Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 6:29
And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.
29. within and without ] Both here and in the next verse these words can only refer to the inner and outer rooms, the most holy place and the holy place.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Palms, cherubs, and flowers – the main decorations of Solomons temple – bear considerable resemblance to the ornamentation of the Assyrians, a circumstance which can scarcely be accidental.
Within and without – i. e., both in the inner chamber, or holy of holies, and in the outer one.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Ki 6:29
Carved figures of cherubim and palm trees, and open flowers.
Cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers
The question cannot but occur, Why this peculiar carving exclusively? Everywhere they looked they were met by this threefold ornamentation, everywhere cherubim, palm trees and open flowers; these and nothing but these. If only beauty had been the object, if simply ornament had been studied, greater variety would have been introduced; but the perpetual recurrence of these three, amid all the visible forms that convey ideas of beauty, could not fail to strike and to raise inquiry.
I. The union of the earthly and heavenly, the natural and the spiritual, in worship and religion. The highest spiritual creatures and two of the most prominent natural objects were portrayed together in the house of God. The cherubim representing heaven, the highest grade of spiritual creation, and the palm tree and the open flower representatives of earth and nature in their finest and noblest shapes, were brought together on the walls of the house of God. And there was nothing else to be seen. The highest creature in the spiritual realm was here set alongside of natural objects known to all. Teaching that heavens service, though higher, is of the same sort with the service on earth. Representatives from the temple of nature were there, and representatives from the heavenly temple. In the house of God and in worship heaven and earth are brought together. We represent in our worship all creatures that cannot worship. We are the priests of the whole visible creation, and our worship unites us with the highest intelligences. We link together the seraph and the flower. Both are represented and contained in us. In worship, space and time vanish. We are in the same company with those who are worshipping around the throne the unveiled glory.
II. Life the grand source, material, reality. There were three kinds of life portrayed on these walls. Of all the beautiful objects in nature they were living and only living things that were pictured there. Life was here in three stages: life rooted and growing, like the palm tree; life expanded, like the open flower; and life in its highest state, the life of the cherub. How plainly did the voice come from the innermost sanctuary: Life is all. It is life that is the grand desideratum in the worship of God. It is life that gives value to all things. Nothing is valuable without life. The true life of the soul, then, what is it? The temple explains this. The worshippers were incessantly brought to this question: What is life which is thus so prominent? And they were evermore thrown back on the temple for the answer. In the temple was the answer found. What is life? Life is that which has fellowship with God, life is that which loves God, and longs after Him; life is that which feeds upon Gods truth. We are no nearer answering the question precisely and definitely in words than they were. It is still the grand secret. One great lesson taught by this threefold exhibition of life in the temple was undoubtedly this, that all life has the same grand, general laws. How widely apart these different forms of life were–vegetable life and highest seraphic life; and yet widely apart as they are they have the same laws. God does all His work from the humblest to the highest according to the same principles. The life of the plant is sustained by the same laws as the spiritual life of the cherub. The seraph burns and sings by the same simple laws of being as the plant grows and the flower expands.
III. The union of these three things in spiritual life–worship, fruitfulness, and beauty. Worship represented by the cherub, fruitfulness by the palm tree, and beauty by the open flower. True spiritual life shows itself not in one of these but in all. Worship is the foundation and the nutriment of life. It is by the perception of the glory of God and by the adoration of it that the soul is sustained; and it is by fruitfulness that this food finds scope for its energy; for food that is taken into the spiritual nature, and that does not find outlet and space for its energy ceases to be food. Wherever there is true worship of God there is also the fruitfulness of the palm tree, and wherever there is true fruitfulness arising from the worship of God, there is beauty as the result of these. True spiritual beauty is the outcome of the union of these two things–worship and practical fruitfulness.
IV. The union of these three things in the worship of God–aspiration, growth, and receptivity. Aspiration was taught by the cherub. The highest form of spiritual life was presented continually before the worshipper in order that he might know what he had to aspire to; and the palm tree, the emblem of steady, straight, upward growth, was a constant lesson and reminder. Did the question rise, How shall I become like the cherub? Were there no hearts that could read the answer in the open flower? The open flower is the way to the cherub. One of the finest pictures of reception among all the objects that God has made is a flower that lies open to catch the sunshine, and to drink the rain and the dew, shuts up when the sun departs, but expands itself again when the suns rays touch it. By reception the plant and the flower live; and by reception the soul of man lives and grows. Our life is that of a flower. Man cometh forth like a flower and is cut down. It is by aspiring to the cherub life that we gain the victory over that. We are no longer distressed with the thought of the brevity of the life when that of immortal beauty has dawned upon us, and when we firmly grasp the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and that this life is in His Son. (T. Leckie, D. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Carved figures of cherubims, as signs of the presence and protection of the angels vouchsafed by God to that place.
Palm trees; emblems of that peace and victory over their enemies which the Israelites duly serving God in that place might expect.
Within and without; within the oracle and without it, in the holy place.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he carved all the walls of the house about with carved figures of cherubim, and palm trees, and open flowers,…. That is, of palm trees, those in full blow: if the cherubim are an emblem of angels, the palm trees fitly enough represent just and upright men, who both appear in the church of God below, and in heaven above; in both which are to be seen the open and full-blown flowers of divine grace, especially in the latter state:
within and without; on the walls of the most holy place, both within and without; and so upon the walls of the holy place, in each of which were these sculptures, which were very ornamental, and were emblematical; see Eze 41:17.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(29) And he carved.If we take this literally, we must suppose that this carving of the cherubim and the palm-trees, in addition to the general decoration of the gourds and open flowers, was spread over all the walls of the house. Otherwise we might have supposed it confined to the Oracle within, and to the partition without, which would seem more appropriate, as the cherubim belonged especially to the Oracle.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
29. Cherubim and palm trees and open flowers Similar ornamentation abounds on Assyrian and Persian monuments. It was not without its symbolical meaning. As the cherub represented the fulness of Divine life and power in the animal creation, so the palms and flowers represented the vegetable kingdom. Palms and flowers are ever suggestive of the richest fulness of life, prosperity, and joy. And so the worshippers that were permitted to enter the temple, and gaze upon the walls all covered with these figurative carvings, might ever be reminded that the God who had his special dwelling-place and worship there was not confined to temples, but filled the universe with his creative life and energy. The heaven and heaven of heavens could not contain him, and the whole earth was but his footstool; how, then, could Solomon’s temple hold him? His hand had made in actual creation all forms of life and being that were represented on the walls.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Further Decoration Of The Temple ( 1Ki 6:29-30 ).
1Ki 6:29
‘ And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers, within and without.’
We were informed in 1Ki 6:18 about the carvings on the cedar wood where it was described as carved with wild flowers (gourds) and open flowers. Here are added carvings of cherubim, and palm trees. Once again the writer is trying to give the impression of step by step progression. First the outline features, now the central features. The palm trees and the Cherubim would alternate around the wall. They probably symbolised the heavenly garden, possibly including the idea of the tree of life which the Cherubim had been set to guard. The way back to God was to be seen as possible through the presenting of blood before the Ark.
Open flowers and palm trees have been found on a number of Phoenician artefacts, which again suggests Phoenician influence here.
1Ki 6:30
‘ And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without.’
Not only were the walls and ceiling overlaid with gold, but the floor as well, both within the Inner Room and outside it. This gilding of the floor followed a well known pattern evidenced in Egypt. See on 1Ki 6:20.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Ki 6:29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.
Ver. 29. And he carved all the walls. ] See on 1Ki 6:25 .
Of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Carved; Overlaid; Finished
1Ki 6:29-38
The meaning of 1Ki 6:31 is uncertain. We gather that the door of the inner shrine was made of wild-olive wood and in two parts, and that it occupied a fifth of the cedar partition which separated the two chambers. This wooden door was carved with cherubim, palm-trees, and open flowers, and was overlaid with gold. One part was always open, but the interior was concealed from view by a veil of blue, purple, and crimson, 2Ch 3:14. In front of this were hung festoons of golden chains. Thus it was signified that the way into the Holiest was not then open. But we have boldness to enter, through the new and living way which Jesus consecrated for us. The surrendered will, the cleansed life, the meek and humble faith-these are the path, Heb 10:19-20.
The erection occupied seven and a half years, and the completed Temple stood for upward of four centuries, until destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The construction of character, after Gods ideal, may take long, but it advances to completion. First the stone, hewn with difficulty; then cedar and olive; lastly gold.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
carved figures: Exo 36:8, 2Ch 3:14, 2Ch 4:2-5, Psa 103:20, Psa 148:2, Luk 2:13, Luk 2:14, Eph 3:10, Rev 5:11-14
palm trees: Tamar, in Ethiopic, tamart, the palm tree, is so called, says Parkhurst, from its straight, upright growth, for which it seems more remarkable than any other tree; and it sometimes rises to the height of more than 100 feet. The trunk is remarkably straight and lofty; and it is crowned at the top with a large tuft of spiring leaves, about four feet long, which never fall off, but always continue in the same flourishing verdure. The stalks are generally full of rugged knots, which are vestiges of decayed leaves: for the trunk of the tree is not solid, but its centre is filled with pith, round which is a tough bark full of strong fibres when young, which, as the tree becomes old, hardens and becomes ligneous. To this bark the leaves are closely joined, which, as the tree becomes old, hardens and becomes ligneous. To this bark the leaves are closely joined, which in the centre rise erect, but after they are advanced above the vagina which surrounds them, they expand very wide on every side of the stem, and as the older leaves decay, the stalk advances in height. The leaves, when the tree has grown to a size for bearing fruit, are six or eight feet long, and very broad when expanded. The fruit, called the date, grows below the leaves in clusters. Psa 92:12-15, Rev 7:9
open flowers: Heb. openings of flowers, 1Ki 6:18, 1Ki 6:32
Reciprocal: 1Ki 7:36 – graved cherubims 2Ch 4:21 – the flowers Psa 74:6 – General Eze 10:20 – and I Eze 40:16 – palm trees Eze 40:22 – palm trees Eze 41:18 – with cherubims