1 Kings 6:23

Contextual Overview

¹⁵He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress boards. ¹⁵ The floor of the temple was made out of pine, and the walls were lined with cedar from floor to ceiling. ¹⁵ The insides of the walls of the house he built with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house to the joists of the ceiling he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. ¹⁵ And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house to the walls of the roof; he overlaid [them] on the inside with wood, and overlaid the floor of the house with boards of cypress. ¹⁵ the stone walls inside the Temple were covered with cedar boards from floor to ceiling. Then the stone floor was covered with pine boards. ¹⁵ And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house unto the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with boards of fir. ¹⁵ The walls of the house were covered inside with cedar-wood boards; from the floor to the roof of the house they were covered inside with wood; and the floor was covered with boards of cypress-wood. ¹⁵ And seeled the walles of the house within with boordes of Cedar tree: euen fro the pauement of the house vnto the roofe did he seele the walles of it within with Cedar tree: and boorded the floore of the house with planckes of firre. ¹⁵ And built the walles of the house within, with boards of cedar tree from the pauement of the house vnto the walles of the sieling, and within he couered them with wood, and couered the floore of the house with planks of firre. ¹⁵ And he covered the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house, to the rafters of the ceiling; and he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

two cherubims: These were distinct from, and much larger than those which covered the mercy-seat. Genesis 3:24, Exodus 25:18-22, Exodus 37:7-9, 2 Chronicles 3:10-13, Psalms 18:10, Psalms 80:1, Isaiah 37:16, Ezekiel 10:2-22, Hebrews 1:14, 1 Peter 1:12

olive tree: or, oily trees, Heb. trees of oil

Reciprocal: Exodus 36:8 - cherubims Numbers 7:89 - two cherubims 1 Chronicles 28:18 - the chariot 2 Chronicles 5:7 - to the oracle Psalms 28:2 - thy holy oracle

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And within the oracle he made two cherubim [of] olive tree,.... Or of the oil tree, as in Isaiah 41:19; see Nehemiah 8:15; for there are other trees besides olives, out of which oil is pressed, as pine trees, cypress trees, c. and which some think are here meant though the Targum interprets it of the olive tree: these cherubim are different from those made by Moses, and were besides them; these were larger than they; these were made of olive wood, they of gold; these stood on the floor of the house, they at the two ends of the mercy seat, and were made out of it, and were with it in this holy place in Solomon's temple: these two cherubim may be emblems of the angels in their greatness and glory, who are always in the presence of God, behold his face, and wait to do his will; or it may be rather of the two witnesses, said to be the two olive trees standing before the God of the whole earth, Revelation 11:3; who have boldness to enter into the holiest of all, and have sight and knowledge of the mysteries of the ark and mercy seat; have their commission from heaven, and speak according to the oracles of God; these are said to be of image work, 2 Chronicles 3:10; that is, of various forms, as the thee of a man, a lion, an ox, and eagle, Ezekiel 1:10. Dr. Lightfoot thinks g they resembled the two Testaments, which in their beginning and end reach the two sides of the world, the creation and the last judgment, and in the middle do sweetly join the one to the other:

[each] ten cubits high; half as high as the most holy place; emblems either of the high angels, those thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, or of men of uncommon size as to their gifts and grace.

g Prospect of the Temple, c. 15. sect. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Two cherubims - The pattern of the tabernacle was followed (marginal reference), but without servile imitation. The original cherubs were entirely of gold. These, being so much larger, were of wood, merely overlaid with a golden plating. The arrangement of the wings, and the direction of the faces, seem also to have been different. Moses’ cherubim “covered with their wings over the mercy seat;” Solomon’s stretched out theirs to the full 1 Kings 6:27, so that the four wings, each five cubits long 1 Kings 6:24, extended across the whole sanctuary, the width of which was twenty cubits 1 Kings 6:20. The former looked toward one another, and were bent downward toward the mercy-seat; the latter looked outward, toward the great chamber. (See 2 Chronicles 3:13, and note.)

Of olive-tree - The oleaster or wild olive, not the cultivated species.