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2 Chronicles

About this book
Chapter 3

1 Solomon began building the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah,⁠ where the Lord had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David prepared at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 He began building on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign. 3 Solomon laid the foundation for God’s temple; its length (determined according to the old standard of measure) was 90 feet, and its width 30 feet. 4 The porch in front of the main hall was 30 feet long, corresponding to the width of the temple, and its height was 30 feet. He plated the inside with pure gold. 5 He paneled the main hall with boards made from evergreen trees and plated it with fine gold, decorated with palm trees and chains. 6 He decorated the temple with precious stones; the gold he used came from Parvaim. 7 He overlaid the temple’s rafters, thresholds, walls and doors with gold; he carved decorative cherubim on the walls. 8 He made the Most Holy Place; its length was 30 feet, corresponding to the width of the temple, and its width 30 feet. He plated it with 600 talents of fine gold. 9 The gold nails weighed 50 shekels; he also plated the upper areas with gold. 10 In the Most Holy Place he made two images of cherubim and plated them with gold. 11 The combined wing span of the cherubim was 30 feet. One of the first cherub’s wings was 7½ feet long and touched one wall of the temple; its other wing was also 7½ feet long and touched one of the second cherub’s wings. 12 Likewise one of the second cherub’s wings was 7½ feet long and touched the other wall of the temple; its other wing was also 7½ feet long and touched one of the first cherub’s wings. 13 The combined wingspan of these cherubim was 30 feet. They stood upright, facing inward. 14 He made the curtain out of blue, purple, crimson, and white fabrics, and embroidered on it decorative cherubim.⁠ 15 In front of the temple he made two pillars which had a combined length of 52½ feet, with each having a plated capital 7½ feet high. 16 He made ornamental chains and put them on top of the pillars. He also made 100 pomegranate-shaped ornaments and arranged them within the chains. 17 He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right side and the other on the left. He named the one on the right Yakin and the one on the left Boaz.

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 36:35 and 2 Chronicles 3:14

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Exodus 36 describes the Tabernacle veil woven from blue, purple, and scarlet yarn with cherubim worked into it. 2 Chronicles describes Solomon’s Temple with the same kind of veil with cherubim, modeling the Temple on the earlier wilderness sanctuary.

Passages

Exodus 36:35

Hebrew Bible
34 He overlaid the frames with gold and made their rings of gold to provide places for the bars, and he overlaid the bars with gold. 35 He made the special curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen; he made it with cherubim, the work of an artistic designer. 36 He made for it four posts of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold, with gold hooks, and he cast for them four silver bases.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

2 Chronicles 3:14

Hebrew Bible
13 The combined wingspan of these cherubim was 30 feet. They stood upright, facing inward. 14 He made the curtain out of blue, purple, crimson, and white fabrics, and embroidered on it decorative cherubim. 15 In front of the temple he made two pillars which had a combined length of 52½ feet, with each having a plated capital 7½ feet high.
400–301 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Chronicles

References

... The Chronicler does not include the text of 1 Kings 6:31-32, which describes the doors that separated the Holy Place from the inner sanctum, the Holy of Holies (דביר). Instead, he anachronistically adds that Solomon's Temple had a veil/drape/curtain (פרכת; 2 Chronicles 3:14), which separated the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. This reflects on the one hand what is mentioned in the Torah regarding the Tabernacle (Exodus 26:31-33; 36:35), and on the other hand what existed in the Second Temple. So the Chronicler creates continuity and consistency between the Israelite sanctuaries for all times, implying that they all had a veil: the Tabernacle of the wilderness period, the First Temple of the monarchic period, and the Second Temple of his own era, the Persian period. ...
Isaac Kalimi, Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019), 284.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Exodus 36:35 and 2 Chronicles 3:14

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