The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 102

EXPOSITION. CHAPTER VL 1-38. ix. 34; see Stanley, "Jewish Church," ii. p. 193), being probably mere attempts to SoLOHoN's TEMPLE.-The preparations for "twist Jerush&laim into a shape which the building of the Temple having been should be intelligible to Greek ears" (Diet. rela.ted in the preceding chapter, the his- Bib. i. 983). toria.n now proceeds to describe the edifice. We find & sufficient indication, however, He begin£ his narrative with a precise state- of the profound importance which this ment of the dare of its erection (ver. 1); undertaking e.sBUmed in Jewish eyes in the then follows (1) e. description of the shape, fact that fonr chapters of our history-and size, a.nd arra.ngement of the exterior (vers. three of them of considerable length-are 2-10), and (2) e. detailed account of its occupied with an account of the materials, internal fittings and adornments (vers. proportions, arra.ngements, and consecration 15-35). The promise ms.de to Solomon of this great sanctuary. To the historio- during its erection finds a place in vers. graphers of Israel it seemed meet that every 11-13; while the vessels, &c., used in the measurement of the holy and beautiful Temple service a.re described in eh. vii. A house should be recorded with the greatest parallel though briefer account, a.nd one exactness, while the very vessels of service, difl'ering considerably in its e.rra.ngement, "the pots and the shovels and the basons," is found in 2 Chron. iii. iv. were judged worthy of a place in the sacred The erection of this splendid sanctuary page. was no doubt the greatest event, both in But these careful and detailed dimensions Jewish and Gentile eyes, in the history of a.re not only proofs of the tender veneration the Holy City. It made Jerusalem what it with which the Jew regarded the Temple had not been till then, the religious capital. and its appointments; they a.re also (as The stronghold of the Jebueitee now be- Bahr has well shown, Symbolik, i. pp. 127, came the shrine and centre of the Jewish 128) indications and expressions of the system. We are not warranted, however, belief that this house, so "exceeding mag- in believing that it shaped the no.me by nifical," we.a for the Lord, and not for man. which the city was known to the Greeks, These exact measurements, these procise 0 lEpoao>-.vµ.a (Joe., B. J. 6. 10) and "Itpov and symbolic numbers &11 point to a place ~,,_;;,,,o, (Eupolemue in Eueeb. Priep. Ev. for tbe l>ivine Preseuoe; they a.re "tba  CB, VI, 1-88.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 9'1