| I Kings 6:2
| And the house, which king Solomon built to the Lord, was threescore cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in height.
| House. Hebrew Habayith, "the palace" of the God of Israel, where the priests alone had access. It was surrounded by various courts and apartments, as the ancient temples were very different from ours. All these appendages sometimes go under the common name of the temple. (Calmet) --- Cubits. The common one contained half a yard. The sacred cubit amounted to 21,888 inches. (Arbuthnot) (Ezechiel 43:13.) --- Calmet makes the cubit consist of 24 fingers' breadth, or little less than 20 inches of the French measure, which is greater than ours. (Haydock) --- Hence the temple would be 102 feet 6 inches long, 34 feet 2 inches broad, 51 feet 3 inches high to the ceiling. (Calmet) --- The walls are not included; else the breadth would be almost 60 cubits, the length 100, and the height 50. (Vallalpand 2:5, 14.) (Menochius)
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