1Ki 5:27-6:9

1KI 5

27 King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men.

Rashi’s Commentary

And the draft numbered 30,000 men—Which amounted to the wages of 30,000 men.

29 Solomon also had 70,000 who bore burdens and 80,000 hewers in the hill country,

Rashi’s Commentary

70,000 that bore burdens—To bring the stones from the hill country to the city, and the 80,000 men were the ones who hewed them in the hill country, There is altogether one hundred fifty thousand men. And they were all proselytes who were drawn and attracted to the Jewish people, that converted because of Solomon’s greatness and hospitality. And it is likewise written in 2Ch (2:16) “Then Solomon numbered all the resident aliens that were in the land of Israel . . . and there were found a hundred and fifty thousand. Seventy thousand he set . . .”

30 besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work.

Rashi’s Commentary

The chief officers—These were the oppressors and overseers over those who did the work.

3,300—And in 2Ch (2:1) it says 3,600. It is, therefore, my opinion that the three thousand three hundred men were in charge of one hundred fifty thousand men, so that each one was in charge of forty five and some odd men, and the three hundred men who were added in Chronicles were in charge of all of them, so that each of these three hundred men was in charge of five hundred and some odd men. And you shall know the evidence in support of my opinion that there are two other passages on this subject, and they contradict one another. For it says on this topic in this book of 1Ki (9:23) “These were the chief officers that were over Solomon’s work: 550.” and in the book of 2Ch (8:10) it says “two hundred and fifty.” There are, therefore, altogether, four verses contradicting one another. But we may explain it thus. Those that are mentioned in the latter verses in 1Ki 9:23 and in 2Ch (8:10), were in charge of all of them. And it is a fact that Solomon had employed these proselytes to be bearers of burdens and to hew stones in the mountains. And, in addition, he had the remaining workers for the store cities which he also built, who were native born Jews. Because these passages are stated there in 2Ch which discusses the store-cities. And to sum it up then, in the book of Kings he counted the proselyte officers in two separate totals. First, he counted the three thousand three hundred men, the officers who were in charge of forty-five men each, separately. And in (9:23) he combined the three hundred superior officers, who were in charge of these three thousand three hundred men, with the two hundred and fifty men who were in charge of the builders of the store-cities, and totaled together 550 officers. And, on the other hand, in 2Ch he counted all the proselyte officers, the major and minor ones, together, three thousand six hundred men, and they were all proselytes. And the officers in charge of the workers in the store-cities, who were Jews, totaling two hundred and fifty men, he counted separately.

Who had charge of the people who carried on the work—Who had charge of the people who did the work.

31 At the king’s command they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.

Rashi’s Commentary

They quarried—The stones from the mountains. This is an expression of uprooting.

Great, costly stones—Heb. יקרות, costly.

Dressed stones—They were carved and chiseled precisely to the required measurement. And if you ask it has already been stated (6:7) “Neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.” How then were the stones cut to a specific size? The explanation is, that although no tool of iron was heard in the house, while it was being built, but he would chisel the stones while still on the outside, and then bring them in and build from the inside.

11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 1CO 3:11-12

6 For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,

a cornerstone chosen and precious,

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,” 1PE 2:6-7

32 So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the men of Gebal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

Rashi’s Commentary

And the men of Gebal—A nation whose name was Gebal. And they were skilled in the art of chiseling stones and building. As it is stated in reference to the skilled men of Tyre (Eze 27:9) “The elders of Gebal and the skilled men thereof, were in you your calkers.”

And they did the cutting—In the mountains.

And prepared—An expression of designation.

1KI 6

3 The vestibule in front of the nave of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house.

Rashi’s Commentary

The vestibule in front of—In front of the nave, in it’s entranceway.

The length thereof, equal to the width of the house—The length of the vestibule was along the width of the nave and extended from the north to the south. All larger measurements are called the length, and the lesser measurements are called the width. Since in the nave proper the measurement from the east to the west was greater, that was called the length, and in the vestibule that the measurement from the north to the south was the larger, therein was called the length from the north to the south, and from the east to the west therein was called the width.

In front of the house—The vestibule was in front of the house of the nave, on the eastern side and was on the outside.

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple MAT 4:5

and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. JOH 10:23

10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Peter Speaks in Solomon’s Portico

11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. ACT 3:10-11

4 And he made for the house windows broad without, and narrow within.

Rashi’s Commentary

Broad without, and narrow within—Our Sages explained שְּׁקוּפִים as an expression of looking and an opening and an observation. These windows were constructed so that they were open on the outside and closed (אֲטוּמִים) on the inside. The opening was wider on the outside and narrow on the inside. This was not in the usual manner of all other windows which are made expressly for illumination.

6 The lowest chamber was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

Rashi’s Commentary

The lowest chamber—On each side of the temple the chambers were built in three tiers, one on the other. And the measurement of its length is not stated here, only its width. There were thirty-eight chambers in all, fifteen in the north, five on top of five, and five more on top of them, and the same number in the south. And eight more were in the west, three on top of three and two more on top of them. The lowest chamber was five cubits wide and the middle ones were six cubits, and the top ones seven. Why was this difference? For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall. The height of the chamber was five cubits, and as the height of the wall of the temple proper reached five cubits he reduced its thickness and recessed it one cubit inward on the outside, and on that recess he placed the ends of the supporting beams of the roof at the top of the chamber which served as the floor of the middle one. And as the wall reached ten cubits he again recessed it one cubit in order to place the ends of the supporting beams of the roof of the middle chamber which served as the floor of the upper chamber. We thus find the middle one is broader than the lower one by one cubit, and the upper one is broader than the middle one by one cubit.

That the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house—In order not to join the ends of the supporting beams to the walls through perforations into the walls of the house, since this causes the deterioration of the wall and is also not beautiful, architecturally.

7 When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

Rashi’s Commentary

When the house was built, with stone prepared at the quarry—As it was removed from the mountain, through the worm שָּׁמִיר which cuts through stones. Exactly as it came from there, they set it into the wall of the structure, and they did not chisel it further with any metal tools. And the dressed stones which are mentioned above in 5:31, indicating that the stones were cut to some degree, is a controversy.

And hammers—Delutta, a chisel, in the Russian language.

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. ACT 9:31

in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— ROM 9:23

He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 2CO 5:5

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. COL 1:12

for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. JAS 1:20

17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. JAS 3:17-18

you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1PE 2:5

9 So he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house with panelling and planks of cedar.

Rashi’s Commentary

And he made the ceiling—An expression of covering of the ceiling.

With panelling and planks of cedar—There were two ceilings. The one made for beauty was below, and the one of planks of cedar was above. That of panelling was the lower one. And Jonathan rendered גֵּבִים as הַנְתּוּכִין, but I do not know what they are. And I did hear in the name of Rabbi Menachem . . . that they are boards woven beautifully in the form of a design, and it is called in our language (o.f.) celed and in German it is called gehimmelt and that is an expression of something heavenly in appearance or in height as the highest part of the beam. And I say they are hollowed bricks, and they are like half a round reed, which are used as coverings for houses in German, dekziegel.

Panelling—In Aramaic, vaulted canes.

Planks—Planks of cedar were laid over the panels, to provide a footing for when they would go to oversee the maintenance of the house temple. Similarly, Jonathan renders, “and above them the panels were rows of planks made of cedars beams.” The word רכפת in the Targum denotes adjacency as the planks were adjoining to each other. Elsewhere (2Sa 22:12) it says, “thick clouds of the sky” for which the Targum renders: “a cluster of light clouds” which gave the appearance of thick clouds.