Construction of the Temple

I Kings 6:1-22

“And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.” (I Kings 6:1) 

In Galatians 3:16-17. Paul makes the statement, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.  And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.”  That four hundred thirty years is the same figure Exodus 12:40-41 gives as just the time they were in Egypt.  Since the promise to Abraham was made about ten years before Isaac was born and Isaac lived a hundred eighty years and died about fifteen years before Jacob and his children went to Egypt, Paul‘s statement ignores over two hundred years of history.

This verse does the same thing.  The individual time periods listed in the book of Judges total about four hundred seventy five years, not including the forty years in the wilderness, the period of Joshua’s leadership, Eli’s and Samuel’s periods as judges or Saul and David’s reigns.  Unfortunately, the author appears not to consider the exact time relevant, just wanting to establish that a long time had passed.   In fact the entire period was closer to seven hundred years, as the Jewish calendar and other historical records indicate.  Ussher and other bible scholars have accepted this figure for the period rather than going to the trouble of totaling the individual time periods, resulting in confusion as to when the Exodus occurred.  

“And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.  And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house.” (I Kings 6:2-3) 

The main temple structure was ninety feet long by thirty feet wide, and forty five feet wide with a fifteen foot wide porch across the east end.

"And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.  And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about: The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.” (I Kings 6:4-6)

Narrow vertical windows similar to those found in ancient castles were made because they weaken the wall less.  Below them, surrounding the main structure were three tiers of rooms, with the lowest being about seven and a half feet wide, the middle about nine feet wide, and the upper about ten and a half, thanks to the taper of the outer walls.  Tapered columns on the outside of the walls supported the ends of the beams so it was not necessary to run them through the wall, and would not be visible inside.

“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 ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.” (I Kings 6:7)

Every piece of  stone or wood was prefab bed offsite so that no tools of iron would be required to assemble it.  There would be almost no construction noise as a result.

“The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.” (I Kings 6:8)

On the right hand side of the temple, a door opened on a spiral staircase that gave access to the second and third floor chambers

“So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.  And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.” (I Kings 6:9-10) 

The roof beams and decking were made of cedar lumber, as were the three stories of chambers around the house.  The chambers were about seven and a half feet tall, almost the same as an average house today.

“And the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying, Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father: And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.” (I Kings 6:11-13)

I find it fascinating that only about six or eight years into Solomon‘s reign, even before he completed the temple, God found it necessary to remind him that the promise to him was dependent on his being obedient to God’s command.  Apparently his focus was already starting to shift.

“So Solomon built the house, and finished it.  And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the ceiling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.” (I Kings 6:14-15) 

All of the stonework was covered inside with cedar so they could be covered with gold leaf.   Stone would tend to sweat in cool weather, softening the egg whites used to bind the gold leaf to the wall.

“And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the most holy place. 

And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.  And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen. 

And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.  And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.

So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.  And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.” (I Kings 6:16-22) 

Inside the main structure, a cedar structure was erected separating it into two rooms similar to those in the tabernacle.  The Holy of Holies or Oracle had a dropped ceiling of cedar paneling so that it formed a cube roughly thirty feet on each side.   It would be reserved for the ark of the covenant.




No stone could be seen when the paneling was installed, and all the paneling was carved with open flowers and knobs or beads.   Everything about the oracle was covered with pure gold, including the new altar of incense.