1 Kings 6:7 - meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Kings 6:7
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 iron heard in the house, while it was in building.
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · conjunction + definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
building
בְּהִבָּ֣נֹת֔וֹbe.hi.Ba.no.To
H1129
to build (literally and figuratively) · preposition + verb, niphal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
built
נִבְנָ֑הniv.Nah
H1129
to build (literally and figuratively) · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
stone
אֶֽבֶן'e.ven-
H68
a stone · noun, common feminine singular absolute
ready
שְׁלֵמָ֥הshe.le.Mah
H8003
complete (literally or figuratively) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
brought
מַסָּ֖עma.Sa'
H4551
a missile (spear or arrow) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
hammer
וּמַקָּב֤וֹתu.ma.ka.Vot
H4717
properly · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural absolute
axe
וְהַגַּרְזֶן֙ve.ha.gar.Zen
H1631
an axe · conjunction + definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
tool
כְּלִ֣יke.Li
H3627
something prepared · noun, common masculine singular construct
iron
בַרְזֶ֔לvar.Zel
H1270
iron (as cutting) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
heard
נִשְׁמַ֥עnish.Ma'
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
house
בַּבַּ֖יִתba.Ba.yit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
building
בְּהִבָּנֹתֽוֹbe.hi.ba.no.To
H1129
to build (literally and figuratively) · preposition + verb, niphal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
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
Deuteronomy 27:5-6 And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them.
1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus…
Exodus 20:25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted…
1 Kings 5:17-18 And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.
Proverbs 24:27 Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.
Isaiah 42:2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
Acts 9:31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judæa and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the c…
Romans 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 6:1-10
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…
there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building--A subterranean quarry has been very recently discovered near Jerusalem, where the temple stones are supposed to have been hewn. There is unequivocal evidence in this quarry that the stones were dressed there; for there are blocks very similar in size, as well as of the same kind of stone, as those found in the ancient remains. Thence, probably, they would be moved on rollers down the Tyropean valley to the very side of the temple [PORTER, Tent and Kahn].
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 6:7
The house - was built of stone - It appears that every stone was hewn and squared, and its place in the building ascertained, before it came to Jerusalem: the timbers were fitted in like manner. This greatly lessened the trouble and expense of carriage. On this account, that all was prepared at Mount Lebanon, there was neither hammer, axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the building; nothing except mallets to drive the tenons into the mortises, and drive in the pins to fasten them, was necessary: therefore there was no noise. But why is this so particularly marked? Is it not because the temple was a type of the kingdom of God; and the souls of men are to be prepared here for that place of ble…
Christ knocks with his hand that you may open, whereas the adversary cuts the door down with axes; and therefore it is written that hammer and axe should not enter into the house of God. Pride and deceit ought to be outdoors, not inside; conflicts indeed ought to be outside; but within, the peace that surpasses all understanding. Let not your soul be cut with the iron, but even as Joseph's soul, so may your soul pass by the iron. Otherwise, your ruling part, which is like a kind of tabernacle of the Word, may be destroyed at the very beginning of faith and the entrance into spiritual learning.
How, he says, "was the hammer of the whole earth broken and crushed? How was Babylon brought to destruction?" One needs to enquire here who is the "hammer of all the earth" or in what way its brokenness is prophesied, since it was "broken" before it was "crushed," so that after bringing together what has been written elsewhere about the "hammer," when we find its name, we will also investigate the meaning of the name from these examples that we have brought forth.At one time there was constructed a "house of God," according to the third book of Kings, and it was Solomon who built and erected it; and it was said here, as if in praise, about the "house of God," that "hammer and axe were not heard in the house of God." Therefore as the "hammer is not heard in the house of God," since the "house of God" is the church, so the "hammer is not heard" in the church. Who is this "hammer" who wants to obstruct, insofar as he can, the stones for building the temple, so that, "broken," they are not suited for its foundations? See with me if the devil is not the "hammer of the whole earth."
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
Axe — Used in the Authorized Version of Deut. 19:5; 20:19; 1 Kings 6:7, as the translation of a Hebrew word which means “chopping.” It was used for felling trees (Isa. 10:34) and hewing timber for…
Hammer — (1.) Heb. pattish, used by gold-beaters (Isa. 41:7) and by quarry-men (Jer. 23:29). Metaphorically of Babylon (Jer. 50:23) or Nebuchadnezzar. (2.) Heb. makabah, a stone-cutter’s mallet (1 Kings 6:7),…
Handicraft — (Acts 18:3; 19:25; Revelation 18:22) A trade was taught to ail the Jewish boys as a necessary part of their education. Even the greatest rabbis maintained themselves by trades (Delitzsch). Says Rabbi…
Temple — First used of the tabernacle, which is called “the temple of the Lord” (1 Sam. 1:9). In the New Testament the word is used figuratively of Christ’s human body (John 2:19, 21). Believers are called…
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…
Wall — Cities were surrounded by walls, as distinguished from “unwalled villages” (Ezek. 38:11; Lev. 25:29-34). They were made thick and strong (Num. 13:28; Deut. 3:5). Among the Jews walls were built of…
Hammer · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Iron · Tools — Tools
Stones · Prepared in the quarries — Prepared in the quarries
Temple, The First · Solomon: Built without the noise of hammers, axe, or any tool — Solomon: Built without the noise of hammers, axe, or any tool
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 6:7
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, 1 Kings 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…
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 6:7
When [the Beis Hamikdosh] was being constructed it was built of whole stones carried [from the quarry]. As it was removed from the mountain, through the worm [=a שמיר],15See Mishnayos Avos 5:6. Radak indicates that Shlomo sent an eagle to bring him the shamir which was in the Garden of Eden. [i.e.,] as it came from there they set it into the wall of the structure,16That is why it is called אבן שלמה [=whole stones], because they were used exactly as they arrived, without being cut or chiseled. and they did not chisel it with any metal tools. And the “stone” mentioned above,17 5:31. is a controversy in [Maseches] Sotah.18 48b.
Hammer. Delutta, in Russian.
