Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 6:20
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.
20. the oracle in the fore-part ] The two words thus rendered would, if they stood alone, be rendered ‘before the oracle.’ In this verse, however, this cannot be the meaning. But in standing before such a room as is here described, it is in front of you, and you see the interior. In this way ‘before the oracle’ may be taken to indicate what is seen when you stand there. Hence we may arrive at the sense in the R.V. ‘ within the oracle was a space &c.’ It is difficult to assign any meaning to the A.V., and it may be that some error has crept into the text.
Some have preferred to render literally thus, ‘And before the oracle twenty cubits was it in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof, and he overlaid it with pure gold he overlaid also the altar with cedar.’ But the accents of the Hebrew do not favour such a parenthetic clause, and the last sentence is very awkward.
The LXX. ( Vat.) omits at the beginning of the verse ‘before the oracle,’ then takes the next sentences as a specification of the size of the oracle, and makes an addition to the last clause thus, ‘and he made an altar before the oracle and overlaid it with gold,’ making no mention of the cedar at all. Most probably this represents the correct text.
and so covered the altar which was of cedar ] We cannot, in the face of the preceding clause, translate otherwise than and he covered an altar with cedar. The construction in the two cases is identical. But then arises a difficulty. The altar in question was the altar of incense in the holy place. This stood in front of the vail which separated the most holy place (see Exo 40:5; Exo 40:26), and in Eze 41:22 it is called ‘the altar of wood’ (cf. Exo 30:1-6). From the description in the verse before us there must have been some substance underneath the wood. The LXX. ( Alex.) solves the difficulty by reading ‘and he made’ for ‘and he covered,’ i.e. for , .
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The fore part – Perhaps the interior.
And so covered … – Rather, and he covered the altar (of incense) with cedar. The altar was doubtless of stone, and was covered with cedar in preparation for the overlaying with gold. This overlaying was not gilding, but the attachment of thin plates of gold, which had to be fastened on with small nails. Such a mode of ornamentation was common in Babylonia, in Assyria, and in Media.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
In the forepart, or rather, which was in the inner part, to wit, of the house; called here in Hebrew, the forepart, not because a man first enters there, but because when a man is entering, or newly entered, into the house, it is still before him. Thus the same, or the like word proceeding from the same root, is oft used, as Lev 10:18; 1Ki 6:19,29,30,36; 1Ch 28:11.
Twenty cubits in the height thereof.
Object. The great house was thirty cubits high, above, 1Ki 6:2.
Answ. It is probably affirmed by divers, that the most holy place was not so high as the holy place by ten cubits; which was no way inconvenient, nor against the rules of proportion observed in buildings. And as the second part of the building was far lower than the first, which was the porch; so the third part might be considerably lower than the second. And it might be lower either,
1. Outwardly, or in respect of the walls of it, which might be only twenty cubits high, and at that height covered with a flat roof; it being but decent that that eminently holy place should be distinguished from the less holy, even by its outward and visible shape. Or,
2. Inwardly, or within the walls of that part. For although this part might be vaulted at the top, as the holy place was, which vaulted roof some think was ten cubits high; yet here might be the difference, that the vaulted roof of the holy place lay open to view, whereas that of the most holy was covered with a flat roof from wall to wall, at the height of twenty cubits. So covered, i.e. with gold, 1Ki 7:48; 1Ch 28:18. The altar, to wit, the altar of incense, which was put next to the most high place, 1Ki 6:22.
Which was of cedar.
Object. This altar was made of shittim wood, Exo 30:1.
Answ. Either that was covered with cedar, that it might be agreeable to the rest; all being cedar, as was said, 1Ki 6:18. Or this was a new altar which Solomon made by Divine command and direction, delivered to him, either immediately, or by his father; of which see 1Ch 28:12, &c. But this place may seem to be better translated thus, and he covered the altar with cedar; either to make it like the rest; or because this was a new altar made of stone, and therefore fit to be covered with cedar, that it might better receive and retain the gold wherewith this cedar was overlaid, 1Ki 6:22.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the oracle in the forepart,…. Which stood in the forepart of the temple, before a man’s face as he entered into it, and went on; or the forepart of the holy of holies, next to the holy place, was of the dimensions as follows, when the back part of it might be higher at least, and be equal to the holy place, even thirty feet; the forepart being lower, and left open to let in the light of the candlesticks, and the smoke of the incense, out of the holy place: this
[was] twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and was a perfect square, and as the most holy place may be an emblem of the church triumphant, it may denote the perfection of its heavenly state; so the new Jerusalem is a foursquare, Re 21:16;
and he overlaid it with pure gold; make it rich, glorious, and magnificent, and may denote the glory of the heavenly state, Re 21:21; and so Florus z, the Roman historian, calls it the golden heaven, as it were, into which Pompey went, and saw the great secret of the Jewish nation, the ark:
and [so] covered the altar [which was of] cedar; the altar of incense, which is here mentioned, because it was near the most holy place, 1Ki 6:22; this altar by Moses was made of shittim wood, but Solomon’s was of cedar it seems; unless, as the words will bear to be rendered, “he covered the altar with cedar” a; though made of shittim wood, it had a covering of cedar over it; or if of stone, such a covering was on it, that it might better receive the gold which was afterwards put upon it.
z De Gest. Roman. l. 3. c. 5. a “operuit cedro”, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(20) In the forepart.Although this is a literal translation of the original, the sense is clearly (as the Vulgate renders the phrase) in the inner part. Gesenius supposes the meaning to be properly, the wall facing the entrance; thence the opposite, or inner, wall or region.
Covered the altar . . .Our translators have been misled by the context to anticipate what is said below (1Ki. 6:22). The meaning is he covered the altar (presumably of stone) with cedar.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(20-22) These verses describe the overlaying with pure gold of the panelling of the house and of the Oracle, the partition dividing them, and the altar of incense. Even the floor was similarly covered. (See 1Ki. 6:30.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. The oracle in the forepart That is, the holy of holies on the inside measured twenty cubits each way. , here rendered in the forepart, may be taken as the construct state of , surface, faces; and rendered, As to the faces (that is, the inside surface) of the oracle, twenty cubits was the length, etc. The construction of the most holy place in the form of a perfect cube had doubtless its typical significance. It was an appropriate symbol of perfection. The solid cube, in whatever way it is set, is always upright, a perfect square on every side, and all sides and angles corresponding perfectly to each other. So this form of the inner sanctuary indicated that the Holy One of Israel dwelleth in perfection.
And so covered Better to leave out so, and the other words here supplied in the English version, and translate literally, covered the altar with cedar. The altar of incense for the tabernacle (see Exo 30:1-10) was made of shittim wood, and overlaid with gold. This altar of Solomon was built, as is here stated, with cedar, and the cedar overlaid with plates of gold. 1Ki 6:22. We must not understand that this altar was in the oracle, but, as appears in 1Ki 6:22, by or at the oracle; that is, on the outside and just in front of it. So Moses was commanded to “put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony.” Exo 30:6. “The altar of incense is mentioned in connexion with the holy of holies,” says Wordsworth, “because the incense which was burnt upon it was offered before the vail, and with a view to the Divine Presence enshrined in the holy of holies, and had a special relation to the ark in the oracle. On this altar incense was offered morning and evening, the type of continual prayer.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Overlaying Of Everything With Gold ( 1Ki 6:20-22 ).
1Ki 6:20
‘ And within the inner room was a space of twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in its the height, and he overlaid it with pure gold, and he covered the altar with cedar.’
The whole of the inner room was covered with refined gold, probably applied in liquid form. Such coverings of precious metals were common among rich kings in antiquity. In Egypt, for example, we know of temples which had silver and gold covered floors and stairways, while Queen Hatshepsut is known to have capped and plated her giant obelisks (30 metres, 97 feet, high) with gold and electrum. The skilled artisans of Rameses II delighted in gold-covered temple-doors and sacred barques, and we have only to consider the golden coffin of Tutenkahmen, together with his other treasures, which many readers will actually have seen, to realise how much wealth could be expended. Indeed within ten years of Solomon’s death Osorkon I of Egypt made a whole host of staggering gifts of precious metals to the gods of Egypt. During the first four years of his reign he presented them with a total of two million deben weight of silver (about 220 tons) and another 2,300,000 deben weight of silver and gold (some 250 tons) largely in the form of precious objects (vessels, statuary, etc.). In other parts of the unfortunately damaged inscription a good number of such objects are itemised, many by weight. And all this is precisely recorded in the inscription. No doubt much of it came from the Temple in Jerusalem (1Ki 14:26).
There were a number of sources of such gold in the ancient Near East, including the abundant supplies in the alluvium of the eastern desert of Egypt, and the sources in the west coast of Arabia, the mountains of Armenia and Persia, western Asia Minor and the Aegean, with all of whom Solomon had trading contact. In view of his monopoly of the trading routes there is no reason to doubt that he was wealthy enough to have this much gold available.
“And he covered the altar with cedar.” This refers to the altar of incense which he installed in the Holy Place, but was always seen as ‘belonging’ to the Most Holy Place (compare Heb 9:3-4). It would appear that it was made of stone like the Temple walls, and therefore required a covering of cedar, prior to its coating with gold. Note how the writer seeks to give the impression of the work proceeding action by action for in 1Ki 6:22 we are then told that this altar was further overlaid with gold (compare also 1Ki 7:48).
1Ki 6:21
‘ So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across before the inner room, and he overlaid it with gold.’
What has been said about overlaying with gold is now emphasised by repetition in typically ancient fashion, possibly indicating the length of time that this all took, and the care with which it was carried out. While it may make boring reading to us, to those who were listening to it read out it would build up picture on picture which emphasised the munificence of Solomon’s gifts to the Temple. Now therefore we are reminded that the whole of the Most Holy Place was overlaid with gold. The chains may have been designed to hang across the doors thus preventing entry into the Most Holy Place, or they may have been the chains from which the sacred curtain (2Ch 3:14) would hang, separating the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place. These were also made of gold. And everything, but everything (to use our modern method of repetition), was overlaid with gold.
1Ki 6:22
‘ And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until all the house was finished, also the whole altar that belonged to the inner room he overlaid with gold.’
Not only the Most Holy Place, but also the Holy Place, was overlaid with gold, and at the same time the altar of incenses, which had been covered with cedar, was now overlaid with gold. There may have been a distinction between the thickness of the gold applied to the Holy Place in comparison with the Most Holy Place, which would explain the reason for the distinction being made. On the other hand the whole purpose may have been to hang out the description in order to bring it home as men listened to it being read out.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Ki 6:20 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.
Ver. 20. Twenty cubits in length. ] So that it was every way square.
Overlaid it with pure gold.
And so covered the altar.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
overlaid. See note on covered, 1Ki 6:15 and 1Ki 6:18.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
twenty cubits: 1Ki 6:2, 1Ki 6:3
pure: Heb. shut up
the altar: 1Ki 6:22, 1Ki 7:48, Exo 30:1-3
Reciprocal: Exo 25:11 – General Exo 25:24 – General 1Ki 5:6 – cedar trees 1Ki 6:16 – built them 2Ch 3:7 – overlaid 2Ch 3:8 – the most holy 2Ch 29:16 – the inner part Eze 41:4 – twenty cubits Eze 41:22 – altar Hag 2:8 – General Rev 21:21 – pure