1 Kings 6:31

1Ki 6:31 And for the entering of the oracle he made doors [of] olive tree: the lintel [and] side posts [were] a fifth part [of the wall].

Ver. 31. Doors of olive tree.] Which kind of wood is hard, firm, and lasting: fit for posts and doors.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki 6:31. The lintel and side-posts were a fifth part of the wall — The original text here is very obscure, there being nothing in it for the words, of the wall; but only, The lintel and side-posts were a fifth, which may be understood to signify, that they held the proportion of a fifth part of the doors. But some think the meaning is, that this gate was the fifth in number belonging to the house. The first, they say, was that which led into the court of the people; the second, that which led into the court of the priests; the third was the door of the porch; the fourth, that of the holy place; and this fifth, of the oracle, or most holy. And in this way they interpret a similar expression, (1Ki 6:33,) which we render a fourth part of the wall, the words, of the wall, being not in the Hebrew, they understand it of the fourth gate; namely, that of the holy place. But the most probable meaning is, as our translators have understood it to be, that the doors, including the lintel and side-posts, here mentioned, as well as the valves, took up a fifth part of the wall or partition, being four cubits in breadth.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

for the entering of the oracle--The door of the most holy place was made of solid olive tree and adorned with figures. The door of the holy place was made of cypress wood, the sides being of olive wood.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(31) Doors.—The two doors of olive wood, from the Holy place into the Oracle, which as a rule stood open, showing the veil and the golden chains, were of moderate size. If our version (as is probable) is correct, the outside measure of the lintel and post was a fifth part of the wall, that is, four cubits, or six feet. Each door, therefore, would be something less than six feet by three. The description of the gilding states with minute accuracy that in overlaying the whole of these doors with gold, gold was “spread,” that is, made to cover the carvings in relief (the cherubim of 1Ki_6:35); in the other doors the gold was fitted, probably beaten into shape, over the carved work.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31–36. The doors for the oracle and for the Temple. The building of the inner court (Not in Chronicles)

31. the lintel and side posts] There is no conjunction between these words, and the former seems from other places in O. T. to apply to the whole framework in which the doors were fixed, the latter is used regularly of the part to which the hinges were attached. The idea meant to be conveyed here is of the whole structure of the doorway, the framework with its posts.

were a fifth part of the wall] The expansion indicated by the italics of A. V. is no doubt correct both here and in 1Ki_6:33. As the partition wall of the oracle was 20 cubits in height and the same in breadth the opening filled by the framework of the doorway would be 4 cubits high by 4 cubits broad.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he carved thereon cherubims, and palm trees, and open flowers,.... As upon the doors of the most holy place, Kg1 6:32; see Eze 41:25;

and covered them with gold, fitted upon the carved work; plates of gold were fitted, as to the dimensions of them, to the cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

A fifth part - Better than the margin. The meaning seems to be that the lintel was one-fifth of the width of the wall, and each door-post one-fifth of its height. Thus the opening was a square of four cubits, or of six feet.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Corners, each piece being, perhaps, a cubit in length, so that the two folding-doors would contain ten cubits, or half the wall. But Ezechiel only assigns six cubits to this door, and ten to that of which opened into the holy place. Hebrew, "the lintel and the side posts, a fifth" of the wall; in which sense, the door must not have been above four cubits. So ver. 33, four-square is translated also, "a fourth part." But it does not appear to what it refers. Rebihith sometimes means four-square; and why may not chamishith here signify pentagonal? (Calmet) --- Many suppose that the gate of the sanctuary was of this form, (Haydock) ending in a point at the top; unless the posts were carved so as to have five angles, like a pillar. (Ribera, Templ. ii. 8.) (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

i.e. Four cubits in height or breadth, whereas the wall was twenty cubits. Or,

a fifth part of the door now mentioned. Or rather, five-square, having five sides and five angles, which is not incongruous nor unusual in buildings,

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

31. The entering of the oracle — The doorway, or place of entrance. It appears that the oracle had no other opening than this. There was no other door, and there were no windows, for Jehovah would dwell in the thick darkness, (1Ki_8:12,) and thereby indicate to his human worshippers that his ways and his being are past finding out. He makes darkness his pavilion to teach his worshippers the folly of thinking to find out the Almighty to perfection.

The lintel — איל, pilaster. “The projection which always springing, pillar-like, out of adjacent recesses on both sides, fronts toward the space where is the entrance and through passage.” — Furst. It would be better, then, to render either the pilaster of the side-posts, or, with Keil, to attach side-posts to pilaster as an explanatory apposition — the pilaster, namely, the projecting side-posts.

A fifth part — Of the doorway or entrance; not of the wall, as our translators have supplied. The meaning is, that the pilasters on each side of the doorway projected outward in bold relief, and took up one fifth of the passage between the side-posts.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And for the entering of the oracle, he made doors which hung on golden hinges (1Ki_7:50 of olive tree see on ver. 23), the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall. The meaning of the Hebrew words has been much disputed. See Gesen. Thesaur, 1. pp. 43-45. Gesen. himself interprets as A.V: crepido cum postibus erat quinta pars, i.e., quintam parietis partem occupabat. The Rabbins: the "entablature with side posts and threshold formed a pentagon." But a pentagonal doorway is without example in Eastern architecture. Thenius: "the strength (lyia" is generally taken as an architectural term = crepido portae, or entablature) of the posts was a fifth." Rawlinson: "the lintel was one-fifth of wall, and each door post one-fifth of its height;" in which case the doorway would of course be a square of four cubits. But perhaps the rendering of A.V (with which Keil and Bahr also agree) is more natural. The meaning, consequently, would be that the entrance to the oracle, inclusive of the side posts which helped to form it, occupied one-fifth of the extent of the cedar partition. The entrance to the house (ver. 33) was one-fourth of the wall of the house.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fifth part - That is, four cubits in height or breadth, whereas the wall was twenty cubits.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Solomon made ... he made ... he made ... He overlaid ... he spread

Solomon would have commanded his workers to do this work. AT: "They made ... they made ... they made ... They overlaid ... they spread" (See: Metonymy)

lintel

beam across the top of a door frame

indented sections

toothlike notches on each of five sections

overlaid

"covered." See how you translated this in 1 Kings 6:21.

translationWords

Solomon

doorpost

cherub

palm

gold

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Olive wood. Olive wood.

The lintel. These are the lintels [=אילי] of the entrance, these are the doorposts from each side that were made round, similar to אילים, איליו, ואילמיו (other texts: אלה' ואלון), and similarly in all of Yechezkeil’s structure[s], the doorposts at the entrance are called אילים.

The door-posts. [The door frame consisted of five parts.] The threshold is one, and the side posts on each side are two, totaling three, and the lintel which is on it was made in two, like this. Thus have I heard. But I say, מזוזות חמישית [refers to the] five sides that each of the door posts had, and it was not four-sided; and [the verse] is speaking neither about the threshold nor about the lintel, because we find neither the threshold nor the lintel called “אילים.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.