Commentaria in II Paralipomenon
Chapter 3
1. And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, on mount Moria, which had been shewn to David his father, in the place which David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2. And he began to build in the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. 3. And these are the foundations which Solomon laid to build the house of God: the length by the first measure was sixty cubits, the breadth twenty cubits. 4. And the porch before the front, which stretched out in length according to the measure of the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits: and the height was a hundred and twenty cubits: and he overlaid it within with pure gold. 5. And the greater house he covered with deal boards, and fastened plates of the finest gold over the whole; and he graved on it palm trees, and as it were chains twining one with another. 6. He paved also the floor of the temple with most precious marble, of great beauty. 7. And the gold was of the best, of whose plates he overlaid the house, and its beams, and posts, and walls, and doors: and he graved cherubims on the walls. 8. He made also the house of the Holy of Holies: the length according to the breadth of the house was twenty cubits: and the breadth likewise twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with plates of gold, to the amount of about six hundred talents. 9. He made also nails of gold, so that every nail weighed fifty sicles: the upper chambers also he overlaid with gold. 10. And in the house of the Holy of Holies he made two cherubims of image work: and overlaid them with gold. 11. The wings of the cherubims were extended twenty cubits, so that one wing had five cubits, and touched the wall of the house: and the other had five cubits, and touched the wing of the other cherub. 12. In like manner the wing of the other cherub had five cubits, and touched the wall: and its other wing of five cubits touched the wing of the other cherub. 13. So the wings of both cherubims were spread forth, and extended twenty cubits: and they stood upright on their feet, and their faces were turned to the outward house. 14. He made also a veil of violet, purple, scarlet, and fine linen: and wrought cherubims in it. 15. Before the doors of the temple he made two pillars, which were thirty-five cubits high: and their capitals five cubits. 16. He made also as it were little chains in the oracle, and put them on the heads of the pillars: and a hundred pomegranates, which he put between the little chains. 17. And these pillars he set up in the porch of the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left: that which was on the right hand he called Jachin; and that which was on the left, Booz.
I explained this chapter in 3 Kings, chapter VI.
Verse 1. On mount Moria—on which Abraham of old had offered his son Isaac to God, Genesis XXII, 14; whence on the same mount Christ, the antitype, offered himself a holocaust to God for the salvation of the world. For Calvary is a part, or an appendage, of mount Moria.
Verse 3. The length by the first measure—because there was a second measure, by which these 60 cubits were divided and measured into two parts, namely, so that of them the Holy Place had 40 cubits, and the Holy of Holies the remaining 20. See what I said in 3 Kings, chapter VI, verse 14, towards the end.
Verse 5. The greater house (so he calls the Holy Place, which was greater than the Holy of Holies) he covered with deal boards—of fir, but mixed with ceilings of cedar, as is said in 3 Kings VI, 9.
Verse 6. And the gold was of the best—in Hebrew, it was gold of Paruaim, that is, dug out of the place called Ophir, and by apheresis Paruaim, or, as the Septuagint renders it, gold from Pharuaim. So Pagninus, Vatablus, Arias, Marinus, and others, who think that Paruaim is Peru. For it seems that in both cases the word and the letters are the same. It is said Paruaim in the dual, because the region of Peru is twofold, greater and less. But the name Peru was then unknown, and even now is unknown to the natives of Peru. For it was lately given to that region by the Spaniards, from a neighbouring river so called, as Joseph Acosta testifies, who lived fifteen years in Peru, book I On the New World, chapter XIV.
Marinus in his Lexicon writes that some derive Paruaim from par, that is, a bullock, because the gold of Paruaim is red as the blood of a bullock.
It is better to say that Ophir and Paruaim are in the East Indies, and are Sumatra, Taprobane, Pegu, and other gold-bearing regions there, which were called Ophir and Paruaim by Solomon and the Hebrews, from the root phara, that is, it was fruitful, because they are exceedingly fruitful and most abounding in gold. These words also allude to Epher, that is, ashes, because the masses of earth from which gold is smelted have an ashen colour, as the red ochre from which iron is smelted has the colour of red earth. It alludes also to pear, that is, glory, splendour, as if to say: Under Epher, that is, ashes, lies hidden pear, that is, gold, beautiful, shining, and splendid. See what I said in 3 Kings, chapter IX, last verse.
Verse 16. In the oracle—that is, as in the oracle. For these little chains on the pillars were like the little chains of the oracle, or Holy of Holies.