1 Kings 6:1-4·~1 min
Temple Construction Begins
The temple project begins in a carefully dated moment, and the chapter first describes the house itself: its size, its portico, and its high framed windows.
I1n the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD. 2The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. 3The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple. 4He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple.
Section summaryThe chapter opens by locating the temple in Israel’s history and Solomon’s reign, then giving its first measurements and visible features. The house of the LORD is presented as a real structure with defined proportions, frontage, and light.
Role in the chapterThis section begins the chapter by setting the temple in time and space. It establishes the work as a decisive moment in Israel’s story and prepares for the detailed account that follows.