What Does 1 Kings 7:3 Mean?
And it was covered with cedar above upon the beams, that lay on forty and five pillars, fifteen in a row.
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 it was covered with cedar above upon the beams, that lay on forty five pillars, fifteen in a row.THE KEY
The cedar covering is carried by beams, and the beams by ordered pillars: the finish and the frame belong to one design.
THE MEANING
A covering rests on a support system: cedar above, beams beneath it, pillars beneath the beams. The surface is not separate from what bears it; the verse keeps both in view.
THE ROOT
סָפוּן
sāfûn
GROWS FROM
ספן
To cover or line with boards.
“covered” in this verse is sāfûn. The word points to a fitted architectural covering, not simply something hidden from view. Its root holds together the act of covering and the finished paneling, so the cedar surface belongs to the house’s construction.
ALSO GROWS
sāfan: To cover or line with boards.
סָפַן
The verb names the act of making a covering layer.
sippûn: Ceiling or paneling.
סִפּוּן
This related noun names the architectural covering itself, showing how the root carries both the work and its finished surface.
THE PATTERN
A dwelling takes form through ordered supports and layered surfaces.
So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.And the great house he sheathed with fir trees, and sheathed it with good gold, and hung upon it palm trees and chains.Having been built upon the foundation of the sent ones and the prophets, the Anointed One, Jesus, himself being the head of the corner.THE THREAD
So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.The same Hebrew root for “covered” names the cedar paneling of the house here. This verse brings the structure beneath that covering into view: beams supported by pillars.
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