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1 Kings Chapter 6

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October 8, 2025

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🏗️ Solomon Starts Building God’s House

It had been 480 years since God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Now, in the fourth year that Solomon was king, he began building a beautiful house for Yahweh—a special temple where God would live among His people! This happened in the springtime, in the month of Ziv. The temple was going to be amazing! It was 90 feet long (that’s about as long as three school buses parked end to end!), 30 feet wide, and 45 feet tall. At the front, Solomon built an entrance hallᵃ that was like a grand porch welcoming everyone to God’s house. Solomon added special windows that let light shine in, and he built rooms all along the sides of the temple—three whole floors of them! The bottom floor was 7½ feet wide, the middle floor was 9 feet wide, and the top floor was 10½ feet wide. These rooms got wider as they went up because Solomon was super smart about how he built them—he made little ledges in the walls so the floors could rest on them without poking holes into God’s holy temple walls.

⚒️ The Quietest Construction Site Ever!

Here’s something really cool: when the workers built the temple, they cut and shaped all the stones at the quarry (the place where they dug up the stones) before bringing them to the temple site. That meant no hammering, no chiseling, no banging of tools at all while they were building! Can you imagine a construction site with no noise? It was peaceful and quiet, showing respect for God’s special house.ᵇ They built staircases so people could go up to the second and third floors. Solomon covered the ceiling with beautiful cedar wood beams and planks. Everything smelled like fresh cedar—like being in a forest!

💬 God’s Special Promise to Solomon

While Solomon was building the temple, Yahweh spoke to him with an important message. God said, “Solomon, I’m watching you build this temple for Me. But here’s what really matters: If you obey My rules, follow My instructions, and keep all My commands, then I will keep the promise I made to your father David. I will live here among My people Israel, and I will never leave them.” God was reminding Solomon that the fancy building was wonderful, but what God really wanted was for Solomon and the people to love Him and obey Him. That was more important than any building!

✨ Inside the Temple: Pure Gold Everywhere!

Solomon kept building and made the inside of the temple absolutely gorgeous! He covered the walls with smooth cedar wood panels from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. The floor was made of sweet-smelling juniper wood. At the very back of the temple, Solomon built the most special room of all—the Most Holy Place.ᶜ This was a perfect cube, 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. This is where the Ark of the Covenantᵈ would go—the golden box that held the stone tablets with God’s Ten Commandments. And guess what? Solomon covered EVERYTHING inside with pure gold! The walls were gold. The floor was gold. The ceiling was gold. There were gold chains across the entrance to the Most Holy Place. Even the altar was covered in gold! When the sun shone through the windows, the whole inside of the temple must have sparkled and gleamed like a treasure chest!

👼 The Giant Golden Angels

For the Most Holy Place, Solomon made two huge cherubimᵉ—special angels that guard God’s throne. These weren’t little decorations! Each angel was 15 feet tall (taller than two grown-ups standing on each other’s shoulders!), carved from olive wood. Each cherub had two wings, and each wing was 7½ feet long. So from one wing tip to the other, each angel measured 15 feet across! Solomon placed them in the Most Holy Place so their wings spread out and touched the walls on both sides, and their wings touched each other in the middle. Then he covered these magnificent angels with gold, too.

🌴 Beautiful Decorations Everywhere

Solomon wanted every part of the temple to be beautiful for God. So all around the walls—in every room—he had workers carve pictures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers into the wood. It was like bringing a garden inside! These carvings reminded everyone that God made all the beautiful things in nature. Even the floors were covered with gold in both the inner rooms and outer rooms. Can you imagine walking on golden floors?

🚪 Special Doors for a Special Place

The entrance to the Most Holy Place had doors made of olive wood. These doors were carved with more cherubim, palm trees, and flowers, and then covered with hammered gold. The entrance to the main hall also had special doors made from juniper wood. These doors were clever—each door had two parts that could fold and swing on sockets (kind of like hinges). These doors were also carved with beautiful designs and covered with gold. Outside the temple, Solomon built a courtyard with walls made of three layers of cut stone and one layer of cedar beams.

🎉 Seven Years of Building!

Solomon started building the temple in his fourth year as king, in the month of Ziv (springtime). It took seven whole years to finish everything! Finally, in Solomon’s eleventh year as king, in the month of Bul (fall time), the temple was completely done. Every single detail was exactly as planned. Every measurement was perfect. Every decoration was in place. God’s beautiful house was ready! Soon God’s glorious presence would fill the temple, and everyone would know that Yahweh truly lived among His people.

Kid-Friendly Footnotes:

  • ᵃ Entrance hall: This was like a fancy front porch that made everyone feel welcome when they came to worship God.
  • ᵇ Silent construction: Building God’s house quietly showed special respect. It’s like how you might whisper in a library or be quiet during prayer—it shows the place is important and holy.
  • ᶜ Most Holy Place: This was the most special room in the whole temple—the place where God’s presence would be the strongest. Only the high priest could go in there, and only once a year! It was like the ultimate VIP room, but for God.
  • ᵈ Ark of the Covenant: This was a special golden box that held the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses. It represented God’s promise (covenant) with His people and His presence with them.
  • ᵉ Cherubim: These are powerful angels that serve God and guard holy places. In the Bible, cherubim are often near God’s throne. They’re not chubby baby angels—they’re mighty and awesome warriors of heaven!
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Footnotes:

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Footnotes:

  • 1
    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 Zif, which [is] the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.
  • 2
    And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof [was] threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty [cubits], and the height thereof thirty cubits.
  • 3
    And the porch before the temple 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.
  • 4
    And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.
  • 5
    And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, [against] the walls of the house round about, [both] of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:
  • 6
    The nethermost chamber [was] five cubits broad, and the middle [was] six cubits broad, and the third [was] seven cubits broad: for without [in the wall] of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that [the beams] should not be fastened in the walls of the house.
  • 7
    And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe [nor] any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.
  • 8
    The door for the middle chamber [was] in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle [chamber], and out of the middle into the third.
  • 9
    So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.
  • 10
    And [then] he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.
  • 11
    And the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying,
  • 12
    [Concerning] this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father:
  • 13
    And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.
  • 14
    So Solomon built the house, and finished it.
  • 15
    And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the cieling: [and] he covered [them] on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.
  • 16
    And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built [them] for it within, [even] for the oracle, [even] for the most holy [place].
  • 17
    And the house, that [is], the temple before it, was forty cubits [long].
  • 18
    And the cedar of the house within [was] carved with knops and open flowers: all [was] cedar; there was no stone seen.
  • 19
    And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.
  • 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.
  • 21
    So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.
  • 22
    And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that [was] by the oracle he overlaid with gold.
  • 23
    And within the oracle he made two cherubims [of] olive tree, [each] ten cubits high.
  • 24
    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 unto the uttermost part of the other [were] ten cubits.
  • 25
    And the other cherub [was] ten cubits: both the cherubims [were] of one measure and one size.
  • 26
    The height of the one cherub [was] ten cubits, and so [was it] of the other cherub.
  • 27
    And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, 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.
  • 28
    And he overlaid the cherubims with gold.
  • 29
    And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.
  • 30
    And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without.
  • 31
    And for the entering of the oracle he made doors [of] olive tree: the lintel [and] side posts [were] a fifth part [of the wall].
  • 32
    The two doors also [were of] olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid [them] with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees.
  • 33
    So also made he for the door of the temple posts [of] olive tree, a fourth part [of the wall].
  • 34
    And the two doors [were of] fir tree: the two leaves of the one door [were] folding, and the two leaves of the other door [were] folding.
  • 35
    And he carved [thereon] cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered [them] with gold fitted upon the carved work.
  • 36
    And he built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams.
  • 37
    In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the LORD laid, in the month Zif:
  • 38
    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.
  • 1
    In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the month of Ziv, the second month of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, he began to build the house of the LORD.
  • 2
    The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
  • 3
    The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple.
  • 4
    He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.
  • 5
    Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms.
  • 6
    The bottom floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits, and the third floor seven cubits. He also placed offset ledges around the outside of the temple, so that nothing would be inserted into its walls.
  • 7
    The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.
  • 8
    The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor.
  • 9
    So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar.
  • 10
    He built chambers all along the temple, each five cubits high and attached to the temple with beams of cedar.
  • 11
    Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying:
  • 12
    “As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David.
  • 13
    And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.”
  • 14
    So Solomon built the temple and finished it.
  • 15
    He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress boards.
  • 16
    He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.
  • 17
    And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long.
  • 18
    The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.
  • 19
    Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.
  • 20
    The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.
  • 21
    So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold.
  • 22
    So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.
  • 23
    In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood.
  • 24
    One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing was five cubits long as well. So the full wingspan was ten cubits.
  • 25
    The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape,
  • 26
    and the height of each cherub was ten cubits.
  • 27
    And he placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple. Since their wings were spread out, the wing of the first cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the room their wingtips touched.
  • 28
    He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.
  • 29
    Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
  • 30
    And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries.
  • 31
    For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts.
  • 32
    The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold.
  • 33
    In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance.
  • 34
    The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels.
  • 35
    He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold, hammered evenly over the carvings.
  • 36
    Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.
  • 37
    The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv.
  • 38
    In his eleventh year and eighth month, the month of Bul, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years.

1 Kings Chapter 6 Commentary

1What’s 1 Kings 6 about?
2The Full Context
3What the Ancient Words Tell Us
4What Would the Original Audience Have Heard?
5But Wait… Why Did They…?
6Wrestling with the Text
7How This Changes Everything
8Key Takeaway
9Further Reading

When God Gets an Address

What’s 1 Kings 6 about?

This is the chapter where Solomon’s grand vision becomes reality – seven years of construction that transforms Jerusalem forever. We’re watching the most famous building project in biblical history unfold, stone by precious stone, as God finally gets a permanent address in Israel.

The Full Context

1 Kings 6 opens with one of those dates that makes your head spin: “In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord.” That’s around 966 BC, and the author wants us to understand this isn’t just another construction project. This is the culmination of everything that started when Moses led Israel out of slavery – the moment when God’s promise to dwell among his people takes physical form.

The timing matters deeply. David had wanted to build this temple, but God told him no – too much blood on his hands from all those wars (2 Samuel 7:5-13). Solomon, whose name means “peace,” gets the honor instead. The author of Kings is showing us how this temple fits into Israel’s larger story: from the tabernacle wandering in the wilderness to this permanent, magnificent house where heaven touches earth. But there’s tension brewing too – all this gold and grandeur is going to cost Israel more than they imagine, and the seeds of future division are already being planted in Solomon’s increasingly extravagant reign.

What the Ancient Words Tell Us

The Hebrew word for temple here is bayit – literally just “house.” That’s it. Not “sacred building” or “religious complex,” just bayit. The same word you’d use for your neighbor’s house or the local baker’s shop. There’s something beautifully intimate about this choice. God isn’t getting a monument; he’s getting a home.

But then the details start piling up, and you realize this is no ordinary house. The measurements are given in cubits – about 18 inches each – making the main sanctuary roughly 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Not massive by today’s megachurch standards, but the craftsmanship? Absolutely breathtaking.

Grammar Geeks

When the text says the stones were “finished” at the quarry (1 Kings 6:7), the Hebrew word is shalem – meaning complete, whole, perfect. It’s the same root as Solomon’s name and the word shalom. Even the stones had to embody peace and wholeness before they could be part of God’s house.

The silence during construction (1 Kings 6:7) is stunning: “no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.” Picture thousands of workers assembling this massive structure in complete quiet, every piece fitting perfectly into place. It’s like the world’s most complex LEGO set, but with eternal significance.

What Would the Original Audience Have Heard?

When ancient Israelites heard this chapter read, they wouldn’t just see blueprints – they’d see their God finally coming home. For nearly 500 years, God had been portable, dwelling in a tent that moved with the people through wilderness and conquest. Now he was putting down roots, choosing Jerusalem as his forever address.

The cedar wood from Lebanon would have made them gasp. Cedar was the Rolls Royce of ancient timber – aromatic, rot-resistant, and expensive beyond imagination. Hiram of Tyre wasn’t just selling lumber; he was providing the finest building materials in the known world. Every Israelite would understand: nothing was too good for God’s house.

Did You Know?

The “lily work” decoration mentioned in 1 Kings 6:18 wasn’t just pretty – lilies symbolized resurrection and eternal life in ancient Near Eastern cultures. Every carved flower on the temple walls was a visual sermon about God’s power over death.

But there’s something else happening here. Ancient temples in surrounding cultures were often built to house idols – physical representations of gods that people could see and touch. Solomon’s temple is radically different. The Holy of Holies contains only the ark of the covenant, and even that disappears behind a veil. This God refuses to be contained or controlled by human hands.

The original audience would have heard the seven-year construction timeline (1 Kings 6:38) and thought of completeness, perfection – the same number of days God took to create the world. Solomon wasn’t just building a temple; he was participating in God’s ongoing creative work.

But Wait… Why Did They…?

Here’s something that always puzzles me: why all the elaborate side rooms and storage chambers? 1 Kings 6:5-10 describes this complex system of three-story side buildings attached to the main temple. Was God really concerned about having enough closet space?

The answer reveals something profound about how God wanted to dwell among his people. These weren’t just storage units – they were spaces for the priests to live, work, and minister. God wasn’t building himself a private mansion; he was creating a working household where his servants could carry out his purposes.

Wait, That’s Strange…

The windows described in 1 Kings 6:4 were “narrow on the outside and wide on the inside” – the opposite of normal construction. This meant less light coming in, but more mystery. Sometimes God’s house is meant to draw us into deeper questions, not provide easy answers.

And then there’s the gold. Lots and lots of gold (1 Kings 6:20-22). The text almost gets breathless describing it – “pure gold,” “gold chains,” “overlaid with gold.” But why? Ancient peoples associated gold with divinity, with things that don’t tarnish or decay. Every golden surface was declaring that this God is eternal, incorruptible, worthy of humanity’s finest offerings.

Wrestling with the Text

I’ll be honest – this chapter makes me squirm sometimes. All this wealth and grandeur while people probably struggled to put food on their tables. Solomon’s temple was undeniably magnificent, but was it what God really wanted?

The text itself seems to wrestle with this tension. Right in the middle of all the construction details, God interrupts with a message to Solomon (1 Kings 6:11-13): “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”

Notice what God emphasizes: not the gold or the cedar or the perfect stonework, but obedience. The building is beautiful, but the relationship is what matters. God is essentially saying, “Solomon, this house is lovely, but I’m more interested in the condition of your heart than the condition of your walls.”

“God’s house was never about giving him a place to live – it was about giving his people a place to meet him.”

This tension runs through the entire Old Testament. God allows the temple, even commands it, but constantly reminds Israel that he doesn’t actually need a house. As Isaiah 66:1 puts it: “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?”

How This Changes Everything

Here’s what blows me away about 1 Kings 6: this chapter is really about God’s incredible desire to be close to his people. Every measurement, every piece of cedar, every ounce of gold is motivated by love – God’s determination to dwell among the people he created.

But the temple also changes how we understand worship. This isn’t just a place you visit on special occasions; it’s the center of national life, the place where heaven and earth meet. When Jesus later calls himself the temple (John 2:19-21), he’s claiming to be the ultimate meeting place between God and humanity – not a building you visit, but a person you can encounter anywhere.

The seven years of construction remind us that good things take time. Solomon didn’t rush this project, and God didn’t hurry the process. Sometimes the most important things in our lives – relationships, character, faith – need space to develop properly. There’s wisdom in the waiting.

And that silence during construction? It suggests that some of God’s greatest work happens quietly, without fanfare or applause. The most transformative moments often occur not in the noise of our busy lives, but in the hushed spaces where we allow God to shape us stone by stone.

Key Takeaway

God’s house was never about giving him somewhere to live – it was about giving his people somewhere to meet him. The temple reminds us that God doesn’t want to be distant or theoretical; he wants to dwell with us, to be accessible, to make his home among ordinary people living ordinary lives.

Further Reading

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