Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 6:6
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.
6. The nethermost chamber (R.V. story) was five cubits broad ] This is the space between the wall of the Temple and the outer wall of the enclosing structure. The wall of the Temple must have been very thick at the bottom, for at the height of five cubits a ledge was made of one cubit wide on which to rest the floor work of the middle chambers. Then after five cubits more, a similar ledge received the floor-beams of the third story, and then at the height of 15 cubits came a third ledge, or rebatement, on which the beams of the roof of the uppermost story were to be supported. The wall of the Temple (i.e. the holy place) then rose 15 cubits more, and in this space were the windows. If we allow two cubits for the thickness of this upper part of the wall, the foot of the Temple wall must have been five cubits thick. Each story of the side chambers was one cubit more in width than the one below it.
for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about ] R.V. for on the outside he made rebatements in the wall of the house. ‘Rebatements’ is taken from the margin of the A.V., and is the technical word for these shoulders in the wall of the Temple on which the floors and roof of each story were to rest with one end, while the other end was built into the outer wall of this encircling frame of chambers.
that the beams should not be fastened ] R.V. should not have hold. The Temple building was more sacred than these chambers, which were meant for the use, or habitation of the priests. Hence there must be no breach made in the wall of either the holy place or of the most holy place. We read of ‘a chamber’ attached to the Temple (the Hebrew word is not the same as is used here) in the account of Tobiah (Neh 13:5). The use of it had been for storing the meat-offerings, frankincense, the sacred vessels and the tithes-in-kind which were given to the Levites. We have ‘chambers’ in the house of the Lord also noticed in Jer 36:10; Jer 36:20. These seem to have been used as dwelling-rooms.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In order to preserve the sanctity of the temple, and at the same time allow the attachment to it of secular buildings – sleeping apartments, probably, for the priests and other attendants – Solomon made rebatements in the wall of the temple, or in other words built it externally in steps, thus: The beams, which formed the roof of the chambers and the floors of the upper stories, were then laid on these steps or rests in the wall, not piercing the wall, or causing any real union of the secular with the sacred building. It resulted from this arrangement that the lowest; chambers were the narrowest, and the uppermost considerably the widest of all, the wall receding each time by the space of a cubit.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Ki 6:6
The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad.
Enlargement upwards
As the temple was highest, so it enlarged itself still upward; for as it ascended in height, so it still was wider and wider; even from the lowest chambers to the top. And this was to show us that Gods true gospel temple, which is His Church, should have its enlargedness of heart still upward, or most for spiritual or eternal things, wherefore He saith, Thy heart shall fear, and be enlarged, that is, be most affected with things above (Isa 60:5; Col 3:1). Indeed it is the nature of grace to enlarge itself still upward, and to make the heart widest for the things that are above. The temple therefore was narrowest downwards, to show that a little of earth, or this world, should serve the Church of God. And having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. I read not in Scripture of any house, but this that was thus enlarged upwards; nor is there anywhere, save only in the Church of God, that which doth answer this similitude. All others are widest downward, and have the largest heart for earthly things. (John Bunyan.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Five cubits broad, to wit, on the inside, and besides the galleries mentioned above.
Narrowed rests, or, narrowings; as in our buildings the walls of a house are thicker or broader at the bottom, and narrower towards the top; only these narrowings were in the outside of the wall, which at each of the three stories was a cubit narrower than that beneath it. And this is mentioned as the reason of the differing breadth of the chambers, because the wall being narrower, allowed more space for the upper chambers.
That the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house; that there might be no holes made in the wall for the fastening of them; and that the chambers might be removed, if occasion were, without any inconvenience to the house.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the nethermost chamber [was] five cubits broad,…. The nethermost row of them, which were upon the first floor:
and the middle [was] six cubits broad, and the third [was] seven cubits broad; so that the middlemost was a cubit larger than the lowest, and the highest a cubit larger than that: the reason of which was,
for without [in the wall] of the house he made narrowed rests round about; or rebatements; the thickness of the wall, as it was raised, became narrower at the height of every five cubits; thus the wall being supposed to be six cubits broad, as in Eze 41:5; when it came to be five cubits high, it was narrowed a cubit, which left a projection, rebatement, or bench for the beams of the first chambers to be laid upon, which made the second row of chambers broader by a cubit; and the same being observed in the next story, made the highest a cubit broader than the middlemost: and this was done,
that [the beams] should not be fastened in the walls of the house; or be inserted into them, which could not be done without making holes in it; and these holes could not be made without an iron instrument, and which was not to be used, as the next words show; whereas by the above method the beams of the chambers could be laid upon the buttresses, benches, or rebatements left, without the use of any: the gradual enlargement of these chambers, as they rose higher, may denote the enlargement of the church of God, both as to numbers, gifts, and grace, the nearer it comes to the heavenly state, as in the spiritual and personal reign of Christ.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. The nethermost chamber That is, the lower story of the wing, containing the first floor of side-chambers.
Five six seven cubits broad So, as in Ezekiel’s temple, there was an enlarging of these side-chambers upward, (Eze 41:7,) so that those of the upper story were two cubits broader than those of the nethermost. This was caused, as is immediately stated, by the narrowed rests, or rebatements, ( , used only here,) which he built around three sides of the house outside of and against the main wall. The addition by our translators of the walls and the beams is somewhat confusing. The latter half of this verse is as follows: For rebatements he gave to the house round about on the outside in order not to fasten in the walls of the house. That is, these rebatements were purposely built that the several stories of side-chambers, by resting on such ledges of exterior wall, might not in any way penetrate or detract from the strength and wholeness of the main wall of the temple.
Mr. T.O. Paine, in his work on “Solomon’s Temple,” propounds a new and ingenious plan of the whole edifice by making these wings and side-chambers consist of galleries on the inside of the house, and supported on the outside by three rows of pillars, the pillars varying in height according to the several galleries. But one of his principal arguments is a misinterpretation of Eze 41:7 by making the “enlarging upward” refer to the entire building rather than to the interior of the side-chambers. And his entire plan is open to many and insuperable objections, only a few of which we need here mention: 1.) It is difficult to conceive what purpose such open galleries served; and, so far as we can find, they have no counterpart nor analogy in ancient architecture. 2.) The making of the side-chambers a part of the entire visible interior conflicts with the obvious import of 1Ki 6:5-6; 1Ki 6:10 of this chapter, according to which they were built against the outside of the wall. 3.) Mr. Paine’s plan makes the walls more of a breastwork or substructure than a wall a low enclosure running round the central part of the building, and not reaching half-way to the roof. Accordingly, the height of the walls was not thirty cubits, (as we naturally infer from 1Ki 6:2,) and the width of the building was not, properly, twenty cubits, but varied with every gallery. 4.) Finally, the whole plan is chiefly drawn from the temple seen in vision by Ezekiel, (chap. xli,) and depends upon the assumption that that temple of vision was an exact pattern of Solomon’s temple that had been destroyed by the Chaldeans.
This assumption, we think, Mr. Paine utterly fails to establish. It is a theory which is quite generally rejected by the most careful modern expositors, and is therefore, at best, too uncertain and unreliable a guide to a satisfactory restoration of the ancient temple.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 6:6 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.
Ver. 6. The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, &c. ] Each one of these lofts, as they were above other, so they were larger than other. To show, saith one, the several degrees and places appointed by God in his Church, – apostles, evangelists, doctors, pastors, and elders, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
narrowed rests: or, narrowings, or rebatements, 1Ki 6:6
Reciprocal: 2Ki 11:2 – in the bedchamber 1Ch 28:11 – upper chambers Jer 35:2 – into one Eze 41:5 – side chamber Eze 41:6 – and they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 6:6. The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad In the inside, and besides the galleries mentioned above. It appears, by 1Ki 6:10, that they were but five cubits high, and built over one another in three stories; increasing in breadth every story one cubit, by the contrivance which follows. For without in the wall he made narrowed rests Or narrowings, or rebatements. That is, the wall, to which the chambers were joined, was, as walls generally are in our buildings, thicker or broader below, and narrower above. Only these narrowings were in the outside of the wall, which, at each of the three stories, was a cubit narrower than the part beneath it; so that there was more space for the breadth of the upper chambers, than of those beneath them. That the beams should not be fastened in the walls That there might be no holes made in the wall for fastening them; and that the chambers might be removed, if occasion were, without any injury or inconvenience to the house.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:6 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 {e} rests round about, that [the beams] should not be fastened in the walls of the house.
(e) Which were certain stones coming out of the wall, as stays for the beams to rest upon.