l'i' ; Dan. vi. 10). So Gesenius, De Wette f'00111$. A sort of monastery would seem to Keil, Biilu-, al.] ' have been attached to the temple. So many Ver. 5.-And against [or upon, ~l!; they chambers could hardly have been required rested on the well] the wall of the house for the "preservation of temple stores and [here meaning both temple and oracle: see utensils" (Keil), or of offerings (Ewa.Id). below] ~e ~milt cha.m.~rs [Marg. floors. Whatever their use, we can hardly suppose The Orig. 1s 1mr: (Ken, 11'~;) singular= that they were wholly without light though Btratu.m ( lJ~; stravit, spread out). Symm. nothing is said about windows. They may have had " fixed lattices." It is to be re- transle.tes 1mra<1rpwµa. Gesenius remarks membered that the priests and Levites min- ihat the word is used here and in ver. 10 in istered "by night in the house of the Lord" the masculine of the whol,e of the side struc- (Psa. cxxx.iv. 1)) round a.bout. ture, while in ver. 6 it is used in the femi- Ver. 6.-The neth~rmost chamber [Heb. mine of the single stories. The floors bore floor; cf. Ezek. xii 6] was 11.ve cubits this name, l)~~;, because they were spread broa.d [It must be remembered that all "Upon, not inserted into the walls. Rawlinson the measurements ate those of the interior], has evidently confounded this word with a.nd the middle wa.s stx cubits broad, and ll~}! (see below) when he says, " The the ~ d was seven cub1~ broad : for [Ex- Hobrew word here used would be best trans- planation how these differences of size lated a l,ea11rto." Both words are translated arose] without [i.e., on the outside] in the alike "chambers " in the Authorized Ver- sion, but the first means stories or floors; the second may, perhaps, signify lean-tos] round about, against [It is doubtful whetJ:ier n~is here, as co=only,merely the sign of the accusative, or is the preposition "with," meaning" in connexion with," cum parietibus (Seb. Schmidt), in which case its meaning would approach very clcsely to that of S~ above. Bahr remarks that Si., and n~ a.re nsed elsewhere as almost synony- mous, and refers to Psa. iv. 7 in connexion with Psa. lxvii. 2. Keil translates, " As for th~ ~·nlls" (.&nl.ange!14 die Wiinde), but (l) (2)
this gives us an nnfimshed sentence. It is l'rep,.red by Capt. Knocker R.E. Seo.lo J-0 • probably an accusative, explicative of the preceding clause=" I mean the walls," &c., wall of [IIeb. omits] the house [main build- the singular, wall, having being used above. ing-nave, and chancel] he made [Heh.put] This additional clause] the walls of the narrowed rests [marg. "narrowings or re- house round about [would then mean that batements,'' The word n1l)i)r.> means lessen- the term•• house'' is to be understood as ings, deductions; A.bsiitze, G~s~n. (Thesaurus, including both temple and oracle (and ex- i. 304), Bahr. The outside of the temple cluding porch), as the next words define it], wall took the shape of three (or four) steps, both of the temple and of the oracle [The floors, i.e., ran round the south, west, and and presented three ledges for the beams to north sides of the building. Stanley aptly rest upon. See below] round about [same word as in ver. 6. The recesses in the wall compares them to the little shops which ran round the north, west, and south sides nestle under the continental cathedrals; of the building; they were co-extensive, i.e., ihough the side aisles of some Gothic with the flats or side-chambers], that the churches, viewed externally, would perhaps beams should not be fastened [Heb. that no better represent their proportions] and he fastening] Into the walls of the house. [The made chambers [MW~1, literally, ribs, meaning is perfectly clear, viz., that the beams, (Gesenius); Rippen (Bahr). Tho de- • timbers should not be let into the walls, sign of the word is clearly to convey that ( " they had not hold in the wall of the the floors were "divided by partitions into house," Ezek. xli. 6) ; but why this was for- distinct compartments" (Merz). According bidden is not quite so certain. According to to Ezek. xli 6 (where, however, the reading is Bahr, it was in order to preserve the great doubtful) there were thirty. three of these side and costly stones of the temple intact; but chambers; according to Josephus (Ant. viii. others, with greater probability, hold that it 8. 2) thirty. Thenius is probably not so far was because it appeared unseemly to have wrong when he sees in these eh.ambers bed- the ~ide-chambers, which were for semi- CB, VI, 1-88.) TIIE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 109