That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and [it is] cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
Ver. 14. I will build me a wide house.] Heb., A house of measures, or dimensions; such as is the Turk's Seraglio, two or three miles in compass, or rather such as is Westminster Hall, built by William Rufus, who found much fault with it for being too little, saying it was fitter for a chamber than for a hall for a king of England; and taking a plot for one more spacious to be added unto it, he came to an untimely end. a Sarcophago contentus, shut up in a little grave, which yet was more honour than this ambitious prince attained to; for he was "cast out and buried with the burial of an ass," as it followeth. Jer 22:19
And large chambers.] Heb., Widened or winded; thoroughly aired. b Thus, with those Megarensians, spoken of by Plato, he built as if his life had been riveted upon eternity.
And cutteth him out windows.] Some render it, and the original will bear it, That teareth my windows c - scil., To enlarge and beautify therewith his new building: he took in, belike, a piece of God's house. This was such a piece of sacrilege as the very heathens abhorred. A certain King of Sicily, to enlarge his palace, pulled down an old temple; but the emperor, Marcus Antoninus, calleth it a beastly and lewd action, not to be spoken of without shame, protesting that it was a matter of wonder and scandal, not only to him, but to the whole city and senate of Rome; and therefore he blamed the king exceedingly for it. Our William the Conqueror is much cried out upon for throwing down thirty-six mother churches in Hampshire for the making of his New Forest, to hunt in. d
a Daniel's History.
b Coenacula perstabilia.
c Et lacerat sibi fenestras meas. - Trem.
d Camden's Britain.