Poole on 1 Kings 6:5, 6: The Side-Chambers of the Temple

Verse 5:[1]  And against (or, upon, or, joining to[2]) the wall of the house he built (Ezek. 41:6) chambers (Heb. floors[3]) round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple (1 Kings 6:16, 19-21, 31) and of the oracle:  and he made chambers (Heb. ribs[4]) round about…

[And upon the wall of the temple he built floors round about]  The passage is obscure, and it is hardly able to be understood without the description of Ezekiel’s Temple (Castalio).  וַיִּבֶן֩ עַל־קִ֙יר הַבַּ֤יִת יָצִ֙ועַ֙ סָבִ֔יב,[5] and he built upon the wall (upon the walls [Jonathan, Syriac, Arabic], on the wall [Munster, Strigelius], next to, or near, the wall [Pagnine, Lapide, Sanchez, similarly Malvenda, Castalio], in which sense עַל/upon is often taken [Lapide out of Sanchez]) of the house a chamber round about (Montanus, Pagnine).  ‎יָצִיעַ they translate as chambers (Munster, Strigelius), projection (Jonathan), extension, that is, a structure joined to that one, not including the portico (Vatablus).  Enclosures (Syriac), storerooms (Arabic), closets (Castalio), galleries (Osiander, Lyra), circuit (Tigurinus).  Our interpreters make three circuits here, surrounding almost the whole Temple.  If it is true, where is the place for the windows? to say nothing of the many Hebrew words here written that do not support this view (Munster).  The substructure, that is, the floor of each story.  See on verse 6 (Piscator out of Junius).  We will imagine a wall of wood, or of stone, erected outside the Temple, at a distance of five cubits from the wall of the Temple.  This space was covered with timbers adhering to the external wall of the Temple:  on these timbers were imposed joists and planks; and thus the lowest gallery was covered as with a wing (Martyr).  By floors understand rows of chambers separated by floors, for the Temple was surrounded by a twofold wall, and between the walls was a space of five cubits, in which were the chambers enclosed between the two walls (Menochius).  Solomon made these, both for ornament, and for the keeping of the Temple (Sanchez, Lapide); because they were surrounding it in such a way that they were nevertheless not touching it; and so in Ezekiel 41 they are quite frequently called a separate building (Sanchez).  In these chambers was stored the furniture of the Temple, or its treasures; the priests were refreshing themselves in them (Menochius, similarly Lapide).

Against the wall; or, upon it; or, joining to it; for the beams of the chambers were not fastened into the wall, but leaned upon the buttresses of the wall.  He built chambers, for the laying the priests’ garments and other utensils belonging to the temple, or to the worship of God, therein:  see 2 Kings 11:2; 1 Chronicles 28:12; Ezekiel 42:13, 14.  Round about; not simply, for there were none on the, east side; and it may seem that there were some spaces left for the windows, which being narrow outwardly, little spaces would suffice; but in a manner, that is, on all the sides except the east, where the porch was, and except some very small passages for the light.  And yet these lights might be in the five uppermost cubits of the wall, which were above all these chambers; for these were only fifteen cubits high, and the wall was twenty cubits high.

[In the walls of the house along the circuit of the Temple and of the oracle]  Where you see, that by the house is principally understood the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies; for, when he said by the wall of the house, he thus explains, along the circuit of the Temple, etc. (Vatablus).  ‎אֶת־קִיר֤וֹת הַבַּ֙יִת֙ סָבִ֔יב לַֽהֵיכָ֖ל וְלַדְּבִ֑יר, with the walls of the house around the Temple and oracle (Montanus); by the wall of the house, etc. (Pagnine); near the walls, etc., on the exterior part (Piscator out of Junius, Malvenda), which (that is, chambers) were surrounding the Temple, etc. (Strigelius); the chambers adhering to the walls of the house, etc. (Munster); with the walls of the sanctuary all around, as much to the Temple as to the inner sanctuary (Tigurinus); with walls he surrounded the Temple, etc. (Syriac, similarly the Arabic, Castalio).  He says, in the walls, because a floor/story was reaching to both walls, and was supported by those on both sides (Menochius).

[And he made sides/ribs in the circuit, ‎וַיַּ֥עַשׂ צְלָע֖וֹת סָבִֽיב׃ [6]]  And he made outbuildings round about (Montanus, thus Jonathan, Vatablus).  It signifies an outbuilding having many chambers; for צֶלַע signifies a side-building, which is constructed on the side of a greater edifice (Vatablus).  He made chambers (Pagnine), sides/ribs (Tigurinus), side-lodges, or chambers (Hebrews in Munster), raftering (Munster, Strigelius), wings, that is, walls projecting after the likeness of wings, for supporting the other part of the substructure (Piscator out of Junius).  And he made in the sides of the house that (namely, a gallery) in the circuit.  For the Hebrews are wont to repeat in other words those things that are more obscure (Osiander).  The chambers, or separate edifices, he calls sides (just as Ezekiel does[7]) (Sanchez, Lapide).  For he clarifies these sides by subjoining verse 6, chamber, etc., in the place of which the Hebrew and Septuagint have side (Lapide).  Thus he calls them, 1.  because they were laterally surrounding the sides of the Temple (Lapide) (no differently than ribs, which צֶלַע signifies, protect the heart of man [Sanchez]); or, 2.  rather because one was standing out and projecting laterally upon another, and the upper was broader than the lower (Lapide).  The צְלָעוֹת are timbers projecting from the wall, upon which the ends of the beams are placed.  In the fabric of the Temple these four terms, צֶלַע/side/rib, יָצִיעַ/side-chamber,[8] תָּא/chamber/room,[9] and לִשְׁכָה/chamber/room[10] are nearly synonymous (Hebrews in Malvenda).  He made sides/ribs, and fortified both walls of the Temple for greater strength, with flanks or ribs on this side and on that side, which Architects call antas/pilasters,[11] or anteridas/buttresses.  Thus some interpreters.  But it appears closer to the truth, that these sides/ribs were small chambers inserted between the walls, of which mention has already been made (Menochius).  Moreover, these buildings were surrounding the whole house, except on the Eastern side, where it was fortified by the portico (Sanchez, similarly Serarius, Lapide, Martyr).

He made chambers; Hebrew, ribs, that is, either other chambers above and besides the former; or rather, long galleries, which encompassed all the chambers, as the ribs do man’s body; and which were necessary for passage to all the several chambers.

Verse 6:[12]  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 (Heb. narrowings, or, rebatements[13]) round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.

[The floor, which was beneath, had five cubits, etc., and the middle six, etc., and the third seven, etc.]  These were triple chambers arranged in a column, namely, lowest, middle, and third (Munster).  On each side of the Temple were three columns of cells or chambers, and the higher floor was always broader than the lower by one cubit (Serarius, Menochius).  Question:  What is the reason?  Responses:  1.  The narrow space of the area on Moriah brought it to pass, that the bottommost cells were narrow; wherefore it was necessary to make the upper cells broader by means of projecting beams (Lapide and Serarius out of Ribera).  2.  Because the walls of the Temple after ten cubits are always reduced [concerning which there is to be immediate discussion], and on those reductions cells were built (Serarius out of Montanus and Theodoret, similarly Martyr).  3.  This is done on account of the winding stairs, whereby ascent is made from the lower to the upper; the upper chamber is of seven cubits, because it has no winding stairs:  the middle has six cubits, on account of the winding stairs:  the lowest has five cubits, because from it ascent is made to two chambers, but from the middle to only one (Sanchez).  4.  The lowest chambers were attached to the wall; but they were not entering it, like the middle chambers, which by one cubit were sitting upon the wall; whence they were broader than the lower by one cubit.  The third and highest were having the raftering of the third chambers as pavement, and were entering the wall by one cubit (Munster).  In these chambers, just as in the Temple’s length, or breadth, the thickness of the walls is not considered, but only the empty space, which is contained within the walls (Sanchez).

Five cubits broad, to wit, on the inside, and besides the galleries mentioned above.

[He placed timbers in the house along the circuit outside,‎ כִּ֡י מִגְרָעוֹת֩ נָתַ֙ן לַבַּ֤יִת סָבִיב֙ ח֔וּצָה [14]]  Because he gave diminutions to the house in the circuit outside (Mariana, similarly Montanus, Munster); thus he calls the seats, where the wall was contracting by a cubit, and on which the beams of the chambers were resting (Munster).  An overhang (or mutules[15] [Syriac], projections [Arabic]) he made for the house, etc. (Jonathan).  He placed the contractions of the wall on the house, etc. (Munster).  Prominences of the wall he made; that is, certain stone supports were projecting from the wall (Osiander).  He had inserted the narrowings into the house, etc. (Junius and Tremellius), that is, with every fifth cubit of the rising wall, he had diminished its thickness externally by one cubit, so that those overhangs of the wall might be seats for the beams of the substructure (Piscator out of Junius).  With these words he renders the reason why those small rooms [which have already been discussed], built around the Temple, were of unequal breadth; namely, because the rising wall retracted three times inwardly by one cubit (Malvenda).  For outside he had made the setbacks of the sanctuary, etc. (Tigurinus).  Since he had put retractions in the house, etc. (Pagnine, Vatablus), or restrictions, or reductions; thus he calls it, when the wall is drawn inward, so that the lower part of the wall is broader, and protrudes more than the upper part, in order to place the ends of the beams.  In French, les retraictes, the retractions (Vatablus).

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 they should not be fastened to the walls of the Temple, לְבִלְתִּ֖י אֲחֹ֥ז בְּקִֽירוֹת־הַבָּֽיִת׃]  That they (understanding, the beams [Mariana], the ends of the beams [Vatablus], the beams of the chambers [Munster]) should not lay hold of the walls of the house (Pagnine, similarly Munster, Mariana, Vatablus, Tigurinus), that is, that the beams should not be fastened to the walls; that is, that it should not be necessary to make apertures in the wall, into which would be inserted the ends of the beams of the outbuilding (Vatablus, similarly Mariana, Osiander).  That the wall should not be pierced because of the beams; since all the stone of the wall were whole, and no iron instrument was heard there (Munster).  That they should not be fastened to the walls of the house; that is, so that they might be removable without damage to the Temple, and only rest upon projections (Junius, Piscator).  That the small chambers should not reach the walls of the Temple (Castalio).

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.

[1] Hebrew:  ‎וַיִּבֶן֩ עַל־קִ֙יר הַבַּ֤יִת יָצ֙וּעַ֙ סָבִ֔יב אֶת־קִיר֤וֹת הַבַּ֙יִת֙ סָבִ֔יב לַֽהֵיכָ֖ל וְלַדְּבִ֑יר וַיַּ֥עַשׂ צְלָע֖וֹת סָבִֽיב׃

[2] Hebrew:  עַל.

[3] Hebrew:  ‎יָצוּעַ.

[4] Hebrew:  ‎צְלָעוֹת.

[5] יָצַע signifies to lay or spread; ‎יָצוּעַ, the Kethib, bed or couch; ‎יָצִיעַ, the Qere, extension or wing.

[6] צֵלָע signifies side or rib.

[7] Ezekiel 41:5, 9:  “After he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of the side chamber (‎הַצֵּלָע), four cubits, round about the house on every side….  The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chamber (‎לַצֵּלָע) without, was five cubits:  and that which was left was the place of the side chambers (‎צְלָעוֹת) that were within.”

[8] 1 Kings 6:5, 6, 10:  “And against the wall of the house he built chambers (‎יָצִיעַ [Qere]) round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle:  and he made chambers (‎צְלָעוֹת) round about:  The nethermost chamber (‎הַיָּצִיעַ [Qere]) 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….  And then he built chambers (‎הַיָּצִיעַ [Qere]) against all the house, five cubits high:  and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.”

[9] For example, Ezekiel 40:7, 10, 12:  “And every little chamber (‎וְהַתָּא) was one reed long, and one reed broad; and between the little chambers were five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate within was one reed….  And the little chambers (‎וְתָאֵי) of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure:  and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side….  The space also before the little chambers (‎הַתָּאוֹת) was one cubit on this side, and the space was one cubit on that side:  and the little chambers (‎וְהַתָּא) were six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side.”  See also verses 13, 16, 21, 29, 33, 36.

[10] For example, 1 Chronicles 28:12:  “And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about (‎וּלְכָל־הַלְּשָׁכ֖וֹת סָבִ֑יב), of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things…”  Nehemiah 10:37:  “And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God (‎אֶל־לִשְׁכ֣וֹת בֵּית־אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ); and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.”  Ezekiel 40:17:  “Then brought he me into the outward court, and, lo, there were chambers (‎לְשָׁכוֹת), and a pavement made for the court round about:  thirty chambers (‎לְשָׁכוֹת) were upon the pavement.”

[11] That is, a column built into, and projecting out of, a wall.

[12] Hebrew: ‎הַיָּצ֙וֹעַ הַתַּחְתֹּנָ֜ה חָמֵ֧שׁ בָּאַמָּ֣ה רָחְבָּ֗הּ וְהַתִּֽיכֹנָה֙ שֵׁ֤שׁ בָּֽאַמָּה֙ רָחְבָּ֔הּ וְהַ֙שְּׁלִישִׁ֔ית שֶׁ֥בַע בָּאַמָּ֖ה רָחְבָּ֑הּ כִּ֡י מִגְרָעוֹת֩ נָתַ֙ן לַבַּ֤יִת סָבִיב֙ ח֔וּצָה לְבִלְתִּ֖י אֲחֹ֥ז בְּקִֽירוֹת־הַבָּֽיִת׃

[13] Hebrew:  ‎מִגְרָעוֹת.

[14] מִגְרָעָה, narrow rest, recess, abatement, is related to the verbal root גָּרַע, to diminish or restrain.

[15] That is, projecting brackets or blocks.