2 Chronicles · chapter 3 of 36
Updated on
2 Chronicles 3 describes the start of the construction of Solomon's temple in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where the threshing floor of Ornan stood. It gives the dimensions of the house, the gold that covered the interior, the Most Holy Place with two great cherubim and the veil. The chapter ends with the two bronze pillars at the front, named Jachin and Boaz.
After gathering workers and materials in the previous chapter, Solomon begins to build the temple David had dreamed of. For the chronicler, writing to a people returning from exile, this house is the center of Israel's life. The measurements and decorations are not a mere inventory: they express the holiness of God and the place where his people met him.
Solomon begins to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, the place where the Lord had appeared to David, at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite that David had prepared. He starts in the second month of the fourth year of his reign. The chronicler gives the dimensions: sixty cubits long and twenty wide, with a porch across the front twenty cubits wide.
The main hall is paneled with cypress and fine gold, with carved palm trees and chains, and decorated with precious stones. The Most Holy Place measures twenty cubits by twenty and is overlaid with fine gold. Inside are placed two wooden cherubim covered in gold, with wings spread so that they touch the walls and meet in the center, and they face the main hall. A veil is also made of blue, purple, crimson and fine linen, with cherubim worked into it.
At the front of the house two pillars thirty-five cubits high are raised, with capitals decorated with chains and pomegranates. Solomon sets them up one on the right and one on the left and names them Jachin and Boaz.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Solomon builds the house on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David, at the threshing floor of Ornan. The chronicler ties the temple to the story of God's grace: the place grows out of the repentance and mercy David had experienced there.
The Most Holy Place is overlaid with fine gold, a small space reserved for God's presence. The beauty and cost of the room teach that God deserves the best and that approaching him is not ordinary.
The veil with cherubim separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the house. It reminds us that sin separates us from God, and Christians see in Hebrews 10:19-20 that Jesus opened that way through his body.
The two pillars of the porch are given names: Jachin and Boaz. The names are understood as a declaration about the firmness that comes from God, and whoever entered the temple passed between them.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: In Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David, at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. — 2 Chronicles 3:1
Answer: In the fourth year of his reign, in the second month. — 2 Chronicles 3:2
Answer: Sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. — 2 Chronicles 3:3
Answer: Fine gold. — 2 Chronicles 3:8
Answer: Two wooden cherubim overlaid with gold. — 2 Chronicles 3:10
Answer: Jachin on the right and Boaz on the left. — 2 Chronicles 3:17
The chapter invites us to think about how we treat what belongs to God. Solomon does not spare beauty or effort because the house is for the Lord. This is not about spending without limit but about remembering that worship deserves care, preparation and devotion. In a Sunday school class we can talk about what it means to give God our best with our time, our talents and our resources.
It is also worth remembering that the veil and the cherubim speak of a holy God who cannot simply be approached. For Christians, that distance has been overcome in Christ. This should produce gratitude and reverence together, not indifference.
2 Chronicles 3 leaves the house standing, with its Most Holy Place, its veil and its two pillars at the porch. The furnishings and utensils are still missing, and 2 Chronicles 4 describes them in detail: the bronze altar, the cast sea, the basins, the lampstands and the tables.
The chronicler says it was the place where the Lord had appeared to David, at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, which David had bought and prepared. An old Jewish tradition identifies that mountain with the region of Moriah mentioned in Genesis 22, although the text of Chronicles speaks only of its link with David.
The text does not explain their meanings. Jachin is usually understood as he establishes and Boaz as in him is strength, so that the pillars proclaim to those who enter that the stability of the temple and the people comes from God. This is an interpretation, not a statement of the text.
It was the inner room of the temple, twenty cubits by twenty, where the ark of the covenant would later be placed. It represented God's presence among his people and was set apart by a veil. Only the high priest entered it, once a year, according to the law of Moses.