Solomon Builds the House of the LORD

61 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 Jehovah. 2 And the house that king Solomon built for Jehovah was sixty cubits in length, and twenty in breadth, and thirty cubits in height. 3 And the porch, in front of the temple of the house, was twenty cubits in length, in front of the house broadways, [and] ten cubits was its breadth, in front of the house. 4 And for the house he made closed windows with fixed lattices. 5 And against the wall of the house he built floors round about, [against] the walls of the house, round about the temple and the oracle; and he made side-chambers round about. 6 The lowest floor was five cubits broad, and the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for in the [thickness of the wall of] the house he made resets round about outside, that nothing should be fastened in the walls of the house. 7 And the house, when it was being built, was built of stone entirely 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 being built. 8 The entrance to the side-chambers of the middle [floor] was in the right side of the house; and they went up by winding stairs into the middle [floor], and out of the middle into the third. 9 And he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar. 10 And he built the floors against all the house, five cubits high; and they held to the house by the timbers of cedar.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Kings 6:1-10

Commentary on 1 Kings 6:1-10

(Read 1 Kings 6:1-10)

The temple is called the house of the Lord, because it was directed and modelled by him, and was to be employed in his service. This gave it the beauty of holiness, that it was the house of the Lord, which was far beyond all other beauties. It was to be the temple of the God of peace, therefore no iron tool must be heard; quietness and silence suit and help religious exercises. God's work should be done with much care and little noise. Clamour and violence often hinder, but never further the work of God. Thus the kingdom of God in the heart of man grows up in silence, Mark 5:27.