The big picture
Solomon, Israel's king, begins God's house in Jerusalem, the royal city of God's people. The chosen hill is Moriah, where God appeared to David, Solomon's father, at Ornan's threshing floor. Ornan was the man who owned that grain-working site. The chapter describes the building's size, rich surfaces, inner room and front pillars. Details of place and craft turn earlier plans into a house prepared for worship, with an inner space marked as especially holy.
In this chapter
- Building Begins at the Chosen Site 2 Chronicles 3:1-4
Work begins on the second day of the second month in Solomon's fourth year.
- Gold Covers the Rooms and Holy Space 2 Chronicles 3:5-9
The main hall receives fir panels covered with gold and worked with palms and chains.
- Winged Figures Span the Inner Room 2 Chronicles 3:10-14
Two carved cherub figures, images of winged heavenly beings, stand in the most holy room.
- Two Named Pillars Stand at the Front 2 Chronicles 3:15-17
Solomon makes two pillars for the front of the house.
Central truth
Solomon builds God's house at the chosen site, giving its rooms, inner sanctuary and entrance a carefully measured and richly worked form.
Scripture beside the summary
2 Chronicles · King James Version · 172 Chronicles 3:1-4
Building Begins at the Chosen Site
Work begins on the second day of the second month in Solomon's fourth year. The site is the place David had prepared on Moriah. The main house measures sixty cubits long and twenty wide. A cubit is roughly a forearm's length, so these are building measures rather than counts of rooms. The porch stretches across the front and is described as one hundred twenty cubits high. Its inside is covered with pure gold. The account fixes the start, site and main outline before moving to the finer interior work.
In everyday life
A surveyor plants markers at the corners of a new concert hall. She checks the date, site plan and measurements before the first wall rises. A long-held plan becomes work at one actual place. The markers keep the build tied to what was agreed. Solomon's site is linked with God's earlier appearance to David.
Notice
2 Chronicles 3:2 The start is dated by both day and year of Solomon's reign. The building is placed within the king's actual work, not left as an undated plan.
2 Chronicles 3:1-4
King James Version1Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
2And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.
3Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.
4And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
2 Chronicles 3:5-9
Gold Covers the Rooms and Holy Space
The main hall receives fir panels covered with gold and worked with palms and chains. Precious stones add splendour, and gold covers beams, posts, walls and doors. Winged cherub figures are carved on the walls. The most holy room is a square, twenty cubits along each side. It receives a great weight of fine gold. Even the nails and upper rooms are included in the account of gold work. The richest inner space is not larger than the whole house. Its distinct shape and treatment mark its special place within the building.
In everyday life
The bookbinder works gold leaf into a small case for a rare manuscript. The case is far smaller than the library around it, yet its care and materials mark the importance of what it will hold. Size alone does not explain the attention given. Solomon's inner room is the most holy part of God's house.
Notice
2 Chronicles 3:8 The most holy room is square, matching its length and width. Its separate dimensions help readers distinguish the inner sacred space from the longer main hall.
2 Chronicles 3:5-9
King James Version5And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.
6And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim.
7He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls.
8And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.
9And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.
2 Chronicles 3:10-14
Winged Figures Span the Inner Room
Two carved cherub figures, images of winged heavenly beings, stand in the most holy room. Both are covered with gold. Their wings extend from one wall to the other, meeting between the figures across the full width. They stand on their feet with faces turned inward. A curtain of blue, purple, crimson and fine linen also bears cherub figures. The description gives the room's visual arrangement without turning the figures into gods. Wings, walls and curtain together mark the carefully ordered space within the house.
In everyday life
The stage designer positions two large figures so their extended arms meet across an alcove. She measures wall clearance and checks the view before hanging the patterned curtain. The effect depends on the whole space, not each object in isolation. Solomon's cherub figures belong to a holy room and represent heavenly beings, not theatrical characters.
Notice
2 Chronicles 3:13 The wings cover the room's full width while the figures stand upright. The stated posture helps readers picture an arranged inner space rather than small portable ornaments.
2 Chronicles 3:10-14
King James Version10And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold.
11And the wings of the cherubims were twenty cubits long: one wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.
12And one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub.
13The wings of these cherubims spread themselves forth twenty cubits: and they stood on their feet, and their faces were inward.
14And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.
2 Chronicles 3:15-17
Two Named Pillars Stand at the Front
Solomon makes two pillars for the front of the house. The account gives their height and adds decorative heads above them. Chains and rows of pomegranate shapes adorn the tops. He places one pillar on the right and one on the left. The right is named Jachin and the left Boaz. The entrance thus has two distinct, named features as well as an overall plan. The description does not explain the names here. It tells readers where the pillars stand and what gives their tops their worked appearance.
In everyday life
The stone mason sets matching posts on either side of a cemetery entrance. He checks the right and left positions against the plan before fixing the carved tops. Visitors will recognise the gateway through these paired features for years. Their placement is part of the building's identity. Solomon's named pillars mark the entrance to God's temple.
Notice
2 Chronicles 3:17 Each pillar receives a name as well as a side of the entrance. The details distinguish the pair instead of leaving them as two anonymous building features.
2 Chronicles 3:15-17
King James Version15Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.
16And he made chains, as in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars; and made an hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.
17And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
2 Chronicles 3:1 begins with “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had…”
Where the chapter turns
2 Chronicles 3:3 forms a natural hinge: “Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore…”
The final note
2 Chronicles 3:17 leaves the reader with “And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and…”
A word trail through the chapter
The words cubits, house, gold, twenty, five, overlaid help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- unto
- to
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
