I Kings Chapter 6

Please read:  I Kings 6 –

This chapter describes the building of the temple and is very detailed in describing the size, layout and structure.  It was not an exceptionally large structure, but it was fashioned after the tabernacle only it was about twice that size.  Since the Bible tells us that they began to build it in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, we can surmise that it took the first three years to prepare for the structure, the foundation stones to be created and materials to be brought together.  It is also important to note that the people left Egypt 418 years prior.  The people had lived in the promised land about 378 years and are finally at a point where they can build the temple.

The temple building was built with outside rooms on three sides of the temple that were not exactly connected to the inside structure, just built next to the main structure.  These outer rooms had 3 stories with stairs going up to each floor.  The description of these side rooms being wider as you go up seems odd, but if you picture all 3 floors as touching the temple walls then think of the width of those floors being supported by stones underneath that get thicker as you go down, like our modern supports of a stairwell turned up on its bottom end.  This was so that the beams that ran across the main structure did not also run through the outer rooms.  The outer rooms were supported separately.  If the ancient measurement of a cubit is about 18 inches, then the temple was approximately 110 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

There are many different renderings of what Solomon’s temple looked like on the internet.  There are differences of opinions about how the 3 floors were structured.  I tend to lean towards a stairwell that went up to the vestibule and then a second set of steps that led up to the holy of holies.  It was a magnificent building and built for the purpose of worshipping God.