2 Chronicles 3:15 Kommentar

It was a much larger and more particular account of the building of the temple which we had in the book of Kings than is here in this book of Chronicles. In this chapter we have, I. The place and time of building the temple (Ch2 3:1, Ch2 3:2). II. The dimensions and rich ornaments of it (Ch2 3:3-9). III. The cherubim in the most holy place (Ch2 3:10-13). IV. The veil (Ch2 3:14). V. The two pillars (Ch2 3:15-17). Of all this we have already and an account, 1 Kings 6, 7.

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 3 & 4 These two chapters give an account of the building of the temple, of the materials, parts, and form of it, and of things belonging to it, and which agrees with Kg1 6:1 see the notes there; only here, Ch1 3:1, mention is made of the particular place where it was built, Mount Moriah; of which see the notes on Gen 22:2. The dimensions of the house, as the Targum rightly explains, Ch2 3:3, are said to be after the first measure, either of that of the tabernacle by Moses, or rather of that of the pattern David gave to Solomon, Ch1 28:11, though some understand it of the greater cubit: the holy place is called the greater house, Ch2 3:5, being twice as long as the holy of holies; in Ch2 3:6, we are informed what the precious stones were for, which David and his princes gave for the temple, Ch1 29:2, that they were to decorate the house; and also what sort of gold was used in overlaying it, gold of Parvaim, which some interpret of Peru (h), in America; but it is a question whether that was then known, or, if it was, must go by another name, since Peru is a late name given by the Spaniards, at their conquest of it. Bochart (i) takes it to be Taprobane, an island in the Indian sea, as if it was Taph Parvan or Provan, the shore of Parvan. Kircher (k) is of opinion it is the same with Javaim, the isles of Java in the same sea, from whence was gold, which is not very likely. Waserus (l) thinks Parvaim is the name of a town which is by Pliny (m) corruptly called Parbacia, which was in the land of Havilah, or the kingdom of the Charazenes, where was the best gold, Gen 2:11 though others suppose it to be the same with Ophir, by removing the first letter of the word, to which Pfeiffer (n) inclines, and is as probable as any; and much more probable than what the Jews (o) say, that this gold was so called, because it was red like the blood of "parim", oxen: in Ch2 3:8, the quantity of gold, with which the most holy place was overlaid, is given, six hundred talents: of which See Gill on Kg1 6:21, In Ch2 3:9 we read of the nails with which the plates of gold were fastened to the boards, nowhere else mentioned, except in the Vulgate Latin version of Kg1 6:21, "he fastened the plates with golden nails"; which version perhaps is most correct; the weight of which were fifty shekels of gold; that is, according to the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, each nail weighed so much, which amounted to seventy five pounds of our money (p). Eupolemus, an Heathen writer (q) speaks of these nails, which he makes to be silver ones; and says they were of the weight of a talent, in the form of a woman's breast, and in number four, with which the plates of gold were fastened, which were of five cubits; I suppose he means there were four of these nails in every plate of five cubits: in Ch2 4:1 an account is given of an "altar of brass", made by Solomon, we have not elsewhere, only referred to Kg1 8:64 whether this was only covered with brass, as that made by Moses was, as some (r) think; or whether of massy brass, as Dr. Lightfoot (s) because not to be removed as that was, is not certain; the altar of the second temple was of stones unpolished, according to the Misnah (t), with which agrees"46 And laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, until there should come a prophet to shew what should be done with them. 47 Then they took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar according to the former;'' (1 Maccabees 4)and so Philo (u): "twenty cubits was the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof, and ten cubits the height thereof"; it was four times as big in its square as that of Moses, and three times higher, and a cubit over, See Gill on Exo 27:1. Hecataeus (w), an Heathen writer, speaks of this altar as four square, and made of whole and unpolished stones, each side of which was twenty cubits, but the height of it he makes to be twelve cubits, in which he mistakes. It weighed, according to Jacob Leon (x) 7000 arobas of brass, each aroba containing twenty five pounds. The rest of the chapter agrees with the account in the book of Kings. (h) Erasm. Schmid. de America Orat. ad Calc. Pindar. p. 261. Montani Phaleg. in Calc. Jac. Capellus in loc. (i) Phaleg. l. 2. c. 27. & Canaan, l. 1. c. 46. col. 692. Braunius de Vest. Sacred. Heb. p. 221. (k) Prodrom. Copt. c. 4. p. 119. (l) De Antiqu. Num. Heb. l. 1. c. 6. (m) Nat. Hist l. 6. c. 28. (n) Difficil. Script. Sacr. cent. 3. loc. 16. p. 247. (o) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 45. 1. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 41. 4. Shemot Rabba, sect. 39. fol. 136. 4. (p) Brerewood de Ponder. &c. c. 5. (q) Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 34. p. 450. (r) Cunaeus de Rep. Heb. l. 2. c. 5. (s) Prospect of the Temple, ch. 34. p. 2029. So Villalpandus. (t) Middot, c. 3. sect. 4. (u) De Victimis, p. 850. (w) Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 4. p. 408. (x) Relation of Memorable Things in the Temple, ch. 4. p. 20.

Solomon begins to build the temple in the fourth year of his reign on Mount Moriah, Ch2 3:1, Ch2 3:2. Its dimensions, ornaments, and pillars, Ch2 3:3-17.

PLACE AND TIME OF BUILDING THE TEMPLE. (Ch2 3:1-2) Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David--These words seem to intimate that the region where the temple was built was previously known by the name of Moriah (Gen 22:2), and do not afford sufficient evidence for affirming, as has been done [STANLEY], that the name was first given to the mount, in consequence of the vision seen by David. Mount Moriah was one summit of a range of hills which went under the general name of Zion. The platform of the temple is now, and has long been, occupied by the haram, or sacred enclosure, within which stand the three mosques of Omar (the smallest), of El Aksa, which in early times was a Christian church, and of Kubbet el Sakhara, "The dome of the rock," so called from a huge block of limestone rock in the center of the floor, which, it is supposed, formed the elevated threshing-floor of Araunah, and on which the great brazen altar stood. The site of the temple, then, is so far established for an almost universal belief is entertained in the authenticity of the tradition regarding the rock El Sakhara; and it has also been conclusively proved that the area of the temple was identical on its western, eastern, and southern sides with the present enclosure of the haram [ROBINSON]. "That the temple was situated somewhere within the oblong enclosure on Mount Moriah, all topographers are agreed, although there is not the slightest vestige of the sacred fane now remaining; and the greatest diversity of sentiment prevails as to its exact position within that large area, whether in the center of the haram, or in its southwest corner" [BARCLAY]. Moreover, the full extent of the temple area is a problem that remains to be solved, for the platform of Mount Moriah being too narrow for the extensive buildings and courts attached to the sacred edifice, Solomon resorted to artificial means of enlarging and levelling it, by erecting vaults, which, as JOSEPHUS states, rested on immense earthen mounds raised from the slope of the hill. It should be borne in mind at the outset that the grandeur of the temple did not consist in its colossal structure so much as in its internal splendor, and the vast courts and buildings attached to it. It was not intended for the reception of a worshipping assembly, for the people always stood in the outer courts of the sanctuary.

The two brazen pillars before the house, i.e., before the porch, whose form is more accurately described in Kg1 7:15-22. The height of it is here given at thirty-five cubits, while, according to Kg1 7:15; Kg2 25:17; Jer 52:21, it was only eighteen cubits. The number thirty-five has arisen by confounding יח = 18 with לה = 35; see on Kg1 7:16. הצּפת (ἁπ. λεγ.) from צפה, overlay, cover, is the hood of the pillar, i.e., the capital, called in Kg1 7:16. כּתרת, crown, capital, five cubits high, as in Kg1 7:16. Ch2 3:16 "And he made little chains on the collar (Halsreife), and put it on the top of the pillars, and made 100 pomegranates, and put them on the chains." In the first clause of this verse, בּדּביר, "in (on) the most holy place," has no meaning, for the most holy place is not here being discussed, but the pillars before the porch, or rather an ornament on the capital of these pillars. We must not therefore think of chains in the most holy place, which extended thence out to the pillars, as the Syriac and Arabic seem to have done, paraphrasing as they do: chains of fifty cubits (i.e., the length of the holy place and the porch). According to Kg1 7:17-20 and Kg1 7:41., compared with Ch2 4:12-13, each capital consisted of two parts. The lower part was a circumvolution (Wulst) covered with chain-like net-work, one cubit high, with a setting of carved pomegranates one row above and one row below. The upper part, or that which formed the crown of the capital, was four cubits high, and carved in the form of an open lily-calyx. In our verse it is the lower part of the capital, the circumvolution, with the chain net-work and the pomegranates, which is spoken of. From this, Bertheau concludes that דּביר must signify the same as the more usual שׂבכה, viz., "the lattice-work which was set about the top of the pillars, and served to fasten the pomegranates," and that bdbyr has arisen out of בּרביד by a transposition of the letters. בּרביד (chains) should be read here. This conjecture so decidedly commends itself, that we regard it as certainly correct, since רביד denotes in Gen 41:42; Eze 16:11, a necklace, and so may easily denote also a ring or hoop; but we cannot adopt the translation "chains on a ring," nor the idea that the שׂבכה, since it surrounded the head of the pillars as a girdle or broad ring, is called the ring of the pillars. For this idea does not agree with the translation "chains in a ring," even when they are conceived of as "chain-like ornaments, which could scarcely otherwise be made visible on the ring than by open work." Then the chain-like decorations were not, as Bertheau thinks, on the upper and under border of the ring, but formed a net-work which surrounded the lower part of the capital of the pillar like a ring, as though a necklace had been drawn round it. רביד consequently is not the same as שׂבכה, but rather corresponds to that part of the capital which is called גּלּה (גּלּות) in Kg1 7:14; for the שׂבכות served to cover the גּלּות, and were consequently placed on or over the גּלּות, as the pomegranates were on the chains or woven work. הגּלּה denotes the curve, the circumvolution, which is in Kg1 7:20 called הבּטן, a broad-arched band, bulging towards the middle, which formed the lower part of the capital. This arched part of the capital the author of the Chronicle calls רביד, ring or collar, because it may be regarded as the neck ornament of the head of the pillar, in contrast to the upper part of the capital, that consisted in lily-work, i.e., the ball wrought into the form of an open lily-calyx (כּתרת( xylac-). Ch2 3:17 As to the position of the pillars, and their names, see on Kg1 7:21.