2 Chronicles 3:8

And 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(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 (Dĕbîr), 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).

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 3:8-10. Fine gold amounting to six hundred talents — That is, upward of three millions forty-five thousand pounds sterling. This vast sum was expended on the holy of holies alone, a room only ten yards square. The weight of the nails — That is, of each of the nails, screws, or pins, by which the golden plates were fastened to the walls that were overlaid with them, was fifty shekels of gold — The meaning seems to be, that each weighed or was worth that sum, workmanship and all. Two cherubims of image-work — Or, sculpture-work. And overlaid them with gold — For they were made of olive-wood, and were not, like those of Moses, of beaten gold. Nor were they fixed, as his were, to the mercy-seat, but appeared in a moving posture.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The most holy house - i. e., the sanctuary, or holy of holies. On the probable value of the gold, see 1 Kings 10:14 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 3:8-13. Dimensions, &C., OF THE Most Holy House.

8. the most holy house—It was a perfect cube (compare 1Ki 6:20).

overlaid it with … gold, amounting to six hundred talents—at £4 per ounce, equal to £3,600,000.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

See Chapter Introduction

Geneva Study Bible

And 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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8, 9. The Holy of Holies

8. the most holy house] Called the oracle in 1 Kings 6:16; 1 Kings 6:19 etc., Hebrew děbîr, which means rather the hinder part. The Lord “dwells” in the inmost recess of the house.

amounting to six hundred talents] This detail is not found elsewhere. But cp. 1 Chronicles 29:4.

Pulpit Commentary

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.) 2 Chronicles 3:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The most holy place, with the figures of the cherubim and the veil; cf. 1 Kings 6:19-28. - The length of the most holy place in front of the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, consequently measured in the same way as the porch (2 Chronicles 3:4); the breadth, i.e., the depth of it, also twenty cubits. The height, which was the same (1 Kings 6:20), is not stated; but instead of that we have the weight of the gold which was used for the gilding, which is omitted in 1 Kings 6, viz., 600 talents for the overlaying of the walls, and 50 shekels for the nails to fasten the sheet gold on the wainscotting. He covered the upper chambers of the most holy place also with gold; see 1 Chronicles 28:11. This is not noticed in 1 Kings 6.