1st Kings Chapter 6 verse 23 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 23. - And within the oracle [The description now passes on to the mysterious symbolic figures which were placed in the holy of holies] he made two cherubims [As to the nature, composition, and significance of the cherubim, see notes on Exodus 25:19; 37:7. The only particulars which will require notice here are those in which the cherub of the temple differed from that of the tabernacle] of olive tree [Heb. trees or wood of oil. The oleaster (wild olive) is supposed to be intended, the proper name for the olive tree being זַיִת (Nehemiah 8:15). The wood of the oleaster, which is firm, fine grained, and durable, was used by the Greeks for the images of their gods (Winer). The cherubim of the tabernacle were of solid gold; those of the temple, on account of their great size (fifteen feet high) were necessarily of less costly material. But though of wood, yet the most durable and beautiful of wood, the olive, was employed in their construction. It is noticeable how olive wood is employed for the cherubim and doors of oracle, and for the posts of the temple doorway; the less precious cedar was used for lining the walls and for Beams, etc., while for the floor and doors of house, the commoner cypress sufficed], each ten cubits high. [Half the height of the oracle. They occupied its entire width (ver. 24).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(23) Cherubim.--These were copied from the Tabernacle, but apparently with some differences, over and above the necessary increase of size, and the change of material from solid gold to olive-wood overlaid with gold. In Exodus 25:18-20; Exodus 37:7-9, they are described as having their faces towards the mercy-seat, and covering the mercy-seat with their wings. Here, from the careful description of the outstretched wings, of ten cubits in width for each cherub, meeting in the midst of the house and touching the walls, it would seem that they must have been turned so as to face the entrance. The cherubim over the ark are described only in three places in the Old Testament--in the passages in Exodus, here, and in the parallel 2Chronicles 3:10-13, and in those great visions of the priestly prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:4-25; Ezekiel 10:1-22) which have determined the imagery of the Apocalypse. In no case is their form distinctly mentioned, unless, by comparison of Ezekiel 10:14-15 with Ezekiel 1:10, it may be inferred to have been the form of a winged bull; whence would be naturally derived the golden calves of the idolatry introduced into Israel in the time of Jeroboam. Josephus, indeed, in his description of the Temple (Antt. viii. c. 3, ? 3), expressly says that "no one can tell, or even conjecture, of what shape the cherubim were." The tradition, therefore, must have been lost in the Second Temple, where there was no ark; and this is the more strange, because in Exodus 26:1 the cherubim are said to have been represented in the embroidery of the curtains, and here (in 1Kings 6:32; 1Kings 6:35) to have been similarly carved on the walls. . . .