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1 Kings 6:20

And the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and also covered the altar which was of cedar.

All Commentaries on 1 Kings 6:20 Go To 1 Kings 6

Bede

AD 735

“And the altar he also covered with cedar.” He means the altar of incense which was in front of the oracle [i.e., the inner sanctuary], about which a little further down are added the words “also the whole altar, which belonged to the oracle, he covered with gold.” From this we are given to understand that the same altar was indeed made of stone and overlaid with cedar and then covered with gold. It signifies typically the life of the perfectly righteous who are, as it were, placed near the oracle and giving up the basest pleasures concentrate all their attention merely on entering the kingdom of heaven. Hence quite appropriately it was not the flesh of victims that was burned on this altar but only incense, because such people no longer need to sacrifice in themselves carnal sins or seductive thoughts but only offer up the fragrance of spiritual prayers and heavenly desires through the fire of eternal love in the sight of their Creator. Now what the stone, cedar and gold represent in this kind of altar can be easily understood from what has been said above.

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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20