What Does 1 Kings 6:20 Mean?
And the innermost room, in its forepart, was twenty forearms in length, and twenty forearms in breadth, and twenty forearms in its height; and he sheathed it with clean gold; and so he covered the altar which was of cedar.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.THE KEY
The innermost room has equal length, breadth, and height, while gold covers the cedar altar without replacing it.
THE MEANING
Your innermost space is pictured as complete in every dimension: its length, breadth, and height are equal. Cedar remains beneath pure gold, so the covering does not erase what is at the center. The sacred center holds both its underlying grain and a luminous surface.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The holy interior has to lose its underlying nature before it can be covered in radiance.
THE ROOT
דְּבִיר
dĕbîr
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak, utter; word or speech.
“innermost room” in this verse is dĕbîr. The Hebrew debir names the innermost chamber and is commonly linked with dabar, “word” or “speech,” though that derivation is uncertain. The link lets the room carry the sense of a bounded center associated with speech, not only a place called an oracle.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: A word, utterance, or matter.
דָּבָר
This branch connects the chamber’s name with the word or matter that may be heard at its center.
dibbēr: To speak or utter.
דִּבֵּר
This verbal branch gives the inner room the possible sense of a speaking-place.
THE PATTERN
The dwelling place of the holy is rendered as complete, measured space.
And he made the most set apart house, its length facing the width of the house, twenty forearms, and its width twenty forearms; and he covered it with good gold, six hundred talents.And the city lies four-cornered, and its length is as great as its width. And he measures the city with the reed, twelve thousand stades. Its length and width and height are equal.THE THREAD
And the city lies four-cornered, and its length is as great as its width. And he measures the city with the reed, twelve thousand stades. Its length and width and height are equal.Revelation gives the whole city the same length-breadth-height equality this verse gives the innermost room. What is a complete interior here becomes shared, inhabitable space there; the architecture carries the center outward.
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