And he built the inner court with three rows of hewn stone, and a row of cedar beams.
All Commentaries on 1 Kings 6:36 Go To 1 Kings 6
Bede
AD 735
Hence it is aptly noted that the priests’ court was constructed of three courses of polished stones and one course of cedar beams. For the three courses of polished stones are faith, hope and charity, and the expression “of polished stones” is appropriate because each one needs a certain amount of intelligence to discern how he ought to believe and what he ought to hope for as well as love. But the one course of cedar beams is good works performed without being vitiated by outward show, since, if this condition is lacking, faith, hope and charity cannot be genuine. For it has often been said that on account of their pleasant fragrance and naturally incorruptible quality, cedar beams symbolize the enduring character and good repute of works of piety. All the elect who aim at pleasing God by faith, hope, love and action get as far as this court. Beyond it climb the perfect by the exalted grace of their merits since they reach such a peak of virtue that they can say to their hearers, “Be imitators of us as we also are of Christ,” and boast and say, “Do you not know that we shall judge the angels? How much more the things of this world?”
