a year (as a revolution of time) · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
foundation
יֻסַּ֖דyu.Sad
H3245
to set (literally or figuratively) · verb, pual perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
house
בֵּ֣יתbeit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֑הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
laid
יָסַדyâçad
H3245
to set (literally or figuratively)
month
בְּיֶ֖רַחbe.Ye.rach
H3391
a lunation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Zif
זִֽוZiv
H2099
Ziv (corresponding to Ijar or May) · proper noun, a title
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).
Cross-references
1 Kings 6:1 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 ye…
2 Chronicles 3:2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 6:15–end
Here, I. We have a particular account of the details of the building.
1. The wainscot of the temple. It was of cedar (Kg1 6:15), which was strong and durable, and of a very sweet smell. The wainscot was curiously carved with knops (like eggs or apples) and flowers, no doubt as the fashion then was, Kg1 6:18.
2. The gilding. It was not like ours, washed over, but the whole house, all the inside of the temple (Kg1 6:22), even the floor (Kg1 6:30), he overlaid with gold, and the most holy place with pure gold, Kg1 6:21. Solomon would spare no expense necessary to make it every way sumptuous. Gold was under foot there, as it should be in all the living temples: the abundance of it lessened its w…
THE TIME TAKEN TO BUILD IT. (Kg1 6:37-38)
In the fourth year was the foundation laid--The building was begun in the second month of the fourth year and completed in the eighth month of the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, comprising a period of seven and a half years, which is reckoned here in round numbers. It was not a very large, but a very splendid building, requiring great care, and ingenuity, and division of labor. The immense number of workmen employed, together with the previous preparation of the materials, serves to account for the short time occupied in the process of building.
Next: 1 Kings Chapter 7
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 6:36
Three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams - Does not this intimate that there were three courses of stone, and then one course of timber all through this wall? Three strata of stone and one stratum of timber, and so on. If so, could such a building be very durable? This is also referred to in the succeeding chapter, Kg1 7:11; and as both the temple and Solomon's house were built in the same manner, we may suppose that this was the ordinary way in which the better sort of buildings were constructed. Calmet thinks that to this mode of building the prophet alludes, Hab 2:11 : The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. But it should be observed…
The allegorical meaning of the fact that the house of the Lord was built in seven years is plain, because, of course, the holy church is being built of the souls of the elect for the entire duration of this world, which is also completed in a period of six days, and it too brings its growth to an end with the end of the world. Or, at all events, it is built in seven years on account of the import of the grace of the Spirit through which the church alone gets the authority to be the church. For Isaiah enumerates the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit without which no one can either become a believer or keep the faith or by the merit of faith attain the crown. On the other hand, the fact that it was in the eighth year and in the eighth month of that year that the house was completed in all its parts and all its specifications has to do with the world to come and the day of judgment when the holy church will already have reached such a degree of perfection that it will not be possible to find anything to add to it. For it will then have what that dutiful devotee suppliantly asked of the Lord, saying, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." For it is well known that the day of judgment is often represented typologically in the Scriptures by the number eight from the fact that it follows this world, which lasts for seven days. This is also why the prophet gave the title "For the eighth" to the psalm he used to sing through fear of this severe judge, beginning with the words "Lord, rebuke me not in your indignation, nor chastise me in your wrath," and so forth.But there arises the rather important question as to how the house of the Lord is said to have been completed in all its parts in the eighth month and in all its specifications, whereas in what follows one reads that its dedication was completed in the seventh month. On the other hand, it is not credible that Solomon, though he built the temple in seven years and completed it in the eighth month of the eighth year, nevertheless deferred the dedication of the completed building until the seventh month of the ninth year. Hence it seems more likely that the house was built in seven years and seven months so that the solemn ceremony of dedication might be celebrated in the same seventh month, and, as the Chronicles relate, on the twenty-third day of that month Solomon sent the people away to their…
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
Month — Among the Egyptians the month of thirty days each was in use long before the time of the Exodus, and formed the basis of their calculations. From the time of the institution of the Mosaic law the…
Solomon — Peaceful, (Heb. Shelomoh), David’s second son by Bathsheba, i.e., the first after their legal marriage (2 Sam. 12). He was probably born about B.C. 1035 (1 Chr. 22:5; 29:1). He succeeded his father…
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…
Zif — Brightness; splendour; i.e., “the flower month,” mentioned only in 1 Kings 6:1, 37, as the “second month.” It was called Iyar by the later Jews. (See MONTH.)
Church · HOUSE OF THE LOR — HOUSE OF THE LOR
Foundation · Laid for: Temples — Laid for: Temples
Month · 2. Zif (May) — 2. Zif (May)
Months · Names of the twelve: Second, Zif — Names of the twelve: Second, Zif
Temple, The First · Solomon: Commenced second day of second month of fourth year of Solomon — Solomon: Commenced second day of second month of fourth year of Solomon
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).
John Gill on 1 Kings 6:37
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 1 Kings 6:1.
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 6:37–end
The time consumed in building. - The foundation was laid in the fourth year in the month Ziv (see Kg1 6:1), and it was finished in the eleventh year in the month Bul, i.e., the eighth month, so that it was built in seven years, or, more precisely, seven years and a half, "according to all its matters and all its due." בּוּל for יבוּל signifies proventus; בּוּל ירח is therefore the fruit month, the month of tree fruits. The name probably originated with the Phoenicians, with whom the fruit ripened later; and it is said to be found upon the great Sidonian inscription (compare Dietrich on Ges. Lex. s. v.). For the other explanations see Ges. Thes. p. 560. In comparison with other large building…
The inner courtyard surrounding the Temple was restricted to the priests (2 Chr 4:9) and contained the bronze altar (2 Chr 4:1), the bronze Sea (1 Kgs 7:23-26; 2 Chr 4:2-5), and ten carts that could hold ten basins of water for purification (1 Kgs 7:27-40; 2 Chr 4:6).
Rashi on 1 Kings 6:37
In the fourth year. Of Shlomo Hamelech[’s reign].
The foundation was laid— of the Beis Hamikdosh house of Adonoy. Its foundation was begun.48I.e., construction of Beis Hamikdosh began.
