Fir-tree - Rather, juniper (1 Kings 5:6 note). Each door was made in two parts, which folded back one on the other like shutters, by means of hinges. The weight of the doors no doubt made it inconvenient to open the whole door on every occasion. read more
1 Kings 6:32. The two doors also were of olive-tree Or, The leaves of the doors; signifying what sort of doors they were, namely, folding-doors, as is more particularly observed 1 Kings 6:34. He carved upon them carvings of cherubims, &c., and overlaid them with gold When the veil, which covered this whole partition, with the doors of it, was drawn aside to give entrance to the high-priest into the holy of holies on the great day of atonement, then these beautiful doors of... read more
Details of the temple’s interior (6:14-38)Inside the temple the stonework was covered with lavishly carved wood panelling overlaid with beaten gold (14-15; see v. 22). A partition divided the main temple into two rooms. The larger front room was called the nave or Holy Place; the smaller rear room was called the inner sanctuary or Most Holy Place (16-18).The Most Holy Place contained the ark of the covenant, symbol of God’s presence (19). This room had a lower ceiling than the rest of the... read more
two doors = two-leaved (or double) doors. read more
2. Temple construction ch. 6After arrangements for building the temple were in order, construction began. This building took seven years to complete (1 Kings 6:38)."In an earlier era scholars debunked the reality of a temple in Israel like Solomon’s because nothing similar was known from the ancient Near East. However, at ’Ain Dara (and earlier in Tall Ta’yinat), Syria, a temple from the tenth century B.C. came to light that bore a remarkable similarity to the temple of Jerusalem. The size is... read more
The inside of the temple 6:14-36The altar (1 Kings 6:19; 1 Kings 6:22) refers to the altar of incense (cf. 1 Kings 7:48). This altar evidently stood in the west end of the holy place (cf. Exodus 30:6; Exodus 40:5; Leviticus 16:2; Hebrews 9:4; Hebrews 9:7). The cherubim were figures of angels carved out of olive wood (1 Kings 6:23-28). They may have resembled "winged sphinxes." [Note: Auld, p. 44.] Since there were cherubim attached to the mercy seat of the ark, these were two additional... read more
The Construction of the TempleIn shape the Temple was a rectangular hall 60 x 20 x 30 cubits (a cubit being about 18 inches). On its E. face it had a porch (forming an entrance) which extended across the whole front and added 10 cubits to the length of the building (1 Kings 6:3). The height of this is given in 2 Chronicles 3:4 as 120 cubits; but such a measurement is out of all proportion to the others, and is probably an error (one of the MSS of the LXX substitutes 20 cubits). On three sides... read more
(32) The two doors.—Those into the Holy place from the porch, of cypress wood, were naturally made larger. The posts were a fourth of the wall. Hence, according as the wall is taken to be 20 cubits square, or 30 cubits high by 20 wide, the height would be 5 cubits (7½ feet), or 7½ cubits (11¼ feet). The width is not given; possibly it is taken to be the same as that of the other doors. As these doors would be much heavier, and more frequently opened and shut, each leaf was made to fold again... read more
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Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Kings 6:33
The door of the temple - The door, that is, which led from the porch into the great chamber of the temple. Its posts were “a fourth part of the wall,” or, “five cubits high,” which was, therefore, the height of the doorway. read more