The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 105

Bymbolik, i. p. 175), just e.s five we.s the much controversy, which cannot even now sign of imperfection {ib. pp. 183-187). The be considered (pace Keil : " The correctness very dimensions, consequently, of the house of the number 480 is now pretty generally admitted") as closed. Grave doubts 11re e.re e. testimony to the perfections of the enterte.i::ied as to its genuineness. Lord A. Being to whose service it we.a dedicated. Hervey (Diet. Bib. vol. ii. p. 22) says it is Nor is the recurrence of the number three, "manifestly erroneous." Ilawlinson con- though by no mee.ns so marked, to be e.lto- siders it to be " a.n interpolation into tho gether overlooked. Oonsidering its Divine sacred text" (p. 516). And it is to be ob- served, 1. the.t the LXX. reads 440 instead origine.1-that it was made e.fter the pattern of 480 years-a discrepancy which is sus- of thfogs in the heavens-it is not wholly picious, and argues some amount of incer- unworthy of notice that the building "had titude. 2. Origen quotes this verse without three compartments. . . . Each of the three these words (Comm. in S. J ohe.nn ii. 20). sides was flanked by e.n aisle formed of 3. They would seem to have been un- three stories, and the holy of holies was of known to Josephus, Clem. Alex., and others. 4. It is not the manner of Old Testament three equal dimensions" (Wordsworth). And writers thus to date events from an er11, e.n if we cannot follow him further and see e.ny idea. which appears to have first occurred to significance in the fact that the " length the Greeks temp. Thucydides (Rawlinson). was 3 x 30 cubits, e.nd the height 3 x 10," It is admitted that we have no other in- we may still remember that this house was stance in the Old Testament where this is done. 5. It is difficult to reconcile this built, though Solomon knew it not, to the statement with other chronological notices glory of the Triune God. Bahr, however, both of the Old and New Testaments. For who also shows e.t some length how "the taking the numbers which we find in the number three is everywhere conspicuous in Hebrew text of the books which refer to the building" (p. 54), accounts for it on the this period, they sum up to considerably more than 480 years. The time of the ground that "three is in the Old Testa- Judges e.lone comprises 410 years e.t the ment the signature of every true and com- least. It should be stated, however, with plete tmit" (Was drei Mal geschieht ist das regard to the chronology of the period last rechte Einmal; was in drei getheilt ist ist mentioned (1) that it only pretends to fur- eine wahre Einheit), so the.t practically nish round numbers-20, 40, and.the like- and evidently does not aim at exactitude ; three would signify here much the same e.s (2) that there is good ground for suspecting ten-it would stand as " the signature of that the periods are not e.lways consecutive; the perfect 11.D.it, e.nd so e.lso of the Divine that in some oases, i.e., they overlap. We Being." a.re not justified, therefore, bece.use of the One remark more may be me.de here, viz., de.tea of the Judges in rejecting this state- ment. The question of New Testament the.t in the temple or tabernacle we have chronology is somewhat more complicated. the e.rohetype of the Christian Church. The In Acts xiii. 20, St. Paul states the perio,l correspondence is so obvious e.s to strike the between the division of Canaan, by Joshua most oe.sual observer. Porch, or steeple, (Josh. xiv. 1, 2), e.nd the time of Samuel nave, ohe.ncel, altar, side nisles, these have the prophet as 450 yeo.rs (a:ai µm1 TavTa ,;,,; frEC11 rETpa,coaio,~· ,ea, 'lrEVT~ICOl!Tll iiiw~ell 1<p1n1,; succeeded to, as they were suggosted by, But Lachmann, on tho e.uthority 1<.r.X.) porch, temple of the house, oracle, mercy of A, 13, C (o.nd we me.y e.dd t(), considers tho seat, side structure, of the Jewish sanctuary. received text to be corrupt, e.nd would place Just e.s Christianity is built on the founda- 1<ai µera TaiiTa e.fter m11TT11t:011ra. Alford, tions of Judaism (see Homiletics), so has however, treo.ts this reo.ding 11s " an o.ttempt e.t correcting the difficult chronology of the the Jewish temple furnished e. model for verse," e.nd says that "all o.ttempts to re- the Christian; for, considering how closely concile" it with 1 Kings vi. 1 "a.re o.rbitrnry the early Church fashioned itself o.fter the o.nd forced." If, then, the received text is pattern of Judo.ism, the resembl=oe ce.n to stand-e.nd it fa to be noticed the.t the he.rdly be e.ooidente.l. reigns of the Judges, including Samuel, sum up exe.ctly to the period mentioned by Ver. 1.-And it came to pass in the four St. Pe.ul, 460 yee.rs-the intervo.l between hundred and eightieth year after the chil- the Exodus and the erection of the temple dren of Israel were come out of the land ce.nnot well he.vo been less than 99 or 100 of Egypt (This date he.a been the subject of . years longer, i.e., 680--Josephus ma.ke11 il 100 THE FIRST BOOR OF RINGS. [on, v1. 1-88,