1 Kings 6:20

And the oracle in the forepart,.... Which stood in the forepart of the temple, before a man's face as he entered into it, and went on; or the forepart of the holy of holies, next to the holy place,

And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.

In the forepart, or rather, which was in the inner part, to wit, of the house; called here in Hebrew, the forepart, not because a man first enters there, but because when a man is entering, or newly entered, into the house, it is still before him. Thus the same, or the like word proceeding from the same root, is oft used, as ,29,30,36 . Twenty cubits in the height thereof. Object. The great house was thirty cubits high, above, . Answ. It is probably affirmed by divers, that the most holy place was not so high as the holy place by ten cubits; which was no way inconvenient, nor against the rules of proportion observed in buildings. And as the second part of the building was far lower than the first, which was the porch; so the third part might be considerably lower than the second. And it might be lower either, 1. Outwardly, or in respect of the walls of it, which might be only twenty cubits high, and at that height covered with a flat roof; it being but decent that that eminently holy place should be distinguished from the less holy, even by its outward and visible shape. Or, 2. Inwardly, or within the walls of that part. For although this part might be vaulted at the top, as the holy place was, which vaulted roof some think was ten cubits high; yet here might be the difference, that the vaulted roof of the holy place lay open to view, whereas that of the most holy was covered with a flat roof from wall to wall, at the height of twenty cubits. So covered, i.e. with gold, . The altar, to wit, the altar of incense, which was put next to the most high place, . Which was of cedar. Object. This altar was made of shittim wood, . Answ. Either that was covered with cedar, that it might be agreeable to the rest; all being cedar, as was said, . Or this was a new altar which Solomon made by Divine command and direction, delivered to him, either immediately, or by his father; of which see , &c. But this place may seem to be better translated thus, and he covered the altar with cedar; either to make it like the rest; or because this was a new altar made of stone, and therefore fit to be covered with cedar, that it might better receive and retain the gold wherewith this cedar was overlaid, .

1 Kings 6:20 And the oracle in the forepart [was] twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and [so] covered the altar [which was of] cedar.Ver. 20. Twenty cubits in length.] So that it was every way square. Overlaid it with pure gold.] Heb., With gold shut up; so called, haply, because men used to hoard up the best gold, and keep it close prisoner, as it were. And so covered the altar.] Which being wood within, and gold without, shadowed out Christ - the true altar - in his twofold nature, human and divine.

(20-22) These verses describe the overlaying with pure gold of the panelling of the house and of the Oracle, the partition dividing them, and the altar of incense. Even the floor was similarly covered. (See 1 Kings 6:30.)

20. the oracle in the fore-part] The two words thus rendered would, if they stood alone, be rendered ‘before the oracle.’ In this verse, however, this cannot be the meaning. But in standing before such a room as is here described, it is in front of you, and you see the interior. In this way ‘before the oracle’ may be taken to indicate what is seen when you stand there. Hence we may arrive at the sense in the R.V. ‘within the oracle was a space &c.’ It is difficult to assign any meaning to the A.V., and it may be that some error has crept into the text. Some have preferred to render literally thus, ‘And before the oracle—twenty cubits was it in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof, and he overlaid it with pure gold—he overlaid also the altar with cedar.’ But the accents of the Hebrew do not favour such a parenthetic clause, and the last sentence is very awkward. The LXX. (Vat.) omits at the beginning of the verse ‘before the oracle,’ then takes the next sentences as a specification of the size of the oracle, and makes an addition to the last clause thus, ‘and he made an altar before the oracle and overlaid it with gold,’ making no mention of the cedar at all. Most probably this represents the correct text. and so covered the altar which was of cedar] We cannot, in the face of the preceding clause, translate otherwise than and he covered an altar with cedar. The construction in the two cases is identical. But then arises a difficulty. The altar in question was the altar of incense in the holy place. This stood in front of the vail which separated the most holy place (see Exodus 40:5; Exodus 40:26), and in Ezekiel 41:22 it is called ‘the altar of wood’ (cf. Exodus 30:1-6). From the description in the verse before us there must have been some substance underneath the wood. The LXX. (Alex.) solves the difficulty by reading ‘and he made’ for ‘and he covered,’ i.e. ειςωׂ for ειφσ, καὶἐποίησεθυσιαστήριονκέδρου.

The fore part - Perhaps “the interior.” And so covered ... - Rather, “and he covered the altar (of incense) with cedar.” The altar was doubtless of stone, and was covered with cedar in preparation for the overlaying with gold.

20. The oracle in the forepart — That is, the holy of holies on the inside measured twenty cubits each way.