B.-The accomplishment of the building of the Temple. CHAP. VI. 1-38. 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, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to 2 build the house of the Lord [Jehovah]. And the house which king Solomon built for the Lord [Jehovah] the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the 3 breadth thereof twenty cubits,' and the height thereof thirty cubits. And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, 4 according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house. And for the house he made windows of narrow lights [with fixed lattices']. 5 And against the wall of the house he built chambers' round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and 6 he made chambers round about. The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round 7 about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house. And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of 8 iron heard in the house, while it was in building. The door for the middle' chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding 9 stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third. So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of 10 cedar. And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar. 8 6 11, 12 And the word of the Lord [Jehovah] came to Solomon, saying, Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I 13 perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father: And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. 14, 15 So Solomon built the house, and finished it. And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both [from] the floor of the house, and [unto] the walls of the ceiling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and cov 16 ered the floor of the house with planks of fir. And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both [from] the floor and [unto] the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the most 17 holy place. And the house, that is, the temple before " it, was forty cubits long. 18 And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all 19 was cedar; there was no stone seen.' And the oracle he prepared in the house 20 within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord [Jehovah]. And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so 21 covered the altar which was of cedar [overlaid the altar with cedar.] So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the 22 chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold. And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.' 23 11 13 10 And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits 24 high. And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost 25 part of the other were ten cubits. And the other cherub was ten cubits: both 26 the cherubims were of one measure and one size [form]. The height of the one 27 cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub. And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in 28, 29 the midst of the house. And he overlaid the cherubims with gold. And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims 30 and palm trees and open flowers, within and without." And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without." 31 And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and 32 side-posts were a fifth part of the wall. The two doors also were of olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the 33 palm trees. So also made he for the door of the temple posts of olive tree, a 34 fourth part of the wall. And the two doors were of fir tree: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves" of the other door were folding. 35 And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered [overlaid] them with gold fitted upon the carved work. 36 And he built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams. 37 In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord [Jehovah] 38 laid, in the month Zif: and in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it. TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL. 1 Ver. 1.-[The Sept. here read fortieth instead of eightieth-for which there is no authority whatever. In the comparison of this date with Acts xili. 20 it is to be remembered that the best critical editors, following the MSS. N, A, B, C, etc., adopt the reading which places the words kai μerà тaura after, instead of before, the clause as ereσLV TETρAKOσIOLS Kai #EVTÝKOUTA, so that the passage has no longer any chronological bearing upon the statement of the text. 2 Ver. 1.-[The Vat. Sept. here interposes the omitted verses 17, 18 of the last chapter, and immediately subjoins verses 37, 88 of the present chapter. In the former verses both recensions have transformed, builders, into "??, sons. 3 Ver. 2.—[The missing MEN cubit is supplied in five MSS., the Sept., and Vulg. The Vat. Sept. changes the last dimension to 25 instead of 30 cubits. The Alex. follows the Heb., which must be right, since all the dimensions are exactly double those of the tabernacle, the proportions being carefully preserved. ♦ Ver. 4.-[D'UN D'EP. The VV. have been much at a loss in translating this expression. The Chald. Vulg. (fenestras obliquas), and Syr., apparently intended to convey the idea of windows like those in the thick wall of a Gothic structure, or the loop-holes of a fortification, narrow on the outside and spreading within. Such may be the sense of the A. V. But the meaning given in the Exeg. Com. must be the true one. D'ERY means only beams, cross-pieces; and אֲסְמִים יאָטָם from to shut close, means closed, and so fixed. • Ver. 5.—For the k'tib y the k'ri has in each case y, which is doubtless right, since the word has here another than the usual sense (Thenius).-Bähr. [Keil considers that the masc. form denotes the whole wing of these stories; the fam. the single story of this wing. was built of all unviolated stones of the quarry." Keil. Ver. 8.—In place of must necessarily be read (cf. ver. 6) an, as Ezek. xli. 7 stands, and the Tar. gum and the Sept. have read (Böttcher, Ewald, Merz., Thenius).-Bahr. [There is no various reading of the Heb. MSS., and the construction indicated by the text as it stands is sufficiently clear: the lower tier of chambers being easily provided for by doors, nothing is said of the entrance to them; but there was a winding stairway from the ground, with a door at its foot, leading to the middle chambers, and thence to the third story. Ezek. xli. 7 can hardly be considered as bearing on the point in question. Ver. 11.-[The Vat. Sept. omits here verses 11-14. as 30 Ver. 15.-The true reading, according to 2 Chron. iii. 7, is here as in ver. 16 niip [beams] not Лi'? [walls] (Thenius, Keil).-Bähr. [Accordingly our author translates by Balken, supported in this by the Sept. The emendation of the text (for which there is no manuscript authority) is required by the author's conception of the construction of the cubits high in the interior. Against this is the fact that the height of the cedar wainscoting in ver. 16 is expressly said to have been 20 cubits, and yet no stone was seen (ver. 18). If now a chamber above is supposed, no emendation is necessary here, and verses 16 and 18 become consistent. The wainscoting was carried up 20 cubits to where the ceiling met the walls, and above this the walls of the ceiling" or of the room above were left bare. A space of two cubits is thus left for the windows, and access to the "upper room" may have been had from the porch. 2 Chron. iii. 7 does not decide this point. In ver. 16 the words "from the ceiling," are to be supplied from the previous verse. In any case the A. V. is certainly wrong in covering the floor (which was of fir, ver. 15) with cedar. 10 Ver. 17.—The at the end of ver. 17 is to be understood either adverbially, before (De Wette), or adjectivially anterior (Ewald, Keil), unless with Thenius, upon the authority of the Sept., we suppose that has fallen out "That is the (so-called) Heehal before the Debir." Upon the figures upon the cedar, ver. 18 sq., see on ver. 29. In ver 19 is hence to be understood that the Debir was between the Heehal and the side structure. The difficult words ver. 20, Thenius will have removed from the text peremptorily, as a gloss placed here from ver. 17, although they are in all MSS. and ancient VV. Keil explains, with Kimchi, for the noun occurring also ,לפנים in ver. 29=the inner, inward. With 1, the same gold is designated which in Ex. xxv. 11 sq. is called in, and 13 Ver. 22.-The Sept. omit the last clause of this verse, and throughout this whole description omit many clauses and modify others. 14 Ver. 29.[That is in the Holy of Holies, and in the holy place, as the author notes in his translation. 15 Ver. 32-The author, in his translation, adds: “and over the open flowers." The Vulg. has et cætera.--F. G.] 16 Ver. 84.-Instead of Dyp must here necessarily be read, with the Sept., D', which stands immediately before.-Bahr. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 66 the measuring goes into detail, so much the more is the whole pronounced to be out and out divine. The account of Solomon's temple, before us, () In general it contradicts the being and nature together with the continuation in chap. vii. 13-51, of a vision to be nothing more than a pure buildis the oldest, and, at the same time, the most com- ing-description or an architectonic direction. But plete in our possession. Hence all knowledge of here, it must be added that it contains phases this world-historical building must adhere to it which do not admit of execution in reality, as, e. g., and found itself upon it. Next to it is the parallel the great stream flowing from the temple emptyaccount in 2 Chron. iii., iv., which agrees with it in ing itself into the Dead Sea (Ezek. xlvii. 1–12). İf all essential particulars, and, as indeed the most the purpose of the entire delineation had been to recent criticism acknowledges, comes from an serve as a building-direction for the reconstruction ancient source, perhaps from the same with our of the temple after the return from the captivity, own here. Although significantly briefer, it gives, it would be inexplicable that it should have been nevertheless, some supplementary details the ac- disregarded as well by Zerubbabel as later by curacy of which is undoubted, and which deserve Herod. (c) As little as the delineation is purely all consideration. In addition to these two histor- historical, just as little also is it, as many have ical accounts, there is also the delineation in "vi- supposed, a mere picture of the fancy. Rather, sion" of the prophet Ezekiel (chap. xl. sq.), which "as Ezekiel elsewhere loves the finishing out of indeed is very explicit in respect of the ground-long allegories (see chap. xvi. 23), so also we have plan and its measurement. In an earlier period here a very extended symbolical representation this delineation was regarded as an essential com- prophetically delivered by him" (Hävernick, Com pletion and explanation of the historical accounts; mentar, s. 623; cf. Umbreit, Commentar, s. 257). later this was abandoned, because the prophet Certainly it rests upon an historical basis, yet not himself repeatedly explains it as a vision (chap. upon the temple as originally built by Solomon, xl. 2; xliii. 2, 3); but most recently it has again but upon it after many additions and alterations, been claimed that "it is a description which, upon as it existed just before the captivity. Yet it is the whole, differs only slightly and immaterially and must remain a vision, and, as such, it has an from the temple before the exile" (Thenius). And ideal character, from which every effort to sepathe reason assigned is twofold: the one is the rate with certainty the historical basis is futile style of the description, "thoroughly jejune, de- (comp. Winer, R.-W.-B., ii. s. 570). It is abunficient in all taste, giving single measurements even dantly clear that in the inquiry upon the temple to the width of the doors and the strength of the of Solomon, only the most cautious use of Ezekiel's walls," the other is the object of it, which was, description should be made, and in no case is a according to chap. xliii. 10, 11, that "the temple votum decessivum due it. (then destroyed) should be rebuilt according to Besides the biblical accounts, we have from Ezekiel's model." To this, however, it must be antiquity only that of Josephus (Antiq. viii. 3), of objected, (a) That the statement of the numbers and which, however, Le Clerc properly says: templum the measure of the foundation, extending itself to aedificat, quale animo conceperat, non quale legerat a the minutest particulars, instead of taking away Salomone conditum. As he is not wholly trustfrom the description the character of a vision, worthy about the transactions of his own time, he rather confirms it. The exact measuring off and is still less in matters of antiquity; particularly bounding according to definite numbers and mea-"when he enters upon special descriptions, and surements is, as has been fully shown in my Symbolik des Mosaischen Kultus (i. s. 127 sq.), the first requisite for every space and structure which has an higher, divine destination, and imparts thereto the impress of the divine. Hence, in the description of all holy places and buildings mentioned in Scripture, the measurement and numbers are so carefully given, and especially in the visions which concern the one divine edifice, ever first a heavenly being, a man with a measuring-chain appears, who measures off everything" (Ezek. xl. 3, 5; xivii. 3; Zech. ii. 5; Rev. xi. 1; xxi. 15). The more claims to communicate detailed incidents, and mea- almost exclusively refer to the temple of Herod, | Septuagint also has 440 instead of 480. If one which was very different from that of Solomon, and mingle both together, as also with that of Ezekiel. add together the chronological figures of the book of the Judres, the result is, for the period of the judges alore 410 years, to which must be added The Christian literature respecting our temple 65 for Moses and Joshua, 60 for Saul and David, is not insignificant. The older essays, from the and 4 for Solomon, so that there are 539 years in middle of the sixteenth to the middle of the eigh- all. According to Acts xiii., the period of the teenth century, like those of Villalpando, Lun- judges embraced about 450 years; 65 for Moses dius, B. Lamy, and others, embrace the Ezekilian and Joshua, 40 for Saul (ver. 21), 40 for David, and and Herodian temples, without distinguishing 4 for Solomon reckoned in, would give in all 599 sharply what belongs to the one or to the other. years. Still farther, Josephus, when he speaks From the designs adduced by them, executed in of the building of the temple (Antiq. viii. 3, 1), Greco-Roman style, it is clear that their results instead of 480 gives 592 years; and in two are totally untenable. While, up to a given time, other places (Antiq. xx. 10; Contra Apion. ii. 2) men believed that they must represent the temple 612 years. Most recently Lepsius and Bunsen to have been as grand and splendid as possible, in have used the Egyptian and Assyrian chronology the period of the "illumination " (Aufklärung), they against the number 480, and have sought to prove fell into the opposite extreme, and made it as at length, that it is to be reduced to some three small, unsightly, and insignificant as possible hundred and odd years. Finally, Bertheau and (J. D. Michaelis, Jahn, and others). But subse- Böttcher maintain, with reference to 1 Chron. vi. quently there has been a return to the historical, 35 sq., where the generations of the high-priests biblical account, and a simple adherence to it from Aaron to Ahimaz, a contemporary of David, (Warnekros, Bauer, and others). The treatise are given, the number 480 is the sum-total of composed by Hirt, simply in the interests of twelve generations, 40 years to the generation archæology and art-history (Der Tempel Salomo's (40 x 12=480); consequently there is no chronomit drei Kupfertafeln, Berlin, 1809), gave occasion logically exact, but rather a probable, round numto later and more exact researches, in pure archæ- ber. Uncertain and doubtful, all things considered, ological and historico-æsthetic interests. Here- as the statement of the text may seem, we must upon followed the Inquiries by J. Fr. Von Meyer nevertheless, with Ewald (Gesch. Israels, ii. s. 462 (Bibeldeutungen, 1812, and Blätter für höhere Wahr- sq.), Winer (R.-W.-B. ii. s. 327), Thenius (Commen heit, IX. and XI.); Stieglitz (Geschichte der Baukunst. | tar, s. 56–58), and Rösch (das Datum des Tempelbaues Nürnberg, 1827); Grüneisen (Revision d. jungsten im Ersten Buche der Könige. Studien u. Kritiken, 1863, Forschungen üb. den Salom. Tempel. Kunstbl. iv. s. 712-742) adhere to it because, (a) the precision 1831); Kopp (Der Tempel Salomo's, Stuttgart, 1839, mit Abbild.); Keil (Der Tempel Salomo's. Dorpat, 1839); Kugler (Kunstgesch., Berlin, 1841); Schnaase (Antiq. Bemerk. über den Salom. Tempel in der Gesch. der bild. Künste I., Düsseld. 1843); Romberg and Steeger (Gesch. der Baukunst. Leipzig, 1844); Merz (Bemerk. über den Tempel Salomo's. Kunstbl. 1844); my treatise: Der Salom. Tempel mit Berücksicht. seines Verhältn. zur heil. Architektur überhaupt. Karlsruhe, 1848); Thenius (das vorexilische Jerusalem u. dessen Tempel, mit Abbild., im Commentar zu den Büchern der Könige. Leipzig, 1849); Winer (R.-W.-B. Tempel zu Jerusalem. Leipzig, 1848); Ewald (die heiligen und königlichen Bauten Salomo's in der Gesch. Israels III. Göttingen, 1853); Unruh (das alte Jerusalem und seine Bauwerke. Langensalza, 1861); Merz (Tempel zu Jerusalem in Herzogs R. Encyclopädie XV. Gotha, 1862). of the statement is a voucher for its accuracy. Not only is the whole number of the years given, but also the year of the reign of the king, even the mouth itself; and since after the captivity the months had other names, in order that the month itself might not be mistaken for any other, to the name Zif (1) it is expressly added, "which is the second month." In all Scripture there is no chronological statement more carefully prepared; and hence, if any one can claim authority, it is this. It is unnecessary, therefore, to correct it by others more or less vaguely and generally acknowledged, but we are justified, on the contrary, in considering it as the standard for the rest. This holds especially (b) in reference to the chronological figures of the period of the judges, which are not critically and historically above all suspicion, and cannot be added together simply, but must be understood as contemporaneous in part, and standing [For the archæology and topography of the sub-side by side, even if it be not demonstrably clear ject, see also Robinson's Palestine, vol. i. p. 280300. Barclay, J. T., The City of the Great King. Philadelphia, 1858. Walter Merriam Editor, The Recovery of Jerusalem, &c., by Capt. Wilson, R. E., and Capt. Warren, R. E. New York, Appleton & Co., 1871. Part I. iii.-viii. and xii., also Part II. -E. H.] EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Ver. 1. And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year, &c. This chronological statement, the first which occurs in Scripture for the determination of an entire period, has given much occupation to the older chronologists, because it does not agree with the statements of the book of the Judges and with Acts xiii. 20. The in how far, and with what particular numbers, A, B, C, which removes the chronological difficulty. (nan), and the rear, in ver. 5, "the oracle" comes from the Arabic, at the other 612. The first number, adopted also is called in ver. 3 "the temple of the house" by the Chinese Jews, rests doubtless upon the rabbinic notion that in the 480 years those only are to be reckoned in which Israel was under Israel-(77). The word itish judges, and that those on the other hand are to be thrown out (amounting in all to 111), when to be large, high (2 Chron. iii. 5), hence the front the nation was subject to foreign heathen rulers compartment was "the great house" (in n'an) 480+111-591. This conception of the matter is destitute of all proof. The reason for the number in contradistinction with the rear, which was the 612 is unknown. (e) The calling in question of shorter half, and also lower. The Vulg., after Jethe number 480 upon the ground of the Egyptian rome, translates the word by oraculum, i. e., or of the Assyrian chronology, proceeds upon the oraculi sedes, and the Lex. Cyrilli explains the daßip assumption that this chronology is assured, which, of the Sept. by xpпμatioτýpiov. It is, however, it is known, is by no means the case, and which not derived from 7 to speak, but from 27 can only be restored through a series of combinain its primary signification to adjoin, to follow tions and of unproved hypotheses. How feebly the definite statement of our text can be attacked after (comp. Dietrich in Gesen.), and signifies, also, by it, has been thoroughly and completely shown simply the compartment in the rear, following upon the large room. The windows which the house by Rösch on the place. (f) The reading of the had (ver. 4), were certainly placed high, where it Sept. (440 instead of 480) is not supported by any overtopped the "chambers round about" (Umbau) ancient version or MS., and rests either upon the with their three stories. confounding of the sign 80 with 40, or upon there were, whether upon all the four sides of the How many windows some peculiar and even arbitrary reckoning. (9) house, or only upon three, or only upon the two The view that 480 is the product of 12 x 40, is in- length-walls, we do not gather from the text. The admissible, because in that event the four years of Solomon's reign are not in the estimate, and designs of Thenius and Keil place them all around must be added to the 480 years, while in fact they the house, with the exception of the façade, where the porch was. Nor is the size of the windows are included within them. Had the reckoning been made according to generations, the author would given, but it is added D'UN D', i. e., not have written 484. Apart from this, twelve gene-"wide within, narrow without" (Luther, after the rations are supplied us from 1 Chron. vi. only when Aaron himself, who, according to Exod. vii. 7; Numb. xxxiii. 38 sq., was eighty-three years old at the time of the departure from Egypt, is taken into the account. Besides, there is no proof that in the computation of long periods of time human age is regularly set down at forty years. As Moses was 120 years, Aaron 123, Joshua 110, Eli 98, &c., and generally, a great age was then usual, the average of human life must certainly be placed higher than at forty years. Comp. Thenius. Chald.), but "windows with closed beams, i. e., windows the lattice of which could not be opened and shut at pleasure as in ordinary dwellinghouses, 2 Kings xiii. 17; Dan. vi. 11" (Keil). The lattice consisted of strong cross-pieces, and not of wickerwork. The window-opening may have been, certainly, according to the account of the Chaldee and of the rabbins, inasmuch as the walls were very thick, wider on the inside than on the outside, as is the case in the windows of Egyptian buildings, and answers for the purposes of admitting light and air, and of letting off smoke, only there is nothing of it in the words of the text. Vers. 3-4. And the porch before the temple comes from Ver. 2. And the house which king Solomon, &c. The place where the temple was built, was, according to 2 Chron. iii. 1, Mount Moriah (comp. 2 Sam. xxiv. 18 sq.), which our author presupposes of the house, &c. As the word D as sufficiently known. [The uneven rock of Mo riah had to be levelled, and the inequalities filled by, i.e., to go before, it signifies also a projection: immense substructions of " great stones," "costly but we are not, as in 1 Kings vii. 6, where stones," "hewed stones." Stanley, Jewish Church. -E. H.] In vers. 2-10 the measurement and single portions of the structure are given. The measurements are determined according to the cubit, and indeed the older (2 Chron. iii. 3), which The nius reckons at one foot six inches Rhenish, and one foot four inches Paris, measure [= 1 foot six inches Eng. measure]. Here, and in all the subsequent statements, they refer to the interior spaces. The component parts of the structure are the house, the porch, and the "chambers round about" (Umbau). The first is the building proper, to which both others are attached as additional and subsidiary. The whole was situated according to the points of the compass. The front, or entranceside, was towards the east, the rear wall was towards the west, the two sides towards the south and north (1 Kings vii. 39; Ezek. viii. 16), which also was the position of the tabernacle (Ex. xxvi. 18 sq.; xxxvi. 33 sq.). The main building, the house (an), was built of thick stone walls (vers. 6, 7, and had within two compartments: the front (pillars) is expressly added, to represent it as a portico or a colonnade. It stretched across the entire façade of the house, and its length was equal to the breadth of the house, viz., 20 cubits. The text does not mention the height, but 2 Chron. Its breadth, i. e., its depth, measured 10 cubits. iii. 4 gives it at 120 cubits, which is certainly incorrect; for, as Thenius properly remarks, (1) “a structure of this sort could not have been designated as an , but must have been called a 2 (tower); (2) the chimney-like proportions: 20, 10, 120, are not only inconsistent with (the notion of) the pylon of a temple, but are also statically impossible. [If it were but 10 cubits (15 feet) deep, it seems impossible that it could have been 120 cubits (180 feet) high: and the theory of Mr. Ferguson that the height refers to a "superstructure on the temple," would make the temple however, on the TEMPLE in Smith's Dictionary of itself a very grotesque building. See the art, the Bible, vol. iv. New York, 1870.-E. H.] From |