1 Kings 6:36

The Inner Court (1 Kings 6:36).

1 Kings 6:36

‘ And he built the inner court with three courses of hewn stone, and a course of cedar beams.'

The Temple clearly had an Inner court, and therefore presumably an Outer court. The Inner court would be where people brought their offerings, and it would contain the bronze altar and the bowls of water where the priests washed their hands and feet prior to entering the Holy Place. Jeremiah calls it ‘the upper court' which suggests that it was higher than the Outer court (Jeremiah 36:10). The Outer court would be a place for worshippers to gather, and may well at this time have also incorporated within it the king's palace. See 1 Kings 7:9; 1 Kings 7:12. The wall of the inner court was built with three courses of hewn stone to one course of cedar beams as it rose upwards. We are not told anything about the height that it reached. This construction, which was commonly found in buildings elsewhere, may have provided protection from damage through earthquake. Or it may in this case have symbolised the materials from which the Temple was made. Or the cedar course may have provided spaces through which people could look in. The same pattern is found in a number of excavated Syrian buildings, and generally in the ancient world.

According to 2 Chronicles 4:9 the outer wall had gates lined with bronze, thus it also clearly had high walls. Around it were rooms and cells for the priests and Levites (2 Kings 23:11; Jeremiah 35:4; Jeremiah 36:10). The principal gate of the outer court was the east gate (Ezekiel 11:1) but other gates are mentioned (2 Kings 11:6; 2 Chronicles 23:5; Jeremiah 20:2; 2 Kings 12:10; 2 Chronicles 24:8). The reason why it is not mentioned here is probably because it also included within it the palace of Solomon shortly to be described.

The Date Of The Finalising Of The Temple (1 Kings 6:37). 1 Kings 6:37

‘ In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of YHWH laid, in the moon period (yerach) Ziv. And in the eleventh year, in the moon period (yerach) Bul, which is the eighth month (chodesh), was the house finished throughout all its parts, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.'

The building of the Temple took seven years and six months. The fact that it took ‘seven years' would have been seen as a good sign. It was the divinely perfect period. Note again the ancient pre-exilic names for the months. Ziv means ‘flowers' (spring time) and Bul means ‘moisture' (the rainy season). We need not doubt that the building of it was a genuine act of worship, but as we have already seen it revealed the shallowness of Solomon's religious awareness. It lacked in obedience. It revealed man's view of God, not what God had revealed Himself to be.

“Yerach” is an ancient word for a moon period, found also at Ugarit and on the Gezer tablet, but comparatively rare in Scripture, being found prior to Kings only in Exodus 2:2; Deuteronomy 21:13; Deuteronomy 33:14. ‘Chodesh' is a parallel word and is of common use, being found regularly from Genesis onwards. Both words were used by Job and Zechariah which demonstrates that they were parallel words in use throughout the Biblical period.