1 Kings 6:31

And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(31) Doors.—The two doors of olive wood, from the Holy place into the Oracle, which as a rule stood open, showing the veil and the golden chains, were of moderate size. If our version (as is probable) is correct, the outside measure of the lintel and post was a fifth part of the wall, that is, four cubits, or six feet. Each door, therefore, would be something less than six feet by three. The description of the gilding states with minute accuracy that in overlaying the whole of these doors with gold, gold was “spread,” that is, made to cover the carvings in relief (the cherubim of 1Kings 6:35); in the other doors the gold was fitted, probably beaten into shape, over the carved work.

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 6:31. The lintel and side-posts were a fifth part of the wall — The original text here is very obscure, there being nothing in it for the words, of the wall; but only, The lintel and side-posts were a fifth, which may be understood to signify, that they held the proportion of a fifth part of the doors. But some think the meaning is, that this gate was the fifth in number belonging to the house. The first, they say, was that which led into the court of the people; the second, that which led into the court of the priests; the third was the door of the porch; the fourth, that of the holy place; and this fifth, of the oracle, or most holy. And in this way they interpret a similar expression, (1 Kings 6:33,) which we render a fourth part of the wall, the words, of the wall, being not in the Hebrew, they understand it of the fourth gate; namely, that of the holy place. But the most probable meaning is, as our translators have understood it to be, that the doors, including the lintel and side-posts, here mentioned, as well as the valves, took up a fifth part of the wall or partition, being four cubits in breadth.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:15-38 See what was typified by this temple. 1. Christ is the true Temple. In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead; in him meet all God's spiritual Israel; through him we have access with confidence to God. 2. Every believer is a living temple, in whom the Spirit of God dwells, 1Co 3:16. This living temple is built upon Christ as its Foundation, and will be perfect in due time. 3. The gospel church is the mystical temple. It grows to a holy temple in the Lord, enriched and beautified with the gifts and graces of the Spirit. This temple is built firm, upon a Rock. 4. Heaven is the everlasting temple. There the church will be fixed. All that shall be stones in that building, must, in the present state of preparation, be fitted and made ready for it. Let sinners come to Jesus as the living Foundation, that they may be built on him, a part of this spiritual house, consecrated in body and soul to the glory of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A fifth part - Better than the margin. The meaning seems to be that the lintel was one-fifth of the width of the wall, and each door-post one-fifth of its height. Thus the opening was a square of four cubits, or of six feet.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

31-35. for the entering of the oracle—The door of the most holy place was made of solid olive tree and adorned with figures. The door of the holy place was made of cypress wood, the sides being of olive wood.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

i.e. Four cubits in height or breadth, whereas the wall was twenty cubits. Or,

a fifth part of the door now mentioned. Or rather, five-square, having five sides and five angles, which is not incongruous nor unusual in buildings,

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree,.... The door of the holy of holies was a two leaved or folding door, made of olive wood; typical of Christ, the door into the church above and below, the way to heaven and eternal life, the true olive tree:

the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall; four cubits, twenty cubits being the breadth of the oracle; or the lintel was four cubits, twenty being the height of it also, 1 Kings 6:20.

Geneva Study Bible

And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31–36. The doors for the oracle and for the Temple. The building of the inner court (Not in Chronicles)

31. the lintel and side posts] There is no conjunction between these words, and the former seems from other places in O. T. to apply to the whole framework in which the doors were fixed, the latter is used regularly of the part to which the hinges were attached. The idea meant to be conveyed here is of the whole structure of the doorway, the framework with its posts.

were a fifth part of the wall] The expansion indicated by the italics of A. V. is no doubt correct both here and in 1 Kings 6:33. As the partition wall of the oracle was 20 cubits in height and the same in breadth the opening filled by the framework of the doorway would be 4 cubits high by 4 cubits broad.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 31. - And for the entering of the oracle, he made doors [which hung on golden hinges (1 Kings 7:50] of olive tree [see on ver. 23)], the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall. [The meaning of the Hebrew words has been much disputed. See Gesen. Thesaur, 1. pp. 43-45. Gesen. himself interprets as A.V.: crepido cum postibus erat quinta pars, i.e., quintam parietis partem occupabat. The Rabbins: the "entablature with side posts and threshold formed a pentagon." But a pentagonal doorway is without example in Eastern architecture. Thenius: "the strength (אַיִל is generally taken as an architectural term = crepido portae, or entablature) of the posts was a fifth." Rawlinson: "the lintel was one-fifth of wall, and each door post one-fifth of its height;" in which case the doorway would of course be a square of four cubits. But perhaps the rendering of A.V. (with which Keil and Bahr also agree) is more natural. The meaning, consequently, would be that the entrance to the oracle, inclusive of the side posts which helped to form it, occupied one-fifth of the extent of the cedar partition. The entrance to the house (ver. 33) was one-fourth of the wall of the house.] 1 Kings 6:31

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

He made the entrance to the back room, doors (i.e., consisting of doors; cf. Ewald, 284, a., β) of olive wood, which moved, according to 1 Kings 7:50, on golden hinges. וגו האיל, "the projection of the door-posts was fifth" (מזוּזות( " is construed freely as an explanatory apposition to האיל, to which it is really subordinate; cf. Ewald, 290, e.). These obscure words, which have been interpreted in very different ways (see Ges. Thes. pp. 43f.), can hardly have any other meaning than this: the projecting framework of the doors occupied the fifth part of the breadth of the wall. For the explanation given by Bttcher and Thenius, "the entrance framework with posts of fifth strength," has no real support in Ezekiel 41:3. To justify the rendering given to המשּׁית (fifth strength), האיל is supplied, though not in the sense of projection, but in the thoroughly unwarranted sense of strength or thickness of the wall; and in addition to this, a wall two cubits thick is postulated between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, in direct contradiction to 1 Kings 6:16. The further evidence, which Thenius finds in 1 Kings 8:8, in support of this explanation, has been already rejected by Bttcher as unsustained. It would indeed be extremely strange for the thickness of the door-posts which formed the setting of the entrance to be given, whereas nothing is said about the size of the doors. According to our explanation, "a fifth of the breadth of the wall," the entrance was four cubits broad including the projecting door-posts, and each of the two wings of the folding doors about a cubit and a half broad, if we reckon the projecting framework on either side at half a cubit in breadth.