John Gill Commentary 1 Kings 6

And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year
after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt
The Tyrian writers ^F11 make it five hundred sixty years from hence; but this no doubt is tightest.

Which Junius reckons thus; forty years Israel were in the wilderness, seventeen under Joshua, two hundred ninety nine under the judges, eighty under Eli, Samuel, and Saul, forty under David, add to which the four years of Solomon, and they make four hundred eighty ^F12 ; they are somewhat differently reckoned by others ^F13.

in the, fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel ;
when he was clear of all disturbers of his government, and had got all things ready for the building of the temple, and had gathered together gold and silver enough of his own to defray the expenses; for, as for what David gave him, he put that into the treasury of the Lord's house, see (1 Kings 7:51) ;

in the month Zif, which [is] the second month ;
and so must be Jiar, for Abib or Nisan was the first, and Jiar was the second, which answered to part of our April and part of May; called Zif either from the splendour of the sun, being now higher, and so the greater; or from the trees and flowers of the field being in all their glory; and so the Targum here calls it, the month of splendour of flowers: and it was on the second day of it,

that he began to build the house of the Lord :
and a very fit and proper season of the year it was to begin it in, see (2 Chronicles 3:2) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: Apud Theophil. ad Autolyc. l. 3. p. 131.
• F12: So Gerard. Voss. Chron. Sacr. Isagoge, dissert. 8. c. 7. p. 128.
• F13: Vid. Vitring. Hypotypos. Hist. Sacr. p. 43.

And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord
For his worship, honour, and glory:

its length was sixty cubits ;
sixty cubits from east to west, including the holy place and the most holy place; the holy place was forty cubits, and the most holy place twenty; the same measure, as to length, Eupolemus, an Heathen writer ^F14 , gives of the temple, but is mistaken in the other measures:

and its breadth was twenty [cubits] ;
from north to south:

and its height was thirty cubits ;
this must be understood of the holy place, for the oracle or most holy place was but twenty cubits high, (1 Kings 6:20) ;

though the holy place, with the chambers that were over it, which were ninety cubits, three stories high, was in all an hundred twenty cubits, (2 Chronicles 3:4) ; some restrain it to the porch only, which stood at the end, like one of our high steeples, as they think.

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 34.

And the porch before the temple of the house
Which stood at the east end of it:

twenty cubits [was] the length thereof, according to the breadth of the
house ;
which was from north to south, and of the same dimension, so that they exactly answered each other:

[and] ten cubits [was] the breadth thereof before the house ;
which being added to it, make the whole of the building, most holy place, holy place, and porch, seventy cubits; the height of the porch is not here given, but in (2 Chronicles 3:4) ; where it is said to be an hundred twenty cubits high, equal to the height of the house, with the chambers over it; but there the breadth of the porch is not given, as it is here; by these dimensions we may observe the difference between the tabernacle and the temple; the temple was twice as long, and as broad, and thrice as high as that, see (Exodus 26:8Exodus 26:16) . This fabric was an emblem of the church of God, sometimes called an holy temple, and the temple of the living God, (2 Corinthians 6:16) (Ephesians 2:21) .

And for the house he made windows of narrow lights .
Or "open, shut" ^F15 , which could be both, having shutters to them, to open or shut at pleasure; windows which they could open, and look through at them, or shut when they pleased; the Targum is, ``open within, and shut without;'' or, as others understand it, they were wide within, and narrow without; by being narrow without, the house was preserved from bad weather, as well as could not so easily be looked into by those without; and by being broader within, the light that was let in spread itself within the house; which some interpret only of the holy place, the most holy place having, as they suppose, no windows in it, which yet is not certain:

now these windows may denote the word and ordinances of the church of God, whereby light is communicated to men; which in the present state is but narrow or small, in comparison of the new Jerusalem church state, and the ultimate glory; and especially so it was under the legal dispensation, which was very obscure; see (Song of Solomon 2:9) (Isaiah 55:8) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: (Mypqv Mymja) "apertas clausas", Vatablus; "perspectui accommodas, clausas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

And against the wall of the house he built chambers round
about
Or near it, as Jarchi interprets it, for the beams of them were not fastened in it, (1 Kings 6:6); orrather "upon" it ^F16 ; and when they are said to be round about the house, it must be understoodof the two sides, north and south, and of the west end only, for at the east end, where the porch was, therewere none:

[against] the walls of the house round about, [both] of the temple and
of the oracle ;
that is, both of the holy and the most holy place:

and he made chambers round about ;
the said buildings; which is repeated that it might be observed; how many chambers there were, is not said;Josephus says ^F17 there were thirty of them, and over them others of the same measure and number,and over them others also; so that there were three stories of them, and in all ninety; and which iscountenanced by what follows in (1 Kings 6:6) , and agrees with (Ezekiel 41:6) ; the Jewish doctors say^F18 , there were thirty eight of them, fifteen on the north, fifteen on the south, and eight onthe west; they that were to the north and south were five upon five, and five over them; and they that wereto the west were three upon three, and two over them; upper rooms or chambers were rare in Heathen temples: these chambers were for the priests, where they lodged and laid up their garments, and atetheir holy things; and were emblems of congregated churches, where the true members thereof, who are prieststo God, have communion with him, and partake of divine things.

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: (ryq le) "super parietem", V. L. Montanus.
• F17: Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect. 2.
• F18: Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 3.