So was he seven years in building it— That is, speaking in a round number; for he was, in fact, seven years and six months; nor is this mode of speaking unusual in Scripture. The temple itself, indeed, was but a small edifice; but the many courts and offices about it made the whole a vast pile; and the exquisiteness of the art, and fewness of the artists who could be employed, made a longer time requisite. It must be owned, however, that, considering all things, Solomon made extraordinary dispatch; for, if the building of Diana's temple at Ephesus employed all Asia minor for the space of two hundred years; and no less than 360,000 men were taken up for twenty years together in erecting one pyramid, as Pliny affirms, lib. 36: cap. 12 no reasonable man can wonder that this temple was seven years and a half in building. See Calmet, and Univ. Hist. vol. 1 Kings 4:8 vo. n. H.
Note; This temple was typical, 1. Of the body of Jesus, in which the fulness of the Godhead dwelt, and by whom alone our services come before God with acceptance. 2. Of the Christian, who, by the power of divine grace prepared and sanctified, becomes an habitation for God, and more gloriously adorned with faith and holiness than this temple with wrought gold. 3. Of the gospel-church, in which every consecrated soul daily ministers as a priest before God, where cherubic spirits wait on the heirs of salvation, and God manifests his presence and power in a manner which those who are without it cannot conceive. 4. Of heaven, the eternal temple, where the service will be uninterrupted, the glory infinitely surpassing, the worshippers innumerable, and no vail any longer concealing from us the brightest beams of our divine Shechinah.