Chapter Three

The building of the temple.

(Compare 1 Kgs 6)

1–2. The place and time of the building of the temple. 3–9. The size and division of the temple and its internal arrangement and furnishings. 10–17. The most outstanding ornaments of the temple: carved cherubim, the veil, and two monumental pillars.

2 Chronicles 3:1. Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, on the site that David had designated, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 Chronicles 3:2. He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. While (1 Kgs 6:1) does not name the place of the building of the temple at all, and the year of its foundation is determined as the 480th from the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt (compare, however, (1 Kgs 6:37)), 2 Chronicles in both respects provides information bearing the marks of documentary accuracy, as generally the abundance of documentary reports distinguishes the books of Chronicles from the books of Kings (see Prof. A. A. Olesnitsky, The State Chronicle of the Kings of Judah or the forgotten books, Παραλεπόμενα. Works of the Kiev Theological Academy. 1879, No. 8, p. 412 and following). The time of the beginning of the building of the temple is the second month of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign (verse 2, compare (1 Kgs 6:37)) on the 2nd day of the month, as evidently was noted in the chronicle contemporary to the events. The place on which Solomon’s temple was erected was the eastern hill of Jerusalem, the so-called Moriah, specially planned for that purpose (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book VIII, Chapter 3, 2; Antiquities of the Jews, Book XV, Chapter 11, 3; Onomasticon, 72; Olesnitsky, The Old Testament Temple, p. 214–215, 401 and many others; compare Commentary Bible, vol. II, 456; Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia, vol. VI, St. Petersburg, 1905, p. 449); this place was chosen by David himself as a result of a theophany of an angel to him there (2 Sam 24:18; 1 Chr 21:18).

2 Chronicles 3:3. These are the foundations that Solomon laid for the house of God: the length was 60 cubits, measured by the former cubit, and the width 20 cubits; 2 Chronicles 3:4. and the vestibule in front of the house was 20 cubits long, corresponding to the width of the house, and its height was 120 cubits. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold. The dimensions of the temple in two measurements — length and width — are given in 2 Chronicles in agreement with (1 Kgs 6:2) — 60 cubits in length and 20 in width, with the remark (verse 3) that the cubit is taken of the ancient measure (Hebrew midda garishona; LXX ἡ διαμέτρησις ἡ πρώτη, Vulgate in mensura prima, Slavonic “first measure”) — of the larger size, that is, seven-handbreadths, while the later, Babylonian, had 6 handbreadths, consequently was 1/7 smaller (compare Ezek 40:5; Deut 3:11). As for the height of the temple, the total height of the building (according to 3 Kings — 30 cubits) is not shown in 2 Chronicles, but the height of the vestibule is shown (verse 4) as disproportionately large: 120 cubits, that is, four times greater than the total height of the temple. Apparently, here is an error in the Hebrew text (easily explained: two words could have been confused — האמ hundred and המא cubit): according to the Alexandrian codex of the LXX and codex 158 of Holmes, as well as to the Syriac and Arabic translations, the height of the vestibule was not 120 but only 20 cubits (see Prof. A. A. Olesnitsky, The Old Testament Temple, p. 234–237, 370, 375; Compare Fr. Böttcher, Neue exegetisch – Kritische Aehrenlese zum Alten Testamente. 3-te Abth. Leipzig, 1865, 229–230) 3. (Compare Commentary Bible, vol. II, p. 456).

2 Chronicles 3:5. The main building he lined with cypress wood and overlaid it with fine gold, and made palms and chains on it. 2 Chronicles 3:6. He adorned the building with settings of precious stones. The gold was gold from Parvaim. “Main building,” Hebrew (gab) bayit (gag) gadol, LXX τόν οῖκον τὸν μἐγαν, Vulgate domum majorem, Slavonic “great house,” that is, the temple proper — the holy and holy of holies, in distinction from the vestibule, was lined on the inside on ceiling, walls, and floor with cypress (and cedar: (1 Kgs 6:15)) wood, then with gold and precious stones (compare 1 Kgs 6:21, see Commentary Bible II, 456, 457). Gold, as is well known, brought to Solomon from Ophir (1 Kgs 9:28; 2 Chr 8:18), is named here “Parvaim gold,” Hebrew parvaim, LXX Φαρουίμ, Slavonic “Pharuim.” This name, occurring only once in the Bible, the Vulgate understands in an appellative sense: aurum erat probatissimum. But the majority of commentators consider this a proper name for a gold-bearing locality: a) or see here a corrupted spelling of the word Ophir (see Prof. Gulyaev, p. 466); b) or derive (Gesenius and others) from Sanskrit “purva,” front, eastern; c) or perceive (Sprenger, Alte Geographie v. Arab. s. 54) here the name of a rich gold-mining region Furva in Yemen; according to Calmet — the same as Sepharvaim (2 Kgs 17:24); according to Bochart — the same as Taprobane or the island of Ceylon.

2 Chronicles 3:7. He covered the building, its beams, thresholds, walls, and doors with gold, and carved cherubim on the walls. 2 Chronicles 3:8. He made the most holy place: its length, corresponding to the width of the house, was 20 cubits, and its width 20 cubits; he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to 600 talents. 2 Chronicles 3:9. The weight of the nails was 50 shekels of gold. He also overlaid the upper rooms with gold. Compare (1 Kgs 6:16), Commentary Bible II, 457.

2 Chronicles 3:10. In the most holy place he made two cherubim of sculptured work and overlaid them with gold. 2 Chronicles 3:11. The wings of the cherubim together extended 20 cubits: one wing of the one cherub, five cubits long, touched the wall of the building; and its other wing, five cubits long, touched the wing of the other cherub; 2 Chronicles 3:12. and similarly the wing of the other cherub, five cubits long, touched the wall of the building, and the other wing, five cubits long, was joined to the wing of the first cherub. 2 Chronicles 3:13. The wings of these cherubim stretched out 20 cubits; they stood on their feet, facing the nave. Compare (Exod 25:18-20), especially (1 Kgs 6:23-29). Commentary Bible I, 443; II, 457–456.

2 Chronicles 3:14. He made the curtain of blue, purple, and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and worked cherubim into it. Compare (Exod 26:1). Commentary Bible vol. I, p. 444.

2 Chronicles 3:15. In front of the house he set up two pillars 35 cubits high, with a capital of five cubits on the top of each. 2 Chronicles 3:16. He made chains like in the inner sanctuary and put them on the tops of the pillars; he made 100 pomegranates and attached them to the chains. 2 Chronicles 3:17. He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right, the other on the left; the one on the right he called Jachin, and the one on the left, Boaz. (Compare 1 Kgs 7:15-22), Commentary Bible II, 459). Theological Encyclopedia. Vol. VI, col. 186–191. The chief distinction of 2 Chronicles in the description of the pillars Jachin and Boaz lies in the indication (verse 15) of the length or height of each pillar as 35 cubits, while according to all other parallel biblical passages (1 Kgs 7:15; 2 Kgs 25:17; Jer 52:21) each of the pillars had in height (without capital) only 18 cubits (with capitals — 23 cubits). Probably, 2 Chronicles gives the height of the pillars inclusive of their base (See Fr. Böttcher, Op. cit., p. 231). * * * Josephus recognizes the figure of 120 cubits as the true height of the vestibule, presenting it as two-storied (“Antiquities of the Jews, Book VIII, Chapter 2), but this is the result of confusing by the Jewish historian the temple of Solomon with that of Herod, which indeed had two stories (Mishnah. Middot. IV, 6). See Prof. A. A. Olesnitsky, “The Old Testament Temple,” p. 492 and following.