CHAPTER 3 Oct. 14 
The Dimensions and Specifications of the Temple
Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh appeared to David his father, which he prepared in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2He began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. 3Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of God’s house. The length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits and the breadth twenty cubits. 4The porch that was in front, its length, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height one hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold. 5The greater house he made with a ceiling of fir wood which he overlaid with fine gold, and ornamented it with palm trees and chains. 6He garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim. 7He overlaid also the house, the beams, the thresholds and its walls and its doors, with gold; and engraved cherubim on the walls. 8He made the most holy place: its length, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. 9The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He overlaid the upper rooms with gold. 10In the most holy place he made two cherubim of wood; and they overlaid them with gold. 11The wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long. The wing of the one was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub. 12The wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits, joining to the wing of the other cherub. 13The wings of these cherubim spread themselves forth twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house. 14He made the veil of blue, purple, crimson and fine linen, and decorated it with cherubim. 15Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty-five cubits high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits. 16He made chains in the oracle, and put them on the tops of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains. 17He set 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.

Commentary

3:1 This implies David assumed that the spot where the Angel appeared to him in 2 Sam. 24:17,18 was where he should build the temple. But this could be one of several examples of David wildly over-interpreting in order to justify his obsession with his son building a temple.
Mount Moriah- This was where Abraham offered Isaac (Gen. 22:2), and it was near Jerusalem- further strengthening the connections between that offering and the sacrifice of Christ on a hill outside Jerusalem.
3:3 A cubit was the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. 
3:12 Joining to the wing of the other cherub- The cherubim totally covered the ark. In the Psalms, David reflects that the righteous dwell under the shadow of God’s wings (Ps. 17:8; 36:7), as if we are located on the atonement cover which was on top of the ark, where the blood of atonement was sprinkled, which represented Christ’s blood. Our covering by God’s Angelic cherubim protection is therefore total and complete. But the cherubim described here aren’t those which covered the ark; these covered the entire Most Holy Place. Likewise the constant theme of cherubim everywhere in the temple suggests that Solomon wished to expand the concept of the holiness and protection of the atonement cover to the entire temple. The temple represents all God’s people; for we are His temple. The New Testament expands the theme further- the person of each individual believer is the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:17; 6:19). Each of us personally becomes as it were within the Most Holy Place and likewise constantly in God’s most intense presence and covered by His wings.