And he built twenty cubits of the innermost part of the house, both floor and walls, with boards of cedar; and he built [them] for it within, to [be] the oracle, the most holy place.
Solomon's builders wall off the last twenty cubits at the back of the house with boards of cedar. Why line stone walls with wood, and what does this inner room — the place Scripture calls Most Holy — stand for?
Some translations call this room the oracle. It was the second of the two chambers. God had a throne there, and almost no one could come near Him — until Christ made atonement.
The Holiest of All was the second, or inner, chamber of God's dwelling. Here, from His symbolic throne, Jehovah spoke to the mediator (Ex. 25:22). This chamber was closed against all human access, except once a year, when the high priest entered in to make atonement for the sins of the people... God is no longer dwelling in thick darkness. He is no longer shut off from man. He has come out to man, and He has done so according to the majesty of His throne. Through the sacrificial and priestly work of God's Son, man is urged to draw near to God in His holiness. When Christ made atonement, God tore the veil from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51), from heaven to earth. He destroyed it.
The cedar lining did not stop partway. It ran over every wall, and gold then covered the cedar.
The oracle as well as the holy place ("the temple before it") was covered with cedar wood. In the Word cedar represents majesty and height, durability and firmness. No part of the walls within was left uncovered. Nowhere did the stone appear. But the cedar wood itself, and even the planks of cypress that made the floor, were entirely covered with gold. In the Word gold always represents divine righteousness and glory.
The stones came out of a quarry. Once the walls stood, not one of them showed — and one writer reads that covering as a picture of the believer's past.
God is today getting His stones out of nature's quarry by means of the gospel... But no stone was seen in Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:18). All were completely covered with refined silver (1 Chron. 29:4). In the same way, all that we were by nature is covered by Christ's redemption.
The twenty cubits walled off here are also the room's width and height. That makes it a cube — the shape of the city at the end of the Bible.
As in the tabernacle in the wilderness, the most holy place formed a perfect cube within... So it will be with the New Jerusalem: "The length is as large as the breadth" (Rev. 21:16). The result of God's work is perfect, with nothing to add and nothing to take away. Everything is ordered according to the mind of the Divine Architect.
The tabernacle — the tent Israel carried through the desert — used a different wood. Commentators read the change of timber as a change of setting.
The temple inside was panelled with beams and boards of cedar (v. 9). The tabernacle was built of acacia boards (Ex. 26:15). Acacia is a hard, desert wood. It speaks of humanity in the passing circumstances of desert life. Those boards picture believers as they are seen even now "in Christ," for they were covered with gold. But the cedar of the temple is an especially long-lasting wood. It speaks of believers in glory, in the Father's house. They too are clothed with gold, the symbol of divine glory. They will reflect the beauty of Christ for eternity, not only on earth.
Commentators differ on what hung across the entrance. One links the missing veil in Kings to the viewpoint of the book.
Notice that the Kings description of the temple never mentions the veil or the bronze altar. Only the Chronicles account does. This is because the earlier description views the temple mainly as the dwelling place of God. The later one sees it instead as the seat of divine government, and the place where God's people come to Him.
Another says golden doors stand where the veil stood. The way in is wider — though limits remained.
As stated before, the veil is not mentioned here. A double door of olive wood (v. 31) overlaid with gold replaces it. That is a free, wide way in, and it lets the eye reach into the most holy place. Even so, in keeping with the order of things under the law, golden chains were stretched out before the oracle (v. 21).
- Partition — the last twenty cubits form the inner chamber. God's throne stood there, and only the high priest entered, once a year, to make atonement.
- Cedar — a wood of majesty, height, durability and firmness. It replaces the desert acacia: not believers in wilderness conditions, but believers in glory.
- Covered — no stone stayed in sight. All that we were by nature lies hidden under Christ's redemption, and gold over the cedar puts divine righteousness and glory on every surface.
- Cube — length, width and height all alike. It is the shape of the New Jerusalem: God's finished work needs nothing added and nothing taken away.
- Access — commentators differ on whether a veil still hung at the entrance. Kings shows the house first of all as God's dwelling. When Christ made atonement, God tore the veil, and man is now urged to draw near.
And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits [long].
Solomon's temple had two rooms, and this verse measures the larger one at forty cubits. Commentators read such figures as a plan God Himself gave, with meaning in every dimension.
The room this verse calls the nave is the holy place, the main hall of the house. The holy of holies lies behind it. One summary lays out the whole plan:
It followed the pattern of the tabernacle — a rectangle of sixty cubits by twenty, thirty cubits high. The holy of holies was a cube of twenty cubits. The holy place was forty cubits by twenty. In front stood a porch of ten cubits by twenty.
Forty cubits is a modest room for the house of God. One writer says the restraint is the point:
At first glance the proportions of the temple seem surprising, because they are very restrained. Even unbelievers have noticed this. There is a great difference between the dimensions of Solomon's temple and those of the giant sanctuaries of Egypt. It is not size, but holiness, perfect order, righteousness and glory — the balance and harmony of all the perfections of God — that marks His house.
Some think Solomon copied the great buildings of nearby nations. One writer replies:
Look carefully at the way the temple was built. Beyond the astonishing likeness between its dimensions and those of the tabernacle, you notice that the temple was built on no model other than that one. We press this point because many men disbelieve God's revelation, often without even thinking about it. They will go to great lengths to find out whether Tyrian, Assyrian, Egyptian or Babylonian temples served more or less as models for Solomon's. In fact it served as its own model. Is this not worthy of the true Architect of the temple? He revealed all its details to David, just as He had earlier revealed those of the tabernacle to Moses. And every one of these details had a divine meaning, drawing our thoughts by faith to the Person and work of Christ — something no purely human work could do.
These forty cubits are twice the twenty cubits of the holy place in the tent Israel carried through the desert. The scale changed. The shape did not:
The dimensions of the temple were exactly double those of the tabernacle in length, width and height. But the proportions of the different parts stayed the same. While Israel crossed the wilderness, the tabernacle might have seemed a small thing next to what the house of God was to be in glory. But that temporary building held all God's plan, all the order of His house, and was to show it. It is the same with the church. This is why Scripture tells Timothy how "one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth."
Another writer draws the same doubling forward to a coming day:
In the temple these dimensions were doubled, which would confirm the thought that in the day of glory — for Israel millennial, for the church heaven — the full measure of God's thoughts about His people in Christ will be shown.
The forty-cubit room is the larger one. But the design does not stop there. Behind it sits a chamber with equal length, width and height:
The whole building was 60 cubits long, 20 broad and 20 high. Of this the holy place was 40 cubits long and the holiest 20. So the holiest was again a perfect cube, its breadth and length and height equal. How easy to see here that God's mind finds its perfect realisation only in the holiest.
The room this verse measures was not bare stone. It got the same treatment as the inner sanctuary. An older translation calls it "the temple before it":
Cedar wood covered the inner sanctuary and the holy place ("the temple before it") alike. In the Word cedar stands for majesty and height, for lasting strength and firmness. No part of the inside walls stayed uncovered. Nowhere did the stone show. And gold covered all of it — the cedar wood itself, and even the cypress planks of the floor. In the Word gold always stands for divine righteousness and glory.
That covering decided what anyone stepping inside would see:
Those who entered the temple to dwell with God saw only divine righteousness all around them. The covering reached right down to the floor under their feet. Man cannot dwell with God except on the ground of divine righteousness.
- Pattern. The forty cubits were not Solomon's taste, and not a copy of foreign temples. The temple was its own model, and the true Architect gave its details to David, as He had given the tabernacle's to Moses.
- Proportion. Size was never the point. A forty-cubit room stood in front, a twenty-cubit cube behind. The plan moves inward, to the one place that perfectly shows God's mind.
- Doubling. Every dimension doubled the desert tent's, and the proportions stayed the same. The small tent already held all of God's plan for His house.
- Covering. Nowhere did the stone show. Cedar stood for majesty and lasting strength, and the gold over it for divine righteousness and glory.
- Dwelling. Whoever entered saw righteousness on every side, floor included. Man dwells with God on no other ground.
And the cedar of the house within was carved with colocynths and half-open flowers all was cedar; there was no stone seen.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he prepared the oracle in the midst of the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah.
Solomon's building work reaches its centre here. Everything else in the house serves this one inner room, and the room serves one object — so why does the ark stand at the centre of a whole nation's temple?
Older translations call this room "the oracle." Writers also call it the holy of holies, the innermost sanctuary, or the holiest of all — all names for the same small room at the heart of the house. The name "oracle" records a promise God had made.
In every other place in the Old Testament the word "oracle" applies to the holy of holies. It is no doubt called that because God said, "There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel." Moses received many of the laws from there.
So God meant this room to be where He speaks. Did He speak from it?
An "oracle" is, of course, a speaking-place. Both Kings and Chronicles use the term for the innermost sanctuary of the temple. Israel failed so soon after the temple was built that God may have seldom spoken from His holy oracle in Jerusalem, if He spoke from it at all. Yet that was God's intention. The coming of the Lord Jesus realized that intention in full. He could speak of the temple of His body, and in Him we find not only the speaking place, but the Spokesman. All that God has to say to us is in and through Him.
The verse stresses preparation. Solomon finished the room before the ark ever came in.
The inner shrine of the temple was the oracle, and here was the prepared place for "the ark of the covenant of the LORD" (1 Kings 6:19). The walls of the oracle were of cedar, carved "with gourds and open flowers," and pure gold covered it all. It was a shrine of beauty, a fitting resting place for the ark of the LORD. There were also the two cherubim, made of olive wood and covered with gold. Their wings touched each wall, and their faces turned towards the house.
Nothing else stood inside the room. The ark's cover had a name of its own: the mercy seat.
Then the inner sanctuary was prepared as a place for the ark. This was the only article of furniture inside the holiest of all. It speaks of Christ as the Sustainer of the throne of God. The mercy-seat covering the ark stands for God's throne. That throne is not only a throne of justice and authority, but a throne of grace or of mercy, and from it God gives mercy to those in need (Heb. 4:16).
The verse names the ark by its full title. What was inside it?
The ark gave the house its character. It was God's throne in the midst of Israel, and from it He governed His people on the basis of His holy law. The record notes this when it says that "there was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of Egypt."
For generations Israel carried the ark from place to place. Now it had a settled home.
Do we not see in all this a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus entering into heaven after His journeys through this world? He has left behind the scene where men despised and neglected Him. He has gone into the presence of His God and Father, where all is glory. In holiness He once passed through a world where everything was opposed to God and defiled by sin. Now He has entered the holy place to rest from all His work.
- Place. Everything in the house pointed inward to one room. That room held one object — the ark, the only furniture in the holiest of all.
- Prepared. Solomon did not leave the room bare. Cedar, carving and gold made it a fitting resting place before the ark arrived.
- Throne. The mercy seat covered the ark and made it God's throne. It is a throne of justice and authority, and also a throne of grace, giving mercy to those in need.
- Voice. The old name for this room, "oracle," means a speaking-place. God had promised to meet His people there and speak from above the mercy seat.
- Rest. Christ fulfilled that intention. In Him God has both His speaking place and His Spokesman, and He has entered the holy place to rest from all His work.
And the oracle within 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 he overlaid the cedar-wood altar --
Older translations call this room "the oracle"; the ESV calls it the inner sanctuary. Why did Solomon build this innermost room as an exact cube, and why did he cover every surface with pure gold?
This room was the shrine at the heart of the building, and it was built for one thing:
The inner shrine of the temple was the oracle, and here was the prepared place for "the ark of the covenant of the Lord" (1 Kings 6:19). The walls of the oracle were of cedar, carved with "gourds and open flowers," and all was covered with pure gold. It was a shrine of beauty, and a fit resting place for the ark of the LORD.
The three measurements are identical, and that same shape appears again at the end of the Bible:
As in the tabernacle in the wilderness, the most holy place formed a perfect cube within… The New Jerusalem will be the same: "its length the same as its width" (Rev. 21:16). The result of God's work is perfect, with nothing to add and nothing to take away. Everything is ordered according to the mind of the Divine Architect. The New Jerusalem is, so to speak, a great most holy place where God can dwell, just as He dwelt in the oracle of the temple. This is because everything in it answers to His holiness and His righteousness… God's sanctuary is the Church in glory!
The pattern holds from the wilderness tent to the final city, where God's purpose reaches its end:
The sanctuary in Israel, God's dwelling place among them, was a cube: ten cubits in the tabernacle, twenty in the temple. The new Jerusalem, the final city of God, lit by the glory of God, is a cube as well: "Its length and width and height are equal." This is one of those deep harmonies of Scripture that lie everywhere under the surface and show how true it is. Here all the purposes of God have come true at last. Here the holiness long sought from man is at last reached.
The gold did not sit on bare stone. Wood came first, and each material carries its own meaning:
Cedar wood covered the oracle and the holy place ("the temple before it") alike. In Scripture cedar stands for majesty and height, durability and firmness. No part of the walls inside was left bare. Nowhere did the stone show. But gold covered the cedar itself, and even the cypress planks of the floor. In Scripture gold always stands for divine righteousness and glory.
The gold covered everything, floor included. It was not decoration. It set the terms for anyone who came in:
Those who entered the temple to dwell with God saw nothing but divine righteousness all around them. Down to the very floor beneath their feet, everything was covered. Man cannot dwell with God except according to divine righteousness. The furnishings of the temple were also made of gold or overlaid with gold: the altar of incense, the cherubim, and the doors of the most holy place.
The writer of Kings keeps returning to this one word, and what it pictures still lies ahead:
In the house gold was the main feature. The word "gold" occurs eleven times in this chapter. Everything was overlaid with gold… The whole sanctuary bore witness to the glory of righteousness, and this house pictures what is still to come. One day the true King will build the house and show His glory. Then the glory and the showing of divine righteousness will be far greater!
The verse ends with an altar — and this one was not for animals:
The sanctuary was overlaid with pure gold, and the cedar altar also (v.20). This was clearly the same altar mentioned in verse 22, standing in the outer sanctuary next to the inner sanctuary. This altar was for offering incense. It pictures Christ as the Sustainer of the worship of His people. The altar of burnt offering stood outside. There the many animals were offered, and all of them speak of the value of Christ's sacrifice at Calvary for us. Now, raised from the dead, He "will never die again," but He receives worship.
The altar's two materials belong together, and they point to the name in which we worship now:
Cedar is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ risen from the dead. It was overlaid with gold, which shows the divine glory of His person. He is the One in whose name we worship, and He said, "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full" (John 16:24).
- Prepared — The inner sanctuary was made ready for the ark: a shrine of beauty, fit for God's presence.
- Measured — Equal in length, width and height, it is a perfect cube. The tabernacle's holiest place and the New Jerusalem share that shape. Nothing can be added or taken away.
- Covered — Cedar hid the stone, and gold hid the cedar, floor included. No bare surface was left inside.
- Righteous — Gold stands for divine righteousness and glory. Whoever entered saw it on every side. No one can dwell with God on any other terms.
- Worshipping — The cedar altar overlaid with gold was for incense, not sacrifice. The risen Christ now receives the worship He Himself sustains.