(7) He overlaid also the house.--And he covered (2Chronicles 3:5) the chamber--that is, the great chamber or Holy Place. (See 1Kings 6:21-23.)

The beams.--Of the roof.

The posts.--The thresholds (Isaiah 6:4).

And graved cherubims on the walls.--See 1Kings 6:29, which gives a fuller account of the mural decorations.

Cherubims.--Cherubim, or cherubs (Psalm 18:10). Cherubim is the Hebrew plural, for which we have the Chaldee (Aramaic) form "cherubin" in the Te Deum. Shakspeare has:--

"The roof of the chamber

With golden cherubins is fretted."

Cymbeline, 2:4.

Why Reuss calls this sketch of the porch and nave "confused" is hardly evident.

Verse 7. - And graved cherubim. In the parallel this statement is placed in company with that respecting the "palms and flowers." Layard tells us that all the present description of decoration bears strong resemblance to the Assyrian. There can be no difficulty in imagining this, both in other respects, and in connection with the fact that foreigners, headed by the chief designer Hiram, had so large a share in planning the details of temple workmanship.

3:1-17 The building of the temple. - There is a more particular account of the building of the temple in #1Ki 6". It must be in the place David had prepared, not only which he had purchased, but which he had fixed on by Divine direction. Full instructions enable us to go about our work with certainty and to proceed therein with comfort. Blessed be God, the Scriptures are enough to render the man of God thoroughly furnished for every good work. Let us search the Scriptures daily, beseeching the Lord to enable us to understand, believe, and obey his word, that our work and our way may be made plain, and that all may be begun, continued, and ended in him. Beholding God, in Christ, his true Temple, more glorious than that of Solomon's, may we become a spiritual house, a habitation of God through the Spirit.See Chapter Introduction