11 Then David gave to his son Solomon the design of the doorway of the house of God and of its houses and its store-houses, and the higher rooms and the inner rooms and the place for the mercy-seat;
And you are to make a cover of the best gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And at the two ends of the cover you are to make two winged ones of hammered gold, One at one end and one at the other; the winged ones are to be part of the cover. And their wings are to be outstretched over the cover, and the winged ones are to be opposite one another, facing the cover. And put the cover over the ark, and in the ark the record which I will give you. And there, between the two winged ones on the cover of the ark, I will come to you, face to face, and make clear to you all the orders I have to give you for the children of Israel.
And he took the measure of the covered way of the doorway inside, Eight cubits; and its uprights, two cubits; the covered way of the doorway was inside.
For the first Tent was made ready, having in it the vessels for the lights and the table and the ordering of the bread; and this is named the holy place. And inside the second veil was the place which is named the Holy of holies; Having a vessel of gold in it for burning perfumes, and the ark of the agreement, which was covered with gold and which had in it a pot made of gold for the manna, and Aaron's rod which put out buds, and the stones with the writing of the agreement; And over it were the winged ones of glory with their wings covering the mercy-seat; about which it is not possible now to say anything in detail. Now while these things were in existence, the priests went into the first Tent at all times, for prayer and the making of offerings. But only the high priest went into the second, once a year, not without making an offering of blood for himself and for the errors of the people: The Holy Spirit witnessing by this that the way into the holy place had not at that time been made open, while the first Tent was still in being;
You, son of man, give the children of Israel an account of this house, so that they may be shamed because of their evil-doing: and let them see the vision of it and its image. And they will be shamed by what they have done; so give them the knowledge of the form of the house and its structure, and the ways out of it and into it, and all its laws and its rules, writing it down for them: so that they may keep all its laws and do them.
And he took the measure of the house; it was a hundred cubits long; and the separate place and the building with its walls was a hundred cubits long; And the east front of the house and of the separate place was a hundred cubits wide. And he took the measure of the building in front of the separate place which was at the back of it, and the pillared walks on one side and on the other side; they were a hundred cubits long; and the Temple and the inner part and its outer covered way were covered in; And the sloping windows and the covered ways round all three of them were of shakiph-wood all round from the level of the earth up to the windows; And there was a roof over the doorway and as far as the inner house, and to the outside and on the wall all round, inside and outside.
And the side-rooms, room over room, were three times thirty; there were inlets in the wall of the house for the side-rooms round about, for supports in the wall of the house. The side-rooms became wider as they went higher up the house, by the amount of the space let into the wall up round about the house, because of the inlets in the house; and one went up from the lowest floor by steps to the middle, and from the middle to the upper floor. And I saw that the house had a stone floor all round; the bases of the side-rooms were a full rod of six great cubits high. The wall supporting the side-rooms on the outside was five cubits thick: and there was a free space of five cubits between the side-rooms of the house. And between the rooms was a space twenty cubits wide all round the house. And the free space had doors opening from the side-rooms, one door on the north and one door on the south: and the free space was five cubits wide all round.
Then he took me to the covered way before the house, and took the measure of its uprights, five cubits on one side and five cubits on the other: and the doorway was fourteen cubits wide; and the side-walls of the doorway were three cubits on one side and three cubits on the other. The covered way was twenty cubits long and twelve cubits wide, and they went up to it by ten steps; and there were pillars by the uprights, one on one side and one on the other.
And the priest, the son of Aaron, is to be with the Levites, when the Levites take the tenths: and the Levites are to take a tenth of the tenths into the house of our God, to the rooms, into the store-house; For the children of Israel and the children of Levi are to take the lifted offering of the grain and wine and oil into the rooms where the vessels of the holy place are, together with the priests and the door-keepers and the makers of music: and we will not give up caring for the house of our God.
And Solomon put the base of the house of God in position; by the older measure it was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. And the covered way in front of the house was twenty cubits long, as wide as the house, and a hundred and twenty cubits high, all plated inside with the best gold. And the greater house was roofed with cypress-wood, plated with the best gold and ornamented with designs of palm-trees and chains. And the house was made beautiful with stones of great value, and the gold was gold of Parvaim. All the house was plated with gold, the supports, the steps, the walls and the doors; and the walls were ornamented with designs of winged ones. And he made the most holy place; it was twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits wide, like the greater house, and was plated all over with the best gold; six hundred talents were used for it. And fifty shekels weight of gold was used for the nails. He had all the higher rooms plated with gold. And in the most holy place he made images of two winged beings, covering them with gold.
And the Levites their brothers were responsible for the stores of the house of God and the holy things. The sons of Ladan: sons of the Gershonites of the family of Ladan, heads of families of Ladan the Gershonite, Jehieli. The sons of Jehieli: Zetham and Joel, his brother, had the care of the stores of the house of the Lord. Of the Amramites, of the Izharites, of the Hebronites, of the Uzzielites: And Shebuel, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, was controller of the stores. And his brothers: of Eliezer, Rehabiah his son, and Jeshaiah his son, and Joram his son, and Zichri his son, and Shelomoth his son. Shelomoth and his brothers were responsible for all the store of holy things which David the king and the heads of families, the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and the captains of the army, had given to the Lord. From the goods taken in war, they gave, as a holy offering, materials for the building of the house of the Lord.
For the four chief door-keepers, who were Levites, had a special position, looking after the rooms and the store-houses of the house of God. Their sleeping-rooms were round the house of God, for they had the care of it, and were responsible for opening it morning by morning. Certain of them had the care of the vessels used in worship, to keep an account of them when they came in and when they were taken out again. And some of them were responsible for the holy things and for the vessels of the holy place, and the meal and the wine and the oil and the perfume and the spices.
And at the back of the house a further space of twenty cubits was shut in with boards of cedar-wood, for the inmost room. And the house, that is, the Temple, in front of the holy place was forty cubits long. (All the inside of the house was cedar-wood, ornamented with designs of buds and flowers; no stonework was to be seen inside.) And he made ready an inmost room in the middle of the house, in which to put the ark of the agreement of the Lord. And the inmost room was twenty cubits square and twenty cubits high, plated over with clear gold, and he made an altar of cedar-wood, plating it with gold.
And against the walls all round, and against the walls of the Temple and of the inmost room, he put up wings, with side rooms all round: The lowest line of them being five cubits wide, the middle six cubits wide and the third seven cubits; for there was a space all round the outside walls of the house so that the boards supporting the rooms did not have to be fixed in the walls of the house.
And he took the law and put it inside the ark, and put the rods at its side and the cover over it; And he took the ark into the House, hanging up the veil before it as the Lord had given him orders.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 28
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 28 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 28
1Ch 28:1-8. David Exhorts the People to Fear God.
1. David assembled all the princes of Israel—that is, the representatives of the people, the leading men of the kingdom, who are enumerated in this verse according to their respective rank or degree of authority.
princes of the tribes—(1Ch 27:16-22). Those patriarchal chiefs are mentioned first as being the highest in rank—a sort of hereditary noblesse.
the captains of the companies—the twelve generals mentioned (1Ch 27:1-15).
the stewards, &c.—(1Ch 27:25-31).
the officers—Hebrew, "eunuchs," or attendants on the court (1Sa 8:15; 1Ki 22:9; 2Ki 22:18); and besides Joab, the commander-in-chief of the army, the heroes who had no particular office (1Ch 11:10-12:40; 2Sa 23:8-39). This assembly, a very mixed and general one, as appears from the parties invited, was more numerous and entirely different from that mentioned (1Ch 23:2).
2. Hear me, my brethren, and my people—This was the style of address becoming a constitutional king of Israel (De 17:20; 1Sa 30:23; 2Sa 5:1).
I had in mine heart—I proposed, or designed.
to build an house of rest—a solid and permanent temple.
for the footstool of our God—God seated between the cherubim, at the two extremities of the ark, might be said to be enthroned in His glory, and the coverlet of the ark to be His footstool.
and had made ready for the building—The immense treasures which David had amassed and the elaborate preparations he had made, would have been amply sufficient for the erection of the temple of which he presented the model to Solomon.
3. thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood—The church or spiritual state of the world, of which the temple at Jerusalem was to be a type, would be presided over by One who was to be pre-eminently the Prince of Peace, and therefore would be represented not so fitly by David, whose mission had been a preparatory one of battle and conquest, as by his son, who should reign in unbroken peace.
4, 5. he hath chosen Solomon—The spirit of David's statement is this:—It was not my ambition, my valor, or my merit that led to the enthronement of myself and family; it was the grace of God which chose the tribe, the family, the person—myself in the first instance, and now Solomon, to whom, as the Lord's anointed, you are all bound to submit. Like that of Christ, of whom he was a type, the appointment of Solomon to the kingdom above all his brethren was frequently pre-intimated (1Ch 17:12; 22:9; 2Sa 7:12-14; 12:24, 25; 1Ki 1:13).
7. I will establish his kingdom for ever, if he be constant to do my commandments—The same condition is set before Solomon by God (1Ki 3:14; 9:4).
8. Now … in the sight of all Israel, … keep and seek for all the commandments of the Lord, &c.—This solemn and earnest exhortation to those present, and to all Israel through their representatives, to continue faithful in observing the divine law as essential to their national prosperity and permanence, is similar to that of Moses (De 30:15-20).
1Ch 28:9-20. He Encourages Solomon to Build the Temple.
9, 10. And thou, Solomon my son—The royal speaker now turns to Solomon, and in a most impressive manner presses upon him the importance of sincere and practical piety.
know thou—He did not mean head knowledge, for Solomon possessed that already, but that experimental acquaintance with God which is only to be obtained by loving and serving Him.
11. Then David gave to Solomon … the pattern—He now put into the hands of his son and successor the plan or model of the temple, with the elevations, measurements, apartments, and chief articles of furniture, all of which were designed according to the pattern given him by divine revelation (1Ch 28:19).
12. the pattern of all that he had by the spirit—rather, "with him in spirit"; that is, was floating in his mind.
15, 16. the candlesticks of silver—Solomon made them all of gold—in this and a few minor particulars departing from the letter of his father's instructions, where he had the means of executing them in a more splendid style. There was only one candlestick and one table in the tabernacle, but ten in the temple.
18, 19. the chariot of the cherubim—The expanded wings of the cherubim formed what was figuratively styled the throne of God, and as they were emblematical of rapid motion, the throne or seat was spoken of as a chariot (Ps 18:10; 99:1). It is quite clear that in all these directions David was not guided by his own taste, or by a desire for taking any existing model of architecture, but solely by a regard to the express revelation of the divine will. In a vision, or trance, the whole edifice, with its appurtenances, had been placed before his eyes so vividly and permanently, that he had been able to take a sketch of them in the models delivered to Solomon.
20. Be strong and of good courage—The address begun in 1Ch 28:9 is resumed and concluded in the same strain.
21. behold, the courses of the priests and Levites—They were, most probably, represented in this assembly though they are not named.
also the princes and all the people—that is, as well the skilful, expert, and zealous artisan, as the workman who needs to be directed in all his labors.