Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
2 Chronicles 3:8

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Construction of the temple (2:1-7:22)

With the help of King Hiram of Tyre, Solomon prepared materials and arranged a workforce to build the planned temple (2:1-18; see notes on 1 Kings 5:1-18). Construction went on for seven years, until the temple, its furniture, its courtyard, and all other articles and decorations connected with it were completed according to plan (3:1-5:1; see notes on 1 Kings 6:1-51). The temple was then dedicated to God (5:2-7:22; see notes on 1 Kings 8:1-9).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

REGARDING THE HOLY OF HOLIES

"And he made the most holy house: the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold."

The upper chambers mentioned here do not conform to any architectural description, either of their utility, or their exact location. The whole chapter appears to have a strange mixture of things that Solomon was instructed to do, and did not do, and of things which he did contrary to God's will.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The most holy house - i. e., the sanctuary, or holy of holies. On the probable value of the gold, see 1 Kings 10:14 note.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 3

Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign ( 2 Chronicles 3:1-2 ).

He began to build on Mount Moriah. Where in the world did we hear of Mount Moriah before? As we go back to the book of Genesis, "And God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, 'Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, and offer him as a sacrifice on a mountain that I will show thee.' Abraham took Isaac and the servants and they saddled the donkeys and they journeyed. And after three days Abraham left the servants and the donkeys and he said, 'You wait here. I and the lad will go and worship God and we will come again.' And as Abraham and Isaac were journeying together, Isaac said unto Abraham, 'Here is the wood, here is the fire, where is the sacrifice?' And Abraham said, 'God will provide Himself a sacrifice.' And they journeyed together to Mount Moriah. And there Abraham built an altar and he placed Isaac upon it. And he raised his knife and God said, 'Abraham, stop. I see now that you are obedient and will withhold nothing from Me. Behold, the ram caught by its horns in the thicket. Take and offer it.' And Abraham took the ram and offered it as a sacrifice unto the Lord. And Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. And he prophesied, he said, 'In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.'" ( Genesis 22:1-14 ). Earlier he said, "The Lord will provide." "Father, where is the sacrifice?" "The Lord will provide Himself a sacrifice." What a prophetic statement. God's going to provide Himself as the sacrifice. And he called the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh. And then referring to the previous prophecies said, "In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen."

So the place of worship and the place of sacrifice for the nation of Israel was moved from Gibeon to Jerusalem. And there the temple was built on Mount Moriah, the same mount that God showed to Abraham where he offered his son Isaac with the prophecy, "The Lord will provide Himself a sacrifice. In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen."

Now the temple was actually built on the side of Mount Moriah, not on the top, which is interesting in itself. Because among all of the pagan religions, they always built their altars and their places of worship at the tops of the mountains. You go to Athens, and at the top of each mountain in Athens there are the ruins of the pagan temples of the past. Always on the top. The Acropolis, right at the top of the mountain. There in Corinth, the top of the mountain above Corinth, the temple of Aphrodite. And so it is interesting, number one, that the temple was not built on the top of Mount Moriah, but on the side of the mount.

For Mount Moriah continues up, slopes upwards from the temple site and the top of Mount Moriah is actually Mount Calvary or Golgotha. And you can look at the whole topography of that area and you can see how Mount Moriah gently slopes from the temple mount right on up to the top which would be Calvary, Golgotha. And the skull is formed there in the cliff because of the quarries where they excavated out that portion of the mount. And you look back towards the city of Jerusalem and you can see where they've actually cut away the mountain, built the wall of the city right up over the bedrock which continues from there, or did continue at the time of Abraham, and crested on the top. Golgotha, the place of the skull, where God provided Himself a sacrifice. And the prophecy of Abraham was fulfilled in the death of Jesus Christ.

So Mount Moriah. It is interesting that the Bible locates it for us for all time, that we would know, so that God can tie together the interesting types and shadows from the Old Testament with their fulfillment in the New. Thus, the place of Isaac's sacrifice was the place where God provided.

He began to build the temple there in Mount Moriah there at the threshingfloor.

Now these are the things that Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The building was to be ninety feet by thirty feet. [The very building itself.] The porch was in the front of it, and the length was according to the breadth of the house, the height of it was a hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold ( 2 Chronicles 3:3-4 ).

So a building this size and now inside is just overlaid completely with pure gold.

The greater house he ceiled with fir trees, and he overlaid those with fine gold, and he set thereon palm trees and chains. And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was the gold of Parvaim. He overlaid also the house, with the beams, and the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and he carved cherubims on the walls. And he made the most holy place, the length according to the breadth of the house, was thirty feet, and the breadth of it thirty feet: and he overlaid it with fine gold, which came to six hundred talents ( 2 Chronicles 3:5-8 ).

Or, at the thirty-dollar-an-ounce price, about eighteen million dollars. What it would be today, of course, with gold at 500-something an ounce you can figure out yourself. But this was just for the holy of holies within. So the amount of the value of this whole temple that was built by Solomon is valued at somewhere in the billions of dollars. The estimates, of course, range.

Now the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold. And the most holy house he made two cherubims, and he overlaid them with gold. And the wings of the cherubim were thirty feet long: one wing of the one cherub was seven and a half cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was likewise seven and a half cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub ( 2 Chronicles 3:9-11 ).

So that is the total wingspan of the cherub. The two cherubs were twenty feet. There was cherubs, their wings would touch in the middle. And this, remember, is all a little model of heaven. The holy of holies is a model of heaven and the throne of God. And so the cherubim about the throne of God that John saw in the book of Revelation and that Ezekiel saw.

And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and he wrought the cherubim ( 2 Chronicles 3:14 ).

They wove cherubim into this veil of the temple.

Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits ( 2 Chronicles 3:15 ),

So that will be about forty-seven and a half, fifty feet tall.

And there was this ornamental work on the top of each of them of seven and a half feet. And he made chains, as in the oracle, and he put them on the heads of the pillars; and made a hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains. And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and he called the name on the right hand Jachin, and the name on the left Boaz ( 2 Chronicles 3:15-17 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. The temple proper 3:1-9

The mention of Mount Moriah as the site of the temple (2 Chronicles 3:1) recalls God’s provision of a substitute sacrifice for Isaac on that very spot (Genesis 22:2; Genesis 22:14). [Note: See Asher Kaufman, "Where the Ancient Temple of Jerusalem Stood," Biblical Archaeology Review 9:2 (March-April 1983):40-59.] The temple would later stand there, and the high priest would offer a substitute sacrifice for Israel on the Day of Atonement each year there.

The glory of the temple was not so much its size as its quality and appearance. The writer stressed the gold that overlaid it and its general magnificence. Its significance was that it represented the glory of Yahweh, the greatest of all "gods" (2 Chronicles 2:5). In the ancient Near East a god’s house (temple) represented the god.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

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Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.   2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.   3 Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.   4 And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was a hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.   5 And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.   6 And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim.   7 He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls.   8 And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.   9 And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

      Here is, I. The place where the temple was built. Solomon was neither at liberty to choose nor at a loss to fix the place. It was before determined (1 Chronicles 22:1), which was an ease to his mind. 1. It must be at Jerusalem; for that was the place where God had chosen to put his name there. The royal city must be the holy city. There must be the testimony of Israel; for there are set the thrones of judgment,Psalms 122:4; Psalms 122:5. 2. It must be on Mount Moriah, which, some think, was that very place in the land of Moriah where Abraham offered Isaac, Genesis 22:2. So the Targum says expressly, adding, But he was delivered by the word of the Lord, and a ram provided in his place. That was typical of Christ's sacrifice of himself; therefore fitly was the temple, which was likewise a type of him, built there. 3. It must be where the Lord appeared to David, and answered him by fire,1 Chronicles 21:18; 1 Chronicles 21:26. There atonement was made once; and therefore, in remembrance of that, there atonement must still be made. Where God has met with me it is to be hoped that he will still manifest himself. 4. It must be in the place which David has prepared, not only which he had purchased with his money, but which he had purchased with his money, but which he had pitched upon divine direction. It was Solomon's wisdom not to enquire out a more convenient place, but to acquiesce in the appointment of God, whatever might be objected against it. 5. It must be in the threshold floor of Ornan, which, if (as a Jebusite) it gives encouragement to the Gentiles, obliges us to look upon temple-work as that which requires the labour of the mind, no less than threshing-work does that of the body.

      II. The time when it was begun; not till the fourth year of Solomon's reign, 2 Chronicles 3:2; 2 Chronicles 3:2. Not that the first three years were trifled away, or spent in deliberating whether they should build the temple or no; but they were employed in the necessary preparations for it, wherein three years would be soon gone, considering how many hands were to be got together and set to work. Some conjecture that this was a sabbatical year, or year of release and rest to the land, when the people, being discharged from their husbandry, might more easily lend a hand to the beginning of this work; and then the year in which it was finished would fall out to be another sabbatical year, when they would likewise have leisure to attend the solemnity of the dedication of it.

      III. The dimensions of it, in which Solomon was instructed (2 Chronicles 3:3; 2 Chronicles 3:3), as he was in other things, by his father. This was the foundation (so it may be read) which Solomon laid for the building of the house. This was the rule he went by, so many cubits the length and breadth, after the first measure, that is, according to the measure first fixed, which there was no reason to make any alteration of when the work came to be done; for the dimensions were given by divine wisdom, and what God does shall be for ever; nothing can be put to it, or taken from it,Ecclesiastes 3:14. His first measure will be the last.

      IV. The ornaments of the temple. The timber-work was very fine, and yet, within, it was overlaid with pure gold (2 Chronicles 3:4; 2 Chronicles 3:4), with fine gold (2 Chronicles 3:5; 2 Chronicles 3:5), and that embossed with palm-trees and chains. It was gold of Parvaim (2 Chronicles 3:6; 2 Chronicles 3:6), the best gold. The beams and posts, the walls and doors, were overlaid with gold,2 Chronicles 3:7; 2 Chronicles 3:7. The most holy place, which was ten yards square, was all overlaid with fine gold (2 Chronicles 3:8; 2 Chronicles 3:8), even the upper chambers, or rather the upper floor or roof--top, bottom, and sides, were all overlaid with gold. Every nail, or screw, or pin, with which the golden plates were fastened to the walls that were overlaid with them, weighed fifty shekels, or was worth so much, workmanship and all. A great many precious stones were dedicated to God (1 Chronicles 29:2; 1 Chronicles 29:8), and these were set here and there, where they would show to the best advantage. The finest houses now pretend to no better garnishing than good paint on the roof and walls; but the ornaments of the temple were most substantially rich. It was set with precious stones, because it was a type of the new Jerusalem, which has no temple in it because it is all temple, and the walls, gates, and foundations of which are said to be of precious stones and pearls,Revelation 21:18; Revelation 21:19; Revelation 21:21.