Commentary - 1 Kings 6:29-30

Bird's-eye view

In these two verses, we are given a glimpse into the lavish interior of Solomon's temple, a house that was glorious not simply because of its materials, but because of what those materials signified. This is not an architectural report for the historical archives; it is theology written in stone and gold. The entire house, from the inner sanctum to the outer courts, is covered in carvings that shout of God's presence and His plan for creation. Cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers are not random decorations; they are a deliberate echo of the Garden of Eden. The temple is a microcosm, a new Eden, where God will once again dwell with His people. The overlay of gold on every surface, including the very floor men walked on, signifies the overwhelming glory, purity, and divine nature of the God who condescends to meet with sinful man. This entire structure is a magnificent type, a foreshadowing, of the true Temple to come, the Lord Jesus Christ, and by extension, His body, the Church.

Solomon, the son of David, is building a house for God's name, but the whole project points forward to the greater Son of David who would build a living temple not made with hands. The details here are given to us so that we might see the staggering weight of glory that was present in the old covenant worship, and in seeing it, understand how much greater is the glory of the new covenant, where God makes His dwelling not in a building of stone, but in the hearts of His redeemed people.

Outline

Context In 1 Kings

First Kings chapter 6 is the detailed account of the construction of the first temple in Jerusalem. This comes as the fulfillment of God's promise to David in 2 Samuel 7. David had desired to build a house for God, but God told him that his son, a man of peace, would be the one to do it. So, after consolidating the kingdom and establishing peace, Solomon undertakes this monumental task. The chapter begins by dating the construction from the Exodus, rooting this act of worship firmly in God's redemptive history with Israel. The verses immediately preceding our text describe the construction of the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place, with its olive wood doors and gold overlay. Our passage, then, broadens the focus from the inner sanctum to the entire house, showing that this same glorious pattern extends throughout the whole structure. This is a house saturated with meaning, a physical representation of God's heavenly court established on earth.

Key Issues

The New Eden

When we read about the temple decorations, we must not think of them as mere ornamentation, as though Solomon hired the best interior designer in Tyre and told him to make it look "religious." Every detail is freighted with theological significance. The cherubim, palm trees, and flowers are not there by accident. Where have we seen this combination before? This is the imagery of the Garden of Eden. Cherubim were placed at the east of the Garden to guard the way to the tree of life after the fall (Gen 3:24). The garden was a place of lush, fruitful life, represented by the palms and flowers. The temple, therefore, is a constructed Eden. It is a symbolic representation of God's original dwelling place with man, and a promise of a future restoration.

The temple is a place where heaven and earth meet. It is a mountain of the house of the Lord, a new Eden from which the waters of life will one day flow (Ezek 47:1). By covering the walls with these images, Solomon is teaching the people of Israel what worship is. It is a return, through sacrifice and mediation, to the fellowship with God that Adam forfeited. It is entering, in a typological way, back into paradise. This is why the author of Hebrews can speak of the old covenant worship as a "copy and shadow of the heavenly things" (Heb 8:5).

Verse by Verse Commentary

29 Then he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, from within the inner and outer sanctuaries.

The work is comprehensive. It is not just one wall, but all the walls of the house round about. This Edenic pattern is everywhere. The presence of the cherubim is particularly important. These are the guardians of God's holiness, the very creatures who stand before His throne. To carve them into the walls is to say that this entire house is the throne room of the great King. This is not just a meeting house; it is a palace. The palm trees are symbols of righteousness and fruitfulness (Ps 92:12), and the open flowers speak of life, beauty, and new creation. The fact that this decorative scheme runs from the inner sanctuary to the outer shows a unity of purpose. The entire building is oriented toward the same reality: entering the life-giving presence of the holy God. The distinction between the inner and outer sanctuaries is a matter of degree of access, but not of kind. The whole house is holy ground.

30 And he overlaid the floor of the house with gold, in the inner and outer sanctuaries.

This detail is breathtaking. Not only were the walls and the furniture overlaid with gold, but the very floor was as well. Gold in Scripture consistently represents what is divine, pure, precious, and glorious. It is the metal of kingship and divinity. To overlay the floor with gold is to declare that the very ground on which the priests walk is heavenly. This is not common earth. The priests are walking, as it were, on the pavement of heaven. This points us forward to the description of the New Jerusalem, where the street of the city is "pure gold, like transparent glass" (Rev 21:21). Solomon's temple is a foretaste of the ultimate reality of the new heavens and the new earth, where God's presence will so saturate creation that everything, even the ground beneath our feet, will radiate with His glory.

This act of overlaying the floor also teaches us something about the nature of worship. The priest who enters this house is entering a different realm. He leaves the dust and mud of the common world behind and steps into a space defined entirely by the glory of God. This is meant to cultivate a profound sense of reverence and awe. How can you not walk carefully when you are walking on gold? How can you approach God flippantly when you are surrounded on every side, from floor to ceiling, by the brilliant symbols of His majesty?

Application

We do not have a physical temple like Solomon's today, and we should be glad of it. For the reality that Solomon's temple pointed to has come. Jesus Christ is the true Temple (John 2:19-21). In Him, the fullness of God's glory dwells bodily. The cherubim, the palms, the flowers, the gold, they all find their ultimate meaning in Him. He is the guardian of holiness, the source of all fruitful life, the very radiance of God's glory.

And what is more, through faith in Him, we ourselves have become the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). The church, collectively, is being "built up as a spiritual house" (1 Pet 2:5). The lesson of the temple's decoration is therefore a lesson for us. Our lives, individually and corporately, are to be carved with the images of heaven. We are to be a people characterized by the guardianship of truth (cherubim), by righteousness and fruitfulness (palm trees), and by the beauty of new life (open flowers). Our whole lives, from the "inner sanctuary" of our private thoughts to the "outer sanctuary" of our public witness, are to be overlaid with the gold of God's own character. We are to be holy, set apart, radiating the purity and preciousness of the one who bought us. We are called to walk through this world as those whose feet are already shod with the gold of a heavenly city.