1 Reis 6

ARC · Chapter 6/22

1E Succedeu que no anno de quatrocentos e oitenta, depois de sairem os filhos de Israel do Egypto, no anno quarto do reinado de Salomão sobre Israel, no mez de Ziv (este é o mez segundo), começou a edificar a casa do Senhor.

2E a casa que o rei Salomão edificou ao Senhor era de sessenta covados de comprimento, e de vinte covados de largura, e de trinta covados de altura.

3E o portico diante do templo da casa era de vinte covados de comprimento, segundo a largura da casa, e de dez covados de largura diante da casa.

4E fez á casa janellas de vista estreita.

5Edificou em redor da parede da casa camaras, em redor das paredes da casa, tanto do templo como do oraculo: e assim lhe fez camaras collateraes em redor.

6A camara de baixo era de cinco covados de largura, e a do meio de seis covados de largura, e a terceira de sete covados de largura; porque pela parte de fóra da casa em redor fizera encostos, para não travarem das paredes da casa.

7E edificava-se a casa com pedras preparadas, como as traziam se edificava; de maneira que nem martelo, nem machado, nem nenhum outro instrumento de ferro se ouviu na casa quando a edificavam.

8A porta da camara do meio estava á banda direita da casa, e por corações se subia á do meio, e da do meio á terceira.

9Assim pois edificou a casa, e a aperfeiçoou: e cobriu a casa com pranchões e taboados de cedro.

10Tambem edificou as camaras a toda a casa de cinco covados de altura, e as travou com a casa com madeira de cedro.

11Então veiu a palavra do Senhor a Salomão, dizendo:

12Quanto a esta casa que tu edificas, se andares nos meus estatutos, e fizeres os meus juizos, e guardares todos os meus mandamentos, andando n'elles, confirmarei para comtigo a minha palavra, a qual fallei a David, teu pae;

13E habitarei no meio dos filhos d'Israel, e não desampararei o meu povo d'Israel.

14Assim edificou Salomão aquella casa, e a aperfeiçoou.

15Tambem cobriu as paredes da casa por dentro com taboas de cedro; desde o soalho da casa até ao tecto tudo cobriu com madeira por dentro: e cobriu o soalho da casa com taboas de faia.

16Edificou mais vinte covados de taboas de cedro nos lados da casa, desde o soalho até ás paredes: e por dentro lh'as edificou para o oraculo, para o Sancto dos Sanctos,

17Era pois a casa de quarenta covados, a saber: o templo interior.

18E o cedro da casa por dentro era lavrado de botões e flores abertas: tudo era cedro, pedra nenhuma se via.

19E por dentro da casa interior preparou o oraculo, para pôr ali a arca do concerto do Senhor.

20E o oraculo no interior era de vinte covados de comprimento, e de vinte covados de largura, e de vinte covados de altura: e o cobriu de oiro puro: tambem cobriu de cedro o altar.

21E cobriu Salomão a casa por dentro de oiro puro: e com cadeias de oiro poz um véu diante do oraculo, e o cobriu com oiro.

22Assim toda a casa cobriu de oiro, até acabar toda a casa: tambem todo o altar que estava diante do oraculo cobriu de oiro.

23E no oraculo fez dois cherubins de madeira olearia, cada um da altura de dez covados.

24E uma aza d'um cherubim era de cinco covados, e a outra aza do cherubim de outros cinco covados; dez covados havia desde a extremidade d'uma das suas azas até á extremidade da outra das suas azas.

25Assim era tambem de dez covados o outro cherubim: ambos os cherubins eram d'uma mesma medida e d'um mesmo talhe.

26A altura d'um cherubim de dez covados, e assim a do outro cherubim.

27E poz a estes cherubins no meio da casa de dentro; e os cherubins estendiam as azas, de maneira que a aza d'um tocava na parede, e a aza do outro cherubim tocava na outra parede: e as suas azas no meio da casa tocavam uma na outra.

28E cobriu de oiro os cherubins.

29E todas as paredes da casa em redor lavrou de esculpturas e entalhes de cherubins, e de palmas, e de flores abertas, por dentro e por fóra.

30Tambem cobriu de oiro o soalho da casa, por dentro e por fóra.

31E á entrada do oraculo fez portas de madeira olearia: o umbral de cima com as hombreiras faziam a quinta parte da parede.

32Tambem as duas portas eram de madeira olearia; e lavrou n'ellas entalhes de cherubins, e de palmas, e de flores abertas, os quaes cobriu de oiro: tambem estendeu oiro sobre os cherubins e sobre as palmas.

33E assim fez á porta do templo hombreiras de madeira olearia, da quarta parte da parede.

34E eram as duas portas de madeira de faia; e as duas folhas d'uma porta eram dobradiças, assim como eram tambem dobradiças as duas folhas entalhadas das outras portas.

35E as lavrou de cherubins, e de palmas, e de flores abertas, e as cobriu de oiro acommodado ao lavor.

36Tambem edificou o pateo interior de tres ordens de pedras lavradas e d'uma ordem de vigas de cedro.

37No anno quarto se poz o fundamento da casa do Senhor, no mez de Ziv.

38E no anno undecimo, no mez de Bul, que é o mez oitavo, se acabou esta casa com todos os seus apparelhos, e com tudo o que lhe convinha: e a edificou em sete annos.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A detailed description of the construction of the temple in Jerusalem: its dimensions, materials, the Most Holy Place with cherubim of wood overlaid with gold, and the construction time (seven years), beginning 480 years after the Exodus.

Explanation

This is the technical chapter about the temple's construction, but its level of detail has a theological purpose: it shows the extreme care devoted to the house that would represent God's presence among the people. God's promise to Solomon in the midst of construction ('if you walk in my statutes... I will dwell among the children of Israel') makes clear that the physical structure, however magnificent, depended on the people's faithfulness, not the other way around. It is a timeless reminder that impressive religious structures do not replace obedience and genuine relationship with God.

Fun facts

  • The phrase 'neither hammer nor axe nor any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built' indicates that the stones were cut and fitted at the quarry before being transported — an architectural planning feat for its time.
  • Archaeological excavations in Jerusalem have found ancient quarries with cutting marks consistent with this technique, and the three-chamber layout (holy place, most holy place, porch) is comparable to Canaanite temples from the Iron Age found at sites such as Tel Motza.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Reis 6:1The text anchors the building of the Temple to a count of the years since the exodus from Egypt, an ancient way of dating important events by tying them to a founding milestone. The totals do not always line up perfectly with other biblical chronologies, and scholars still debate how to reconcile these figures.
  2. 1 Reis 6:2The cubit was a measure based on the human forearm, somewhere between about 18 and 20 inches depending on the region and period. That puts the Temple at roughly 90 feet long by 30 feet wide — far smaller than a cathedral, but covered in gold inside.
  3. 1 Reis 6:3The porch in front of the Temple was twenty cubits long, matching the width of the house, and ten cubits deep.
  4. 1 Reis 6:4Solomon made narrow windows in the house — designed to let in light, not to serve as a view.
  5. 1 Reis 6:5Around the walls of the house, he built side chambers that surrounded both the main hall and the inner sanctuary.
  6. 1 Reis 6:6The chambers were built in tiers — the bottom one narrower, the middle one a bit wider, the top one wider still — so the beams could rest on ledges in the wall without needing to be set into the Temple’s sacred structure.
  7. 1 Reis 6:7The stones were cut at the quarry and only fitted together at the building site, so no sound of any tool was heard in the Temple itself while it went up. This detail reinforces the idea of a sacred place raised in silence, without the usual noise of construction.
  8. 1 Reis 6:8The entrance to the middle chamber was on the right side of the house, and internal stairs went from the bottom floor to the middle one and then up to the top.
  9. 1 Reis 6:9So Solomon built and finished the house, covering it with beams and boards of cedar.
  10. 1 Reis 6:10He also built the side chambers, each five cubits high, attached to the main structure with cedar beams.
  11. 1 Reis 6:11The word of the Lord comes to Solomon — the text interrupts the technical description of the construction to bring a message from God about it.
  12. 1 Reis 6:12God makes a conditional promise about this Temple: if Solomon follows the statutes, carries out the judgments, and keeps the commandments, He will fulfill everything He promised David.
  13. 1 Reis 6:13God promises to dwell among the people of Israel and never abandon them — the true purpose behind the whole construction.
  14. 1 Reis 6:14After God’s message, the text picks up again: Solomon built the house and finished it.
  15. 1 Reis 6:15He lined the inner walls with cedar boards from the floor to the ceiling, and covered the floor with boards of cypress.
  16. 1 Reis 6:16At the back of the house, he set apart twenty cubits with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to create the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.
  17. 1 Reis 6:17The main hall in front of that sanctuary, the temple proper, measured forty cubits long.
  18. 1 Reis 6:18Inside, the cedar was all carved with gourds and open flowers — cedar on every side, not a stone in sight.
  19. 1 Reis 6:19Inside the house, Solomon prepared the inner sanctuary specifically to house the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
  20. 1 Reis 6:20The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, wide, and high, entirely overlaid with pure gold; even the cedar altar was covered with gold.
  21. 1 Reis 6:21Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold and set chains of gold across the front of the sanctuary, covering everything with gold.
  22. 1 Reis 6:22He covered the whole house with gold until it was finished, including the altar that stood before the inner sanctuary — nothing there was left without a precious covering.
  23. 1 Reis 6:23Biblical cherubim were not the little angels of later art — they were hybrid, guardian figures, similar to the winged sphinxes common in ancient Near Eastern art. Here, two of them, nearly fifteen feet tall, stood with wings spread over the place where the ark would rest.
  24. 1 Reis 6:24Each wing of a cherub measured five cubits, so from tip to tip the two wings together measured ten cubits.
  25. 1 Reis 6:25The second cherub had the same measurements as the first: ten cubits, identical in shape and size.
  26. 1 Reis 6:26Each cherub stood about fifteen feet tall, and their wings — also five cubits each — stretched out until they touched the walls on either side of the Most Holy Place.
  27. 1 Reis 6:27The cherubim stood side by side in the inner sanctuary, their wings spread so that they touched each other in the middle of the room and touched the walls on each side.
  28. 1 Reis 6:28Solomon overlaid the cherubim with gold, as he did with almost everything inside the Temple.
  29. 1 Reis 6:29All the walls of the house, inside and out, were carved with figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
  30. 1 Reis 6:30The floor of the house was also covered with gold, both in the inner and outer sections.
  31. 1 Reis 6:31At the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon made doors of olive wood, with a doorframe that took up a fifth of the width of the wall.
  32. 1 Reis 6:32The two olive-wood doors were carved with cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, all covered with gold laid over the carvings.
  33. 1 Reis 6:33At the entrance to the main hall, he made olive-wood doorframes taking up a fourth of the width of the wall.
  34. 1 Reis 6:34The two doors there were made of cypress wood, each with two folding leaves.
  35. 1 Reis 6:35Those doors were also carved with cherubim, palm trees, and flowers, covered with gold fitted precisely over the carving.
  36. 1 Reis 6:36The inner court was built with three rows of cut stone and one row of cedar beams.
  37. 1 Reis 6:37The foundation of the Temple was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Zif.
  38. 1 Reis 6:38Seven years of construction is fast for a project of this size for its time, which suggests Solomon mobilized a huge workforce at once. That fits with the levy of workers described in the previous chapter.

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