to build (literally and figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
chambers
הַיָּצִ֙יעַ֙hai.ya.tzo.a'
H3326
spread · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
house
הַבַּ֔יִתha.Ba.yit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
five
חָמֵ֥שׁcha.Mesh
H2568
five · noun, common both genders singular absolute
cubits
אַמּ֖וֹת'a.Mot
H520
properly · noun, common feminine plural absolute
high
קֽוֹמָת֑וֹko.ma.To
H6967
height · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
rested
וַיֶּאֱחֹ֥זvai.ye.'e.Choz
H270
to seize (often with the accessory idea of holding in p… · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
house
הַבַּ֖יִתha.Ba.yit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
timber
בַּעֲצֵ֥יba.'a.Tzei
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
cedar
אֲרָזִֽים'a.ra.Zim
H730
a cedar tree (from the tenacity of its roots) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 6:1-10
Here, I. The temple is called the house of the Lord (Kg1 6:1), because it was, 1. Directed and modelled by him. Infinite Wisdom was the architect, and gave David the plan or pattern by the Spirit, not by word of mouth only, but, for the greater certainty and exactness, in writing (Ch1 28:11, Ch1 28:12), as he had given to Moses in the mouth a draught of the tabernacle. 2. Dedicated and devoted to him and to his honour, to be employed in his service, so his as never any other house was, for he manifested his glory in it (so as never in any other) in a way agreeable to that dispensation; for, when there were carnal ordinances, there was a worldly sanctuary, Heb 9:1, Heb 9:10. This gave it its…
chambers . . . five cubits high--The height of the whole three stories was therefore about fifteen cubits.
they rested on the house with timber of cedar--that is, because the beams of the side stones rested on the ledges of the temple wall. The wing was attached to the house; it was connected with the temple, without, however, interfering injuriously with the sanctuary [KEIL].
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 6:9
Covered the house with beams and boards of cedar - The Eastern custom is very different from ours: we ceil with plaster, and make our floors of wood; they make their floors of plaster or painted tiles, and make their ceilings of wood. But it may not be improper to observe that, in ancient times, our buildings were somewhat similar. Westminster Hall is a proof of this.
John Gill on 1 Kings 6:10
And then he built chambers against all the house five cubits high,.... Which some understand of the same chambers in 1 Kings 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 1 Kings 6:2; which consisting of three stories of ninety cubits, raised the whole house to an equal height with the porch, 2 Chronicles 3:4; as is there intended (x); these are the upper chambers in 2 Chronicles 3:9; and they rested on the house with timber of cedar; or on the timber of cedar, the beams of cedar, with wh…
The Church Fathers
This means the breastworks that were constructed on top of the roof of the house all around in case anyone who came up to the upper parts of the building should suddenly fall to the bottom. And in every house that anyone built, Moses ordered this to be done, saying, "When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof all the way around, lest blood be shed in your house and you be to blame should anyone slip and fall down headlong." Now these structures or breastworks are called sides above, where, after the words "and on the wall of the temple he built structures all around, running around the walls of the house, both the temple and the oracle," the following is immediately added: "and he made side chambers all around." These side chambers, of course, we have understood as denoting the divine protection that helps us not to give up while still struggling in this world and daily striving after higher things according to our capacity. We ought to understand this passage also in the same sense, but with this distinction that in this life, whether amid the frequent temptations of our implacable enemy or the obstacles of our frailty, we are often, indeed constantly, protected by heavenly compassion, but in the life which, as we have stated above, the top of the roof of the temple suggests, we are protected by so great a grace of God who is with us, that we neither want nor are able to sin, nor are we affected by fear of either death or pain or the adversary who tempts us. The Lord speaks of the helps he gives us in the present life, as if they were the sides of the structures, when he says of his people, "They will call on me, and I shall hear them; I am with them in their tribulation, and I shall rescue them and glorify them." Of his grace to come whereby that heavenly city is illumined, the prophet says to the same city, "Praise the Lord, Jerusalem," and so forth as far as "peace in your borders." Now this structure on the roof of the house of the Lord is rightly said to be five cubits high because, of course, the presence of God's glory in that homeland [of ours] fills us in such a way that nothing else is sweet to our sight, our hearing, our sense of smell or taste or touch except to love the Lord our God with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Cedar — (Heb. e’rez, Gr. kedros, Lat. cedrus), a tree very frequently mentioned in Scripture. It was stately (Ezek. 31:3-5), long-branched (Ps. 80:10; 92:12; Ezek. 31:6-9), odoriferous (Cant. 4:11; Hos.…
Temple, Solomon’s — Before his death David had “with all his might” provided materials in great abundance for the building of the temple on the summit of Mount Moriah (1 Chr. 22:14; 29:4; 2 Chr. 3:1), on the east of the…
Cedar, The · Used in: Building temples — Used in: Building temples
Temple, The First · Surrounded with three stories of chambers communicating with the interior on the right side — Surrounded with three stories of chambers communicating with the interior on the right side
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The Outside of the Building. - Kg1 6:1. The building of the temple, a fixed and splendid house of Jehovah as the dwelling-place of His name in the midst of His people, formed an important epoch so far as the Old Testament kingdom of God was concerned, inasmuch as, according to the declaration of God made through the prophet Nathan, an end would thereby be put to the provisional condition of the people of Israel in the land of Canaan, since the temple was to become a substantial pledge of the permanent possession of the inheritance promised by the Lord. The importance of this epoch is indicated by the fact, that the time when the temple was built is defined not merely in relation to the year…
Unlike the Tabernacle, the Temple had an east entry room (or porch) and two freestanding pillars before the entrance (7:15-22).
Rashi on 1 Kings 6:10
Five amohs high. Of each one. Therefore, their total height was fifteen amohs besides the thickness of the ceiling.
And he covered the Beis Hamikdosh. That is the upper covering of the roof, and the covering [=והספון] mentioned above that was the ceiling of the upper story.
