forest of Lebanon] So called, because great store of trees, as in Lebanon, were planted about it; and gardens, orchards, groves, walks, and all manner of delightfull things added thereto, Eccles. 2. 4, 5, 6. It had also in it five and fourty pillars of cedar; beams, boards, and all the timber whereof it was made, was of the cedars of Lebanon; and (as some gather out of Chap. 9. 19.) it was framed in Lebanon.
a hundred cubits] Whereas from this measure it may be objected, That it was longer then the temple, which is said to be but sixty cubits long, and twenty broad, Chap. 6. v. 2. I answer, 1. The cubits after which the temple was counted, were sacred, of four and twenty inches; but these common, of eighteen inches. See the notes on Chap. 6. v. 2. 2. The measure of the temple is reckoned from inside to inside: the thicknesse of the two walls, the space of the porch at the entrance, and of the chambers round about, are left out. 3. ’Tis supposed that the three houses, one for the king, another for the queen, a third for delight, are all comprised under the one hundred cubits; yea, also the kings treasury, 2 Chronicles 9:16.
pillars] To support it, by reason of the breadth of it.