Poole on 1 Kings 6:7-10: Solomon's Temple: Materials and Chambers

Verse 7:[1]  And (see Deut. 27:5, 6; 1 Kings 5:18) the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither:  so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

[Of stones hewed and finished, ‎אֶֽבֶן־שְׁלֵמָ֥ה מַסָּ֖ע [2]]  Stone perfect, or whole (Pagnine, Montanus, Munster, Tigurinus, Junius and Tremellius, etc.), conveyed from the mountain (Pagnine), or of carriage (Piscator, Osiander, Vatablus), or of departure (Montanus, Vatablus), or of bringing up (Vatablus), that is, such stone, of which sort had been brought (Vatablus, similarly Munster, Tigurinus, Junius, etc.).  Stones brought to perfection, which were conveyed (Syriac).  Stone brought to absolute perfection before it was conveyed (Junius).  Therefore, since the stones were whole, there was no aperture into which the ends of the beams might be inserted (Vatablus).

Made ready; hewed, and squared, and fitted exactly according to the direction of the architect.

[No iron tools were heard in the house]  Understand this of instruments for cutting or hewing timbers, or stones, which are almost always iron; but not of other instruments, necessary for the joining and arrangement of the timbers and stones with one another (Fagius, similarly Lyra, Martyr).  There was no need of these instruments, because in the quarries the stones were shaped and prepared (Vatablus, similarly Menochius, Lapide, etc.), according to the pattern given to them by the Architects (Menochius).  The Hebrews say that the stones were by a worm called שָׁמִיר/Shamir[3] (Grotius).  Moreover, this was done:  1.  for the ease of transportation by lessening the weight of the stones (Sanchez).  2.  So that the ears of Solomon and of the spectators might not be offended by the noise (Lapide).  3.  For a mystery, so that it might teach that the noise of contentions and schism ought not to be heard in the church (Martyr); or, 4.  so that it might signify that in this life the elect are worked over with many poundings of adversities, as it were, so that in the heavenly Temple they might enjoy consummated quiet (Fagius).

No tool heard in the house, while it was in building:  so it was ordered, partly, for the ease and conveniency of carriage; partly, for the magnificence of the work, and commendation of the workmen’s skill and diligence; and partly, for mystical signification.  And as this temple was a manifest type, both of Christ’s church upon earth, and of the heavenly Jerusalem; so this circumstance signified as to the former, that it is the duty of the builders and members of the church, as far as in them lies, to take care that all things be transacted there with perfect peace and quietness; and that no noise of contention, or division, or violence be heard in that sacred building; and for the latter, that no spiritual stone, no person, shall bear a part in that heavenly temple, unless he be first hewed, and squared, and made meet for it in this life.

Verse 8:[4]  The door for the middle chamber was in the right side (Heb. shoulder[5]) of the house:  and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.

[The door of the middle side (thus Tigurinus, Osiander), ‎פֶּ֗תַח הַצֵּלָע֙ הַתִּ֣יכֹנָ֔ה]  The door of the chamber (or outbuilding [Montanus, Vatablus], enclosure [Syriac]) middle (Pagnine, Munster), or lower (Jonathan).  Of the middle portico (Arabic); the entry to the middle of the wing (Junius and Tremellius), that is, whereby there was an ascent to the middle story (Junius).  Of the middle outbuilding, that is, of the middle part of the outbuilding (Vatablus).  This entrance was more secret (Menochius), and familiar only to the priests, through which they could commodiously haul up and bring in many things, which the worship of the place would require:  It was not far from the altar and the table (Sanchez).

The door for the middle chamber, that is, by which they entered to go up to the middle chamber or chambers, to wit, such as were in the middle story.

[It was in the part of the house of the right, ‎אֶל־כֶּ֥תֶף הַבַּ֖יִת הַיְמָנִ֑ית]  It was in the side (shoulder [Montanus]) right (Pagnine, Munster, Tigurinus, Junius and Tremellius, etc.), southern (Syriac, thus Jonathan, Mariana, Lapide, Piscator).  Thus in Psalm 89:12, the north and the south, Hebrew, and the right[6] (Mariana).  For, to those looking toward the East, the South was on the right hand (Lapide).  The Temple was looking Eastward (Piscator).

In the right side, that is, in the south side, called the right side here, and in the Hebrew text, Psalm 89:12, and in other authors; because when a man looks towards the east, or sunrising, which is esteemed the most glorious part of the heavens, and to which men most frequently look for divers reasons, the south is on his right hand; whereby it is implied that there was another door on the left, or the north side, leading to the chambers on that side, though for brevity sake it be not mentioned here.

[And by a winding stair they were ascending, etc., ‎וּבְלוּלִּים]  And by winding stairs, etc. (Munster, Pagnine, Tigurinus, Junius and Tremellius, Montanus).  By wooden steps (Arabic).  But there appear to have been two winding stairs (Lapide out of Josephus); because the word is plural, and this was more suitable; by one there was an ascent into the chambers of the Temple, by the other unto the chambers of the storerooms.  Moreover, this winding stair was ascending within the thickness of the wall (Lapide).

With winding stairs; which were either, 1.  Within the thickness of the temple wall, as many think; which is not probable, as tending to the great weakening of the wall; especially in the upper parts, where the wall was much narrower.  And if such care was taken to preserve the walls entire and unbroken, that there might not be small holes made into it for the fastening of the beams of the chambers, 1 Kings 6:6, it seems very absurd and incredible that there should be made such great breaches within them, as the stairs would require.  Or rather, 2.  Without the wall, and without the chambers too, as leading up to the gallery out of which they went into the several chambers.

[Into the middle chamber, ‎עַל־הַתִּיכֹנָה]  To the midst (Pagnine, Montanus), or middle (Syriac, Arabic, Junius and Tremellius), namely, chamber (Tigurinus).  Into the middle part of the outbuilding (Vatablus).

[Into the third, ‎אֶל־הַשְּׁלִשִׁים]  To the third chambers (Montanus), third (Munster, Pagnine, Syriac); into the third story, that is, to the chambers of the third floor of the outbuilding (Vatablus).  To the third apartments.  Hence it appears that the individual stories were divided into diverse rooms:  but even more clearly out of 2 Kings 11:2; 1 Chronicles 28:12 (Piscator out of Junius).

Into the middle chamber, or rather, into the middle story, or row of chambers, and so in the following words, out of the middle story; for these stairs could not lead up into each of the chambers, nor was it needful or convenient it should do so, but only into the story, which was sufficient for the use of all the chambers.

[1005 BC]  Verse 9:[7]  (1 Kings 6:14, 38) So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar (or, the vault-beams and the cielings with cedar[8]).

He built the house, and finished it, to wit, the bulk and the body of the house.

[He covered the house with ceilings of cedar,‎וַיִּסְפֹּ֤ן אֶת־הַבַּ֙יִת֙ גֵּבִ֔ים וּשְׂדֵרֹ֖ת בָּאֲרָזִֽים׃]  And he covered the house with arches, and with rows in cedars (Montanus), or with hollowed beams, and above those was a manifold order of ends of cedar timbers (Jonathan), or with cedars both above and in the walls (Strigelius); with arches, and with beams of cedar (Pagnine).  He covered the upper part of the sanctuary with vaulted beams; that is, with arched vaults, which appear to rise against the weight; and with cedar timbers laid out upon those beams.  The timbers he calls beams (Vatablus).  And he vaulted over the sanctuary, with arches in the midst, with orders of cedar joists (Tigurinus).  And he placed one lower raftering, and another by ordered cedars.  Besides the roof, there was a twofold raftering; 1.  a Lower of timbers of בְּרוֺשִׁים/cypress/fir, which is here called גֵּבִים/beams, which means pits/ hollows;[9] because between that raftering and the upper there was a certain hollow/cavity.  Others explain it as a recurvation; that is, so that the lower raftering hemispherical after the manner of the heavens.  Whence Kimchi thinks that גֵּבִים is the same thing as ribs, on account of the curved form of this raftering, like ribs.  2.  An Upper of cedars, which were arranged at certain distances from each other (Munster).  The raftering he made with grooves cut into narrower planks, with orders of cedars inserted (certain interpreters in Munster).  Others:  with the timbers, or beams, grooved, or carved, after the manner of trenches, or cisterns, as if imbricated,[10] so that water might flow down.  And then it would be understood of the exterior roof:  and with orders in cedars; that is, with cedar boards arranged, joined on the interior side of the roof (Malvenda).  He covered over with rafters and ceilings (Hebrew:  backs and rows [Junius]) of cedar (Junius and Tremellius, Piscator).  גֵּבִים here are rafters; that is, hollow timbers, sloping downward around the middle, in the form of an arch.  Above these beams were cedar timbers, arranged in order, above which it is probable there were roof-tiles.  And thus it is to be said, if (which I think to be true) the height of the house was restricted to the limit of thirty cubits.  But if above the sacred shrine there were upper rooms, this will not be the first or highest roof, but a certain raftering, or floor (Martyr).

Covered the house, or, the house, that is, the top of the house, for the like is said of the sides and bottom, verse 15, even the beams and boards, (or, the vault-beams and the ceilings; the arched beams and boards wherewith the top of the house was covered, which was made of other wood, which was more pliable than cedar, and would better endure bowing and bending,) with cedars.

Verse 10:[11]  And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high:  and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

[And he built a floor over all the house]  A roof sloped, not flat, as they were wont to be made in Palestine.  This was done for the greater awe of the place, so that one may not walk and move about on the roof (Menochius, similarly Sanchez).  Moreover, this story was five cubits tall, that is, from the middle and highest part to the wall (Sanchez).  [Others otherwise:]  This flooring was a parapet around the uppermost roof, to prevent a fall, and to provide a convenient place for enjoying the sun, walking, or praying (Salian in Menochius).  He appears to speak of the floors of storerooms, or of the highest story, says Tostatus and Cajetan; for the height of the Temple was ninety cubits, but of the storerooms only sixty cubits, as Josephus testifies[12] (Lapide).  In the Hebrew it is, ‎וַיִּ֤בֶן אֶת־הַיָּצִ֙יעַ֙ עַל־כָּל־הַבַּ֔יִת.  [They render it variously:]  And he built chambers near, or over against (or colonnades upon [Syriac], balconies around [Arabic], circuits near [Tigurinus], connections along [Septuagint], raftering along [Theodoret in Nobilius[13]], a gallery upon [Osiander]) all the house (Munster, Strigelius, Dutch, English); that chamber with the whole house (Pagnine, thus Vatablus); each substructure around the house (Junius and Tremellius); the small rooms over the Temple (Gataker).

Against all the house; which interpreters understand of those chambers described verses 5, 6.  But why should that be repeated again, and that so darkly and confusedly, after he had particularly and exactly treated of them (unless to give an account of the height of each chamber, or story, which before was not done)?  And the Hebrew words may be truly and properly rendered thus, He built a roof (to wit, a flat and plain roof, called יָצִיעַ/yatziah, because of the exact resemblance it hath with the floor of a house) over all the house, according to the manner of all the Israelitish buildings, which were flat at the top; of which see Deuteronomy 22:8; Joshua 2:6; 2 Samuel 11:2.  The inner roof was arched, 1 Kings 6:9, that it might be more beautiful and glorious to behold; but the outward roof was flat.

[Five cubits, etc.]  Hebrew:  of five cubits was the height of it[14] (Pagnine, etc.), namely, of the chamber; that is, of the individual quarters of the outbuilding (Vatablus).

Five cubits high, above the walls of the temple; which was necessary, that it might be a little higher than the arched roof, which it was designed to cover and secure.

[And he covered the house with timbers of cedar (thus Jonathan, Strigelius), ‎וַיֶּאֱחֹ֥ז אֶת־הַבַּ֖יִת בַּעֲצֵ֥י אֲרָזִֽים׃]  And it was laying hold of (or joined [Osiander], connected [Syriac], supported [Arabic]) the house by beams of cedar (Pagnine, thus the Syriac, similarly Montanus) or of pine (Arabic); which [namely, the substructure] he added to the house with timbers of cedar (Junius and Tremellius), that is, he set on the projections of the wall of the house.  See verse 6.  And thus he added to the house with timbers of cedar (Piscator out of Junius); and they [namely, the chambers [Munster], or circuits [Tigurinus]) were cleaving to the house by timbers of cedar (Munster, similarly Tigurinus, Vatablus), for the ends of the chambers were placed above the retractions or contractions which were in the wall of the Temple (Vatablus).

They rested; Hebrew, it rested,[15] to wit, the roof; for the Hebrew verb is of the singular number.  With timber of cedar; which rested upon the top of the wall, as the chambers, verse 5, rested upon the sides of the wall.  But all this I submit to the learned and judicious.

[1] Hebrew:  ‎וְהַבַּ֙יִת֙ בְּהִבָּ֣נֹת֔וֹ אֶֽבֶן־שְׁלֵמָ֥ה מַסָּ֖ע נִבְנָ֑ה וּמַקָּב֤וֹת וְהַגַּרְזֶן֙ כָּל־כְּלִ֣י בַרְזֶ֔ל לֹֽא־נִשְׁמַ֥ע בַּבַּ֖יִת בְּהִבָּנֹתֽוֹ׃

[2] שָׁלֵם signifies complete, perfect, finished; מַסֶּע, quarry or quarrying, related to נָסַע, to pull up, to set out, to journey.

[3] The שָׁמִיר/Shamir is a Talmudic legend.  Pirkei Avoth 5:6 (a tract of the Mishnah, relating ethical sayings of the Rabbis from the third century BC to the third century AD) lists the Shamir as one of ten special creations made by God on the eve of the first Sabbath.  Although no description is given, the name שָׁמִיר/Shamir indicates something incredibly hard like a thorn, flint, or adamant.  Babylonian Talmud Gittin 68 relates that Solomon, having heard that Moses used the Shamir to cut the stones of the ephod, sought the tiny, miraculous creature; and, having found it, used it to cut and shape the stone of the Temple.  In legend, the Shamir is sometimes a green stone or hard flint; sometimes a worm-like creature.

[4] Hebrew:  ‎פֶּ֗תַח הַצֵּלָע֙ הַתִּ֣יכֹנָ֔ה אֶל־כֶּ֥תֶף הַבַּ֖יִת הַיְמָנִ֑ית וּבְלוּלִּ֗ים יַֽעֲלוּ֙ עַל־הַתִּ֣יכֹנָ֔ה וּמִן־הַתִּֽיכֹנָ֖ה אֶל־הַשְּׁלִשִֽׁים׃

[5] Hebrew:  ‎כֶּתֶף.

[6] Psalm 89:12:  “The north and the south (‎צָפ֣וֹן וְ֭יָמִין, the north and the right hand) thou hast created them:  Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.”

[7] Hebrew:  ‎וַיִּ֥בֶן אֶת־הַבַּ֖יִת וַיְכַלֵּ֑הוּ וַיִּסְפֹּ֤ן אֶת־הַבַּ֙יִת֙ גֵּבִ֔ים וּשְׂדֵרֹ֖ת בָּאֲרָזִֽים׃

[8] Hebrew:  ‎גֵּבִ֔ים וּשְׂדֵרֹ֖ת בָּאֲרָזִֽים׃.

[9] גֵּב/beam, which can also means pit or trench, appears to be related to the verbal root גּוּב, to dig.

[10] That is, overlapping like roof tiles.

[11] Hebrew:  ‎וַיִּ֤בֶן אֶת־הַיָּצ֙וּעַ֙ עַל־כָּל־הַבַּ֔יִת חָמֵ֥שׁ אַמּ֖וֹת קֽוֹמָת֑וֹ וַיֶּאֱחֹ֥ז אֶת־הַבַּ֖יִת בַּעֲצֵ֥י אֲרָזִֽים׃ פ

[12] Antiquities 8:3:2, 3.

[13] Flaminius Nobilius (died 1590) was a Roman Catholic text critic, who labored in the reconstruction of the Itala, the Old Latin version.

[14] Hebrew:  ‎חָמֵ֥שׁ אַמּ֖וֹת קֽוֹמָת֑וֹ.

[15] Hebrew:  ‎וַיֶּאֱחֹז.