1 Kings 6 · WEB
Construction of the Temple in Jerusalem
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In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of Yahweh.
2The house which king Solomon built for Yahweh had a length of sixty cubits, its width twenty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
3The porch in front of the temple of the house was twenty cubits in length, according to the width of the house; and its width was ten cubits in front of the house.
4He made windows of fixed lattice work for the house.
5Against the wall of the house he built stories around the walls of the house, around both the temple and the inner sanctuary; and he made side rooms around it.
6The lowest story was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house, so that the beams would not be inserted into the walls of the house.
7The house, when it was being built, was built of stone made ready at the quarry; and no hammer or ax or any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.
8The door for the middle side rooms was in the right side of the house: and they went up by winding stairs into the middle story, and out of the middle into the third.
9So he built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar.
10He built the stories against all the house, each five cubits high; and they were attached to the house with timbers of cedar.
11Yahweh's word came to Solomon, saying,
12"Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my word with you which I spoke to David your father.
13I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel."
14So Solomon built the house and finished it.
15He built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with boards of fir.
16He built twenty cubits at the back part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling. He built this for an inner sanctuary, even for the most holy place.
17The house — that is, the temple in front of the inner sanctuary — was forty cubits long.
18There was cedar on the house within, carved with gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; there was no stone seen.
19He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house within, to set the ark of the covenant of Yahweh there.
20The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in its height; and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the cedar altar.
21So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold. He drew chains of gold across in front of the inner sanctuary; and he overlaid it with gold.
22He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. He also overlaid the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary with gold.
23In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.
24Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other wing were ten cubits.
25The other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one measure and one form.
26The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub.
27He set the cherubim within the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the middle of the house.
28He overlaid the cherubim with gold.
29He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside.
30He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, inside and outside.
31For the entrance of the inner sanctuary, he made doors of olive wood: the lintel and door posts were a fifth part of the wall.
32So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.
33He made also for the entrance of the temple door posts of olive wood, out of a fourth part of the wall;
34and two doors of fir wood: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.
35He carved on them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid the carved work with gold fitted on the engraved work.
36He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams.
37In the fourth year the foundation of the house of Yahweh was laid, in the month Ziv.
38In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. So he was seven years in building it.
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Summary
This chapter details the construction of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, one of the most celebrated buildings in antiquity. The structure was relatively modest in size — roughly ninety feet long and thirty feet wide — but extraordinary in its materials and artistry: walls lined with cedar, floors overlaid with gold, cherubim carved from olive wood spanning the inner sanctuary. God speaks to Solomon during construction, making clear that the Temple's meaning rests not on its architecture but on Israel's obedience. The project took seven years to complete.
Themes
- The Temple as a dwelling place for God's presence among Israel
- Obedience as the true foundation of the Temple's significance
- Beauty and craftsmanship in the service of worship
- The silence of iron tools — holiness of the sacred space even during construction
Key verses
- 1 Kgs 6:12-13 — “If you will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments... then I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.”
- 1 Kgs 6:38 — “In the eleventh year... the house was finished in all its parts... So he was seven years in building it.”
- 1 Kgs 6:7 — “The house, when it was being built, was built of stone made ready at the quarry; and no hammer or ax or any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.”
Context & background
The Temple was built on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem — the same site identified with Abraham's offering of Isaac (2 Chr 3:1) — now known as the Temple Mount, or Haram esh-Sharif in modern Jerusalem, Israel, currently occupied by the Dome of the Rock. A cubit is approximately 18 inches, making the Temple roughly 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high — not large by modern standards, but intended as a sacred dwelling, not a public assembly hall. The prohibition on iron tools during construction may reflect a principle of peace and wholeness associated with sacred space, since iron was associated with weapons of war. The cedar-lined interior, gold overlay, and carved cherubim and palmettes align closely with Phoenician artistic conventions of the period.
Cross-references
- 2 Chr 3:1 — The Temple built on Mount Moriah, the site of Abraham's offering
- Deut 12:5-7 — God's command to worship at the place he would choose
- Ex 25:18-22 — God's instructions for the cherubim over the Ark in the Tabernacle
- John 2:19-21 — Jesus refers to his body as the Temple that would be destroyed and raised
- Rev 21:22 — In the New Jerusalem, God and the Lamb are the temple