon finished building the temple.
Solomon completed David’s temple.
6:15 He constructed the walls inside the temple with cedar planks; he paneled the inside with wood from the floor of the temple to the rafters of the ceiling. He covered the temple floor with boards made from the wood of evergreens.
The walls and paneling were made of cedar trees. The floor and boards were made with evergreen trees.
6:16 He built a wall 30 feet in from the rear of the temple as a partition for an inner sanctuary that would be the most holy place. He paneled the wall with cedar planks from the floor to the rafters.
Solomon built a wall for the Holy of Holies.
6:17 The main hall in front of the inner sanctuary was 60 feet long.
The main hall in front of the inner sanctuary was the holy place. It was twice the length of the most holy place.
6:18 The inside of the temple was all cedar and was adorned with carvings of round ornaments and of flowers in bloom. Everything was cedar; no stones were visible.
The interior was decorated with carved ornaments and flowers.
6:19 He prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord could be placed there.
The Holy of Holies was the inner sanctuary. It would house the ark of the covenant.
6:20 The inner sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. He plated it with gold, as well as the cedar altar. 6:21 Solomon plated the inside of the temple with gold. He hung golden chains in front of the inner sanctuary and plated the inner sanctuary with gold. 6:22 He plated the entire inside of the temple with gold, as well as the altar inside the inner sanctuary.
The inside of the temple was plated with gold.
6:23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubs of olive wood; each stood 15 feet high.
The cherubim of the tabernacle were made of gold. The cherubim of the temple were made of olive wood.
6:24 Each of the first cherub’s wings was seven and a half feet long; its entire wingspan was 15 feet.
The wings of the cherubim covered the mercy seat. The mercy seat was the lid of the ark of the covenant. The blood of the lamb would be poured upon the mercy seat once a year as a national atonement for the sins of Israel.
6:25 The second cherub also had a wingspan of 15 feet; it was identical to the first in measurements and shape. 6:26 Each cherub stood 15 feet high. 6:27 He put the cherubs in the inner sanctuary of the temple. Their wings were spread out. One of the first cherub’s wings touched one wall and one of the other cherub’s wings touched the opposite wall. The first cherub’s other wing touched the second cherub’s other wing in the middle of the room. 6:28 He plated the cherubs with gold.
The wings of the cherub were plated with gold. They stretched from wall to wall.
6:29 On all the walls around the temple, inside and out, he carved cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom.
The walls of the the most holy place and the holy place were decorated with carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
6:30 He plated the floor of the temple with gold, inside and out.
The floors of the temple were plated with gold.
6:31 He made doors of olive wood at the entrance to the inner sanctuary; the pillar on each doorpost was five-sided.
The doors were made of olive wood.
6:32 On the two doors made of olive wood he carved cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom, and he plated them with gold. He plated the cherubs and the palm trees with hammered gold. 6:33 In the same way he made doorposts of olive wood for the entrance to the main hall, only with four-sided pillars. 6:34 He also made two doors out of wood from evergreens; each door had two folding leaves. 6:35 He carved cherubs, palm trees, and flowers in bloom and plated them with gold, leveled out over the carvings. 6:36 He built the inner courtyard with three rows of chiseled stones and a row of cedar beams.
The doors of the temple were made of olive wood. Cherubs, palm trees, and flowers were carved into the wooden doors. The wooden doors were plated with gold.
6:37 In the month Ziv of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign the foundation was laid for the Lord’s temple.
The temple construction starting date was April of 966 B.C.
6:38 In the eleventh year, in the month Bul (the eighth month) the temple was completed in accordance with all its specifications and blueprints. It took seven years to build.
The temple was completed seven and one-half years later.
Modern man thinks that his building skills are better than that of Solomon. Today, man is building tiny cubby holes in which to live and work. He drives to work on crowded concrete freeways. He thinks that this is modern architecture.
Solomon’s temple would cost over millions of dollars to build in today’s currency. All of the other pagan temples were made for their gods to live in. They put their gods in a box like a jack-in-the-box. The temple Solomon built was never considered as a house in which God would live. It was an approach for man to come to God through sacrifices. The temple sacrifices pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ.