1 Reis 6

BLIVRE · Chapter 6/22

1E foi no ano quatrocentos oitenta depois que os filhos de Israel saíram do Egito, no quarto ano do princípio do reino de Salomão sobre Israel, no mês de Zife, que é o mês segundo, que ele começou a edificar a casa do SENHOR.

2A casa que o rei Salomão edificou ao SENHOR, teve sessenta côvados de comprimento e vinte de largura, e trinta côvados de altura.

3E o pórtico diante do templo da casa, de vinte côvados de comprimento, segundo a largura da casa, e sua largura era de dez côvados diante da casa.

4E fez à casa janelas largas por de dentro, e estreitas por de fora.

5Edificou também junto ao muro da casa aposentos ao redor, contra as paredes da casa em derredor do templo e do compartimento interno: e fez câmaras ao redor.

6O aposento de abaixo era de cinco côvados de largura, e o de em meio de seis côvados de largura, e o terceiro de sete côvados de largura: porque por de fora havia feito apoios à casa em derredor, para não introduzir as vigas nas paredes da casa.

7E a casa quando se edificou, fabricaram-na de pedras que traziam já acabadas; de tal maneira que quando a edificavam, nem martelos nem machados se ouviram na casa, nem nenhum outro instrumento de ferro.

8A porta do aposento de em meio estava ao lado direito da casa: e subia-se por um caracol ao de em meio, e do aposento de em meio ao terceiro.

9Lavrou, pois, a casa, e acabou-a; e cobriu a casa com artesanatos de cedro.

10E edificou também o aposento em derredor de toda a casa, de altura de cinco côvados, o qual se apoiava na casa com madeiras de cedro.

11E veio a palavra do SENHOR a Salomão, dizendo:

12Esta casa que tu edificas, se andares em meus estatutos, e fizeres meus direitos, e guardares todos meus mandamentos andando neles, eu terei firme contigo minha palavra que falei a Davi teu pai;

13E habitarei em meio dos filhos de Israel, e não deixarei a meu povo Israel.

14Assim que, Salomão preparou a casa, e acabou-a.

15E preparou as paredes da casa por de dentro com tábuas de cedro, revestindo-a de madeira por dentro, desde o piso da casa até as paredes do teto: cobriu também o pavimento com madeira de faia.

16Também fez ao fim da casa um edifício de vinte côvados de tábuas de cedro, desde o piso até o mais alto; e fabricou-se na casa um compartimento interno, que é o lugar santíssimo.

17E a casa, a saber, o templo de dentro, tinha quarenta côvados.

18E a casa estava coberta de cedro por de dentro, e tinha entalhaduras de frutos silvestres e de botões de flores. Todo era cedro; nenhuma pedra se via.

19E adornou o compartimento interno por de dentro no meio da casa, para pôr ali a arca do pacto do SENHOR.

20E o compartimento interno estava na parte de dentro, o qual tinha vinte côvados de comprimento, e outros vinte de largura, e outros vinte de altura; e revestiu-o de ouro puríssimo: também cobriu o altar de cedro.

21De sorte que revestiu Salomão de ouro puro a casa por de dentro, e fechou a entrada do compartimento interno com correntes de ouro, e revestiu-o de ouro.

22Cobriu, pois, de ouro toda a casa até o fim; e também revestiu de ouro todo o altar que estava diante do compartimento interno.

23Fez também no compartimento interno dois querubins de madeira de oliva, cada um de altura de dez côvados.

24A uma asa do querubim tinha cinco côvados, e a outra asa do querubim outros cinco côvados: assim que havia dez côvados desde a ponta da uma asa até a ponta da outra.

25Também o outro querubim tinha dez côvados; porque ambos os querubins eram de um tamanho e de uma feitura.

26A altura do um era de dez côvados, e também o outro.

27E pôs estes querubins dentro da casa de dentro: os quais querubins estendiam suas asas, de modo que a asa do um tocava à parede, e a asa do outro querubim tocava à outra parede, e as outras duas asas se tocavam a uma à outra na metade da casa.

28E revestiu de ouro os querubins.

29E esculpiu todas as paredes da casa ao redor de diversas figuras, de querubins, de palmas, e de botões de flores, por de dentro e por de fora.

30E cobriu de ouro o piso da casa, de dentro e de fora.

31E à entrada do compartimento interno fez portas de madeira de oliva; e o umbral e os postes eram de cinco esquinas.

32As duas portas eram de madeira de oliva; e entalhou nelas figuras de querubins e de palmas e de botões de flores, e cobriu-as de ouro: cobriu também de ouro os querubins e as palmas.

33Igualmente fez à porta do templo postes de madeira de oliva quadrados.

34Porém as duas portas eram de madeira de faia; e os dois lados da uma porta eram redondos, e os outros dois lados da outra porta também redondos.

35E entalhou nelas querubins e palmas e botões de flores, e cobriu-as de ouro ajustado às entalhaduras.

36E edificou o átrio interior de três ordens de pedras lavradas, e de uma ordem de vigas de cedro.

37No quarto ano, no mês de Zife, se lançaram os alicerces da casa do SENHOR:

38E no décimo primeiro ano, no mês de Bul, que é o mês oitavo, foi acabada a casa com todas seus partes, e com todo o necessário. Edificou-a, pois, em sete anos.

📖 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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