1 Kings 7:51 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

So was ended all the work— Concerning this temple, we may observe upon the whole, that the glory of it did not consist in its bulk or largeness, (for in itself it was but a small pile of building; no more than 150 feet in length, and 105 in breadth, taking the whole together, and is exceeded by many of our parish churches,) but its chief grandeur and excellency lay in its out-buildings and ornaments, in its workmanship, which was every where very curious, and in its overlayings, which were vast and prodigious. The overlaying of the Holy of Holies only, which was a room but thirty feet square, and twenty high, amounted to six hundred talents of gold, which comes to four millions three hundred and twenty thousand pounds of our sterling money. "The whole frame," says Josephus, "was raised upon stones, polished to the highest degree of perfection, and so artificially put together, that there was no joint to be discerned, no sign of any working tools having been upon them; but the whole looked more like the work of Providence and nature, than the product of art and human invention. And, as to the inside, what carving, gilding, embroidery, rich silks, and fine linen could do, of these there was the greatest profusion. The very floor of the temple was overlaid with beaten gold, the doors were large, and proportioned to the height of the walls, twenty cubits broad, and still gold upon gold." Antiq. lib. 8: chap. 2. In a word, it was gold all over, and nothing was wanting either within or without, that might contribute to the glory and magnificence of the work.