He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and a course of cedar beams.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 36. Court of the priests.—Cedar. Some think that the court was surrounded with galleries, supported on three rows of pillars; or one gallery was above another, on pillars of stone, with a third supported by cedar pillars. Menochius.—But Josephus takes no notice of these galleries. Others think that the wall of separation consisted only of two rows of stone, with a third of wood, in all three cubits high. Joseph. viii. 2. Villal.—But the sacred writers seem rather to indicate, that beams of cedar were fixed in the walls, at the distance of three courses of stone, even to the top. This mode of architecture is clearly mentioned, Calmet. 7:12. 1 Ezra 6:3. 4 and 5:8. Habac. 2:11. The ancients admired such a variety, and deemed the building more solid. Vit. i. 5. Eupolemus (ap. Eus. præp. ix. 34.) take notice, that these beams were fastened together, in the temple, by hooks of copper, weighing each a talent. Bible.—Such was the structure of the inner court. Calmet.