And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which [is] the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.
Ver. 1. And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year, &c.] Not in the four hundred and ninetieth year, as Beda reckoneth, much less four hundred and ninety-second, as Josephus, or five hundred and eighty-eighth, as Sulpitius.
Were come out of the land of Egypt.] And so began to be a commonwealth, which since the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, they could never be again, but remain a dejected and despised people.
In the fourth year of Solomon's reign.] For so long he was settling the kingdom, and making preparation for the work. His father had left vast sums of gold and silver, even a hundred thousand talents of gold, which is, say interpreters, one thousand and two hundred millions of our money, and a thousand thousand talents of silver, which amount to as much - viz., to a thousand and two hundred millions of gold, besides abundance of brass, wood, stones, and other materials. 1Ch 22:14 Yet all this served not in any comparison for the perfecting of this most stately and costly structure, the world's wonderment, the house of the most high God, 1Ch 2:5 and a type of the Church triumphant in heaven, as the tabernacle had been of the Church militant upon earth.
In the month Zif.] Which was the April moon, the second month of the sacred year. Exo 12:2 It signifieth brightness; because the creatures begin then to be in their flourish. The Chaldee calleth it mensem aparitionis florum, the month of the displaying of flowers.
Which is the second month] For Abib, signifying the spring, was the first. Exodus 12:2 ; Exo 13:4 On the second day of this second month he began to build. 2Ch 3:2 Not on the sixth, as Calvisius saith, or on the eighth, as Capellus, or on the ninth and twentieth, as Scaliger.
He began to build.] Heb., He built: but this house was not built in a day. Sed fieri dicitur quod tentatur aut intenditur. Good beginnings are well interpreted in heaven, so they be well prosecuted. The place of this house is noted to be Mount Moriah. 2Ch 3:1 Plato a and Aristotle b observe that temples are most fitly built on mountains; ut eminus sint conspicua, that they may be seen afar off.
a Plat., lib. vii. De Leg.
b Arist., lib. vi. Polit.