(c) THE HOLY OF HOLIES, OR CHANCEL, WITH THE CHERUBIM AND THE VAIL (2Chronicles 3:8-14).

(8) The most holy house.--The chamber of the Holy of holies, or chancel, called also the oracle (D?bir), 1Kings 6:5. (So 2Chronicles 3:10.)

The length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits.--Its length before the breadth of the house was twenty cubits. (See Note on 2Chronicles 3:4.)

And the breadth thereof twenty cubits.--1Kings 6:20 adds that the height also was twenty cubits, so that the chamber formed a perfect cube.

Six hundred talents.--The weight of gold thus expended on the plating of the walls of the inner shrine is not given in Kings. Solomon's whole yearly revenue was 666 talents (1Kings 10:14).

Verse 8. - The most holy house. The writer proceeds from speaking of "the greater house" (ver. 5), or holy place, to the "holy of holies." The parallel (1 Kings 6:20) adds the height, as also 20 cubits. Six hundred talents. It is impossible to assert with any accuracy the money value intended here. Six hundred talents of gold is an amazing proportion of the yearly revenue of 666 talents of gold, spoken of in 1 Kings 10:14. This latter amount is worth, in Keil's estimate, about three million and three quarters of our money, but in Peele's estimate nearer double that! The Hebrew, Phoenician, and Assyrian unit of weight is the same, and one quite different from the Egyptian. The silver talent (Hebrew, ciccar, כִּכָּר) contained 60 manehs, each maneh being equal to 50 shekels, and a shekel being worth 220 grains; i.e. there were 3000 shekels, or 660,000 grains, in such talent. But the gold talent con-rained 100 manehs, the maneh 100 shekels, and the shekel 132 grains, making this gold talent the equivalent of 10,000 shekels, or 1,320,000 grains. The "holy shekel," or "shekel of the sanctuary," could be either of gold or silver (Exodus 38:4, 5). (For some treatment of this still unsatisfactory subject, see Dr. Smith's . Bible Dictionary,' 3:1727-1736; and Conder's ' Handbook to the Bible,' 2nd edit., pp. 64-78, 81.)

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