The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 110

[Heb. the axe] nor a.ny tool [Heb. every house : u.d they went up with wln41ng tool] of iron heard in the house, whlle lt stairs [C 1'i~~ is only found here and in was building. [The hist-0rie.n remn.rks on this, not only because it was so unusual, 2 Chron. iii. The staircase was obviously but with the evident idea that it was a ful- unlike those of most Ee.stern buildings filment of the spirit of the law (Deut. xxvii. within the side structure. Even if th; 5, 6), which required the altar to be of outer wall we.s five cubits thick, of which we virgin stones, untouched by tool of iron. If have no proof, it is very doubtful whether the quarries are to be identified with the the staircase would or could be constructed "Royal Caverns," it is easy to underste.nd within it] into [Heb. upon] the middle how the temple rose up in silence. chamber [or story], and out of the middle into the third. Vm:, 8.-After recorili;ns ~his interesting and smgular fact, the histonan resumes his Ver. 9.-So he built the house u.d description of the side-building. The door flllished lt [i.e., the exterior (see on ver. [or entre.nce, doorway, nl]&, as in ver. 31) 14)] and covered [i.e., roofed, same word Deut. xxxiii. 21; Jer. xxii 14.; Hag. i. 4. for [Heb. of] the middle cha.mber [gene- There is no reference to the, lining of cedar rally understood to mean " the middle side which was applied to the interior. That is chamber of the lower story." But this is described in ver. 15) the house with beams by no means necessary, for (1) V?~ me.y and boards [Heb. rows, ranks. The same signify the suite of rooms, i.e., the entire word is used of soldiers 2 Rings xi. 8, 15] story or flat, as well as a single lean-to or of cedar. [It has been universally held till comp!Lrtment, and (2) i1)::ll.l;\iJ is used in the quite lately that the roof was either vaulted (Thenius) or flat (Bahr, Keil). B_ut Mr. next clause of the middle story. This has Fergusson has alleged some reasons for led Thenins, Keil, Ewald, Bahr, al. to sub- believing that it was e. span or gable roof. stitute n;i"=lDBiJ. (following the LXX. and It is true that Oriental buildings almost Ta.rgum), which would give the sense of invariably have externally flat (internally "lower story" (as in Ezek. xii. 7). Bahr arched) roofs. In Palestine, because of the says this "must necessarily be read." scarcity of timber, no other form is possible. That this emendation he.s much in its But the temple, as we have seen, was con- favour must be ellowed, but it seems e.lso structed after the model of the tabem11.cle, certain that we get a perfectly clear mean- e.nd the latter, as the no.me almost implies, ing from the text e.s it ste.nds, viz., that " the and as necessity would require, had a ridged door (leading to) the middle floor we.a (on roof (see Diet. Bib. iii. p. 1453). It does the ground floor) on the right side," &c. It not 11Rcessarily follow, however, as I<'ergus- is ha.rdly likely that all the compartments son assumes, that the temple followed the on the ground floor hs.d only one approach, tabernacle in this respect. It is obvious and the doors which co=unicated with that when e. " lwuse was built unto the name them may well have been passed over as of the Lord," the form of the tent might requiring no speci!Ll notice. But the his- be abandoned as inappropriate. It is true torie.n feels it necessa.ry to state how the that this shape would be consecrated to second and third stories were reached, and them by many centuries of use, but it is the staircase which led to them l'aUses him also possible that in o. house it would strike to speak of the position of the door which them as altogether bizarre.] opened upon it] was 1n the right side Ver.10.-And then [Heb. omits] he built [Heb. shoulder. This word (l:ll;J;il almost chambers [Heb. the floor (l./W!iJ). The implies that the door was in the external word (masculine) is here again used of the wall of the side structure, not in the wall of entire side structure) against all the house, the holy place (as Bottcher, al.) The fact 11.ve cubits high [i.e., each story wo.s five that the floor-joists were not inserted into cubits (7½ feet). The three stories would the temple walls, as being inconsistent with altogether measure fifteen cubits, !Lnd of the dignity of the sanctuary, makes it almost course something must be allowed for joists, a certainty that there was no direct com- floors, &o. The entire height of the side munication between the building and its structure (exterior) would consequently be dipendn.11.u. It is very improbable that about 18 or 20 cubits. And o.s the house the we.lls of the house were anywhere broken was internally 30 cubitij high, the exterior through. The "right sicle " was the south measurement would probably be about 32 side (chap. vii. 39), i.e., the right, not as cubits. It has hence been inferred thLLt one fo.r,ed the oracle, but, like the building, between the side structure and the top of fo.ced ee.st. Wha.t was the exact position temple wall there would be a clear space of of the door, whether in the centre, or at 12 or 14 cubits, in which the windows were either angle, it is impossible to say] of the inserted. D.ut this is based on the e.ssump- on. v1. 1-88,] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 106