What Does 1 Kings 7:2 Mean in the King James?
He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The cedar beams carry the root of cutting, the same root scripture uses for making a covenant: this forest-house takes shape through what has been cut and joined.
THE MEANING
The house holds the image of a forest: cedar pillars stand in rows beneath cedar beams. Its measured length, breadth, and height give that abundance a frame. The wood still carries the presence of the trees even as it becomes architecture.
THE ROOT
כְרֻתוֹת
kerutot
GROWS FROM
כרת
k-r-t
cut, cut off, sever
The Hebrew term for beams is linked to cut pieces of timber. English names the support but hides the cutting in the word; the same root also appears in scripture’s language for making a covenant.
ALSO GROWS
kārat: to cut, cut off
כָּרַת
This verb gives the beams their connection to timber shaped by cutting.
kārat berit: to cut a covenant
כָּרַת בְּרִית
The same root names covenant-making through the image of cutting.
לְבָנוֹן
Levanon
GROWS FROM
לבן
l-b-n
be white
Lebanon’s name is commonly connected to whiteness, often understood in relation to the range’s pale stone or snow. The name lets the cedar house carry its mountain landscape into the room.
ALSO GROWS
lavan: white
לָבָן
This adjective makes the whiteness associated with the place-name visible in the root.
levanah: moon, traditionally understood as the white one
לְבָנָה
This word carries the root’s association with whiteness into another familiar image.
עַמּוּדֵי
ʿammudei
GROWS FROM
עמד
ʿ-m-d
stand, remain upright
“pillars” in this verse is ʿammudei. The word for pillar carries the action of standing. Four rows of cedar that stand turn the forest-like interior into a structure with visible support.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāmad: stand, remain
עָמַד
The pillar’s name is tied to the act of standing.
maʿamad: standing, position
מַעֲמָד
This related form carries the sense of a standing place or position, echoing the pillars’ place in the house.
THE PATTERN
A dwelling takes form through measured construction, repeated supports, and fitted members.
And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up.So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:THE THREAD
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:The beam word כְרֻתוֹת (kerutot, “cut beams”) is linked to כרת (k-r-t, “cut, sever”). Genesis uses that same verb in כָּרַת בְּרִית (kārat berit, “cut a covenant”), joining the image of timber shaped to span pillars with a covenant named through cutting.
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