Poole on 1 Kings 6:2: The Dimensions of the Temple

Verse 2:[1]  And (see Ezek. 41:1, etc.) the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.

The house; properly so called, as distinct from all the walls and buildings which were adjoining to it, to wit, the holy and most holy place.

[Sixty cubits, etc.]  The form of the Temple is not much different from the form of the Tabernacle (Martyr); yet it was two times larger, as it shall be evident by comparison (Tirinus).  This measure will appear small, if we think of our Temples and those of Pagans.  But only the Vestibule, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies are described here (Martyr).  What he says of the length and breadth is to be understood, not of the whole Temple, but of the sanctuary and the innermost chamber (Castalio).  Moreover, the cubit is twofold, 1.  the common, which consists of five palms, that is, twenty digits;[2] 2.  the legal, or of the Temple, which adds a palm to the common cubit, as Ezekiel testifies in Ezekiel 43:13, and consists of twenty-four digits[3] (Sanchez).  Understand here Sacred and Geometric Cubits, used in the measurements of solid bodies; for they are consequently called primary, 2 Chronicles 3:3.[4]  See 1 Kings 7:2, 15 (Junius, Piscator, Malvenda).  Also, the speech here is concerning the empty space of the Temple; for, if you include the thickness of the walls, the length was a hundred cubits, the width nearly sixty, and the height fifty, as it is believed by Villalpando,[5] Explanations on Ezekiel[6] 2:5:14 (Menochius).

[And thirty cubits in height]  But the Temple is said to be one hundred and twenty cubits tall, 2 Chronicles 3, so also Josephus[7] (Castalio).  Response 1:  I refer that measurement in Chronicles to the portico, which, after the likeness of a tower, was one hundred and twenty cubits tall (Mariana, thus Malvenda and Piscator out of Junius, Vatablus, Sanchez on verse 3).  Response 2:  Here he speaks of the lowest habitation; in Chronicles of the height of the whole house (Strigelius, thus Osiander, Martyr).  From the pavement of the Temple to its [first] raftering was thirty cubits; above that were various treasuries, double and triple vaulted places, which were occupying ninety cubits in height (certain interpreters in Munster, similarly Lapide).  For, there was, as it were, another edifice above the Temple, where were stored treasures, offerings, etc. (Lapide, similarly Serarius).  The house was twofold, 1.  a lower, concerning which Scripture principally speaks, because in it all the sacred rites were happening; this was thirty cubits tall.  2.  An upper, which was rising thence yet ninety cubits higher (Serarius out of Theodoret[8] and Ribera[9]).  There were in it floors/stories, but how many, and how they were arranged, is not evident (Serarius).  Those that think these things thus prove their opinion; that, since the Temple in Ezra was sixty cubits tall,[10] Herod (as Josephus testifies) said there were wanting to that edifice sixty cubits, with respect to height, from the Solomonic Temple:[11]  Although others take this saying of Herod only of the vestibule of the Temple.  Neither to them is it likely either that men walked above the Holy of Holies; or that Scripture would be silent concerning the entrance through which one would ascend to those upper chambers (Martyr).  I conjecture that the height mentioned here is not of the whole Temple, but of the sanctuary and innermost chamber, which was thirty cubits; that is, equal to the height of the side chambers, which were each of ten cubits.  Above this height the wall of the Temple was projecting upward thirty cubits, below the upper edifice, in which space were windows.  Upon this whole edifice was imposed another upper edifice, unto the height, not of five (as it was here written, in which there appears to be an error[12]), but of sixty cubits, as Josephus relates.[13]  But these things I say in such a way that I would not dare to affirm.  For such a height of the side chambers would render the sanctuary and innermost chamber obscure.  And so to me this passage is suspect (Castalio).  To those floors of the upper house one was ascending by winding stairs, which was built into the very thickness of the walls; and there were doors on the sides, whereby one might ascend to the upper floors, verse 8 (Serarius).

The length thereof; from east and to west.  And this and the other measures may seem to belong to the inside from wall to wall.  Threescore cubits; cubits of the sanctuary; of which see on Genesis 6:15.  The height thereof, to wit, of the house; for the porch was one hundred and twenty cubits high, 2 Chronicles 3:4.  So that all the measures compared each with other were harmonious.  For sixty to twenty (the length to the breadth) is triple, or as three to one; and sixty to thirty (the length to the height) is double, or as two to one; and thirty to twenty (the height to the breadth) is sesquialter, or one and a half, as three to two; which are the proportions answering to the three great concords in music, commonly called a twelfth, an eighth, and a fifth; which therefore must needs be a graceful proportion to the eye, as that in music is graceful to the ear.

[1] Hebrew:  ‎וְהַבַּ֗יִת אֲשֶׁ֙ר בָּנָ֜ה הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה֙ לַֽיהוָ֔ה שִׁשִּֽׁים־אַמָּ֥ה אָרְכּ֖וֹ וְעֶשְׂרִ֤ים רָחְבּ֑וֹ וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים אַמָּ֖ה קוֹמָתֽוֹ׃

[2] That is, about fifteen inches.

[3] That is, about eighteen inches.

[4] 2 Chronicles 3:3:  “Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God.  The length by cubits after the first measure (‎בַּמִּדָּ֤ה הָרִֽאשׁוֹנָה֙) was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.”

[5] John Baptist Villalpando (1552-1608) was a Spanish Jesuit.  He is noteworthy for his interest in architecture and fascination with Ezekiel’s Temple vision.

[6] In Ezechielem Explanationes et Apparatus Urbis ac Templi Hierosolymitani.  Jerome Prado (1547-1595) was a Spanish Jesuit, serving as Professor of Divinity at Cordova.  He worked on his commentary on Ezekiel for sixteen years until his death; it was finished by Villalpando.

[7] Antiquities 8:3:2.

[8] Quæstiones in Reges et Paralipomena.

[9] De Templo, et de Iis quæ ad Templum Pertinent.

[10] Ezra 6:3.

[11] Antiquities 15:11:1.

[12] See 1 Kings 6:10.

[13] Antiquities 8:3:2.