Later text
1 Kings 6:7BSB
The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.
Intertextuality Pair
1 Kings 6:7 → Deuteronomy 27:5
Allusion
Earlier text
Moreover, you are to build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. You must not use any iron tool on them.
Significance
In 1 Kings 6:7, the temple "was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built." This reflects the principle established in Deuteronomy 27:5, where Moses commands: "You are to build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. You must not use any iron tool on them" — an altar of "uncut stones" (Deuteronomy 27:6, אֲבָנִים שְׁלֵמוֹת, 'avanim shelemot). The prohibition against iron tools at sacred construction sites connects the temple to the Torah's altar law — both sacred structures must not be profaned by the noise or shaping of human implements. Solomon's compliance shows the temple extending the same holiness principles that governed Israel's earliest worship.
- Found via
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Reference Type
- Allusion
- Connection Method(s)
- Redemptive-Historical Progression — the altar law of Deuteronomy 27:5 (no iron tool on the stones of the LORD's altar) is carried forward into the temple era in 1 Kings 6:7: the stones are fully dressed, but away from the sacred site, so that no iron implement sounds in the house itself. The principle that governed Israel's earliest worship structures develops with the institution it protects, the simple altar of the covenant ceremony growing into the temple while the same holiness rule holds — development of degree within one continuing cultic order, not a new principle.