1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon over Israel, in the month Zio, (the same is the second month) he began to build a house to the Lord.
v.1
VERS. 1.-- *It came to pass therefore.* Mention is made of the going forth out of Egypt, etc., *as far as* nor a Scripture which should intimate in the Old Testament the grace of the New. *In the fourth year.* In the fourth year of king Solomon the house began to be built: because after the dispensation of Christ's incarnation, written in the four Gospels, was fulfilled, the Holy Spirit being sent, the building of the Church began. *In the month Zio (that is the month).* That in the second month, etc., *as far as* whence it is plain that soon after the pasch was over he began to build the house of the Lord, and the people, consecrated by the mystic solemnity, put their hands to the mystic work. *He began to build.* Where the temple was built is made manifest in Paralipomenon, etc., *as far as* but she was made possessed of that inward peace which she should have with her Creator. *Which David had prepared,* etc. For David had prepared by his psalmody, and the other prophets prepared by their prophesying, a place for the Lord: that is, for the true Solomon, wherein he might build a house, because they instructed the hearts of their hearers in faith, admonishing them to receive the incarnate Son of God with faithful devotion. Whence: *Lift up your eyes and see the countries, for they are white already to harvest: and he that reapeth receiveth wages: and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting, that both he that soweth may rejoice together, and he that reapeth*. Which is to say: Lift up your eyes and see the place that is prepared for the building of the house, and he that buildeth by teaching receiveth wages, and gathereth precious stones unto life everlasting: that both he that prepareth the place for the building may rejoice together, and he that buildeth, that is, that the prophet foretelling him that should come: and the apostle preaching the Lord already come, may obtain one and the same reward together. *In length,* etc. The length of the house signifies the longsuffering of the Church, whereby she patiently bears adversities until she come to her country. This is of sixty cubits, because the senary number signifies the perfection of good works; because we ought so to bear adversities by longsuffering, that by good works we may deserve to enter the promised country. *Twenty cubits.* Because of the twofold distance of charity, whereby we love God and our neighbour. *In breadth.* The breadth signifies charity, which with the bosom of the mind enlarged loves friends in God, and enemies for God's sake, until, when they are converted to peace or utterly destroyed, she may rejoice in the Lord with friends alone. It is to be noted that the thirty cubits of height reached not as far as the roof of the temple, but as far as the lower upper chamber. For it is plainly written in Paralipomenon that the height was of a hundred and twenty cubits, of the mysteries of which matter it shall be more fitly treated in what follows, when the order of the reading shall have come to the middle upper chamber and the third. *Thirty cubits.* Because of the faith of the Trinity, in the vision of which all the desires of our hope are suspended. The several numbers are multiplied by ten, because through faith and the keeping of the law patience is wholesomely exercised: charity burns manfully, and hope is caught up on high to things eternal. *In height.* The height signifies the hope of the recompense to come, for which she despises things prosperous or adverse, until she see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
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.
3 And there was a porch before the temple, of twenty cubits in length, according to the measure of the breadth of the temple: and it was ten cubits in breadth, before the face of the temple.
v.3
VERS. 3.-- *There was a porch,* etc. Of this it is thus written in Paralipomenon: *And the porch before the front, which was extended in length according to the measure of the breadth, of twenty cubits*. It is plain therefore that this porch was made toward the eastern part of the temple. For the temple was turned to the east, as was the tabernacle also: and it had a door on the east over against the door of the temple, according to Josephus, so that the sun rising at the equinox might, by the straight lines of its rays, pour through three doors, namely of the porch, of the temple and of the oracle, upon the ark of the testament. The temple figures the Church, the porch, which before the temple first received the light of the sun, that part of the Church which went before the incarnation of the Lord: in which the patriarchs and prophets first received the rising sun of justice, and by living, preaching, being born and dying gave testimony to the Lord being born in the flesh. *Of twenty cubits in length, according to the measure of the breadth of the temple.* Because the just men of old in patience and longsuffering waited, etc., *as far as* yet they could not hear his doctrine nor receive his sacraments.
4 And he made in the temple oblique windows.
v.4
VERS. 4.-- *Slanting windows.* The holy teachers, to whom, going out of their mind unto God, it is granted to see the secret things of heaven more especially. Who, while they publicly disclose what they see in secret, fill all the inner places of the temple as windows that have taken in the light of the sun. Whence they are reported to have been slanting, that is, wider within: because he who receives the brightness of the contemplation above, if but for a moment, straightway by chastening enlarges the bosom of his heart the more, and prepares it by diligent exercise for the taking in of greater things.
5 And upon the wall of the temple, he built floors round about, in the walls of the house, round about the temple and the oracle, and he made chambers in the sides round about.
v.5
VERS. 5.-- *And he built,* etc. These boardings are called in the Gospel, where the Lord is tempted by the devil, the pinnacles of the temple, etc., *as far as* the greatest part of whom the history of St. Stephen testifies more fully to have left their wives, where it calls the women that flourished in the same religion not their spouses, but their widows. *Sides.* That is, little parapets, lest any should easily fall thence to the lower parts, etc., *as far as Sides,* that is, walls or lattices, or little parapets, the teachers sitting upon the boardings, who harangued the people standing about below.
6 The floor that was underneath was five cubits in breadth, and the middle floor was six cubits in breadth, and the third floor was seven cubits in breadth. And he put beams in the house round about on the outside, that they might not be fastened in the walls of the temple.
v.6
VERS. 6.-- *And he put beams in the house round about on the outside.* The houses which bear the boardings, etc., *as far as* and yet out of those things which they show forth without by speaking, doing or suffering, we find the help of salvation. *Beams,* etc., *on the outside.* It was of such length that their heads projected on the outside. In the lowest course of seven cubits, in the middle of six, in the highest of five, so that upon their heads the boardings might be set together, not fastened into the walls of the temple, but laid beside the walls upon the beams which had come forth out of the walls.
7 And the house, when it was in building, was built of stones, hewed and made ready: so that there was neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house when it was in building.
v.7
VERS. 7.-- *And the house,* etc. These things pertain properly to that part of the Church which after the labours and contests of this world has deserved to be brought in to the eternal rewards. For nothing defiled shall enter into that city. *And the hammer and the axe.* Because here we are beaten with adversities and are exercised with the discipline of truth, that there we may be disposed according to our merit in fitting places, and, chastisement ceasing, may be filled with one spirit and steeped in the sole glue of love whereby we are coupled to one another. But although it be said: *Noe a perfect man in his generations,* and: *Blessed are the undefiled in the way,* and the like, no man can truly walk the way of this life perfect and without stain. For there is none that doth good and sinneth not. But according to the measure of this present time they are called perfect and undefiled, who are then truly made perfect, when, loosed from the bonds of the body, they shall have come to the immortal comeliness of the house of the Lord.
8 The door, for the middle side, was on the right hand of the house: and by winding stairs they went up to the middle room, and from the middle to the third.
v.8
VERS. 8.-- *The door of the side.* Certain men, ill understanding this place, etc., *as far as* and well one door, because of the faith and the love of truth that is harmonious in all the saints. *They went up into the middle upper chamber, and from the middle into the third. And he built.* It is to be noted that the thirty cubits of height, of which we read above, etc., *as far as* because with harmonious mind and voice all shall praise together the glory of the divine majesty.
9 So he built the house, and finished it: and he covered the house with roofs of cedar.
v.9
VERS. 9.-- *With panelled ceilings.* Panelled ceilings are boardings which, composed and adorned with great beauty, are fastened to the beams from the under part, and because the house of the Lord had been made of a threefold height, it had threefold panelled ceilings. That is, the more sublime saints, whose work and doctrine, set before all in the temple, stand out as it were farther on high; whosoever by interceding and exhorting protect the souls of the weak, that they fail not. *Of cedar.* The cedar, a tree that cannot rot, etc., *as far as* save to love God with the whole heart, the whole soul, the whole strength, and our neighbour as ourselves.
10 And he built a floor over all the house, five cubits in height, and he covered the house with timber of cedar.
v.10
VERS. 10.-- *A boarding over the whole house of five cubits in height.* Here the topmost roof of the house itself is spoken of, etc., *as far as in the spirit and power of Elias.*
11 And the word of the Lord came to Solomon,
12 As for this house, which thou art building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments, walking in them, I will fulfil my word to thee, which I spoke to David thy father.
13 And I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel, and I will not forsake my people Israel.
14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it.
15 And he built the walls of the house on the inside, with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house to the top of the walls, and to the roofs, he covered it with boards of cedar on the inside: and he covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.
v.15
VERS. 15.-- *And he built the walls.* Within indeed the house was clothed with cedar, etc., *as far as* but they have not any whom they may carry. *The walls of the house.* They are covered when the hearts of the faithful overflow with the love of the virtues. For as the cedar signifies the perfect, so, in fitting places, the loftiness of the virtues, whereby that same perfection is attained. *From the pavement.* All things are covered with timber, from the pavement of the house even to the top of the walls and even to the panelled ceilings, when the elect from the first rudiments of faith even to the perfection of good action, and even to the entering in of the heavenly country, sweat at good works, when from the first just men even to the last at the consummation of the world all are zealous for the virtues, by whose merit they may dare to say: *We are the good odour of Christ unto God*. *And he covered the pavement.* This is more fully written in Paralipomenon, etc., *as far as* he subjoined: *But above all things having charity,* etc..
16 And he built up twenty cubits with boards of cedar at the hinder part of the temple, from the floor to the top: and made the inner house of the oracle to be the holy of holies.
v.16
VERS. 16.-- *He built twenty.* That the boardings, etc., *as far as* and this throughout the whole breadth of the Church spread abroad through the world.
17 And the temple itself, before the doors of the oracle, was forty cubits long.
v.17
VERS. 17.-- *Moreover.* Ten multiplied four times make forty, etc., *as far as* but the four-square world, in which we strive to obtain the same. Whence: *He hath gathered them out of the countries. From the rising and the setting of the sun, from the north and from the sea*.
18 And all the house was covered within with cedar, having the turnings, and the joints thereof artfully wrought, and carvings projecting out: all was covered with boards of cedar: and no stone could be seen in the wall at all.
v.18
VERS. 18.-- *And all with cedar.* The cedar marks the unconquerable comeliness of the virtues, with which timber the whole house is clothed within, when the hearts of the just shine with the love of good works alone. *Having turned work.* The house has in its cedar boards its turned work and its joinings skilfully wrought, when the elect are knit to one another by the most beautiful bond of charity, so that they have one heart and one soul. For the turned work which is set against the joinings of the boards, that one boarding may be made of them all, is the offices of charity by which the holy brotherhood is coupled, and is composed into one house of Christ throughout the whole world. *Carvings.* The works of the saints set forth by open expression what manner of men they are, for an example to others. Whence Paul both by deeds and by words sets himself forth for an example. *All things with cedar,* etc. The stones of the wall or the pavement, and the boards, and the gold, etc., *as far as* and *to* those who have perfectly received the grace of the Gospel alike enjoy eternal life.
19 And he made the oracle in the midst of the house, in the inner part, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
v.19
VERS. 19.-- *The oracle.* The oracle, where the ark was, etc., *as far as* who after the resurrection, ascending into heaven, placed at the Father's right hand the flesh he had taken of the Virgin.
20 Now the oracle was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in height. And he covered it, and overlaid it with most pure gold. And the altar also he covered with cedar.
v.20
VERS. 20.-- *Moreover the oracle.* And well is the inner house twenty cubits long, for the mystery of the twofold love, of which it has already been spoken, which in this life for the greatest part enlightens the minds of the elect, but in the country above, the works of the other virtues ceasing, reigns alone. *Yea and the altar.* Of incense, that is, etc., *as far as* but what the stone, the cedar and the gold signify has been said above.
21 And the house before the oracle he overlaid with most pure gold, and fastened on the plates with nails of gold.
v.21
VERS. 21.-- *The house also before the oracle.* The house before the oracle is covered with gold, etc., *as far as* whence: *I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.* And again: *The hour cometh when now I will no longer speak to you in proverbs,* etc.. *With golden nails.* Now the nails are the precepts of charity, etc., *as far as* who again, to perfection coming, says of the nails of love: *But for me to adhere to God,* etc..
22 And there was nothing in the temple that was not covered with gold: the whole altar of the oracle he covered also with gold.
v.22
VERS. 22.-- *And there was nothing in the temple.* These things are more fully explained in Paralipomenon, etc., *as far as: and mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth*.
23 And he made in the oracle two cherubims of olive tree, of ten cubits in height.
v.23
VERS. 23.-- *Cherubim of timber.* It is a word of angelic dignity, and in the singular it is said cherub, in the plural cherubim. By the cherubim therefore may be understood the angelic ministries which always stand by the Creator in heaven.-- *Of olive.* Because the angels are anointed with spiritual grace, that they may never wither from the love of God, whom he who created them straightway filled with the light of heavenly wisdom, whence also they are called cherubim, that is, multiplied knowledge, or a multitude of knowledge. They are made of the timbers of olive trees, because they bestow on us the light of knowledge, with the help of the flame of the love of God, which is poured forth through the Spirit in our hearts. *Of ten cubits.* They are ten cubits in height, because they enjoy the denary of eternal life, having the image of their Creator inviolate, keeping the holiness and justice and truth in which they were created. For the denarius consists of ten obols, and is wont to contain in itself the name and the image of the king. Therefore it agrees with the figure of the heavenly kingdom, where the angels always abide in the image of their Creator according to which they were made, and the elect among men receive the image which they lost by sinning, whence: *When he shall appear, we shall be like to him, and we shall see him as he is*.
24 One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub was five cubits: that is, in all ten cubits, from the extremity of one wing to the extremity of the other wing.
v.24
VERS. 24.-- *Of five cubits.* When the wings are set for a figure of holy men, etc., *as far as* they come to the denary which is promised to the tillers of life. *The other wing of the cherub.* They have twin wings, because the testaments declare that alike through prosperity and adversity, with unwearied purpose, they have always stretched toward heavenly things and attained them, because they show that this same thing is to be done by their hearers.
25 The second cherub also was ten cubits: and the measure, and the work was the same in both the cherubims:
v.25
VERS. 25.-- *Ten cubits also.* They are ten cubits high, because they preach that God is to be served through the observance of the Decalogue, because they show that they who faithfully serve God are to be rewarded with the denary of the eternal kingdom. * And the work.* Two cherubim had been made for the signifying of the fellowship of charity, etc., *as far as* to whom, after the colds and the darkness of idolatry, it was given to know the light of truth. By the two cherubim the two Testaments may be figured, etc., *as far as* but because the festivity of inward blessedness is the greater from the fellowship of a brotherhood made one. *In the midst of the inner temple.* It is manifest from what has been said, etc., *as far as* it expresses that grace of love wherewith they embrace one another.
26 That is to say, one cherub was ten cubits high, and in like manner the other cherub.
27 And he set the cherubims in the midst of the inner temple: and the cherubims stretched forth their wings, and the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall: and the other wings in the midst of the temple touched one another.
v.27
VERS. 27.-- *And they stretched forth their wings,* etc. And the cherubim stretch forth their wings to either wall of the oracle, etc., *as far as* their writers, now reigning with the Lord and praising him, take care for our salvation, making intercession for us.
28 And he overlaid the cherubims with gold.
v.28
VERS. 28.-- *He covered the cherubim also.* They are surrounded with gold, because by the illustrious works of their writers the authority of the testaments has been confirmed, and the knowledge of the divine Scriptures has been made manifest throughout the world, or the inward glory of the heavenly hosts. For the cherubim signify both, namely both the angels and the testaments.
29 And all the walls of the temple round about he carved with divers figures and carvings: and he made in them cherubims and palm trees, and divers representations, as it were standing out, and coming forth from the wall.
v.29
VERS. 29.-- *He carved with divers carvings.* The walls are carved with the turning-tool, etc., *as far as* she has learned, being exercised by long practice of the virtues. *And palms.* He makes palms when he fixes the memory of the eternal recompense in the minds of the saints, that they may fall the less from the citadel of justice, the more they have the reward of justice always before their eyes. *And divers paintings.* He makes divers paintings as it were standing out from the wall and going forth, when he bestows on the faithful all the manifold workings of the virtues, namely the bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, patience, modesty, etc., *but above all things charity, which is the bond of perfection*. These virtues, when they have come into so great a habit in the elect that they seem naturally implanted, what else is it than that, like the paintings of the house of the Lord, they go forth standing out from the wall? Because they do not still learn the words and works of truth from others outwardly, but, fixed in themselves and rooted and ever ready, they bring forth from the inmost parts of the heart the things that are to be done or taught. And we have said that the evenness of the pavement signifies the humble concord of the brotherhood: where, although there be Jews or Gentiles, barbarians and Scythians, free men and slaves, noble and ignoble: all glory that they are brethren in Christ and have the same Father in heaven. For the most concordant humility of the citizens above is doubtful to none. Solomon therefore covered the pavement of the house with gold, within in the oracle and without in the temple: because Christ filled the angels and the souls of the just in heaven with the full gift of perfection, and set apart the citizens of the heavenly country who are pilgrims in this world, by the eternal seal of love, from the vileness of mortal men. Whence: *By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another*.
30 And the floor of the house he also overlaid with gold within and without.
31 And in the entrance of the oracle, he made little doors of olive tree, and posts of five corners,
v.31
VERS. 31.-- *And in the entrance of the oracle,* etc. *(BEDA, ibid., cap. 15.)* There was one entrance, but it was closed with two doors, etc., *as far as* nay rather all the elect open for themselves the approach to the heavenly country by the arms of light and of piety. *Two little doors of olive wood.* There are two little doors, because the angels and holy men love God and their neighbour, nor can they enter the gate of life save through the twofold love. Or because to the faithful of both peoples, namely to Jews and to Gentiles, the same gate of life is unbarred. *And the posts of the corners.* They have posts of five corners, because the heavenly hall receives not only the souls of the elect, but also opens its doors in the judgment to bodies endowed with immortal glory, for the senses of the body are five. Or each post of the oracle is five cubits high, because the entrance of the country above is opened to those alone who serve the Lord with all the senses of body and of heart: of the body, that is, when through them they do somewhat for that country; but of the heart, when they think soberly, and justly, and piously, they determine to act upon those things through the senses of the body themselves.
32 And two doors of olive tree: and he carved upon them figures of cherubims, and figures of palm trees, and carvings very much projecting; and he overlaid them with gold: and he covered both the cherubims and the palm trees, and the other things, with gold.
v.32
VERS. 32.-- *Anaglypha.* It might be called a carving made in the joining of the boards, but it is taken broadly. Ἀνάγλυφα, anaglypha in Greek, are in Latin called caelaturae, etc., *as far as* by the beholding of these we continually govern our steps.
33 And he made in the entrance of the temple posts of olive tree foursquare:
v.33
VERS. 33.-- *And he made in the entry.* As the entrance of the oracle, by which one comes to the ark of the Lord and to the cherubim, signifies the entry of heaven, by which we desire to be brought in to the vision of God and of the citizens above: so the entry into the temple signifies the first beginnings of our conversion to God, when we enter into the present Church. This designates our entrance unto faith, that unto hope. Whence the posts of this entry are four-cornered because of the four books of the Gospel, by whose doctrine we are instructed in the faith of the truth. *Posts of timber.* Four-cornered, that is, because of the four principal virtues, etc., *as far as* fourth, after prudence, fortitude and temperance, justice follows.
34 And two doors of fir tree, one of each side: and each door was double, and so opened with folding leaves.
v.34
VERS. 34.-- *On either side.* Because they look to one another, so that the one cannot be had without the other. The outer door is brotherly love, the inner divine: because that is the former in time, this the more sublime in dignity: and through that one this is entered: because in the love of one's neighbour it is learned how the Creator ought to be loved. *And both the doors.* Because in each love there are two things principally to be observed, etc., *as far as* that, all sins being extinguished, we may pass over to the shore and the solid ground of the virtues. It is to be noted that in the going out of the oracle two doors are said to have been, etc., *as far as* the other prefiguring the dispensation of the mystery. *And one another.* Or the door which held one another is opened, when through the ministry of the preacher it is discerned what properly pertains to the knowledge of faith, and what to chastity of living, which two cannot be separated, and that it is a little thing to bear the evils of one's neighbours and not to bestow good things upon them, since these things most certainly are wont to abide indissolubly in the heart of the perfect.
35 And he carved cherubims, and palm trees, and carved work standing very much out: and he overlaid all with golden plates in square work by rule.
v.35
VERS. 35.-- *And he carved cherubim.* These things have been expounded above, because in the walls of the house and in the inner doors the same paintings or carvings were made; because the same secrets of faith, hope and charity, which the sublime and the perfect take in sublimely, and which all the elect fully receive in the eternal vision, are delivered also to the untaught who are to be catechized, to be learned and confessed according to each one's capacity, that, being initiated into the sacred mysteries, they may one day come to take in the things which they have piously believed.
36 And he built the inner court with three rows of polished stones, and one row of beams of cedar.
v.36
VERS. 36.-- *He built the court.* He speaks briefly of the inner court, etc., *as far as* whence there follows: *He built the inner court with three rows*. *And with one row.* The one row of cedar timbers is good work shown forth without the corruption of dissimulation, without the adding of which faith, hope and charity cannot be true. For the timbers of cedar, because of the grace of their odour and the power of their nature that cannot rot, designate perseverance and the good report of pious action. Even to this court all the elect climb up, who by faith, hope, charity and work desire to please God, this the perfect pass beyond by the lofty grace of their merits, when they advance to so great a summit of the virtues that they can say to their hearers: *Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ*; and: *Know you not that we shall judge angels, how much more things of this world*.
37 In the fourth year was the house of the Lord founded, in the month Zio:
38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul. (which is the eighth month) the house was finished in all the works thereof, and in all the appurtenances thereof: and he was seven years in building it.
v.38
VERS. 38.-- *That is the month.* It is asked how the house of the Lord is said to have been perfected in the eighth month in all its work, etc., *as far as* whence David entitled a Psalm for the octave, which he sang for fear of the judgment, saying: *Lord, rebuke me not in thy indignation, nor chastise me in thy wrath Psal. VI)*. *And he built it.* Because the Church throughout the whole time of this world, which is run through in the circuit of seven days, is built up of the souls of the elect: and at the end of the world brings her increase to its end. Or because of the signifying of spiritual grace, through which the Church receives only that she may be the Church: because without the gifts of the Spirit no one can be made faithful, or keep the faith, or come by the merit of faith to the crown of justice.