2 Chronicles3
New American Standard
1Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
2He began to build on the second day in the second month of the fourth year of his reign.
3Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for building the house of God. The length in cubits, according to the old standard, was sixty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.
4The porch which was in front of the house was as long as the width of the house, twenty cubits, and the height twenty; and inside he overlaid it with pure gold.
5He overlaid the main room with juniper wood and overlaid it with fine gold; and he ornamented it with palm trees and chains.
6Further, he overlaid the house with precious stones; and the gold was gold from Parvaim.
7He also overlaid the house with gold—the beams, the thresholds, and its walls and doors; and he carved cherubim on the walls.
8Then he made the room of the Most Holy Place: its length across the width of the house was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.
9The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He also overlaid the upper rooms with gold.
10Then he made two sculptured cherubim in the room of the Most Holy Place and overlaid them with gold.
11The wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits; the wing of one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub.
12The wing of the other cherub, of five cubits, touched the wall of the house; and its other wing, of five cubits, was attached to the wing of the first cherub.
13The wings of these cherubim extended twenty cubits, and they stood on their feet facing the main room.
14He made the veil of violet, purple, crimson, and fine linen, and he worked cherubim into it.
15He also made two pillars for the front of the house, thirty-five cubits high, and the capital on the top of each was five cubits.
16He made chains in the inner sanctuary and placed them on the tops of the pillars; and he made a hundred pomegranates and placed them on the chains.
17He erected the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right and the other on the left, and named the one on the right Jachin and the one on the left Boaz.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for 2 Chronicles 3.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The building of the temple. (1-17).
vv1-17
There is a more particular account of the building of the temple in 1Ki 6. It must be in the place David had prepared, not only which he had purchased, but which he had fixed on by Divine direction. Full instructions enable us to go about our work with certainty and to proceed therein with comfort. Blessed be God, the Scriptures are enough to render the man of God thoroughly furnished for every good work. Let us search the Scriptures daily, beseeching the Lord to enable us to understand, believe, and obey his word, that our work and our way may be made plain, and that all may be begun, continued, and ended in him. Beholding God, in Christ, his true Temple, more glorious than that of Solomon's, may we become a spiritual house, a habitation of God through the Spirit.
Key Words
שְׁלֹמֹה: Shelomah, David's successor
חָלַל: properly, to bore, i.e. (by implication) to wound, to dissolve; figuratively, to profane (a person, place or thing), to break (one's word), to begin (as if by an 'opening wedge'); to play (the flute)
בָּנָה: to build (literally and figuratively)
בַּיִת: a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.)
יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם: Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of Palestine
הַר: a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)
מוֹרִיָּה: Morijah, a hill in Palestine
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
רָאָה: to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)
דָּוִד: David, the youngest son of Jesse
Cross References
2 Chronicles 3The primary parallel account detailing the timing and initial construction of Solomon's temple.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
David offers sacrifices on Ornan's threshingfloor, and God answers by fire, consecrating the temple site.
Supported by Matthew Poole
David explicitly identifies this site as the house of the Lord God and the altar of burnt offering.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Identifies Mount Moriah, the temple site, as the mountain where Abraham was commanded to offer Isaac.
Supported by JFB
David gives Solomon the divinely inspired plans and specifications for building the temple.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The parallel detailed account of crafting the two colossal cherubim of olive wood.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Mosaic pattern for the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen, with cherubim.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The parallel account describing the erection and naming of the two pillars, Jachin and Boaz.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The New Jerusalem is adorned with precious stones and pure gold, fulfilling the temple's typological beauty.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallel details of the inner oracle, its cubical dimensions, and overlaying it with gold.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The tearing of the temple veil at Christ's death, signifying open access to God.
New Testament explanation of the tabernacle layout, highlighting the veil before the Most Holy place.
The historical account of David purchasing the threshingfloor from Araunah (Ornan) the Jebusite.
Parallel description of ceiling the temple walls and floors with cedar and fir planks.
Supported by JFB
Parallel engineering details of casting the massive bronze pillars and their chapiters.