The building of the Temple in the four hundred and eightieth year — its stone raised without hammer, its cedar-lined walls overlaid with gold, and the promise: 'I will dwell among the children of Israel.'
Tap any Hebrew word to reveal its root, value, and meanings.
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Hashem.
verse value 7502
Insights
Verse structure: 22 words, 103 letters. Notable word values: "Ziv" (זִ֗ו) = 13, the value of echad ('one') and ahavah ('love'). The shortest word is "Ziv" (זִ֗ו, 2 letters) and the longest is "from·the·land·of·Egypt" (מֵאֶֽרֶץ־מִצְרַ֩יִם֩, 9 letters). Words sharing gematria 355: year, year. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "in·eighty" (בִשְׁמוֹנִ֣ים), "of·the·going·out" (לְצֵ֣את), "from·the·land·of·Egypt" (מֵאֶֽרֶץ־מִצְרַ֩יִם֩). The root שנה appears 3 times in this verse. 19 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "king" (root מלך, 341x in I Kings); "to·Hashem" (root יהוה, 254x in I Kings); "and·it·was" (root היה, 196x in I Kings). First appearance of the root מצרי ("from·the·land·of·Egypt") in I Kings. First appearance of the root רביעי ("fourth") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'over·Israel', dividing the verse into phrases of 19 and 3 words.
Rashi
"In the month of Ziv." This is Iyar, for it has radiance for the trees. And so did Targum Jonathan render it: "ziv nitzanaya" [the radiance of the blossoms].
"This is the second month." This refers to the reckoning of the months, since Nisan is the New Year for the months.
"For Solomon to reign": The phrase is construed with "the fourth year," meaning the fourth year of Solomon's reign. And so it says in Chronicles (2 Chronicles 3:2): "And he began to build in the second month, in the fourth year of his reign."
Radak
"In the month of Ziv." This is the month of Iyar, which is the second of the months, since Nisan is the head of the months. And it is called Ziv, as our Sages of blessed memory explained, that there is in it "zivah" for the trees; the explanation is the splendor of the blossoms and the buds. And so did Jonathan translate: "In the month of Ziv, the buds."
"For King Solomon." Its meaning is: "in the fourth year," not "in the second month" which is mentioned adjacent to it; and there are many instances like this. For it was in the fourth year of his reign that he began to build, as it is written in Chronicles: "And he began to build it in the fourth year of his reign."
"And he built the house." He began to build it:
Ralbag
"In the fourth year, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, Solomon began to build the house of the Lord..." — this means that in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the second month of that year, which is the month of Iyar, Solomon commenced the construction of the Temple. And so it is written in the Book of Chronicles:
Metzudat David
To reign Solomon. It returns to the fourth year.
And he built. He began to build.
Metzudat Zion
Ziv. A matter of radiance and brightness; for [the phrase] 'from the brightness before Him' (mi-nogah negdo) (II Samuel 22:13) is rendered by Targum as: 'mi-ziv yekarei' [from the splendor of His glory]. And the month of Iyar is called Ziv, on account of the radiance of the flowers and buds seen then upon the land:
Malbim
"And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt" — behold, from the construction of the Tabernacle in the days of Moses until the construction of the Temple, there were 480 years; and likewise, from the construction of the Temple in the days of Solomon until it was rebuilt a second time in the days of Ezra, there were also 480 years. And Maharia [Abarbanel] wrote that the timing was directed precisely by God, for it was fitting that the House should be exalted from time to time. "It is the second month of King Solomon" refers back to what was said above, meaning in the fourth year of King Solomon. And our Sages of blessed memory explained, regarding [the verse in] Chronicles, that because for the kings of Israel we count [regnal years] from Nisan, it was in the fourth year and the second month of his reign. And likewise in Chronicles: "And he began to build in the second month, on the second [day], in the fourth year of his reign."
And the house which king Solomon built for Hashem, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.
verse value 4556
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 59 letters. The shortest word is "which" (אֲשֶׁ֨ר, 3 letters) and the longest is "sixty·cubits" (שִׁשִּׁים־אַמָּ֥ה, 7 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "sixty·cubits" (שִׁשִּׁים־אַמָּ֥ה). 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "which" (root אשר, 375x in I Kings); "king" (root מלך, 341x in I Kings); "to·Hashem" (root יהוה, 254x in I Kings). First appearance of the root קומה ("its·height") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'breadth', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 3 words. Full calculation: וְהַבַּ֗יִת [and·the·house] (423) + אֲשֶׁ֨ר [which] (501) + בָּנָ֜ה [he·built] (57) + הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ [king] (95) + שְׁלֹמֹה֙ [Solomon] (375) + לַיהֹוָ֔ה [to·Hashem] (56) + שִׁשִּׁים־אַמָּ֥ה [sixty·cubits] (696) + אׇרְכּ֖וֹ [length] (227) + וְעֶשְׂרִ֣ים [and·twenty] (626) + רׇחְבּ֑וֹ [breadth] (216) + וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים [and·thirty] (686) + אַמָּ֖ה [cubits] (46) + קוֹמָתֽוֹ [its·height] (552) = 4556.
Rashi
Sixty cubits. The Holy Place and the Holy of Holies together.
Radak
“Sixty cubits was its length.” This refers to the entire house, from the inner sanctuary to the outer sanctuary, for the outer sanctuary was forty cubits in length and the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length; and so too in width, according to the measurement of the house, the inner sanctuary was square.
And its height was thirty cubits. And in Chronicles it says, "and the height was one hundred and twenty." And the view close to me on this matter is that he said that the height was one hundred and twenty with reference to the porch alone, and this height included the upper chambers upon it, for in the account of the measurements of the porch it says, "and the height was one hundred and twenty," and it further says there concerning the porch, "and its treasuries and its upper chambers." And if the upper chambers were upon the entire house, as appears from the words of our Sages of blessed memory, then what it says there, "and the height was one hundred and twenty," would be with the upper chambers upon the house, and the house itself would be thirty cubits high from the ground to the roof, and the height of the upper chambers would be ninety cubits.
Ralbag
“And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long.” Behold, this house included both the area of the Holy of Holies and the area of the Holy Place. And the area of the Holy of Holies was situated within, toward the western side, occupying twenty cubits of this house, and there was the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. The remaining forty cubits constituted the area of the Holy Place, and there were the Table, the Menorah, and the Golden Altar. In this same proportion was also the matter of the Tabernacle that Moses made.
Metzudat David
And the house. Included in it are the sanctuary and the holy of holies.
Its length. From east to west.
Malbim
And the House that He built, its length and width were double that of the Tabernacle, for the Tabernacle's length was thirty and its width ten, and its height was three times that of the Tabernacle, because in the Tabernacle the height hinted at the ten levels of holiness, as it is said, "From of old the Divine Presence never descended below ten: the Ark [nine] and the Mercy Seat [one handbreadth], etc." And in the Eternal House it was three times [that height], corresponding to the three sets of ten levels that exist in the three upper worlds above, in holiness. And behold, the number of cubits that were in the Temple amounted to thirty-six thousand, which is eighteen miles. This alludes to what is stated in the Midrash that the Upper Temple is eighteen miles higher than the lower one, as it is said, "And this is the gate of heaven." And in Chronicles it is stated that its height was one hundred and twenty. And Radak explained this regarding the height of the Ulam (porch), and Maharia [Abarbanel] explained that the height of the upper stories of the entire Temple was one hundred and twenty.
And the porch before the atemple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house.
verse value 4061
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 63 letters. The shortest word is "cubits" (אַמָּה֙, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·the·porch" (וְהָאוּלָ֗ם, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 417: the·house, the·house, the·house. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "and·the·porch" (וְהָאוּלָ֗ם). The root פנים appears 3 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "upon·face·of" (root פנים, 95x in I Kings); "cubits" (root אמה, 47x in I Kings). First appearance of the root אולם ("and·the·porch") in I Kings. First appearance of the root היכל ("palace") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·house', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 5 words.
Rashi
“And the porch was before it.” Before the Temple, at its entrance.
“Stretching its length across the width of the House.” The length of the Ulam corresponds to the width of the Heichal, from north to south. Any measurement that is the greater is called “length,” and the lesser is called “width.” Since in the Heichal the measurement from east to west is the greater, it is called “length.” But in the Ulam, since the measurement from north to south is the greater, it is called “length” from north to south, and from east to west it is called “width.”
“On the face of the house.” Before the house, on the eastern side, on the outside.
Radak
And the hall. In the language of the Bible, it is called a hall, whereas in the language of the Gemara, it is called the entrance hall.
"Its length was across the width of the house." For the greater dimension is called length, and the lesser width; thus, the length of the porch corresponds to the width of the house.
"On the face of the house." This teaches that it was not pulled away from it, but rather adhered to the house on its face; and concerning its width, this needed to be stated.
Ralbag
And the Ulam was on the front of the Heichal of the House. This means to the east of it, and its length was attached to the width of the Heichal, which was twenty cubits, and it extended in width ten cubits, so that the total length between the Ulam, the Heichal, and the Devir was seventy cubits, and the width was twenty cubits. And the height of the Ulam is explained in the Book of Chronicles as being one hundred and twenty cubits, which is double the height of the Kodesh and the Kodesh HaKodashim.
Metzudat David
In front of the sanctuary. To its east.
Its length. The larger measurement is called 'length,' although it is from north to south.
The front of its width. The length of the portico opposite the width of the sanctuary: twenty opposite twenty.
The front of the house. It extends toward the east.
Metzudat Zion
V'ha'ulam. It is like a gatehouse [vestibule]:
Malbim
"And the porch was upon the face of the Temple" means that it was not on the western side, but only on the eastern side, where the Sanctuary [Heichal] was located. Its length was twenty cubits, spanning the width of the Temple from south to north, not along its length. And its width was "upon the face of the Temple," meaning that it extended in alignment with the Temple, such that the Temple together with the porch had a total length of seventy cubits.
And for the house he made windows broad within, and narrow without.
verse value 1568
Insights
Verse structure: 5 words, 24 letters. The shortest word is "and·did" (וַיַּ֣עַשׂ, 4 letters) and the longest is "to·shut" (אֲטוּמִֽים, 6 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "windows·of" (חַלּוֹנֵ֖י), "frames" (שְׁקֻפִ֥ים), "to·shut" (אֲטוּמִֽים). 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "for·the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "and·did" (root עשה, 143x in I Kings). First appearance of the root שקף ("frames") in I Kings. Full calculation: וַיַּ֣עַשׂ [and·did] (386) + לַבָּ֔יִת [for·the·house] (442) + חַלּוֹנֵ֖י [windows·of] (104) + שְׁקֻפִ֥ים [frames] (530) + אֲטוּמִֽים [to·shut] (106) = 1568.
Rashi
“Transparent, opaque.” Our Sages explained (Menachot 86b): “Transparent” refers to the language of seeing, opening, and looking through—open from the outside but opaque from the inside; short from the inside, not like the manner of other windows, which are made for light, in order to show that He does not need its light.
Radak
Ḥalonai. Like ḥalonim, as in "naṭaʿe naʿamim" like "naṭaʿim"; [and like] "anshei meḥukeh" [men portrayed] upon the wall, and many others, as we have written in the book Mikhlol.
"Transparent, opaque." Jonathan [ben Uzziel] translated: "Their openings were from within, and their closures were from without," and he added to it: "and he overlaid it with a cornice, a resting-place for the heads of the rows of cedar beams." And in the words of our Sages of blessed memory, it is the opposite: "Transparent, opaque" means transparent from the outside and opaque from the inside. "I do not need its light" means that they were wide on the outside and narrow on the inside, the opposite of the custom of the world, to indicate that he does not need the light of the world.
Ralbag
“And he made for the house windows, narrow within and broad without.” Our Sages of blessed memory interpreted this to mean that they were wide on the outside and narrow on the inside, to indicate that he did not need their light. However, this is merely an exegetical approach, for it has already been demonstrated by geometric proofs that, due to the windows being wide on the outside and tapering inward, more light enters the house, as will be mentioned subsequently. And since the height of the house was thirty cubits, as stated previously, his statement “and rows of cedar beams” alludes to a second ceiling in which there were cedar beams. And the lower ceiling was at a height of twenty cubits, for in this way it would be doubled in length, width, and depth, just as in the Tabernacle that Moses made, where there was more than one covering; so too was it in this building.
Metzudat David
Transparent, sealed. Meaning: closed with a transparent partition, like glass and its like, to look through them; and although they were closed.
Metzudat Zion
Chaloni. Like 'windows':
Shekufim. A matter of looking through; like (Genesis 26:8) 'and Abimelech looked through' (vishkef Avimelech):
Atumim. Closed up; like (Isaiah 33:15) 'he who stops his ear' (otem azono):
Malbim
"Transparent windows, opaque" – our Sages of blessed memory explained: transparent from the outside and opaque from the inside, to demonstrate that He does not require their light. Although from the outside it appeared that the windows were wide and that daylight was needed, one standing inside saw that the light of the Divine Presence shone there, and the light of the Lord illuminated His glory. And Maharia [Abarbanel] explained that they were transparent and opaque by means of glass.
And against the wall of the house he built a side-structure round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the sanctuary; and he made side-chambers round about;
verse value 4336
Insights
Verse structure: 14 words, 64 letters. The shortest word is "and·he·built" (וַיִּ֩בֶן֩, 4 letters) and the longest is "the·walls·of" (אֶת־קִיר֤וֹת, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 417: the·house, the·house. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "against·wall·of" (עַל־קִ֨יר), "couch" (יָצִ֙יעַ֙), "and·to·the·sanctuary" (וְלַדְּבִ֑יר). The root סביב appears 3 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "and·did" (root עשה, 143x in I Kings); "and·he·built" (root בנה, 66x in I Kings). First appearance of the root יצוע ("couch") in I Kings. First appearance of the root דביר ("and·to·the·sanctuary") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·to·the·sanctuary', dividing the verse into phrases of 11 and 3 words.
Rashi
"Yatzia." In the vernacular, it is called an "apentiz" [a lean-to structure]. It has three names: yatzia, ta, and tzela. (This is explicitly stated in Bava Batra 61a.)
“The walls of the house all around.” This means that opposite the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, which is the inner sanctuary, he constructed side-chambers on the outside, to the south, to the west, and to the north. And the end of the verse explains its beginning: “And he built against the wall of the house” — meaning adjacent to the wall of the house — “a gallery all around.” How did he construct the walls of the house for the Holy Place and the inner sanctuary? He made side-chambers.
"ויעש" - Like "עשה" (he made), and similarly (Exodus 15:2): "ויהי לי לישועה" - Like "היה לי לישועה" (it was for me a salvation).
Radak
"The galleries all around." This is what is called the "side-chambers" (tsela'im), and they are also called "cells" (te'im). He constructed them all around the house, all around the sanctuary, and all around the inner sanctuary on the outside. These are the cells, and he called them side-chambers because they were referred to by these three names. Afterwards, he explains how he built them together with the walls of the house all around, and he states that he made "recesses" (migra'ot) for the house all around. This means that the wall of the house was wide at the bottom and gradually narrowed outward opposite the cells. Therefore, the lower gallery was five cubits wide. The roof-beam of the lower [gallery] — which is the floor of the middle [gallery] — was set in one cubit from the side of the house, upon the wall of the house, and upon that one cubit there was no structure, for it was the open space of the middle gallery. The wall of the house narrowed by one cubit from what it was below, throughout the entire height of the middle gallery, which was five cubits high. This is the "recess" that he says he made for the house all around. Thus, the middle gallery was six cubits wide, including the additional cubit in width from the wall of the house. The roof-beam of the middle [gallery] — which is the floor of the upper, i.e. third, [gallery] — was set one cubit onto the wall of the house. Thus, the upper gallery was seven cubits wide, for two cubits were added in width from the wall of the house. Thus, the wall of the house at the upper level was narrower than it was at the lower level by two cubits. All of this was done so that the beams of the cells would not be held in the walls of the house by holes made in the walls, but rather the beams of the cells rested upon the recesses, for it was not possible to make holes in the wall.
Metzudat David
Along the wall of the house. Meaning: leaning against and resting upon the wall of the house.
A storied structure all around. And he returns and explains the walls of the house, which are all around the sanctuary from north and south, and which are all around the inner sanctuary from north, west, and south; upon them he attached the work of the side chambers on all sides.
Metzudat Zion
Kir. Wall:
Yatzia. The name of a certain room; it is called yatzia and tzela. Yatzia was so called because it is a hidden [modest] place; tzela was so called because it is on the side (tzela) of the house:
U'ladvir. The Holy of Holies is called Devir, because the utterance [word] (dibbur) issues from there; and even the partition separating it from the Great Hall [Heichal] is called Devir, just like the Holy of Holies itself:
Malbim
The Questions: Regarding what is written, “And he made ribs all around,” its meaning is not known. And Rashi of blessed memory explained that it means he made ribs for the walls of the house. Aside from the superfluous vav, the matter is superfluous, and the atnach that is on the word “and the Holy of Holies” does not agree with this explanation.
“And he built a gallery around the house” – “around the walls of the house” means that the gallery was constructed from the walls of the house itself; namely, the gallery had only three walls, and the fourth wall was the wall of the house, to which the gallery was attached. It was attached all around the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies; that is, the gallery surrounded the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, but did not surround the porch. “And he made side-chambers all around” – alongside the stone walls there were side-chambers of wood, and this was all around, also on the side of the wall of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. Now, it is called by the name “gallery” and by the name “side-chamber.” From the perspective of the structure in general, it is called a “gallery”; and from the perspective of the cedar side-chambers that were around the walls and divided the gallery in the middle into rooms, they are called “side-chambers.” Therefore, in verse 6, which speaks of the general structure, it calls it a “gallery,” and in verse 9, which speaks of the chambers, it calls them “side-chambers.” The explanation of “and he built a gallery around” refers to the entire gallery as a whole; and what is stated, “and he made side-chambers,” refers to the fact that he divided the gallery into three chambers, and the divided chambers are called “side-chambers.” Furthermore, we find the term “cell,” which refers to a chamber attached only by the wall adjacent to the gate through which one enters (from the root *atah*, meaning “to come,” as in “the morning comes”). This term is not found here, except in the construction of Ezekiel, where the buildings adjacent to the gate are called “cells.”
the nethermost story of the side-structure was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for on the outside he made rebatements in the wall of the house round about, that the beams should not have hold in the walls of the house.—
verse value 8397
Insights
Verse structure: 23 words, 104 letters. The shortest word is "six" (שֵׁ֤שׁ, 2 letters) and the longest is "in·walls·of·the·house" (בְּקִירוֹת־הַבָּֽיִת, 10 letters). Words sharing gematria 215: her·breadth, her·breadth, her·breadth. 7 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "couch" (הַיָּצִ֨יעַ), "lower" (הַתַּחְתֹּנָ֜ה), "and·middle" (וְהַתִּֽיכֹנָה֙). The root אמה appears 3 times in this verse. 16 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "for·the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "gave" (root נתן, 113x in I Kings); "for" (root כי, 94x in I Kings). First appearance of the root שש ("six") in I Kings. First appearance of the root חוץ ("outside") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'her·breadth', dividing the verse into phrases of 14 and 9 words.
Rashi
"The lower attic." In every direction, there were three cells, one above the other. Its length is not stated here, but in Tractate Middot (Chapter 4, Mishnah 3), we learned: "There were thirty-eight cells: fifteen in the north, five above five, and five above them; and so in the south; and eight in the west, three above three, and two above them." The lower one was five cubits high, the middle one six, and the upper ones seven. Why? Because He made recesses [ledges] in the house all around, on the outside. The height of the cell was five cubits. When the wall of the Temple rose five cubits, He reduced its thickness, and receded one cubit inward, and placed the ends of the beams of the roof of the attic of the cell upon that recess, which served as the floor for the middle one. And when it rose ten cubits, He receded one cubit to place the ends of the beams of the roof of the middle one, which served as the floor for the upper one. Thus, the middle one was one cubit wider than the lower one, and the upper one was one cubit wider than the middle one.
"so as not to take hold of the walls of the house" — meaning, one should not affix the ends of the beams into holes in the walls of the house, for this damages the wall and is not considered an act of ornamentation.
Metzudat David
The lowest story. Those stories that were all around on three sides were in three levels: lower, middle, and upper. The ceilings of the lower were the floors of the middle, and the ceilings of the middle were the floors of the upper. And when they built the walls of the house, they reduced a cubit from the thickness of the wall upon reaching five cubits from the ground; and upon the setback of that cubit they laid the beams of the ceiling of the lower, which are the floor of the middle. If so, the middle widened by one cubit of the setback of the wall. And so they reduced a cubit upon reaching ten cubits; and upon the setback of that cubit they laid the beams of the ceiling of the middle, which are the floor of the upper. If so, the upper widened another cubit over the middle. And so they reduced a cubit upon reaching fifteen cubits, to lay upon the setback of the cubit the beams of the ceiling of the upper; and this is what he said: for he made ledges to the house all around on the outside. And he means: to the walls of the house on the outside, there was a reduction from the thickness opposite the height of each row of the stories; in order to lay the beams of the ceiling of the stories upon the setback of the aforementioned cubit.
Not to fasten. Meaning: not to do the way of builders, who build a low structure leaning against one higher than it, whose way is to make holes and openings in the higher structure, to bring in and fasten in them the beams of the ceiling of the lower structure.
Metzudat Zion
U'hateichona. The middle one:
Magr'ot. From the language of deficiency:
Malbim
The lower gallery, each story of every gallery, was five cubits high, as it is stated (in verse 10): "and there were lower, second, and third [stories]," in that they reached up to the middle height of the Temple. Above them were the windows of the Temple. And for every five cubits, the wall receded by one cubit, so that he would not need to make holes in the wall to place the ends of the gallery beams. And this is what it says: "For recesses were given to the house all around, so that the supports would not be attached to the walls of the house." And from this side, the middle gallery was one cubit wider, and so too the upper one.
For the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready at the quarry; and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.—
verse value 4137
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 62 letters. The shortest word is "quarry" (מַסָּ֖ע, 3 letters) and the longest is "stone·garment" (אֶבֶן־שְׁלֵמָ֥ה, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 465: in·its·being·built, in·its·being·built. 7 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "stone·garment" (אֶבֶן־שְׁלֵמָ֥ה), "quarry" (מַסָּ֖ע), "was·built" (נִבְנָ֑ה). The root בנה appears 3 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "stone·garment" (root שלמה, 162x in I Kings); "in·its·being·built" (root בנה, 66x in I Kings). First appearance of the root כלי ("economic") in I Kings. First appearance of the root ברזל ("iron") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'was·built', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 7 words. Full calculation: וְהַבַּ֙יִת֙ [and·the·house] (423) + בְּהִבָּ֣נֹת֔וֹ [in·its·being·built] (465) + אֶבֶן־שְׁלֵמָ֥ה [stone·garment] (428) + מַסָּ֖ע [quarry] (170) + נִבְנָ֑ה [was·built] (107) + וּמַקָּב֤וֹת [and·hammers] (554) + וְהַגַּרְזֶן֙ [and·the·axe] (271) + כׇּל־כְּלִ֣י [economic] (110) + בַרְזֶ֔ל [iron] (239) + לֹֽא־נִשְׁמַ֥ע [not·was·heard] (491) + בַּבַּ֖יִת [in·the·house] (414) + בְּהִבָּנֹתֽוֹ [in·its·being·built] (465) = 4137.
Rashi
“When it was built, of whole quarried stone.” Just as they moved it from the mountain by means of the shamir, so too, in the manner in which it came from there, they placed it in the wall of the building, and they did not hew it with an iron tool. And regarding the “dressed stones” mentioned above, there is a dispute in Sotah (48b):
And "mekavot": "delot'a" in the Russian language.
Radak
"And the house, when it was being built." This is the reason why he [the text] preceded [the mention of] "not fastened to the walls of the house"; therefore, it was necessary to leave recesses in the wall of the house to place there the ends of the beams of the chambers, for they could not make holes in the wall for the placement of the beams, as is done in other, ordinary buildings, because no iron tool was heard there in the house when it was being built. And the stones of the wall were all of one measure; if so, it was not possible to leave holes in the construction of the wall, and to make the holes there after the construction of the wall was also not possible, because no iron tool was heard in the construction of the house. And for this reason, he [the text] inserted this verse between the account of the chambers and the account of the openings of the chambers.
A perfect stone, transported, it was built. Just as they transported them from the mountain, there they would hew them to the measurements of dressed stone; but once the stones were brought to the Temple, they did not cut anything from them, but rather built them whole, exactly as they had brought them from the mountain. And there are among our Sages of blessed memory who said that even on the mountain they did not cut them with any iron tool, but rather with a certain worm called the shamir. And when they placed it upon the stones, they would split before it. And they said that the shamir is like a grain of barley. And they would place it inside a lead pipe filled with wool-flocks and full of bran. And even if one placed it upon the mountain, it would split it. And with this Solomon cut all the stones of the entire Temple. And who brought it to Solomon? The eagle brought it to him from the Garden of Eden, as it is stated: "And he spoke of the beasts and of the birds." What did he say to the birds? He asked them where the shamir is kept. And the eagle went and brought it to him from the Garden of Eden. And this is one of the things through which the Holy One, blessed be He, gave the soft dominion over the hard. And with it Moses carved the stones of the ephod of the Tabernacle, and with it he carved the first tablets and the last tablets. And this was among them by way of tradition from the days of Moses our Teacher, and one should not question it.
Metzudat David
And the house, when it was being built. He came to give a reason for why he made the reductions and did not build it in the way of builders. And he said that the house, in the place where they built it, was built of perfect stone, as they removed them and brought them from the mountain. For he did not desire to bring to the place of the building anything not already complete. And therefore every stone was hewn in the mountain in its completeness and in the desired measurement; and no more work was done on them at the place of the building; and so no sound of hammer or ax was heard there; for nothing was done there except the laying alone. And if they had built in the way of builders to make openings, they would then have had to do work at the place of the building.
Metzudat Zion
Ma'sa. From the language of removal and uprooting:
U-makkavot. It is the hammer, sharp at one end, with which stones are shaped:
Malbim
"And the House" - this explains why he made recesses in the wall and did not make holes there to insert the ends of the beams, because it was built of complete stone, etc. This means that one might imagine that the ends of the beams could be inserted without making recesses, by subsequently drilling holes in the wall. And regarding this it says, "hammers, etc., were not heard in the House," meaning that no such procedure was employed. Furthermore, one might imagine that at the places where the ends of the beams would be, small stones would be placed. And regarding this it says, "a complete stone, quarried, was built."
Cross-references: Exodus 20:22; Deuteronomy 27:5; I Kings 7:51
The door for the lowest row of chambers was in the right side of the house and they went up by winding stairs into the middle row, and out of the middle into the third.
verse value 4768
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 64 letters. The shortest word is "opening" (פֶּ֗תַח, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·from·the·middle" (וּמִן־הַתִּיכֹנָ֖ה, 9 letters). 8 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "side" (הַצֵּלָע֙), "middle" (הַתִּ֣יכֹנָ֔ה), "to·shoulder" (אֶל־כֶּ֥תֶף). The root איל appears 2 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "into·the·middle" (root על, 127x in I Kings); "to·shoulder" (root איל, 125x in I Kings). First appearance of the root פתח ("opening") in I Kings. First appearance of the root ימני ("right") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'right', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 5 words. Full calculation: פֶּ֗תַח [opening] (488) + הַצֵּלָע֙ [side] (195) + הַתִּ֣יכֹנָ֔ה [middle] (490) + אֶל־כֶּ֥תֶף [to·shoulder] (531) + הַבַּ֖יִת [the·house] (417) + הַיְמָנִ֑ית [right] (515) + וּבְלוּלִּ֗ים [and·by·winding·stairs] (124) + יַֽעֲלוּ֙ [they·went·up] (116) + עַל־הַתִּ֣יכֹנָ֔ה [into·the·middle] (590) + וּמִן־הַתִּיכֹנָ֖ה [and·from·the·middle] (586) + אֶל־הַשְּׁלִשִֽׁים [to·the·third] (716) = 4768.
Rashi
“The opening of the middle side [was] toward the right shoulder of the house.” Jonathan [ben Uzziel] translated “this middle [side]” as “the lower [side],” not as “the middle [side]” between the upper and the lower. For among the five chambers in the south, it had an opening to the outside in the lower row. And this is [the meaning of] the Targum: “And they shall ascend by winding stairs to the middle [side].”
"Hatichonah": Jonathan [ben Uzziel] translated it as "the middle one" [metzieta], for these chambers were not open to the outside. There were three entrances for each one, as it is stated in the Mishnah in Masechet Middot (there): one to the chamber on the right, one to the chamber on the left, and one to the chamber above it. And here it teaches that one of the lower chambers in the southern wall had an entrance to the outside, and through that entrance one enters all of them. And "the middle side" of the verse does not mean the middle one between the upper and the lower, but rather the middle one of the five chambers; the one in the south had an entrance to the outside in the lower row. And this is the meaning of "and they shall ascend by the middle one," [meaning] above it, implying that the middle side is below.
"blulim" [spiral stairs]. Jonathan's Targum translates this as "masivta," which is what we call in our language "veyin" in Old French (la'az), and in the German language, "windelstein," and the common name is "schwindelstieg." It is a structure of a stone column built in steps, one upon another, and one who ascends it appears as if encircling the column, and one rises in it many cubits high. It does not require a slope like other ladders, for its circular form serves as its incline.
"To the third [story]." Like "to the third-story chambers" [i.e., the same word without the extra yod, referring to the third story].
Radak
"פתח הצלע" – *Ha-tzela* is accented on the final syllable.
"to the right side of the house." This does not mean that the side-chamber was open into the house; rather, it means that the opening that was between the lower and the middle levels faced the southern side of the house, and likewise the opening between the middle and the upper levels faced the southern side of the house. Thus, it stated that the side-chambers were open from one to the other. Now it asks: by what means did they ascend from one to the other? Not by steps of stone and wood, but by spirals. And "spirals" is written with a vav and a dagesh. A "lul" is a hollow column constructed with steps winding around it, so that one who ascends it goes up along the circumference, and one who descends it also goes down along the circumference. Likewise, Jonathan [ben Uzziel] rendered "u-vlulim" as "u-vmesibata" [by the winding stairs]. And he translated the verse: "The door of the lowest story was open to the side of the house on the right, and by the winding stairs they went up from the lowest to the highest, by way of the middle." And one may interpret "lul" as a chimney, meaning that they ascended from one to the other by way of a chimney. And in the words of our Sages of blessed memory: "A lul is an opening from the house to the upper story."
"to the thirty": To the third upper story, which is the uppermost. And it says "the thirty" in the plural form, because there were many upper stories surrounding the entire house on three sides: south, west, and north.
Metzudat David
The entrance of the middle side chamber. Through which they went up to it from the lower story, it stood to the south of the house. Meaning: at the side chamber that stood on the south side.
Winding. By way of the steps of a pillar, which stood in the lower chamber, they ascended to that entrance.
And from the middle. And in this way they ascended from the middle to the third story; for the pillar stood in the space of the middle story, and by it they ascended to the entrance opened from the middle to the third story.
Metzudat Zion
U'vilulim. They are hollow pillars, and within the hollow are stairs all around; the one who ascends goes around in a circle. It is from the language of (Pesachim 34a) 'a small spiral (lul) was between the ramp and the altar':
Malbim
Regarding the opening of the middle side, the commentators disagree on this point. And from the words of the Targumist it is clear that he interprets it as referring to the lower side, and that "the middle side" means the one situated in the middle among the sides on the right-hand side, for on each side there were either three chambers or five chambers, according to Rashi, who equates this with the structure of the Second Temple. And the middle chamber on the right-hand side had an opening facing outward, and through it one entered from the outside to the inside. And inside, each chamber had three openings: one above, and two from chamber to chamber, as stated in the tractate Middot. And one may also explain that he is speaking of the opening that led from the Holy Place to the chambers. And it can be said that Solomon’s Temple also had a foundation height of six cubits, like the Second Temple, as explained in the tractate Middot. And if so, the opening from the Holy Place to the chambers necessarily led to the middle side, since it was level with the floor of the Holy Place. And he is not speaking of the opening that faced outward, for the openings of the chambers were on the side of the gate, as implied in the tractate Middot. And the spirals by which one ascended from the lower chambers to the upper ones were used for ascending.
So he built the house, and finished it; and he covered in the house with planks of cedar over beams.
verse value 3212
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 42 letters. The shortest word is "and·he·built" (וַיִּ֥בֶן, 4 letters) and the longest is "the·house" (אֶת־הַבַּ֖יִת, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 818: the·house, the·house. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "and·covered" (וַיִּסְפֹּ֤ן), "beams" (גֵּבִ֔ים), "and·rows" (וּשְׂדֵרֹ֖ת). The root בית appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "and·he·built" (root בנה, 66x in I Kings); "in·the·cedars" (root ארז, 20x in I Kings). First appearance of the root ספן ("and·covered") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·he·finished·it', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 5 words. Full calculation: וַיִּ֥בֶן [and·he·built] (68) + אֶת־הַבַּ֖יִת [the·house] (818) + וַיְכַלֵּ֑הוּ [and·he·finished·it] (77) + וַיִּסְפֹּ֤ן [and·covered] (206) + אֶת־הַבַּ֙יִת֙ [the·house] (818) + גֵּבִ֔ים [beams] (55) + וּשְׂדֵרֹ֖ת [and·rows] (910) + בָּאֲרָזִֽים [in·the·cedars] (260) = 3212.
Rashi
"Vayispon" [and he paneled/roofed it]. This is the term for covering [a building] with a ceiling/roof.
“Gavim and sederot of cedar wood.” There were two canopies: one made for ornamentation below, and one of cedar planks above. The lower one was of gavim, and Jonathan [ben Uzziel] translated it as “behantukhin,” and I do not know what they are. And I heard in the name of Rabbi Menachem, of blessed memory, that they are planks woven into a beautiful pattern, and in our language we call it “tsilid,” and in the Ashkenazic tongue “gehimmelte,” and it is the language of “shamayim” (heavens), “shmayim kora” (the canopy of the sky). And I say that they are hollow bricks, and they are like half of a round reed, which are made for roofing houses (in the Ashkenazic tongue “deck ziegel”):
Gavim. Aramaic term: givta deqanya, and they were (above), and the rows (below):
"And the shederot [rows/planks]." Cedar planks arranged above the gavim, for treading with the foot, when one ascends to inspect the upkeep [structural repair] of the House. And so Jonathan translates: "And the shederot with the cedars, and above them" (meaning, above the gavim) "the arrangement of the joined heads of the cedar beams." And "joined" [rachfat] is a term meaning "closeness/attachment." And its counterpart (in 2 Samuel 22:12) is "the thick clouds," which Jonathan translates as "from the joining together of light clouds." ("Shederot" — that is to say, the planks were arranged one next to the other — Radak.)
Radak
"And he built the house." He built the house and completed it first, and afterward he roofed it; that is to say, he first built all its walls, and afterward he placed the beams, which constitute the roofing.
"Gavim." Two ceilings: the ceiling of the lower story is called "gavim," and above that ceiling is another one, of cedar. And so Targum Yonatan renders: "and he roofed the house with its gavim, and above them a row of arched cedar-plank heads." And "sherayat" means beams, as in "in the shadow of my beam" [Genesis 19:8], which Targum renders "bi-tlal sheiruti" — "in the shadow of my beams." And the meaning of "gavim" is like "let this wadi be full of gevim" [pits], which means trenches; and those beams were carved with cuttings in the shape of gevim (hollows). Or the meaning may be "dome," indicating that the ceiling was made in the shape of a dome. And so in the words of our Sages, of blessed memory: "three govevin [arch over] the story," whose meaning is like "bend" or "arch."
And "sederot." The explanation is that the cedars were laid in rows, row upon row. The lower ceiling, called "gavim," was of cypress, and above it was of cedar. And so it says in Chronicles: "and the larger house he covered with cypress wood," mentioning there the lower ceiling but not the upper one, which was of cedar. And what is closer to my mind concerning the word "gavim" is that it is like "ribs," for the ribs of animals are called "gav," as it says "upon the back (gav) of a beast," and likewise a person's ribs when he is bent over, as it is written: "Plowers plowed upon my back (gabi)." And when it says "gavim," it is as if it said "ribs of cypress," just as it says shortly afterward: "with ribs of cedar, with ribs of cypress." And the narrow boards, which are not as wide as the others, are called "ribs," for they are shaped like ribs.
Metzudat David
The house. The walls of the sanctuary.
And he paneled. He covered the house with a carved and painted ceiling of beams, for ornament and beauty; and above it he made another ceiling of arranged cedars, to be strong for the treading of the feet of those who went up to inspect the cracks of the house.
Metzudat Zion
Vichilahu. He completed it:
Visupon. A matter of covering the ceiling; likewise (Haggai 1:4) 'to dwell in your paneled houses' (b'vateichem sefunim):
Gavim. Like hollows and cavities; like (II Kings 3:16) 'make this valley full of hollows and hollows' (asei ha-nachal hazeh gavim gavim):
U'sdeirot. Like 'u'sderot' (rows), spelled with a samekh:
Malbim
The Questions: Why did it say twice, “And he built the house, and he finished it”? And why does this statement come in the middle of the building, after which he will continue to recount matters of the building? It would have been fitting for it to come at the beginning of the building or at its end.
"And he built the house" – after having recounted the length and width of the house and the chambers surrounding it, the verse states that he built the house and completed it. This means that he completed the outer structure, which is the masonry of the stones. Furthermore, he paneled the house with cedarwood, both the "gavim" and the "sderot." This corresponds to what the Rambam states (Hilchot Bet HaBechirah, Chapter 4): the height of the ceiling cavity is one cubit, and above it there is a free space of two cubits into which the rainwater drips; this is called the "bet delfa." The thickness of the ceiling above the "bet delfa" is one cubit. The Kesef Mishnah explains that the custom in the land of Togarma, in the construction of noblemen's houses, was to make a roof of painted planks, which is called the "tevan." Above this was the main ceiling, which was exposed to the open sky. There was a void between the "tevan" and that upper ceiling, so that if rainwater dripped down at times, it would fall into that empty chamber, etc. The lower one was called "gavim" because it was at the back of the house, or perhaps because it was painted and the rainwater dripped there, as it is written: "He made this valley full of ditches" (II Kings 3:16). The upper one, which is the main ceiling, was called "sderot ba'arazim" (rows of cedars). And Maharia [Abarbanel] explained that "gavim" refers to upper chambers situated above the paneling.
And he built the stories of the side-structure against all the house, each five cubits high; and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.
verse value 4029
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 56 letters. The shortest word is "five" (חָמֵ֥שׁ, 3 letters) and the longest is "against·all·the·house" (עַל־כׇּל־הַבַּ֔יִת, 8 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "the·side-structure" (אֶת־הַיָּצִ֙יעַ֙), "against·all·the·house" (עַל־כׇּל־הַבַּ֔יִת), "and·grasped" (וַיֶּאֱחֹ֥ז). The root בית appears 2 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "against·all·the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "and·he·built" (root בנה, 66x in I Kings); "cubits" (root אמה, 47x in I Kings). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'its·height', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 4 words.
Rashi
"Five cubits was his height." This refers to the height of each individual, making their total height fifteen cubits, not including the thickness of the ceiling.
"And he encased the house." This is the covering of the upper roof, and the "safon" [paneling] mentioned above is the ceiling of the attic/upper story.
Radak
"And he built the storied structure." [This refers to] each and every chamber/story.
"Against the entire house." [This is] like "with the entire house," and similarly "and the men came upon the women," and other such [usages]; for the storied structures were not [literally] upon the house, but rather all around it.
"Its story" (komato). Here the storied structure is referred to in the masculine, whereas above it was referred to in the feminine, [i.e.] "the lower story," because it is called a rib (tzela), and tzela is a feminine term.
"And it held fast [to] the house." The storied structure attached to the house with cedar timber, which are the cedar beams that were set against the wall of the house. And the meaning of "and it held fast" may refer to the roof-covering, [the verb] being transitive to a third [object]; or its meaning may refer to the storied structure [itself].
Ralbag
"And he built the gallery around the entire house." This means that he had already constructed the gallery alongside the entire house, and the height of each gallery was five cubits. And behold, the gallery clung to the house with cedar beams, upon which the roof rested, and they were placed on the recesses that he had made in the house, as previously stated. Or perhaps he intends to say that the upper roof of the house clung to the house with cedar beams. The first explanation is more fitting, in my opinion.
Metzudat David
On all the house. Leaning upon it on all three sides.
Its height. The height of each one individually.
And it held the house. Those upper chambers held with the house in cedar timbers; and they are the beams of the ceilings that were laid on the ledges.
Metzudat Zion
Al chol ha-bayit. Adjacent and leaning against all the house:
Et ha-bayit. Together with the house:
Malbim
And he built: After he completed the roof, he built the gallery around it. And every gallery was five cubits high. After a height of five cubits, the house was supported by cedar beams. This means that he placed the roof of the gallery on the recesses of the house’s walls, which is what he called “supporting,” as it is stated, “lest it be supported on the walls of the house,” because it was supported on the house.
Verse structure: 4 words, 21 letters. The shortest word is "and·it·was" (וַֽיְהִי֙, 4 letters) and the longest is "word·of·Hashem" (דְּבַר־יְהֹוָ֔ה, 7 letters). 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "saying" (root אמר, 324x in I Kings); "word·of·Hashem" (root יהוה, 254x in I Kings); "and·it·was" (root היה, 196x in I Kings). Full calculation: וַֽיְהִי֙ [and·it·was] (31) + דְּבַר־יְהֹוָ֔ה [word·of·Hashem] (232) + אֶל־שְׁלֹמֹ֖ה [to·Solomon] (406) + לֵאמֹֽר [saying] (271) = 940.
Radak
“And the word of the Lord came to Solomon.” While he was building the Temple, the prophet came to him in the name of the Lord and said to him this; and the prophet was Ahijah the Shilonite.
Ralbag
"And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying." Since it subsequently states, "And the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon," we learn that this prophecy did not come to Solomon directly; rather, God, blessed be He, informed him through a prophet at the time when he was building the Temple.
Malbim
“And the word of the Lord came” means that at the time when the roof of the porch was completed, the word of the Lord came to him. For at that time, on one side, the construction of the house was completed—that is, the external structure built of stones and beams; and on the other side, he needed to begin the second construction, which was built inside with timber. Therefore, that was the time suitable for the divine utterance.
’As for this house which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes, and execute Mine ordinances, and keep all My commandments to walk in them; then will I establish My word with you, which I spoke to David your father;
verse value 9294
Insights
Verse structure: 19 words, 91 letters. The shortest word is "this" (הַזֶּ֜ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "all·my·commandments" (אֶת־כׇּל־מִצְוֺתַ֖י, 9 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "which·you" (אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֣ה), "in·my·statutes" (בְּחֻקֹּתַי֙), "and·my·ordinances" (וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֣י). The root אשר appears 2 times in this verse. 17 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "which·you" (root אשר, 375x in I Kings); "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "my·word" (root דבר, 191x in I Kings). First appearance of the root ילך ("if·you·will·walk") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'in·them', dividing the verse into phrases of 12 and 7 words.
Metzudat David
This house , etc. Meaning: although you are building it in the most beautiful of buildings, nevertheless I will not dwell in it with My Shechinah, except you walk in My statutes, etc.
And I shall establish. Then I will fulfill My words, that I assured to cause the Shechinah to rest in it.
Malbim
"'This house which you are building'—inform him that the essence of the house is not the physical structure itself, but rather it serves as the framework for the Israelites to unite there and serve the Lord with one heart, such that thereby His Divine Presence will rest among them; and this is the essence of the house which they will build for Him. And this is what is stated: 'This house which you are building'—if you walk in My statutes, meaning that walking in My statutes is the essence of the house. And it is 'this house which you yourself are building,' not through craftsmen and workers in wood and stone. Furthermore, it is conditioned that he himself will keep the statutes of the Lord, His ordinances, and His commandments, for the House of David and the House of the Lord were interconnected with one another, and one is a condition for the other (as explained at length in 2 Samuel 7). And the Lord gave the throne to the House of David on the condition that they keep His teachings and commandments, as it is stated there. And this is what is said: 'If you walk in My statutes, I will fulfill My promise with you, and I will dwell among the children of Israel' (and as our Sages of blessed memory stated, that what is written, 'For this city has been to Me a cause of My anger and My wrath,' refers to the time after Solomon took Pharaoh's daughter as his wife). And He said to him: if they keep the Torah of the Lord, the Divine Presence will be the essence within the children of Israel, and thereby He will not abandon them nor remove His Divine Presence from them."
in that I will dwell therein among the children of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.’
verse value 2996
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 35 letters. The shortest word is "son" (בְּנֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "that·I·may·dwell" (וְשָׁ֣כַנְתִּ֔י, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 541: Israel, Israel. 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "that·I·may·dwell" (וְשָׁ֣כַנְתִּ֔י), "I·will·leave" (אֶעֱזֹ֖ב). The root ישראל appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Israel" (root ישראל, 120x in I Kings); "and·not" (root לא, 90x in I Kings); "son" (root בן, 72x in I Kings). First appearance of the root עזב ("I·will·leave") in I Kings. First appearance of the root עמי ("my·people") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Israel', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 4 words. Full calculation: וְשָׁ֣כַנְתִּ֔י [that·I·may·dwell] (786) + בְּת֖וֹךְ [in·midst·of] (428) + בְּנֵ֣י [son] (62) + יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל [Israel] (541) + וְלֹ֥א [and·not] (37) + אֶעֱזֹ֖ב [I·will·leave] (80) + אֶת־עַמִּ֥י [my·people] (521) + יִשְׂרָאֵֽל [Israel] (541) = 2996.
Verse structure: 4 words, 20 letters. The shortest word is "and·he·built" (וַיִּ֧בֶן, 4 letters) and the longest is "the·house" (אֶת־הַבַּ֖יִת, 6 letters). 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "Solomon" (root שלמה, 162x in I Kings); "and·he·built" (root בנה, 66x in I Kings). Full calculation: וַיִּ֧בֶן [and·he·built] (68) + שְׁלֹמֹ֛ה [Solomon] (375) + אֶת־הַבַּ֖יִת [the·house] (818) + וַיְכַלֵּֽהוּ [and·he·finished·it] (77) = 1338.
Radak
"And Solomon built the house and finished it." Explanation: he built the house and completed its walls and its roofing, and afterward he built the beams of the house from within, which is the Sanctuary (heikhal).
Ralbag
"And Solomon built the house and finished it." This means that after he had constructed it in the manner mentioned, and completed its roofing and ceiling, he built the walls of the house from within with cedar planks to cover the stone masonry. He covered the walls from the inside with cedar boards and beams up to twenty cubits, which was the height of the lower ceiling. The floor of the house was also overlaid with cedar planks. This, indeed, was in the house, which is the Holy Place [Heichal]. As for the hinder parts of the house, which are on the western side and measure twenty cubits, where the Devir, that is, the Holy of Holies, was located, this too was overlaid with cedar from the floor up to the walls. And this he built on the inside of the Devir, to serve as the Holy of Holies. However, the house that we mentioned first, whose floor was covered with wood, is the Holy Place [Heichal], which was farther in than the porch [Ulam].
Metzudat David
And he finished it. Above he said that he finished the walls of the house; and here he said that he finished the ceiling.
Malbim
"And Solomon built" – After this statement, he began to construct the inner structure of wood, which he built after he had completed the outer structure of stones. And it explains:
And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the joists of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress.
verse value 8244
Insights
Verse structure: 18 words, 86 letters. Verse gematria: 8244 is divisible by 18, the value of chai ('life'). The shortest word is "tree" (עֵ֖ץ, 2 letters) and the longest is "the·walls·of" (אֶת־קִיר֨וֹת, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 598: in·sides·of, in·sides·of. 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "within" (מִבַּ֙יְתָה֙), "from·floor·of" (מִקַּרְקַ֤ע), "to·walls·of" (עַד־קִיר֣וֹת). The root בית appears 5 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "and·he·built" (root בנה, 66x in I Kings); "cedars" (root ארז, 20x in I Kings). First appearance of the root קרקע ("from·floor·of") in I Kings. First appearance of the root צפה ("he·overlaid") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'on·the·inside', dividing the verse into phrases of 13 and 5 words.
Rashi
"On the inside, with planks of cedar." [This means] cedar walls adjacent to the stone wall, in order to apply gold leaf upon them, as it states below (verse 21): "And Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold." And it is not possible to apply gold leaf upon stones, but only upon wood and nails.
"The walls of the safun [ceiling-story]." The walls of the upper story (attic).
“The floor of the house.” The entire floor.
Radak
“With cedar beams.” This teaches that the stones of the wall should not be visible, as it is stated nearby: “No stone shall be seen.”
"Until the walls of the ceiling." [Meaning] until the ceiling, that is, all the walls, from the floor of the house up to the roof-beams, were overlaid with cedar wood on the inside. And the construct phrase "walls of the ceiling" means [it extends] to the tops of the walls adjacent to the ceiling. As Targum Yonatan [renders]: "me-ar'it beita ad kotalaya," etc. [from the floor of the house to the walls].
Metzudat David
And he built the walls, etc. Since all the house was plastered inside with gold, and it is impossible to plaster the gold on the stones -- for this reason he covered the walls on the inside with planks of cedar; and upon them he plastered the gold.
The walls of the ceiling. It is the ceiling made in rows of beams.
The floor of the house. To be a floor for it.
Metzudat Zion
Mevitah. From the inside:
B'tzalot. Its meaning is boards and planks:
Kirot hasipun. A ceiling that covers:
Malbim
And he built the walls of the house from within with cedar planks; he built two walls of cedar, and [Scripture] explains that this construction was: a. in the walls which were paneled with wood, and this paneling extended from the floor up to the walls of the roof, meaning up to the ceiling (and this was only in the Holy Place, for in the Holy of Holies the paneling did not reach up, but only to the upper third of the house); b. in the flooring, where he paneled the ground with fir planks. And this is what is stated in Chronicles: "And the great house he covered with fir trees" — meaning the floor of the house, for the walls were of cedar trees. Now, this was only in the great house, which is the Holy Place, for in the Holy of Holies there were two differences: a. that he did not panel the walls with wood except up to the upper third, as will be explained in the following verse; b. that he did not panel the floor of the house with fir trees, for here the text speaks only of the Holy Place. And so Chronicles is precise: "And the great house he covered with fir trees," but in the Devir, which is the Holy of Holies, he covered the floor of the house with gold alone upon the stones (as stated in verse 30). And the upper third of the house he covered with precious stone, concerning which it is written in Chronicles, "And he paneled the house with precious stone," for this restricts [the previous statement] in contrast to what was said, "And the great house he covered with fir trees"; [therefore] he said, "And he paneled the house," meaning the small house, [he] covered [it] with precious stone for glory.
And he built twenty cubits on the hinder part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the joists; he even built them for himself within, for a Sanctuary, even for the most holy place.
verse value 6829
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 82 letters. Notable word values: "for·himself" (לוֹ֙) = 36, double chai. The shortest word is "for·himself" (לוֹ֙, 2 letters) and the longest is "to·the·walls" (עַד־הַקִּיר֑וֹת, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 68: and·he·built, and·he·built. 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "twenty" (אֶת־עֶשְׂרִ֨ים), "flank" ((מירכותי)), "from·rear·of" (מִֽיַּרְכְּתֵ֤י). The root בנה appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "and·he·built" (root בנה, 66x in I Kings); "cubits" (root אמה, 47x in I Kings). First appearance of the root קדש ("for·holy·of") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'to·the·walls', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 6 words.
Rashi
“From the innermost part of the house, twenty cubits.” The twenty [cubits] are from the end of the Heichal and onward, and the twenty [cubits] at the end of the house are those of the Holy of Holies (that is, the Kodesh HaKodashim).
"Until the walls." Until the ceiling. He made a cedar wall to cover the stone wall, to overlay it with gold.
"And he built for himself." Those twenty cubits:
"Within, for the Devir [Shrine]." Within the partition of the amah-traksin [a one-cubit-thick partition wall], which separates the forty cubits from the twenty cubits, and that partition is called the "Devir."
"For the Holy of Holies." He set them apart for those twenty cubits.
Radak
"And he built twenty cubits from the innermost part of the house." This means that the twenty cubits which he took for one side from the innermost part of the house, which is the Holy of Holies, he also built with cedar boards on the inside, from the floor up to the walls, just as he had done for the house, which is the Sanctuary.
"Mi-yarkhotai" [ketiv]. It is written with the sign of the feminine plural together with the sign of the masculine [plural], and it is read "mi-yarkhetei" [qere] with the sign of the masculine plural alone.
"And he built for it, within, [a chamber] for the Inner Sanctuary." That which was on the inside, he built as the Inner Sanctuary (devir), it being the Holy of Holies, which is holier than the Sanctuary (heikhal) and the Vestibule (ulam).
Metzudat David
And he built the twenty cubits. Meaning: the space of twenty cubits that was at the end of the house toward the west, he also built it with planks of cedar, from the floor to the walls of the ceiling, like the sanctuary.
And he built for it, on the inside, [a space] for the inner sanctuary. Now he comes to say what that space served; and he said 'on the inside, for the inner sanctuary,' meaning: on the inside of the partition, he built it to be the holy of holies.
Metzudat Zion
Mirachtei. At the end:
L'dvir. It is the partition separating the Holy from the Holy of Holies:
Malbim
The Questions: Why did he state again in verse 16 that he built twenty cubits from the rear of the house with cedar boards, since he had already stated this in verse 15? And why did he say in verse 15 "up to the walls of the ceiling," whereas in verse 16 he said "up to the walls"? And why did he not explain in verse 16 with what he paved the floor, while in verse 30 it is mentioned that he overlaid it with gold, and the overlaying of wood is not mentioned? And in Chronicles it is mentioned that he covered the house with precious stone, and this is not mentioned in Kings. Why did he say in verse 18, "All of cedar," etc., since this was already known from the preceding text? And what is the meaning of what is stated in verse 20, "And before the inner sanctuary were twenty cubits," since this was already known from the preceding text? And the lofty wonder in this: Was not the height of the inner sanctuary thirty cubits, like the height of the sanctuary? And why did he mention four times that he overlaid the house with gold? And why did he mention here the overlaying of the altar, whereas he should have mentioned this later, when he mentioned the work of the other vessels of the Sanctuary?
And he specified regarding the Devir that the twenty cubits of the Devir, even though its outer structure of stone was also thirty cubits high, like the Heichal, nevertheless its inner structure of wood he built only twenty cubits high, for this structure was from the ground up to the walls, not up to the walls of the ceiling — that is, up to the roof, like the Heichal — but only up to the walls alone, which is up to a height of twenty cubits; up to there it was covered with cedar wood. And in Chronicles it is explained that from there and upward it was covered with precious stones. And likewise, he did not specify here with what he covered the floor, but it is explained in Chronicles, as mentioned above in [the comment on] the previous verse.
"And he built for it, within, a Shrine" – this means that he further constructed a partition separating the Holy Place from the twenty cubits of the rear part of the house. This construction was [described as] "within," meaning on the interior, to serve as the inner sanctuary and as a partition for the Holy of Holies.
And the house, that is, the temple before [the Sanctuary], was forty cubits long.
verse value 1066
Insights
Verse structure: 7 words, 30 letters. Verse gematria: 1066 is divisible by 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "was" (הָיָ֣ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·forty" (וְאַרְבָּעִ֥ים, 7 letters). 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "was" (root היה, 196x in I Kings); "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "before·it" (root פנים, 95x in I Kings). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·house', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 3 words. Full calculation: וְאַרְבָּעִ֥ים [and·forty] (329) + בָּאַמָּ֖ה [by·the·cubit] (48) + הָיָ֣ה [was] (20) + הַבָּ֑יִת [the·house] (417) + ה֖וּא [you] (12) + הַהֵיכָ֥ל [palace] (70) + לִפְנָֽי [before·it] (170) = 1066.
Rashi
The Temple was before [it]. Before the Holy of Holies, on the outer side:
Radak
"And forty cubits." Now he divides the sixty cubits mentioned above regarding the measure of the length of the house; that is, now he divides them, for he said that the twenty cubits were the Inner Sanctuary (devir) and the forty were the Sanctuary (heikhal). And the meaning of "before" is "before the devir," for the devir was innermost and the heikhal was in front of it. And per Targum Yonatan: "lakovleih" [opposite it]. And the letter lamed of "lifnei" and the lamed of "la-devir" do not serve to convey motion toward a thing, but rather denote the thing itself, like the lamed in "they killed Abner" and "and the third [son was] Absalom's," [and] "to a measure of five." And the word "pnei" (face/front) is an adjective for a thing standing before another; and in this pattern an adjective with a patach describes a following person, as in "nor of a churl is it said, 'noble' [shoa]" [Isaiah 32:5].
Metzudat David
Before. To the east of the holy of holies.
Malbim
"And forty, etc., before it" – by this, the word "before" remains [to be understood as] "before the Holy of Holies," namely, forty cubits before the Holy of Holies, and this was the Temple proper.
And the cedar on the house within was carved with knops and open flowers; all was cedar; there was no stone seen.
verse value 2961
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 51 letters. The shortest word is "all" (הַכֹּ֣ל, 3 letters) and the longest is "to·the·house" (אֶל־הַבַּ֙יִת֙, 6 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "toward the inside" (פְּנִ֔ימָה), "carving" (מִקְלַ֣עַת), "knops" (פְּקָעִ֔ים). The root ארז appears 2 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "to·the·house" (root איל, 125x in I Kings); "all" (root כל, 86x in I Kings); "appeared" (root ראה, 36x in I Kings). First appearance of the root פקע ("knops") in I Kings. First appearance of the root פטור ("and·opened") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'flowers', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 5 words. Full calculation: וְאֶ֤רֶז [and·cedar] (214) + אֶל־הַבַּ֙יִת֙ [to·the·house] (448) + פְּנִ֔ימָה [toward the inside] (185) + מִקְלַ֣עַת [carving] (640) + פְּקָעִ֔ים [knops] (300) + וּפְטוּרֵ֖י [and·opened] (311) + צִצִּ֑ים [flowers] (230) + הַכֹּ֣ל [all] (55) + אֶ֔רֶז [cedar] (208) + אֵ֥ין [nothing] (61) + אֶ֖בֶן [stone] (53) + נִרְאָֽה [appeared] (256) = 2961.
Rashi
“And he overlaid the house within with cedar wood, interlacing bosses.” The explanation is: those cedar walls that he made inside the house, to cover the stone wall, were interlaced with patterns of weaving and shapes of bosses, like buttons: “bosses.” In the vernacular [Old French], it is called “moisiles.”
"And the openwork of blossoms." Jonathan [ben Uzziel] translated: "And cords of lilies," [referring to] the form of chains.
Pituri. The language of ropes, as in the language of the Gemara, as in (Moed Katan 29a; Berakhot 8a): "As pituri in the mouth and throat."
"Tzitzim." This is the language of blossoms, as it is written (Numbers 17:23): "And the staff of Aaron sprouted a blossom" — cords and flowers. And Menachem associates it with the word *peturei*, from the language of (Exodus 13:12): "Every first issue of the womb," and as it is written (Psalms 22:8): "they curl the lip."
"All of cedar, no stone is seen." (Targum:) "The entire house is covered with cedar boards; no stone is visible."
"Miqaleat peqaim." Jonathan [ben Uzziel] translates: "He carved them in the form of eggs" (i.e., engraved in the shape of round eggs).
Radak
"And cedar for the house." Explanation: these are the cedar planks with which the interior of the house was overlaid; they were carved with carvings of gourds and open flowers [calyxes].
"Carving of gourds." Like the work of carvings and gourds; these are shapes of wild gourds. Or, "carving of gourds" is a construct attached to "gourds," meaning a carving/depiction of gourds, like "and he carved cherubim," whose meaning is a depiction of the form of cherubim. And Jonathan translated "carving of gourds" as "and he carved the appearance of eggs," meaning [these were shaped] like eggs.
"And open flowers." [These are] carvings in the shape of blossoms and flowers; and "petorei" is like [the word in] "He who lets out water is the beginning of strife" (Proverbs 17:14), which is like "opening/releasing." And the dagesh in "tzitzim" stands in place of the quiescent letter that is in [the singular] "tzitz" (blossom), which is the middle radical of the root.
Ralbag
"And cedar within the house, inward: carvings of gourds." Now, the gourds are shaped like eggs because their ends are pointed. And "carved" (miklaat) derives from the notion of casting out or bringing forth, akin to the meaning of "he shall cast it with the sling" (yikla'ena be-khaf ha-kela). The sense is that it was already depicted in the cedar [panels] from within, resembling the emergence of plants, and the gourds at the time they begin to sprout a blossom, for initially they are like gourds, which are like eggs with both ends pointed. Afterward, they blossom from the root like almond cups, and from within them emerges the flower, as we have mentioned in the portion "Let them take Me an offering" (Vayikhu li Terumah). And for the very same reason that these depictions were on the Menorah, they were [placed] in this location; and this indeed was in the Heichal. Or perhaps the intent of "miklaat" is like "kela'im" (hangings), meaning that they depicted there, in the likeness of hangings, which are curtains, in which were these depictions. And this explanation is more fitting according to what will appear from what follows. Or perhaps "miklaat" is in the likeness of palm fronds and boughs, in which are the flowers.
Metzudat David
And cedar , etc. Meaning: the cedar boards that were covering the house on the inside; the work of their carving was figures of gourds and open flowers.
All cedar. The whole house was covered with cedar over the stones of the walls.
Metzudat Zion
Mikaltet. A matter of engravings; likewise Jonathan translates: uglof; likewise (Exodus 28:11) 'you shall cut the two stones' (tiftach et shtei ha'avanim), its translation: tiglof:
Feka'im. An engraving of a certain fruit; likewise (II Kings 4:39) 'wild gourds' (fiku'ot sadeh):
U'pitori. A matter of opening; like (Exodus 13:12) 'that which opens the womb' (peter rechem):
Tztzim. Blossoms; I mean: engravings of the opening of flowers:
Malbim
"And he overlaid the house within with cedar wood" – this explains that in the forty cubits of the Temple, etc., it was overlaid with cedar until no stone was visible; whereas in the Holy of Holies, the first third was not overlaid.
And he prepared the Sanctuary in the midst of the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of Hashem.
verse value 3893
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 43 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָֽה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "there" (שָׁ֔ם, 2 letters) and the longest is "in·midst·of·the·house" (בְּתוֹךְ־הַבַּ֛יִת, 8 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "and·sanctuary" (וּדְבִ֧יר), "in·midst·of·the·house" (בְּתוֹךְ־הַבַּ֛יִת), "he·prepared" (הֵכִ֑ין). 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 254x in I Kings); "to·give" (root נתן, 113x in I Kings); "there" (root שם, 66x in I Kings). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'he·prepared', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 5 words. Full calculation: וּדְבִ֧יר [and·sanctuary] (222) + בְּתוֹךְ־הַבַּ֛יִת [in·midst·of·the·house] (845) + מִפְּנִ֖ימָה [within] (225) + הֵכִ֑ין [he·prepared] (85) + לְתִתֵּ֣ן [to·give] (880) + שָׁ֔ם [there] (340) + אֶת־אֲר֖וֹן [the·ark·of] (658) + בְּרִ֥ית [covenant] (612) + יְהֹוָֽה [Hashem] (26) = 3893.
Rashi
"And the Shrine within the house." A partition of a cubit['s thickness], [called] Traksin.
"Letiten" [to give]. Like "latet" [to give].
Radak
"And the inner sanctuary within the house." The inner sanctuary mentioned, which he made interior to the Holy Place, he prepared it to place there the Ark; therefore, the inner sanctuary is the Holy of Holies. And the word "letaten" is an infinitive like "latet" (to give), and the nun is added to the infinitive sometimes, as in "be'evdan moladati" (in the destruction of my kindred) and "hashivota mecharon apecha" (You turned back from the fierceness of Your anger), as we have written in the book Mikhlol. And after the nun was added to it, the tav received a dagesh, the doubling being due to the missing [final] nun — the lamed ha-po'al [last radical] of the root. And what he said "he prepared," our Sages of blessed memory interpreted it that Solomon foresaw through the Holy Spirit that the end of the Temple was to be destroyed, and he dug into the ground of the inner sanctuary and built there a place to hide the Ark in, close to the destruction of the Temple. And he built it in deep and winding tunnels, and he placed a stone over the mouth of that place, and upon that stone the Ark rested. And Josiah hid the Ark there.
Ralbag
And the inner sanctuary (debir) was within the house, toward the interior. This means that within the house, on the innermost side, and it was on the western side, was the debir, and he prepared it to be the place for the Ark of God. And our Sages of blessed memory said that in this there is an allusion to the structure that Solomon built underground to hide there the Ark of the Lord, because it was known that this house was destined to be destroyed. However, according to the plain meaning, it is as we have mentioned.
Metzudat David
And the inner sanctuary within the house. In the space of the house he made a separating partition; and from within that partition he prepared to put there the ark; and it is the holy of holies.
Metzudat Zion
L'teten. Like 'to give,' and the nun is added:
Malbim
"And a Shrine..." – [this] explains why he prepared the Devir: it was in order to place there the Ark of the Lord.
And before the Sanctuary which was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof, overlaid with pure gold, he set an altar, which he covered with cedar.
verse value 4321
Insights
Verse structure: 17 words, 71 letters. The shortest word is "cubits" (אַמָּ֨ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·twenty" (וְעֶשְׂרִ֧ים, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 626: and·twenty, and·twenty. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "and·before" (וְלִפְנֵ֣י). The root עשרים appears 3 times in this verse. 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·before" (root פנים, 95x in I Kings); "cubits" (root אמה, 47x in I Kings); "gold" (root זהב, 44x in I Kings). First appearance of the root זהב ("gold") in I Kings. First appearance of the root סגר ("pure") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'pure', dividing the verse into phrases of 14 and 3 words.
Rashi
"And before the inner sanctuary." Within that partition, a space twenty cubits in length and twenty cubits in width.
"And its height was twenty cubits." That is to say, the loft above the House of the Holy of Holies was lower than that of the Sanctuary [Heichal].
"And he overlaid it." [Referring] to the Shrine [Devir], which is the partition:
“Closed gold.” Our Sages expounded regarding this (Yoma 45a): “At the time it is opened to be sold, all other shops are closed.” And the Targum translates it as: “Good gold,” meaning: whoever possesses it, locks it away for himself.
"And he overlaid the cedar altar [with gold]." This is the altar of incense, and I am astonished: why was Moses' altar stored away?
Radak
"And before the inner sanctuary." It does not say that there was another place before the inner sanctuary, apart from the Holy Place; rather [it refers to the inner sanctuary itself], which was twenty cubits in length — for there was nothing there but the Holy Place, and the Holy Place was forty cubits in length and thirty cubits in height, yet it states "twenty cubits in height" [for the inner sanctuary]. Rather, the meaning of "before" is like "within," namely, the inner sanctuary, which was within — constructed to place the Ark there — was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height. And we find that "before" is used like "within," such as "transparent windows" like "windows," "my plantings" like "plantings."
And its height was twenty cubits. Now, above it states regarding the entire house, "And its height was thirty cubits." If we were to say that the Holy of Holies was lower than the Temple proper, then when it stated that the measurement of the house was sixty cubits in length, the Holy of Holies was included in that measurement. Likewise, when it stated, "And its height was thirty cubits," the Holy of Holies was included in that measurement. There are those who explain that what it says, "And its height was twenty cubits," refers to the portion that was overlaid with gold. This is what it subsequently states: "And he overlaid it with pure gold," for he overlaid the walls with gold to a height of twenty cubits, and the upper ten cubits he overlaid with precious stone — jacinth, agate, onyx, and sapphire, and their like, from the fine stones. This is what it states in Chronicles: "And he overlaid the house with precious stone," and this was for splendor. And afterward it states, "And he overlaid the house with gold." It appears that there were two overlaid layers on the walls, and this is the correct explanation. And our Sages of blessed memory raised a difficulty regarding these verses, and they resolved it by saying that it counts from the edge of the [golden] branches and upward.
“Closed gold.” As its Targum [renders it]: “fine gold.”
“And he overlaid the altar with cedar.” The Targum renders: “And he covered the altar with boards of cedar.” He overlaid the altar with boards of cedar. And it is concerning the incense altar that it speaks [by calling it "the cedar altar"], rather than [simply] saying "the altar" — [hinting at] what it had been before he overlaid it with boards of cedar. And perhaps it was made of stones. But this is not the altar that Moses made, for that one was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The account of the altar is written together with the inner sanctuary because it was aligned opposite the entrance to the inner sanctuary.
Ralbag
"And before the Holy of Holies." This means before the Ark of the Holy of Holies; the construct word ["Ark"] is elided, and there are many similar instances. He states that before it he overlaid a cedar altar, which is the Altar of Incense that was in the Holy Place. To this he refers subsequently when he says, "And all the altar that was before the Holy of Holies he overlaid with gold," because "before the Holy of Holies" was intended to mean either before the Ark of the Holy of Holies or before the entrance of the Holy of Holies. The meaning of this verse is thus: "Before the Holy of Holies," the dimensions of which were twenty cubits in length, twenty in width, and twenty in height, he overlaid it with pure and refined gold. And there, before the Holy of Holies, he overlaid a cedar altar. As he later explains, this altar had already been overlaid with gold, but he abbreviated the matter in this verse without explicitly stating this detail.
Metzudat David
And before the inner sanctuary. The inner space toward the west.
And twenty cubits its height. And above (verse 2) he said: thirty cubits its height. For the sanctuary alone was thirty cubits high; but the loft above the holy of holies was lower than that of the sanctuary by ten cubits. And our Sages of blessed memory said (Bava Batra 98b): that here he is counting from the edge of the cherubim and above, for their height was ten cubits, as is said below (verse 23).
And he overlaid it with closed gold. He wrote it again, to say that the overlaid gold was closed gold.
And he overlaid the cedar altar. This is the altar of incense; and he made it of stones, with cedar above, and on the cedar he overlaid it with gold. And so the work of the altar was similar to the work of the walls of the house; and for this reason he attached it here.
Metzudat Zion
Sagur. I mean: that which is sealed in the smith's furnace to purify it from dross:
Malbim
And before the Holy of Holies was the chamber that was in front of it, which was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. Now, Rashi explained that the height of the Holy of Holies was only twenty cubits. The Tosafot (Sukkah 4a, s.v. beshlish; Yoma 52a, s.v. ve'esrim) raised an objection to this from what is stated in Bava Batra (98a) regarding "from the edge of the cherubim and upward"; see there. Likewise, it is clear from Bava Batra (3a) that the height of the amah terukhsin [the one-cubit partition wall] was thirty cubits. What I have explained is consistent with the plain meaning, for in these verses the internal structure of wood is enumerated, and the height of this wooden structure was only twenty cubits. And this is what "twenty cubits its height" means: regarding the wooden structure, and "he overlaid it with gold" means that up to that point he overlaid the wood with gold. The first structure, made of stones, which was ten cubits higher than the wooden structure, was not overlaid either with wood or with gold. And it is explained in Chronicles that he overlaid it with precious stones; and as for "he overlaid the altar with cedar," [the meaning] is: after he had overlaid the Devir with gold, he overlaid the altar that was in the Sanctuary—which was made of stones or earth—with cedar.
So Solomon overlaid athe house within with pure gold; and he drew chains of gold across the wall before the Sanctuary; and he overlaid it with gold.
verse value 5023
Insights
Verse structure: 14 words, 67 letters. The shortest word is "gold" (זָהָ֣ב, 3 letters) and the longest is "chain" ((ברתיקות), 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 14: gold, gold, gold. 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "chain" ((ברתיקות)), "with·chains·of" (בְּרַתּוּק֤וֹת). The root זהב appears 3 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "Solomon" (root שלמה, 162x in I Kings); "to·face·of" (root פנים, 95x in I Kings). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'pure', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 8 words. Full calculation: וַיְצַ֨ף [and·overlaid] (186) + שְׁלֹמֹ֧ה [Solomon] (375) + אֶת־הַבַּ֛יִת [the·house] (818) + מִפְּנִ֖ימָה [within] (225) + זָהָ֣ב [gold] (14) + סָג֑וּר [pure] (269) + וַיְעַבֵּ֞ר [and·he·drew·across] (288) + (ברתיקות) [chain] (1118) + בְּרַתּוּק֤וֹת [with·chains·of] (1114) + זָהָב֙ [gold] (14) + לִפְנֵ֣י [to·face·of] (170) + הַדְּבִ֔יר [the·Sanctuary] (221) + וַיְצַפֵּ֖הוּ [and·he·overlaid·it] (197) + זָהָֽב [gold] (14) = 5023.
Rashi
"the house" – the house of the Holy of Holies:
"And he passed over." A term for bars/bolts:
"Beratukot" – chains:
Radak
"And he inserted chains of gold." The Targum renders [this] "bars passing across," and "chains" (ratukot) is like "shalshelaot" (chains). The matter is that there was a wall in front of the Holy of Holies, separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, in the place where the veil was situated. This wall was one cubit and one cubit wide. For in that wall which was in front of the Holy of Holies, golden bars were inserted, and the entire wall was overlaid with gold.
Ralbag
“And Solomon covered the house within, etc.” This means that Solomon had already covered this house, namely the Holy of Holies, with its entire interior in refined gold. This indicates that he erected a partition between it and the Holy Place, and by this it is also confirmed that its length was twenty cubits.
"And he inserted chains of gold": This means he made them like door-bolts, in chains of gold, in the Temple, which was before the Holy of Holies, for he made there a wall between the Holy of Holies and the Temple to serve as a substitute for the veil, after he had overlaid that wall with gold, as previously stated.
Metzudat David
And Solomon overlaid , etc. He comes to say that the gold that overlaid the sanctuary done on the inside was closed gold, like that of the holy of holies.
And he inserted. He made bars of gold chains before the partition.
And he overlaid it. He speaks of the partition.
Metzudat Zion
Via'avor. This is the translation of 'bars':
Baratukot. In chains; like (Isaiah 40:19) 'and silver chains' (uratukot kasef):
Malbim
"And he overlaid" – and afterward he overlaid the Temple [Heichal] with solid gold; this means the walls up to the ceiling.
"And he inserted golden chains before the Shrine" – this means that the Devir, which was the amah terukhsin partition, was built of stones and was not overlaid with cedar, as is elucidated from the words of our Sages of blessed memory (Bava Batra 3a). And it was not possible to overlay gold directly upon the stones; therefore they first inserted golden chains, and upon the chains they overlaid the gold, in such a way that the chains were fixed into the stones and the gold was upon them, whereby this secured the overlay and strengthened it so that it would not slip. And Abarbanel already wrote that it is known in the craft of goldwork that it is not fitting to overlay it upon stone, for because of the moisture of the stones, it will darken and be ruined prematurely. And according to what Abarbanel wrote, that the height of the amah terukhsin was only twenty cubits, and ten cubits above that were left open for the smoke of the incense to enter, one might explain that over this empty space they inserted the golden chains, like the work of a lattice. However, it is written that the opinion of our Sages of blessed memory is that the height of the wall was thirty cubits.
And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until all the house was finished; also the whole altar that belonged to the Sanctuary he overlaid with gold.
verse value 3098
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 47 letters. The shortest word is "he·overlaid" (צִפָּ֥ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·all·the·house" (וְאֶת־כׇּל־הַבַּ֛יִת, 9 letters). Words sharing gematria 175: he·overlaid, he·overlaid. 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "and·all·the·house" (וְאֶת־כׇּל־הַבַּ֛יִת), "until·complete" (עַד־תֹּ֣ם), "all·the·house" (כׇּל־הַבָּ֑יִת). The root בית appears 2 times in this verse. 6 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·all·the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "gold" (root זהב, 44x in I Kings); "and·all·the·altar" (root מזבח, 35x in I Kings). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'all·the·house', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 4 words. Full calculation: וְאֶת־כׇּל־הַבַּ֛יִת [and·all·the·house] (874) + צִפָּ֥ה [he·overlaid] (175) + זָהָ֖ב [gold] (14) + עַד־תֹּ֣ם [until·complete] (514) + כׇּל־הַבָּ֑יִת [all·the·house] (467) + וְכׇל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֥חַ [and·all·the·altar] (118) + אֲֽשֶׁר־לַדְּבִ֖יר [belonging·to·the·Sanctuary] (747) + צִפָּ֥ה [he·overlaid] (175) + זָהָֽב [gold] (14) = 3098.
Rashi
"And all the house." The entire Temple building in its entirety.
Radak
“And all the house he overlaid with gold.” In Chronicles it says, “seven thousand talents of refined silver to overlay the walls of the houses.” And he says that “to overlay the walls of the houses” refers either to the three thousand talents of gold mentioned earlier, or it refers to the silver. And the meaning of “to overlay the walls of the houses” is the other structures, besides the Temple [proper]. And in the words of our Sages of blessed memory: “To overlay the walls of the houses”—and was it silver? Was it not gold? Why then does it call it silver? Because it put to shame all the owners of gold.
“And the whole altar that is by the Holy of Holies.” He juxtaposed the altar with the Holy of Holies. Even though it was not inside it, but rather in the Holy Place was the Table, because it was aligned opposite the entrance to the Holy of Holies. For in the Holy Place, the Table was in the north, drawn back two and a half cubits from the wall, and the Menorah was in the south, drawn back two and a half cubits from the wall, and the Altar of Incense was situated between them, drawn slightly outward. This [Altar of Incense] was aligned opposite the entrance to the Holy of Holies. Because of this, he juxtaposed the altar with the Holy of Holies and said, “the altar that is by the Holy of Holies.” And what is meant by “whole” is to say that its walls and roof—all of it—were overlaid with gold.
Ralbag
“And all the house He overlaid with gold, until all the house was finished.” This means that even the Holy Place was overlaid with gold, but it was not refined like the gold with which the Holy of Holies was overlaid, in order to explain the difference that existed between the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place.
"And all the altar that was by the inner sanctuary was overlaid with gold." I would think that the intention here is that prior to this, the altar of incense was overlaid with stones and then overlaid with cedar wood, just as He had done with the walls of the house, which were of stone and He covered them with cedar, and afterward He overlaid them with gold.
Metzudat David
And all the house. He comes to say that all was covered; and also the ceiling that was not mentioned above.
And all the altar. On all six surfaces.
That is for the inner sanctuary. Standing near the inner sanctuary.
Metzudat Zion
Tum. Completed:
Malbim
“And all the house He overlaid with gold”: Until now, [the text] spoke of the overlaying of the walls; and now it speaks of the overlaying of the ceiling and the doors; and in verse 30 it will speak of the overlaying of the floor. And in Chronicles [Divrei HaYamim], it includes everything in what it states: “And he overlaid the house — the beams, the thresholds, its walls, and its doors — with gold.” And “all the altar that belonged to the Sanctuary [Devir]” means the altar that was in the Temple hall (Heichal), which stood before the Devir [inner sanctuary].
"Overlaid with gold": Since it was stated earlier, "and he overlaid the cedar altar," which refers to an overlay of cedar wood, here it says that he covered the cedar with gold. And since the altar was a fixed/attached structure, he covered it at the time he covered the Heichal, and it was not counted among the vessels.
And in the Sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive-wood, each ten cubits high.
verse value 3371
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 36 letters. The shortest word is "two·of" (שְׁנֵ֥י, 3 letters) and the longest is "cherubim" (כְרוּבִ֖ים, 6 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "in·the·sanctuary" (בַּדְּבִ֔יר). 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·did" (root עשה, 143x in I Kings); "cubits" (root אמה, 47x in I Kings); "two·of" (root שנים, 45x in I Kings). First appearance of the root כרוב ("cherubim") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'trees·of·oil', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיַּ֣עַשׂ [and·did] (386) + בַּדְּבִ֔יר [in·the·sanctuary] (218) + שְׁנֵ֥י [two·of] (360) + כְרוּבִ֖ים [cherubim] (278) + עֲצֵי־שָׁ֑מֶן [trees·of·oil] (560) + עֶ֥שֶׂר [ten] (570) + אַמּ֖וֹת [cubits] (447) + קוֹמָתֽוֹ [its·height] (552) = 3371.
Rashi
Trees of oil. (Targum:) These are olive trees:
His height was ten cubits. And their feet stood on the ground, one to the north of the Ark, and one to the south, overshadowing the Ark and its staves. The length of the wings covered part (of the width of the staves), for the Ark was placed with its length along the width of the room, and its staves protruded at the entrance of the Shrine, into the curtain (parochet) that was opposite the entrance, and the staves were positioned at the ends of their length, so that two Levites could enter between them when they carried it in the wilderness.
Radak
"Trees of oil." Its Targum is "trees of olives." And one need not ask how they were cut down from among the food-bearing trees for the sake of labor? The answer is that they cut down the old olive trees that no longer produce fruit. Similarly, regarding the trees used for the altar fire, which included fig trees and palm trees, our Sages of blessed memory stated that these were those that no longer produce fruit. Alternatively, "trees of oil" may be explained as a species of cedar, from which oil is extracted to make pitch; therefore, it is called a "tree of oil." For behold, we find in Ezra that it says: "Go up to the mountain and bring olive branches and branches of the tree of oil." Thus, the "tree of oil" is not an olive tree.
Ralbag
"And He made in the inner sanctuary two cherubim of oil-tree wood." Behold, He fashioned the form of cherubim from oil-tree wood, which is among the species of cedar; it is called "cedre" in the vernacular, or "pin" [pine]. Some of this species does not bear fruit, and perhaps this one was made from such a species, or Hiram sent it to him, and Solomon did not thereby destroy a fruit-bearing tree. It is also possible that this was from a tree that had already dried out. Now, the cherubim were in the form of small human beings. It is stated that each of them was ten cubits in height, and the breadth of the spread of their wings was also ten cubits. The faces of these cherubim were looking forward toward the one who entered there, and the left wing of one of them touched the right wing of the other, and thus they spanned the entire width of the inner sanctuary from wall to wall, for the space between them was twenty cubits. It is also stated that these cherubim were overlaid with gold.
Metzudat David
And he made in the inner sanctuary. In the space of the holy of holies.
Its height. The height of each one. And those cherubim stood on the ground (Sukkah 5b).
Metzudat Zion
Keruvim. They have the form of an infant; for 'tinok' [infant] is 'ravya' in Aramaic (Sukkah 5b). 'Atzei shemen' [olive wood] — Targum Yonatan renders: 'de'a'ei zeita' [olive wood]:
Malbim
And he made in the Holy of Holies: Scripture relates that he made two equal cherubim. This is the meaning of the word "two" in the construct state, to indicate equality. And this equality was only in their measurements, for in their nature one was in the form of a male and one in the form of a female; one was the bestower and the other the receiver. This is why it says in Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles), "And he made two cherubim," where the word "two" written separately indicates distinction, as I wrote in my compilation of HaTorah VeHaMitzvah, Parashat Acharei.
The height of each cherub was ten cubits.
And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub; from the uttermost part of the one wing to the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.
verse value 6208
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 70 letters. The shortest word is "wing" (כְּנַ֤ף, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·to·ends·of" (וְעַד־קְצ֥וֹת, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 447: cubits, cubits, cubits. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "and·to·ends·of" (וְעַד־קְצ֥וֹת). The root כנף appears 4 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·one" (root אחד, 61x in I Kings); "cubits" (root אמה, 47x in I Kings); "ten" (root עשר, 39x in I Kings). First appearance of the root כנף ("wing") in I Kings. First appearance of the root קצה ("from·ends·of") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'second', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 6 words.
Rashi
"Ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other wing." When they are spread out, it turns out that the wings of both of them, which were touching each other, fill the entire space of twenty cubits, and the body of the cherubim is not included in the measurement, and it stands as a miracle (Bava Batra 99a):
Metzudat David
The wing of the cherub. The width of the wing from north to south.
The second. Referring to the wing.
Malbim
“And five cubits, etc.”: And each wing spanned five cubits, so that from the tip of the first wing to the tip of the second was ten cubits. The wings were attached to the back of the cherub, one next to the other. And it goes without saying that the cherubim stood in a miraculous manner. According to the opinion of our Sages of blessed memory, the body of each cherub was one cubit, and they stood in a miraculous manner.
And the other cherub was ten cubits; both the cherubim were of one measure and one form.
verse value 2558
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 40 letters. Notable word values: "one" (אֶחָ֖ד) = 13, the value of echad ('one') and ahavah ('love'). The shortest word is "measure" (מִדָּ֥ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·cherubim" (הַכְּרֻבִֽים, 6 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "and·ten" (וְעֶ֙שֶׂר֙), "and·cut" (וְקֶ֥צֶב), "for·two·of" (לִשְׁנֵ֥י). The root כרוב appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "one" (root אחד, 61x in I Kings); "by·the·cubit" (root אמה, 47x in I Kings); "for·two·of" (root שנים, 45x in I Kings). First appearance of the root מדה ("measure") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'second', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 6 words. Full calculation: וְעֶ֙שֶׂר֙ [and·ten] (576) + בָּֽאַמָּ֔ה [by·the·cubit] (48) + הַכְּר֖וּב [cherub] (233) + הַשֵּׁנִ֑י [second] (365) + מִדָּ֥ה [measure] (49) + אַחַ֛ת [one] (409) + וְקֶ֥צֶב [and·cut] (198) + אֶחָ֖ד [one] (13) + לִשְׁנֵ֥י [for·two·of] (390) + הַכְּרֻבִֽים [the·cherubim] (277) = 2558.
Metzudat David
The second cherub. The width of the wings of the second cherub. And so the four wings filled all the width of the space of the holy of holies.
Metzudat Zion
Ukatzev. A matter of cutting and severing; like (II Kings 6:6) 'vaykazev etz.' I mean: uniform as though cut at once:
Malbim
“And ten, etc.” And so was the measurement of the second cherub, both in the length of the wings, which was ten cubits for the span of the two wings, and in the measure and proportion of the cherubs themselves.
The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub.
verse value 2089
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 32 letters. Notable word values: "the·one" (הָאֶחָ֔ד) = 18, chai, 'life'. The shortest word is "ten" (עֶ֖שֶׂר, 3 letters) and the longest is "cherub" (הַכְּר֣וּב, 5 letters). Words sharing gematria 233: cherub, cherub. The root כרוב appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·one" (root אחד, 61x in I Kings); "by·the·cubit" (root אמה, 47x in I Kings); "ten" (root עשר, 39x in I Kings). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'by·the·cubit', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 3 words. Full calculation: קוֹמַת֙ [height] (546) + הַכְּר֣וּב [cherub] (233) + הָאֶחָ֔ד [the·one] (18) + עֶ֖שֶׂר [ten] (570) + בָּאַמָּ֑ה [by·the·cubit] (48) + וְכֵ֖ן [and·thus] (76) + הַכְּר֥וּב [cherub] (233) + הַשֵּׁנִֽי [second] (365) = 2089.
Metzudat David
The height , etc. Meaning: just as the height of one cherub was ten cubits, so was the height of the second cherub.
Malbim
“Height, etc.” And likewise they were equal in height, for the second one also had a height of ten cubits.
And he set the cherubim within the inner house; and the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.
verse value 8482
Insights
Verse structure: 23 words, 113 letters. The shortest word is "wing" (כָּנָ֥ף, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·cherubim" (אֶת־הַכְּרוּבִ֜ים, 9 letters). Words sharing gematria 523: touching, touching. 8 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "and·they·spread" (וַֽיִּפְרְשׂוּ֮), "the·wings·of" (אֶת־כַּנְפֵ֣י), "and·she·touched" (וַתִּגַּ֤ע). The root כנף appears 5 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "to·midst" (root איל, 125x in I Kings); "and·gave" (root נתן, 113x in I Kings). First appearance of the root פנימי ("inner") in I Kings. First appearance of the root נגע ("and·she·touched") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'second', dividing the verse into phrases of 17 and 6 words.
Rashi
"And the one wing touched the wall." The north [wall]:
And the wing of the second cherub touched the south wall, overshadowing the Ark and its staves:
And their wings were toward the inside of the house. And the heads of the wings which were in the middle of the house:
“Wing touching wing.” This teaches that the entire interior of the Temple was twenty [cubits].
Radak
“And their wings were within the house.” For the outer wings touched the walls, as it is stated, “This one to the south wall and this one to the north wall,” because their faces were toward the Temple, as it says in Chronicles, “Their faces toward the house.” The other wings, which were the inner ones, are what is meant by “within the house,” for they were all within the house; only these were the outer wings and those were the inner wings. The inner wings touched, the wing of one cherub to the wing of the other cherub. And behold, between the four wings there were twenty cubits, according to the measure of the house, and the bodies of the cherubim were under the wings, so that there was no need for them to stand by a miracle.
Metzudat David
The inner house. This is the holy of holies.
And they spread. That is to say: they made them spread out.
Into the house. Into the air of the space of the house.
Wing to wing. The wing of the one cherub, with the wing of the second cherub.
Malbim
"And he placed, etc." The word "and they spread out" implies that the wings were constructed in such a manner that they could extend and fold together, like the wings of birds. When they were brought inside, they spread them out, and so it says in Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles), "The wings of these cherubim spread twenty cubits." And when the Ark was brought in, they were spread over the Ark.
Verse structure: 3 words, 16 letters. Verse gematria: 884 is divisible by 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "gold" (זָהָֽב, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·cherubim" (אֶת־הַכְּרוּבִ֖ים, 9 letters). 3 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "gold" (root זהב, 44x in I Kings); "the·cherubim" (root כרוב, 20x in I Kings). Full calculation: וַיְצַ֥ף [and·overlaid] (186) + אֶת־הַכְּרוּבִ֖ים [the·cherubim] (684) + זָהָֽב [gold] (14) = 884.
Malbim
"And He overlaid the cherubim with gold" – this implies that they were ten cubits in height before the overlaying. And with this, the statement in Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles), "And the other wing, five cubits, touched the wing of the one cherub," is clarified – namely, that it adhered to the wing of the one cherub – for there the discussion is after the overlaying, as it states there earlier, "And they overlaid them with gold, and they were joined tightly to one another."
And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers, within and without.
verse value 5357
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 65 letters. The shortest word is "and·(object marker)" (וְאֵת֩, 3 letters) and the longest is "all·walls·of" (כׇּל־קִיר֨וֹת, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 200: slung, and·to·the·outer. 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "all·walls·of" (כׇּל־קִיר֨וֹת), "round thing" (מֵסַ֣ב), "slung" (קָלַ֗ע). 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "from·face" (root פנים, 95x in I Kings); "cherubim" (root כרוב, 20x in I Kings). First appearance of the root קלע ("slung") in I Kings. First appearance of the root תמר ("palm·tree·figure") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'flowers', dividing the verse into phrases of 11 and 2 words. Full calculation: וְאֵת֩ [and·(object marker)] (407) + כׇּל־קִיר֨וֹת [all·walls·of] (766) + הַבַּ֜יִת [the·house] (417) + מֵסַ֣ב [round thing] (102) + קָלַ֗ע [slung] (200) + פִּתּוּחֵי֙ [engraving] (504) + מִקְלְעוֹת֙ [carvings·of] (646) + כְּרוּבִ֣ים [cherubim] (278) + וְתִמֹרֹ֔ת [palm·tree·figure] (1046) + וּפְטוּרֵ֖י [and·opened] (311) + צִצִּ֑ים [flowers] (230) + מִלִּפְנִ֖ים [from·face] (250) + וְלַחִיצֽוֹן [and·to·the·outer] (200) = 5357.
Rashi
“And all the walls of the house.” The walls of wood:
"[A border] surrounding, carved." Surrounded with carvings:
"Openwork of interlacing work" – cherubim: engraved in the form of cherubim, palm trees, ropes, and flowers.
"[From] within and to the outer [side]." [This refers] to the inner Holy of Holies and to the outer Sanctuary.
Radak
"Mesev." A noun in the pattern of *matsar*, and its meaning is like "saviv" (around).
"Kala." A noun in the pattern of *pa'al*, and its meaning is "carving" — that is, around the house he carved images, cherubim that were engraved, not that they protruded.
"And the palm-figures." The form of palm trees.
“From the inner and to the outer.” “From the inner” refers to the Holy of Holies, and “to the outer” refers to the Sanctuary. He stated that he made these carvings on all the walls of the house all around, both in the Holy of Holies and in the Sanctuary. Likewise, the interpretation of “to the inner and to the outer” is that he overlaid the floor of the Holy of Holies and the floor of the Sanctuary with gold.
Ralbag
"Masav kala" [an encircling carved border]. This means: a design going around, in the likeness of a curtain, or around a tree and its fronds. [The words] "engravings of carved cherubim and palm-shapes" mean that there was engraved and depicted on them the form of curtains, in which there was the form of cherubim and the form of palm-shapes, which are like buds. This is because the shape of the palm-forms is like an egg, both of whose ends are pointed; or [it means] the likeness of the branches of a tree and its fronds, in which there would be the form of cherubim and the form of buds and calyxes of blossoms. And this was depicted on the inner side, which is the Devir, and on the outer side, which is the Heichal.
Metzudat David
The walls of the house. They are the boards that are on the inside.
Carved wreaths. Surrounded with carvings; and he returns and explains what the carvings were; and he said that they were open carvings of cherubim, etc.
Inward and outward. To the holy of holies and to the sanctuary.
Metzudat Zion
Pituche. A matter of carving; like (Exodus 28:11) 'engraved like the engraving of a seal' (pituche chotam):
U'tmarot. Engravings of date palm trees:
Malbim
"And all the walls" – this means that since there were cherubim inside, there were also cherubim on the walls. Therefore, this phrase is repeated a second time, even though it had already been stated in verse 18.
And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without.
verse value 1898
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 30 letters. Verse gematria: 1898 is divisible by 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "he·overlaid" (צִפָּ֣ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·the·floor" (וְאֶת־קַרְקַ֥ע, 7 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "and·the·floor" (וְאֶת־קַרְקַ֥ע), "within" (לִפְנִ֖ימָה). 6 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "gold" (root זהב, 44x in I Kings). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'gold', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 2 words. Full calculation: וְאֶת־קַרְקַ֥ע [and·the·floor] (877) + הַבַּ֖יִת [the·house] (417) + צִפָּ֣ה [he·overlaid] (175) + זָהָ֑ב [gold] (14) + לִפְנִ֖ימָה [within] (215) + וְלַחִיצֽוֹן [and·to·the·outer] (200) = 1898.
Rashi
"And the floor of the house." The entire floor.
"[Both] the inner and the outer." [Refers] to the Holy of Holies and to the Sanctuary [Heichal].
Ralbag
And he mentioned that the floor of the house was overlaid with gold in the inner chamber and in the sanctuary; however, he assumed that the floor of the sanctuary was overlaid with cedar wood, unlike the floor of the inner chamber, as stated previously. Indeed, this was so that the depth of the inner chamber would remain twenty cubits, and so that there would also be a visible distinction between the Holy and the Holy of Holies.
Metzudat David
Overlaid with gold. Upon the floor of the cypress boards.
Inward and outward. To the holy of holies and to the sanctuary.
Malbim
"And the floor..." – after he had made the cherubim in the Shrine, he then overlaid the floor, lest the overlay be damaged by his walking there, and by the making of the cherubim.
And for the entrance of the Sanctuary he made doors of olive-wood, the door-posts within the frame having five angles.
verse value 4161
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 40 letters. The shortest word is "and·(object marker)" (וְאֵת֙, 3 letters) and the longest is "trees·of·oil" (עֲצֵי־שָׁ֑מֶן, 6 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "the·frame" (הָאַ֥יִל), "fifth" (חֲמִשִֽׁית). 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "did" (root עשה, 143x in I Kings); "the·frame" (root איל, 125x in I Kings). First appearance of the root דלת ("doors·of") in I Kings. First appearance of the root מזוזה ("doorposts·of") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'trees·of·oil', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 3 words. Full calculation: וְאֵת֙ [and·(object marker)] (407) + פֶּ֣תַח [opening] (488) + הַדְּבִ֔יר [the·Sanctuary] (221) + עָשָׂ֖ה [did] (375) + דַּלְת֣וֹת [doors·of] (840) + עֲצֵי־שָׁ֑מֶן [trees·of·oil] (560) + הָאַ֥יִל [the·frame] (46) + מְזוּז֖וֹת [doorposts·of] (466) + חֲמִשִֽׁית [fifth] (758) = 4161.
Rashi
Trees of oil. Trees of olive:
"The ram." The rams of the entrance are the doorposts on this side and on that side, made round, like rams, ailei and ailemi (other manuscripts read alei and alon). And so throughout Ezekiel's temple, the jambs of the entrances are called "rams."
"Mezuzot, the fifth." The threshold is one, and the mezuzot, one on this side and one on that, are two; that makes three. And the lintel above them is made like two, as in this and this diagram: So I have heard. And I say: "Mezuzot, the fifth" means that the mezuzot had five sides, and it was not square. And it is not speaking of the threshold, nor of the lintel, for we do not find the threshold and the lintel called "posts."
Radak
"And the entrance of the inner sanctuary." Just as it says "and to the entrance of the inner sanctuary," and similarly, "He made his likeness" is like "to his likeness," and as the Targum of Jonathan renders it: "and to the gate of the Holy of Holies."
"The lintel, the doorposts, a fifth." The lintel is the upper threshold, and the doorposts are those on this side and that side, upon which the threshold is set close. And I say that the lintel of the doorway and its doorposts were of a fivefold configuration, that the doorpost had five sides, one within the other, and so too the other doorpost, and so too the lintel. And Targum Yonatan [renders]: "aila ve-safohi metaksin" [the lintel and its thresholds are arranged/ordered]. According to his view, the sense of the verse would be as if it said: the lintel and the doorposts were "chamushim" [arrayed in ranks] — the Targum's rendering of "chamishit" is "metaksin," like "chamushim." And so too the Targum renders "and they shall measure the pattern" (Ezekiel 43:10) as "takus."
Ralbag
“And for the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts, a fifth part.” The meaning is that the threshold—and it is the sill at the entrance—and the doorposts that were on its sides were the fifth of the entrances, for the fifth entrance was to the inner sanctuary, the fourth to the Holy Place, the third to the entrance of the porch, the second to the Court of the Priests, and the first to the Great Court. This is because outside the porch was the Court of the Priests, and outside the Court of the Priests was the Great Court. And behold, the Court of the Priests and the Great Court are mentioned in the Book of Chronicles.
Metzudat David
And the door of the inner sanctuary. And to the door made in the partition separating between the sanctuary and the holy of holies.
He made doors. There were two; one at the doorpost on one side, and the other on the other side; and each was half the width of the space of the door.
Five-sided doorposts. Meaning: the pillars of the doorposts were five-sided, not square like the way of most doorposts.
Metzudat Zion
U'et petach. Like 'ul'petach'; likewise (Leviticus 16:15) 've'asa et damo' — its grammatical reading: 'ledamo':
Ha'ayil. The posts of the doorposts are called 'eilim'; like (Ezekiel 40:9) 've'eilav shtayim amot' [and its posts were two cubits]. It says 'mezuzot' as an additional explanation using synonymous terms, like (Daniel 12:2) 'admat afar' [dust of the earth]:
Malbim
"And the entrance, etc." "The pilaster, the doorposts, fivefold." Explanation: It was made of olive wood, between the pilaster – meaning the lintel above – and the doorposts. And "fivefold" means the fifth entrance, for there were five entrances in the Temple: the first to the Great Court, the second to the Court of the Priests, which was after that court, the third to the Ulam (porch), the fourth to the Holy Place, and the fifth to the Holy of Holies. Regarding this one, it says "fivefold." And so did Rabbi Levi ben Gershom explain.
And as for the two doors of olive-wood, he carved upon them carvings of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the gold upon the cherubim, and upon the palm-trees.
verse value 7363
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 86 letters. The shortest word is "gold" (זָהָ֑ב, 3 letters) and the longest is "upon·the·cherubim" (עַל־הַכְּרוּבִ֥ים, 9 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "upon·the·cherubim" (עַל־הַכְּרוּבִ֥ים), "and·upon·the·palm-trees" (וְעַל־הַתִּמֹר֖וֹת), "the·gold" (אֶת־הַזָּהָֽב). The root כרוב appears 2 times in this verse. 13 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "upon·them" (root על, 127x in I Kings); "two" (root שנים, 45x in I Kings); "gold" (root זהב, 44x in I Kings). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'gold', dividing the verse into phrases of 12 and 4 words.
Rashi
"And he hammered [the gold] onto the cherubim." He would hammer the gold into thin sheets within the engravings of the figures, so that it would sink in at the place of the carving and protrude at the raised part, so that the gold would not obliterate the figures, and the shapes of the wood would be recognizable through the gold.
Radak
"And two doors of olive wood." The two doors of olive wood that he said he made for the entrance to the Holy of Holies — he carved upon them carvings of cherubim, just as he had done for the walls. The vav of "ve-kala" [and he carved] is like the vav of "va-yisa Avraham et einav" [and Abraham lifted up his eyes] (Genesis 22:4), "nirdam" [asleep], "ve-rekhev va-sus" [and chariot and horse], and others [similarly formed]. Or perhaps its meaning is simply as it appears literally. And when it says, "and two doors of cypress wood," after having already said, "and two doors of olive wood," this comes to teach that there were four doors for the entrance to the Holy of Holies, and likewise for the entrance to the Sanctuary. And so it is stated in Ezekiel's description of the Temple: "And two doors for the Sanctuary and for the Holy Place, and two doors for the doors." And our Sages of blessed memory explained that the outer doors opened inward into the doorway, to cover the thickness of the wall, and the inner doors opened inward into the house, to cover the backs of the doors, since the entire house was plastered with gold, except for the backs of the doors. And even though there were doors at the entrance to the Holy of Holies, there was also a curtain there, as it says in Chronicles: "to be a screen for the entrance," because the doors were not closed, since the poles of the Ark were placed across the entrance to the Holy of Holies. Therefore, the curtain served as a screen for the entrance to the Holy of Holies.
"He hammered [it] upon the cherubim." Now, after it stated that it was overlaid with gold, why does it go on to say "he hammered"? This is so that you should not say that it was entirely overlaid with gold and the forms were not distinguishable as they had been before the gold overlay; rather, they remained so afterward, because he hammered the gold thin over the forms. And the Targum renders "va-yerak'u" [they hammered out] as "u-radidu" [and they spread thin].
Ralbag
“And two doors of olive wood, and he carved upon them.” This means: And two doors of olive wood, which he made for the Holy of Holies, he engraved upon them the form of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold in such a manner that the gold descended upon those engravings, and they appeared in gold in the image that was made in the olive wood.
Metzudat David
And two doors , etc. Meaning: those two doors of olive wood, made for the door of the inner sanctuary, were carved; and engraved upon them was the figure of cherubim, etc.
Overlaid with gold. Upon the doors.
And the gold descended upon the cherubim , etc. The gold overlay was thin upon the figures, to be sunken in the place of their recess, and prominent in the place of their protrusion; so that the gold overlay would not cancel the figures of the carvings, but they would be visible as they were overlaid with gold.
Metzudat Zion
Vayared. A matter of hammering and flattening; like (Psalms 144:2) 'who subdues my people under me' (harodeid ami tachtai):
Malbim
"And two doors": Our Sages explained that there were four doors for the entrance to the Holy of Holies, and likewise for the entrance to the Sanctuary, as it is stated in Ezekiel (41:23): "And two doors for the Sanctuary and for the Holy [Place], and two doors for the doors." They said that the outer doors opened inward into the doorway to cover the thickness of the wall, and the inner doors opened inward into the chamber to cover the backs of the doors, since the backs of the doors were not overlaid with gold.
And he wove, etc., and he hammered, etc.: This means that you should not say that the cherubim were not visible because of the covering, since the gold was hammered into the forms in such a way that they protruded from the gold.
So also made he for the entrance of the temple door-posts of olive-wood, within a frame four-square;
verse value 3188
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 35 letters. The shortest word is "and·thus" (וְכֵ֥ן, 3 letters) and the longest is "doorposts·of" (מְזוּז֣וֹת, 6 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "opening" (לְפֶ֥תַח), "fourth" (רְבִעִֽית). 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "did" (root עשה, 143x in I Kings). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'trees·of·oil', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 2 words. Full calculation: וְכֵ֥ן [and·thus] (76) + עָשָׂ֛ה [did] (375) + לְפֶ֥תַח [opening] (518) + הַהֵיכָ֖ל [palace] (70) + מְזוּז֣וֹת [doorposts·of] (466) + עֲצֵי־שָׁ֑מֶן [trees·of·oil] (560) + מֵאֵ֖ת [from] (441) + רְבִעִֽית [fourth] (682) = 3188.
Rashi
Foursquare. The doorposts of the Temple were square, and so too did Jonathan translate: “From its four sides they are squared.”
Radak
And so he did. Regarding the doorposts, it states that he made the doorposts of the entrance to the Temple of olive wood, just as he had made those for the entrance to the Holy of Holies; but the doors of the entrance to the Temple were of fir wood.
“From a fourth [construction].” Just as he explained “fifth,” that there were five sides in the mezuzah, one inside the other, and in the mezuzah of the entrance to the Temple there were four, one inside the other; and he explained “from” because “fourth” is an adjective describing a characteristic, just as he explained “fifth” is also an adjective describing a characteristic, and “from” is attached to the characteristic, as if saying, “made from a fourth characteristic.” And similarly, “from this you shall go out” is like “from this.” And one can say further that it pertains to the matter of a fourth plank, for we find in the Mishnah, “and a fourth of cedar upon them,” and the explanation is planks. And he says that the mezuzah was not a single solid body, but was made of planks glued one to the other. And the Targum says, “from the four sides of them, they are square,” saying that the mezuzot were square in their four corners. And for this matter, we can explain “fifth” in that the mezuzot had five sides to each mezuzah, and the mezuzot of the Temple had four.
Ralbag
And likewise he did for the side of the Temple, etc. This means that he likewise made for the entrance of the Temple doorposts of olive wood; it was the fourth from the entrance. And from this we learn the ranking of the entrances in number, for here he alludes to what was intended in this structure, as has been explained.
Metzudat David
From a fourth. From a quarter; and also (Jeremiah 2:37) 'from this you shall go forth' which is like 'from this.' And he means: that he made these doorposts square, four-sided; not like the doorposts of the holy of holies.
Malbim
And similarly, he made it for the entrance to the Temple, where the doorposts were also of olive wood, and the doors were of cypress wood, which is of a lower rank than olive wood. And what is meant by "a quarter" is that it was the fourth entrance.
and two doors of cypress-wood; the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.
verse value 5803
Insights
Verse structure: 14 words, 64 letters. The shortest word is "tree" (עֲצֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "cypress" (בְרוֹשִׁ֑ים, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 439: door, door. 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "sides" (צְלָעִ֜ים), "hangings" (קְלָעִ֛ים). The root שנים appears 3 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·one" (root אחד, 61x in I Kings); "two" (root שנים, 45x in I Kings). First appearance of the root גליל ("folding") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'cypress', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 10 words. Full calculation: וּשְׁתֵּ֥י [two] (716) + דַלְת֖וֹת [doors·of] (840) + עֲצֵ֣י [tree] (170) + בְרוֹשִׁ֑ים [cypress] (558) + שְׁנֵ֨י [two·of] (360) + צְלָעִ֜ים [sides] (240) + הַדֶּ֤לֶת [door] (439) + הָאַחַת֙ [the·one] (414) + גְּלִילִ֔ים [folding] (123) + וּשְׁנֵ֧י [and·two·of] (366) + קְלָעִ֛ים [hangings] (250) + הַדֶּ֥לֶת [door] (439) + הַשֵּׁנִ֖ית [second] (765) + גְּלִילִֽים [folding] (123) = 5803.
Rashi
“And two doors.” Each one is equivalent to half the width of the doorway.
"Two ribs." Jonathan translates: "Two hinges," the upper hinge and the lower hinge.
"Gelilim" [rounded]. (Targum:) "Segalgelin" — round/circular.
"And two kela'im [pivots]." This too is translated "hinges." I say that the term "kela'im" is Aramaic, meaning "entrance," since it enters into the hole of the threshold.
Radak
“Two sideboards.” The two sides of the door—the inner side and the outer side—were made in the form of cylinders, with carvings; and so too was the second door.
"Kela'im." Like "tzela'im" [sides]. And similarly "tirtzedun" is like "tirkedun" [you shall dance/leap] (Psalms 68:17). And further, [the verse says] "kala alehem keruvim ve-timorot" [he carved upon them cherubim and palm-trees]. And it was already explained that "ve-kala" is like "ve-tziyer" [and he drew/depicted], and "miklaot" is like "tziyur" [depiction]. And Targum Yonatan [renders]: "trein tzirin de-dasha chada sagalgalin, u-trein tzirin de-dasha tinyana sagalgalin" [two hinges of the one door round, and two hinges of the second door round]. He translates "kela'im" like "tzela'im," as explained, and the hinges ["tzirin"] like the hinge of a door.
Ralbag
"And two doors of cypress wood; the one door had two leaves, [which were] rounded." The meaning is that on both sides of the door were depicted the forms of cylinders [rounded moldings] and pillars.
"And two leaves." This means that the two sides of the second door also had their designs, likewise, in the form of cylinders [rounded moldings].
Metzudat David
And two doors. Of the sanctuary, were of cypress wood; and they were in the pattern of the doors of the holy of holies: one fixed in this doorpost, and one in that; and in each was half the width of the space of the door.
Two sides of the one door. The two sides of the one door, on this side and on that side, were engraved with the work of rollers, meaning: wheels.
And two carvings. Meaning: and so the two sides of the second door were engraved with the work of rollers. Or he means: and two carvings were on the second door, on this side and on that side; and they were the work of rollers; and the intention is the same as with the first explanation.
Metzudat Zion
Tzela'im. Meaning side and flank; like (Exodus 26:20) 'and to the side of the tabernacle' (ul'tzela hamishkan):
Gelilim. From the language of wheel and axle; like (Esther 1:6) 'on silver rods' (glilei chesef):
Kala'im. Engravings; or it is like tzela'im with an interchange of the kof for the tsadi; likewise the reversal (Psalms 68:17) 'lama tiratzedun' — I mean: tirkedun:
Malbim
"And two doors" – this means a door within a door (as stated above in verse 32). And each door consisted of two sides, meaning two planks; one door was folding.
And two braided patterns: this means two interwoven designs, and the second door was in the form of scrolls.
And he carved thereon cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted upon the graven work.
verse value 3074
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 43 letters. The shortest word is "gold" (זָהָ֔ב, 3 letters) and the longest is "upon·the·graven·work" (עַל־הַמְּחֻקֶּֽה, 7 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "palm·tree·figure" (וְתִ֣מֹר֔וֹת), "and·opened" (וּפְטֻרֵ֖י), "fitted" (מְיֻשָּׁ֖ר). 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "gold" (root זהב, 44x in I Kings); "cherubim" (root כרוב, 20x in I Kings). First appearance of the root ישר ("fitted") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'flowers', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 4 words. Full calculation: וְקָלַ֤ע [and·he·carved] (206) + כְּרוּבִים֙ [cherubim] (278) + וְתִ֣מֹר֔וֹת [palm·tree·figure] (1052) + וּפְטֻרֵ֖י [and·opened] (305) + צִצִּ֑ים [flowers] (230) + וְצִפָּ֣ה [and·overlaid] (181) + זָהָ֔ב [gold] (14) + מְיֻשָּׁ֖ר [fitted] (550) + עַל־הַמְּחֻקֶּֽה [upon·the·graven·work] (258) = 3074.
Rashi
"And he carved cherubim." On the doors.
"Applied evenly upon the engraving." The gold is aligned with the engraving of the forms, sinking in where it is meant to be sunken and protruding where it is meant to be raised, so that the forms are clearly visible in it.
Radak
"Evenly, upon the carving." As it stated above, "va-yered al ha-keruvim ve-al ha-temorot et ha-zahav" [he hammered the gold upon the cherubim and the palms], so it says here — lest you say that it was overlaid with gold and the forms were not distinguishable — rather, the gold was leveled and laid upon the carving, [reaching] to the forms; just as they were sunken or protruding, the gold covered them, and the forms were visible as they were originally, but they were covered with gold. And in Targum Jonathan: "makhbash al tzurta" [pressed upon the form].
Ralbag
"And he carved cherubim, etc., and overlaid it with gold, evenly, upon the engraved pattern." This means that the gold descended in a straight manner onto the engraving there, from these designs, in such a way that the forms would be visible in the gold.
Metzudat David
And carved cherubim. He also engraved upon them cherubim, etc.
Smooth upon the carved. He hammered the gold thin, to be even upon the carving of the figures that were on the doors; to be sunken in the place of their recess, and prominent in the place of their protrusion; so that the gold would not cancel the figures of the carvings, but the gold would be visible.
Metzudat Zion
Hamahaka. From the language of engraving:
Malbim
"Covered with gold" means that in the Holy of Holies, the gold was hammered onto the cherubim, namely, the gold was melted in such a way that it penetrated into the engraved patterns according to their depth and measure. But in the Holy Place, the gold was smoothed over the engraved patterns, namely, sheets of gold were laid flat and then hammered with a mallet until the gold sank into the engraved patterns. In this case, so much gold was not required. This is one of the excellences of the Holy of Holies over the Holy Place.
And he built the inner court with three rows of hewn stone, and a row of cedar beams.
verse value 4146
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 42 letters. The shortest word is "and·he·built" (וַיִּ֙בֶן֙, 4 letters) and the longest is "inner" (הַפְּנִימִ֔ית, 7 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "the·court" (אֶת־הֶחָצֵ֣ר). The root טור appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·he·built" (root בנה, 66x in I Kings); "three" (root שלוש, 27x in I Kings); "cedars" (root ארז, 20x in I Kings). First appearance of the root חצר ("the·court") in I Kings. First appearance of the root טור ("rows·of") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'wrought', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיִּ֙בֶן֙ [and·he·built] (68) + אֶת־הֶחָצֵ֣ר [the·court] (704) + הַפְּנִימִ֔ית [inner] (595) + שְׁלֹשָׁ֖ה [three] (635) + טוּרֵ֣י [rows·of] (225) + גָזִ֑ית [wrought] (420) + וְט֖וּר [and·row·of] (221) + כְּרֻתֹ֥ת [beams] (1020) + אֲרָזִֽים [cedars] (258) = 4146.
Rashi
"The inner courtyard." This is the Court of the Priests and the Court of Israel, and it was situated before the Ulam (the Portico). It is called "inner" because it was located inside the Court of Women. (And in the Bible we do not find the term "Azarah" [Court] written, only in the Mishnah.)
"And a row of cut cedars." [This refers to] a course of the walls (hewn) that was made in the wall:
Radak
“And he built the inner courtyard.” This is the courtyard also called the Azarah, and it is called “inner” because it was situated within the Temple Mount.
"Cut [beams]." Cedar beams, cut and well-hewn, to be placed in the wall. And there were three rows of hewn stone, and the one [row] was of cedar beams. And Targum Yonatan renders "kerutot" as "marish" [a beam]. And in the words of our Sages, of blessed memory, [it is discussed] regarding "the stolen beam that was built into a mansion."
Ralbag
"And he built the inner court." This is the Azarah, and its dimensions are not specified. And behold, he built its walls all around with three courses of dressed stone, and one course above them of large cedar beams.
Metzudat David
The inner court. This is the court of the priests. Three rows of dressed stone: three rows one upon the other, he built of dressed stone; and upon them the fourth row he built of hewn and well-chiseled cedars; and in this order he built it until the completion of the height of the walls.
Metzudat Zion
Turi. Rows; like (Exodus 28:17) 'four rows' (arba turim):
Gazit. Hewn squarely:
Malbim
"And he built, etc." – this is the inner courtyard mentioned below (7:12), which was in front of the hall. And since it was not overlaid with gold, nor was it built inside with cedar ribs, he said that only the outer structure consisted of three rows of polished stone, etc.
In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of Hashem laid, in the month Ziv.
verse value 1799
Insights
Verse structure: 7 words, 27 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֑ה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "Ziv" (זִֽו, 2 letters) and the longest is "fourth" (הָרְבִיעִ֔ית, 7 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "was·founded" (יֻסַּ֖ד). 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 254x in I Kings); "house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "in·the·year" (root שנה, 72x in I Kings). First appearance of the root ירח ("month") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Hashem', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 2 words. Full calculation: בַּשָּׁנָה֙ [in·the·year] (357) + הָרְבִיעִ֔ית [fourth] (697) + יֻסַּ֖ד [was·founded] (74) + בֵּ֣ית [house] (412) + יְהֹוָ֑ה [Hashem] (26) + בְּיֶ֖רַח [month] (220) + זִֽו [Ziv] (13) = 1799.
Rashi
"In the fourth year. To King Solomon:"
He established the house of the Lord. Its foundation was begun:
Radak
"יוסד" – In the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, the construction of the Temple was begun, and this is the "יוסד" [foundation laid] mentioned in the verse: they built its foundation.
In the month of Ziv. As it is written above:
Metzudat David
In the fourth year. Of Solomon's kingship.
It was founded. The foundation was laid.
Metzudat Zion
Byarach. In the month:
Malbim
"In the fourth year" — this was already stated at the beginning of the section; rather, he comes to say that the commencement was in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv, and the completion in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul. This is either to inform us that he was engaged in its construction for seven years, and there were seven years and seven months (and according to my opinion, seven years he was engaged in the building, and seven months he was engaged in the gold plastering, which was after the completion of the building, and he informs us that he guarded in this the number of weeks, which is holy, both in years and in months); or to inform us that the foundation was in the month of Ziv and the completion in the month of Bul, which is contrary to nature, for in the month of Bul is the sowing, and in the month of Ziv is the birth, when everything is full and abundant, and then the construction of nature is completed, for nature and the divine matter: one begins at the time that the other ceases from giving birth, as it is stated in this regard in another place.
And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.
verse value 4500
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 70 letters. Verse gematria: 4500 is divisible by 50, the years to the Jubilee (yovel). The shortest word is "Bul" (בּ֗וּל, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·to·all·his·ordinance" (וּלְכׇל־מִשְׁפָּטָ֑ו, 9 letters). 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in I Kings. Unique to this verse in I Kings (hapax): "and·in·the·year" (וּבַשָּׁנָה֩), "Bul" (בּ֗וּל), "all" (כָּלָ֣ה). The root שנה appears 2 times in this verse. 14 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·house" (root בית, 191x in I Kings); "to·all·his·words" (root דבר, 191x in I Kings); "and·in·the·year" (root שנה, 72x in I Kings). First appearance of the root שמיני ("eighth") in I Kings. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·to·all·his·ordinance', dividing the verse into phrases of 12 and 3 words.
Rashi
In the month of Bul. This is the month of Marcheshvan, when the grass has withered in the field, and they mix fodder for the animals from [what is stored in] the house, an expression [related to] (Judges 19:21): "and he gave fodder to the donkeys."
Radak
"In the month of Bul." It is Marcheshvan, as it says, "it is the eighth month." And it is called so because of the rains that begin in it, [relating to] the matter of "mabul" [flood]. And in the words of our Sages, of blessed memory: "in the month of Bul, in which the leaf withers, and the ground becomes clods and clods [of mire], and it is the month in which they mix fodder for the cattle indoors" — meaning that the cattle's food from the field has run out. And the view of Yonatan on this is that he rendered it "yerach meisaf abbaya" [the month of gathering-in of produce].
“And he built it for seven years.” For seven years. And after it stated, “And in the eleventh year the house was finished,” what was the need to say, “And he built it for seven years”? Lest you say that he delayed in the midst of the building and did not engage in the construction for all seven years; therefore, it returned and stated, “And he built it for seven years.”
Ralbag
In the month of Bul. It is the month of Marcheshvan.
"And he built it seven years." He did not insist on the half-year that was extra, or perhaps the construction was completed in seven years, but some of the things done to it for beauty and adornment were not completed until the time mentioned. And this is mentioned because he will subsequently mention that Solomon built his house in thirteen years, and this indicates the intensity of his diligence in the Temple.
Metzudat David
All its details. All the matters needed in it.
And all its ordinances. It is the same; and a repetition of the matter in different words.
And he built it seven years. Meaning: that he built it all seven years, and did not stop for any time. And he did not bother to count the additional months beyond the seven years. Or he means: that he built it only seven complete years; for during the time of the building, he ceased to build it by the measure of the months exceeding the seven years.
Metzudat Zion
Bul. It is Cheshvan, in which the leaves of trees wither and shrivel:
Kalah. Completed:
Rashi
Radak
Ralbag
Metzudat David
Metzudat Zion
Malbim