Poole on 1 Kings 7:9-12: Solomon's Lavish Living Quarters, Part 2

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Verse 9:[1]  All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court.

[All these]  Which are mentioned in this and the previous chapter:  Compare verse 12 (Piscator out of Junius).

All these buildings described here and in the former chapter.

[Of precious stones, ‎יְקָרֹת]  That is, the best (Vatablus out of Munster), which at that time were highly valued (Vatablus, Menochius):  rare (Junius, Menochius), thus in verses 10, 11, and in 1 Kings 5:17 (Junius).  They were made of Parian marble,[2] Porphyry,[3] etc. (Lapide, similarly Menochius).

[With regard to the standard, etc., ‎כְּמִדֹּ֣ת גָּזִ֔ית מְגֹרָר֥וֹת בַּמְּגֵרָ֖ה]  According to the measures of the stones hewed (of the stones of excision; that is, excised or squared [Vatablus]), sawed with a saw (Pagnine, Jonathan); and according to the standard, as it were, polished and squared (Tigurinus); according to the dimensions of one hewn stone (that is, isodomic, or equal, in structure [Malvenda out of Junius]), cut with a saw (Junius and Tremellius).

According to the measures of hewed stones; either first, which were hewed in such measure and proportion, as exact workmen used to hew ordinary stones; or, secondly, as large as common hewed stones, which are oft very great.

[Both within and without]  That is, on every side (Mariana); both on the side that was covered with boards, and on the other that was exposed to sight, without (Osiander).

Within and without; both on the inside of the buildings which were covered with cedar, and on the outside also.

[From the foundation to the summit (similarly the Syriac, Arabic),וּמִמַּסָּד֙ עַד־הַטְּפָח֔וֹת]  And from the foundation to the hand-breadth, understanding, stones (Mariana, Montanus, similarly Pagnine, Vatablus), which by the measure of a palm were projecting from the wall, to receive beams, which they call mutules[4] [as Castalio translates it] (Mariana, similarly Vatablus):  to beams projecting by a palm (Munster); to the roof (Strigelius, Osiander); to the eaves (Tigurinus); to the rim (Junius and Tremellius).  Hebrew:  palm-breadths, because the projections are about a palm-breadth, but the projections are the facings of the top of the wall, upon which the roof rests (Junius).

From the foundation unto the coping; from the bottom to the top of the building.

[And without all the way to the greater court (thus Pagnine, Montanus), or great court (Junius and Tremellius, Munster, etc.)]  Namely, of the royal house, where the people were assembling (Malvenda out of Junius).  The sense:  As the buildings, so also this great court, which was surrounding the palace, and was having a wall of cut stones (Osiander).  [Others otherwise:]  That is to say, on the internal side all things were constructed with the best stones, unto the stones of a palm-breadth; and on the external side unto this part that was regarding the great court in which the people were entreating.  Therefore, the porch of the throne was not far removed from the great court (Vatablus).

On the outside toward the great court; not only on the outside of the front of the house, which being most visible, men are more careful to adorn; but also of the other side of the house, which looked towards the great court belonging to the king’s house.

Verse 10:[5]  And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.

[The foundations, etc., וגו״‎וּמְיֻסָּ֕ד אֲבָנִ֥ים ]  But the foundation was, etc. (Pagnine, Tigurinus, Vatablus), understanding, this building (Vatablus).  And the foundation was made; that is, it was consisting of stones (certain interpreters in Vatablus), the singular in the place of the plural, foundations, etc. (Vatablus).

[Great stones of ten or eight cubits]  An extraordinary size (Martyr); these stones were squared; but if they were squared on all sides, one of these stones would contain more than five hundred solid feet of stone, which is unbelievable.  Therefore, this is to be understood of solid measure, by which both timbers and stones are commonly measured:  According to which each stone was only two cubits wide, and two cubits long, and two cubits tall (Potter’s An Interpretation of the Number 666[6]).  These stones were ten or eight cubits in length (Osiander).

Stones of ten cubits; not square, which would have been both unnecessary, and unportable, and unmanageable; but of solid measure, by which stones and timber are usually measured; and so they were only two cubits square, but there were twenty solid cubits contained in them.  And so also the following eight cubits are to be understood.

Verse 11:[7]  And above were costly stones, after the measures of hewed stones, and cedars.

[And above costly stones of equal measure, etc.,וּמִלְמַ֗עְלָה אֲבָנִ֧ים יְקָר֛וֹת כְּמִדּ֥וֹת גָּזִ֖ית וָאָֽרֶז׃]  And above (that is, above the foundation [Vatablus]) or in the upper part were costly stones (Pagnine, Tigurinus, thus Jonathan, Munster, Castalio), according to the measures of hewn stone (Montanus, Jonathan) (or, and squared according to a certain pattern [Tigurinus, similarly Munster, Castalio, Strigelius]), and of cedar (Montanus, Tigurinus); or and cedar boards (Pagnine); or and with cedar (Munster), understanding, covered (Munster, Mariana, Strigelius, similarly Osiander, Dutch).

Above, that is, in the roof or upper part; for this is opposed to the foundation.  Costly stones and cedars, intermixed here the one, and there the other.

Verse 12:[8]  And the great court round about was with three rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams, both for the inner court of the house of the LORD, (John 10:23; Acts 3:11) and for the porch of the house.

[And the greater court was round, ‎סָבִיב]  Along the circuit (Pagnine, Vatablus), that is, along all sides.  Great was that porch in which the people were praying, which was not covered, which in 2 Chronicles 4:9 is called the great court (Vatablus).

The great court, to wit, of Solomon’s dwelling-house, mentioned verse 8.

[Of three rows, etc.]  There were three rows of hewn stone:  and a row of cedar beams (Syriac, Pagnine, Junius and Tremellius, etc.).

A row of cedar beams; of which see the note on 1 Kings 6:36.

[And also both in the court of the house of the Lord, etc., וגו״ ‎וְלַחֲצַ֧ר בֵּית־יְהוָ֛ה]  Similarly for the inner court of the house of the Lord (that is, the court of the priests [Vatablus]) and the porch of the house (Syriac, Pagnine, Junius and Tremellius, etc.).  The court before the Tabernacle in the vestibule of the Temple he calls the porch.  The Learned think that the vestibule, the court of the priests, and the court of the people, were containing buildings:  that is to say, the same thing is to be understood concerning the interior court and concerning the porch (Vatablus).  [Others translate it otherwise:]  According to the pattern of the inner court of the house of the Lord and of the vestibule of the Temple (Munster).  That is to say, The court surrounding the palace of Solomon was made in the same measure as the court surrounding the Temple, etc. (Osiander, similarly Lapide, Martyr).

Both for the inner court of the house of the Lord, or, as (Hebrew:  ו/and,[9] which is oft used in that sense for a particle of comparison or similitude, as Proverbs 11:25;[10] 17:3;[11] 25:23[12]) for the inner court, etc., that is, as it was in that inner court, of which the very same thing is said 1 Kings 6:36.  Otherwise it might seem very improper and impertinent to speak of the court of the Lord’s house here, where he is treating only of Solomon’s house.  For the porch of the house, or, of this house, to wit, of which I am here speaking, that is, of the king’s house, the porch whereof had pillars, 1 Kings 7:6, and these both of stone and cedar, as may seem most probable, because the other pillars were such.  And whereas the number and quality of the pillars of the porch was omitted, 1 Kings 7:6, that defect is here supplied, and we are implicitly acquainted with both of them.  But this I speak with submission.

[1] Hebrew:  ‎כָּל־אֵ֜לֶּה אֲבָנִ֤ים יְקָרֹת֙ כְּמִדֹּ֣ת גָּזִ֔ית מְגֹרָר֥וֹת בַּמְּגֵרָ֖ה מִבַּ֣יִת וּמִח֑וּץ וּמִמַּסָּד֙ עַד־הַטְּפָח֔וֹת וּמִח֖וּץ עַד־הֶחָצֵ֥ר הַגְּדוֹלָֽה׃

[2] The Island of Paros was famous for its high-quality marble.

[3] Porphyry is an igneous rock.  It was quarried in Egypt, and used by the Roman Emperors in royal construction, valued for its hardness and rich purple color.

[4] That is, projecting brackets.

[5] Hebrew:  ‎וּמְיֻסָּ֕ד אֲבָנִ֥ים יְקָר֖וֹת אֲבָנִ֣ים גְּדֹל֑וֹת אַבְנֵי֙ עֶ֣שֶׂר אַמּ֔וֹת וְאַבְנֵ֖י שְׁמֹנֶ֥ה אַמּֽוֹת׃

[6] Francis Potter (1594-1678) was Rector of Kilmington and a member of the Royal Society, known for inventing an instrument for perspective drawing and a dividing machine which could do thousandths of an inch.  His An Interpretation of the Number 666 is highly praised by Joseph Mede.

[7] Hebrew:  ‎וּמִלְמַ֗עְלָה אֲבָנִ֧ים יְקָר֛וֹת כְּמִדּ֥וֹת גָּזִ֖ית וָאָֽרֶז׃

[8] Hebrew: ‎וְחָצֵ֙ר הַגְּדוֹלָ֜ה סָבִ֗יב שְׁלֹשָׁה֙ טוּרִ֣ים גָּזִ֔ית וְט֖וּר כְּרֻתֹ֣ת אֲרָזִ֑ים וְלַחֲצַ֧ר בֵּית־יְהוָ֛ה הַפְּנִימִ֖ית וּלְאֻלָ֥ם הַבָּֽיִת׃ פ

[9] 1 Kings 7:12:  “And the great court round about was with three rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams, both for the inner court of the house of the Lord (וְלַחֲצַ֧ר בֵּית־יְהוָ֛ה הַפְּנִימִ֖ית), and for the porch of the house.”

[10] Proverbs 11:25:  “The liberal soul shall be made fat:  and he that watereth (‎וּמַרְוֶה, as he that watereth) shall be watered also himself.”

[11] Proverbs 17:3:  “The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace (‎וְכוּר, as the furnace for gold) for gold:  but the Lord trieth the hearts.”

[12] Proverbs 25:23:  “The north wind driveth away rain:  so doth an angry countenance (‎וּפָנִ֥ים נִ֜זְעָמִ֗ים) a backbiting tongue.”