Chapter 6: The building of the Temple
1. The year that the temple was built:
- And it was in the 480th year from when the Jewish people left the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Shlomo’s reign, that the temple of G-d was built in the month of Ziv [i.e. Iyar[1]] which is the second month [from Nissan[2]].
2. The dimensions of the Heichal:
- The building [i.e. the holy and holy of holies, known as the Heichal[3], this area was also called the Devir[4] and refers to the holy of holies[5]] that was built by King Shlomo for the sake of G-d was 60 cubits long [i.e. approximately 30 meters] and 20 cubits wide [i.e. approximately 10 m] and 30 cubits tall [i.e. approximately 15 m]. [Thus, it was double the size in length and width then the size of the tabernacle.[6]]
- The dimensions of the courtyard of the Heichal: The entrance area to the Heichal of the building was 20 cubits long corresponding to the width of the Heichal, and was 10 cubits wide in front of the Heichal to the east.
3. The windows:
- Windows were built into the Heichal in a way that the inner side of the window was narrow and the outer side was wide [to emphasize that G-d does not require the light, unlike other windows which are built wide in the inside and narrow on the outside.[7] Some explained that these windows contained a clear glass panel as typical windows of today.[8]]
[1] Rashi 6:1
[2] Rashi 6:1
[3] See Ralbag 6:2
[4] Rashi 6:2
[5] Metzudos Tziyon 6:5
[6] Hagr”a 6:2
[7] Rashi 6:4; Menachos 86b
[8] Metzudos Dovid 6:4
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