23 In the inmost room he made two winged beings of olive-wood, ten cubits high;
And he made two winged ones, hammered out of one bit of gold, for the two ends of the cover; Placing one at one end and one at the other; the winged ones were part of the cover. And their wings were stretched out over the cover; the faces of the winged ones were opposite one another and facing the cover.
And at the two ends of the cover you are to make two winged ones of hammered gold, One at one end and one at the other; the winged ones are to be part of the cover. And their wings are to be outstretched over the cover, and the winged ones are to be opposite one another, facing the cover. And put the cover over the ark, and in the ark the record which I will give you. And there, between the two winged ones on the cover of the ark, I will come to you, face to face, and make clear to you all the orders I have to give you for the children of Israel.
And in the most holy place he made images of two winged beings, covering them with gold. Their outstretched wings were twenty cubits across; one wing, five cubits long, touching the wall of the house, and the other, of the same size, meeting the wing of the other winged one. And in the same way, the wings of the other, five cubits long, were stretched out, one touching the wall and the other meeting the wing of the first winged one. Their outstretched wings were twenty cubits across; they were placed upright on their feet, facing the inner part of the house.
And he said to the man clothed in linen, Go in between the wheels, under the winged ones, and get your two hands full of burning coals from between the winged ones and send them in a shower over the town. And he went in before my eyes. Now the winged ones were stationed on the right side of the house when the man went in; and the inner square was full of the cloud. And the glory of the Lord went up from the winged ones and came to rest over the doorstep of the house; and the house was full of the cloud and the open square was full of the shining of the Lord's glory. And the sound of the wings of the winged ones was clear even in the outer square, like the voice of the Ruler of all. And when he gave orders to the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the winged ones, then he went in and took his place at the side of a wheel. And stretching out his hand to the fire which was between the winged ones, he took some of it and went out. And I saw the form of a man's hands among the winged ones under their wings. And looking, I saw four wheels by the side of the winged ones, one wheel by the side of a winged one and another wheel by the side of another: and the wheels were like the colour of a beryl stone to the eye. In form the four of them were all the same, they seemed like a wheel inside a wheel. When they were moving, they went on their four sides without turning; they went after the head in the direction in which it was looking; they went without turning. And the edges of the four wheels were full of eyes round about. As for the wheels, they were named in my hearing, the circling wheels. And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a winged one, and the second was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. And the winged ones went up on high: this is the living being which I saw by the river Chebar. And when the winged ones went, the wheels went by their side: and when their wings were lifted to take them up from the earth, the wheels were not turned from their side. When they were at rest in their place, these were at rest; when they were lifted up, these went up with them: for the spirit of life was in them. Then the glory of the Lord went out from the doorstep of the house, and came to rest over the winged ones. And the winged ones, lifting up their wings, went up from the earth before my eyes, with the wheels by their side: and they came to rest at the east doorway of the Lord's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them on high. This is the living being which I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and it was clear to me that they were the winged ones. Every one had four faces and every one had four wings; and hands like a man's hands were under their wings. As for the form of their faces, they were the faces whose form I saw by the river Chebar; when they went, every one of them went straight forward.
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Commentary on 1 Kings 6 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 6
1Ki 6:1-4. The Building of Solomon's Temple.
2. the house which king Solomon built for the Lord—The dimensions are given in cubits, which are to be reckoned according to the early standard (2Ch 3:3), or holy cubit (Eze 40:5; 43:13), a handbreadth longer than the common or later one. It is probable that the internal elevation only is here stated.
3. the porch—or portico, extended across the whole front (see on 2Ch 3:4).
4. windows of narrow lights—that is, windows with lattices, capable of being shut and opened at pleasure, partly to let out the vapor of the lamps, the smoke of the frankincense, and partly to give light [Keil].
1Ki 6:5-10. The Chambers Thereof.
5. against the wall of the house he built chambers—On three sides, there were chambers in three stories, each story wider than the one beneath it, as the walls were narrowed or made thinner as they ascended, by a rebate being made, on which the beams of the side floor rested, without penetrating the wall. These chambers were approached from the right-hand side, in the interior of the under story, by a winding staircase of stone, which led to the middle and upper stories.
7. there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building—A subterranean quarry has been very recently discovered near Jerusalem, where the temple stones are supposed to have been hewn. There is unequivocal evidence in this quarry that the stones were dressed there; for there are blocks very similar in size, as well as of the same kind of stone, as those found in the ancient remains. Thence, probably, they would be moved on rollers down the Tyropean valley to the very side of the temple [Porter, Tent and Kahn].
9, 10. built the house—The temple is here distinguished from the wings or chambers attached to it—and its roofing was of cedar-wood.
10. chambers … five cubits high—The height of the whole three stories was therefore about fifteen cubits.
they rested on the house with timber of cedar—that is, because the beams of the side stones rested on the ledges of the temple wall. The wing was attached to the house; it was connected with the temple, without, however, interfering injuriously with the sanctuary [Keil].
1Ki 6:11-14. God's Promises unto It.
11-13. the word of the Lord came to Solomon—probably by a prophet. It was very seasonable, being designed: first, to encourage him to go on with the building, by confirming anew the promise made to his father David (2Sa 7:12-16); and secondly, to warn him against the pride and presumption of supposing that after the erection of so magnificent a temple, he and his people would always be sure of the presence and favor of God. The condition on which that blessing could alone be expected was expressly stated. The dwelling of God among the children of Israel refers to those symbols of His presence in the temple, which were the visible tokens of His spiritual relation to that people.
1Ki 6:15-22. The Ceiling and Adorning of It.
15-21. he built the walls of the house within—The walls were wainscotted with cedar-wood; the floor, paved with cypress planks; the interior was divided (by a partition consisting of folding doors, which were opened and shut with golden chains) into two apartments—the back or inner room, that is, the most holy place, was twenty cubits long and broad; the front, or outer room, that is, the holy place, was forty cubits. The cedar-wood was beautifully embellished with figures in relievo, representing clusters of foliage, open flowers, cherubims, and palm trees. The whole interior was overlaid with gold, so that neither wood nor stone was seen; nothing met the eye but pure gold, either plain or richly chased.
31-35. for the entering of the oracle—The door of the most holy place was made of solid olive tree and adorned with figures. The door of the holy place was made of cypress wood, the sides being of olive wood.
36. the inner court—was for the priests. Its wall, which had a coping of cedar, is said to have been so low that the people could see over it.
1Ki 6:37, 38. The time Taken to Build It.
37. In the fourth year was the foundation laid—The building was begun in the second month of the fourth year and completed in the eighth month of the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, comprising a period of seven and a half years, which is reckoned here in round numbers. It was not a very large, but a very splendid building, requiring great care, and ingenuity, and division of labor. The immense number of workmen employed, together with the previous preparation of the materials, serves to account for the short time occupied in the process of building.