John Gill Commentary 1 Kings 6:2

"And the house which king Solomon built for Jehovah, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty [cubits], and the height thereof thirty cubits." — 1 Kings 6:2 (ASV)

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.