_A.M. 2999. B.C. 1005._ Solomon builds several other houses, 1 Kings 7:1. He furnishes the temple with two pillars, 1 Kings 7:13. With a molten sea, 1 Kings 7:23. With ten bases and ten lavers of brass, 1 Kings 7:27. With all other utensils, and the things David had dedicated, 1 Kings 7:40.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Solomon was building his own house_ The royal palace, for himself and for his successors, which he did not begin to build till he had finished the house of God, that nothing might hinder that holy work, 1 Kings 9:10. _Thirteen years_ Almost double the time to that in which the temple was built; bec... [ Continue Reading ]
_He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon_ The house mentioned in the foregoing verse was in Jerusalem, and was probably the place of Solomon's residence during the winter. _This_ seems to have been built for his summer residence, on some cool, shady mountain near Jerusalem, and to have been... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fifteen in a row_ So in this second story there were only three rows of pillars, which were sufficient for the ornament of the second and for the support of the third story; and we may conjecture from hence that there were threescore pillars below. _Light was against light_ One directly opposite to... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he made a porch of pillars_ That is, supported by divers pillars: this was for his guard, and for people to walk in who came upon business, as well as for the more magnificent entrance into the house. Upon this also it is probable there were other rooms built as in the house. _The porch was bef... [ Continue Reading ]
_He made a porch for the throne, even the porch of judgment_ So it was called, because here he sat to judge and determine the causes that were brought before him. But some think it unlikely that this porch was adjoining to the house of the forest of Lebanon. They judge it more probable that it was b... [ Continue Reading ]
_His house where he dwelt had another court within the porch_ That is, between the porch and the house, called therefore the middle court, 1 Kings 20:4. _Solomon made also a house for Pharaoh's daughter_ Of which, see 2 Chronicles 2:11. _Like unto this porch_ Not for form or size, but for the materi... [ Continue Reading ]
_All these were of costly stones_ Namely, the buildings described here, and in the former chapter. _According to the measures of hewed stones_ Either, 1st, Which were hewed in such measure and proportion, as exact workmen use in hewing ordinary stones: or, 2d, As large as hewed stones commonly are,... [ Continue Reading ]
_The foundation was of costly stones_ By _costly stones_, mentioned here, and in the foregoing and following verses, are not meant _precious stones_, but stones that, being larger, firmer, and better polished than others, were of greater price: probably they were large blocks of marble, squared and... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the great court_ Namely, of Solomon's palace, mentioned 1 Kings 7:8. _Was with three rows of hewed stones_, &c. Just like the inner court of the Lord's house, (1 Kings 6:36,) and so the following words are to be understood. _Both, for the inner court_ Or, rather, _as_ for the inner court, &c.;... [ Continue Reading ]
_Solomon sent and fetched Hiram_ Though he was an Israelite by birth, yet he dwelt at Tyre; and, it is likely, had the privileges of that city, and so was one of King Hiram's subjects. And therefore (2Ch 2:13) that king says he had sent him to Solomon, that is, had granted Solomon's request, who had... [ Continue Reading ]
_He cast two pillars of brass_ Of which see 2 Kings 25:16; Jeremiah 52:21. _Of eighteen cubits high apiece_ It is said, 2 Chronicles 3:15, that these pillars were thirty-five cubits high, which relates to the height of both of them together without their pedestals, whereas the height of each is give... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nets of checker-work, &c., for the chapiters_ Which chapiters those nets and wreaths encompassed, either covering, and, as it were, receiving and holding the pomegranates, or being mixed with them. _And he made_ Or, _so he made_, or _framed_, or _perfected, the pillars, and two rows round about_ Of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Over against the belly_ So he calls the middle part of the chapiter, which jetted farthest out. _The pomegranates were two hundred_ They are said to be _ninety and six on the side of a pillar_, in one row, and in all _a hundred_, (Jeremiah 52:23,) four pomegranates between the several checker-works... [ Continue Reading ]
_He set up the pillars in the porch_ Where they were placed for mere ornament and magnificence, for they supported nothing. _Called the name thereof Jachin_ Which signifies, _He_, that is, God, _shall establish_, his temple, and church, and people: and Boaz signifies, _in it_, or rather, _in him_ (t... [ Continue Reading ]
_He made a molten sea_ He melted the brass, and cast it into the form of a great vessel, for its vastness called a sea, which name is given by the Hebrews to all great collections of waters. The use of it was for the priests to wash their hands and feet, or other things, as occasion required, with t... [ Continue Reading ]
_There were knops compassing it_ Molten figures: for the word פקעים, _pekagnim_, signifies pictures or figures of all sorts, as gourds, flowers, beasts, &c. _Ten in a cubit_ So there were three hundred of these knops in all, the sea being thirty cubits round. _The knops were cast in two rows when i... [ Continue Reading ]
_It stood upon twelve oxen_ Of solid brass, which was necessary to bear so great a weight. Probably the water was drawn by cocks out of the mouths of these oxen. _It contained two thousand baths_ That is, five hundred barrels, the bath being a measure of the same bigness with the ephah, each contain... [ Continue Reading ]
_He made ten bases of brass_ Upon which stood ten lavers mentioned below, (1 Kings 7:38,) in which they washed the parts of the sacrifices, 2 Chronicles 4:6. _They had borders_ Broad brims, possibly for the more secure holding of the lavers. _Upon the ledges there was a base above_ This is very obsc... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every base had four brazen wheels_ Whereby the bases and lavers might be removed from place to place, as need required. _Undersetters_ Hebrew, _shoulders;_ fitly so called, because they supported the lavers, that they should not fall from their bases, when the bases were removed, together with the... [ Continue Reading ]
_The mouth of it_ So he calls that part in the top of the base which was left hollow, that the foot of the laver might be let into it. _Within the chapiter_ Within the little base, which he calls _the chapiter_, because it rose up from, and stood above the great base. _And above_ Above the chapiter;... [ Continue Reading ]
_Were all molten_ Cast together with the bases. _The undersetters were of the very base_ Not only of the same matter, but of the same piece, being cast with it. _According to the proportion of every one_ Hebrew, כמער, _chemagnar, according to the nakedness_, or, _empty space of every one_, that is,... [ Continue Reading ]
_He made ten lavers of brass_ Which were to stand upon the bases before mentioned. _One laver contained forty baths_ See 1 Kings 7:26; from whence it will appear, that each of these lavers contained ten barrels of water. _And every laver was four cubits_ Some think they were of this height. But it i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hiram made the lavers_, &c. These seem to have been the last things that he made. For he now finished all his work, most or all the particulars of which are recapitulated, with the addition of some others not mentioned before: _shovels_, for instance, wherewith they cleansed the altar from the ashe... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the pots_ Or caldrons rather. These were vessels in which they boiled those sacrifices, or parts of sacrifices, which were divided between the priests and the people that offered them; that is, the _peace-offerings_, that they might eat them before the Lord. _In the clay- ground_ Hebrew, _In th... [ Continue Reading ]
_All the vessels that pertained to the house of the Lord_ Such as God, by the mouth of Moses, had commanded to be made for his house and service, and such as Moses had made for the tabernacle; only these for the temple were larger, richer, and more in number; according to the difference, as to size... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the candlesticks_ Which were ten, according to the number of the tables, whereas Moses made but one: whereby might be signified the progress of the light of sacred truth, which was now grown clearer than it was in Moses's time, and should shine brighter and brighter until the perfect day of gos... [ Continue Reading ]
_The bowls and the snuffers_, &c. The use of the different articles here named is manifest. The bowls were to contain oil for the lamps, the snuffers to trim them: the basins, which were a hundred, as we learn 2 Chronicles 4:8, were to receive the water of sprinkling, and the blood of the sacrifices... [ Continue Reading ]
_Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated_ The silver and gold, and other things which David had provided for erecting this temple, and which had not been expended in the house itself, or its furniture, Solomon laid up in the treasury belonging to it, for repairs, exigences... [ Continue Reading ]