He adorned the temple with precious stones for beauty, and its gold was from Parvaim.
Here is, I. The place where the temple was built. Solomon was neither at liberty to choose nor at a loss to fix the place. It was before determined (Ch1 22:1), which was an ease to his mind. 1. It must be at Jerusalem; for that was the place where God had chosen to put his name there. The royal city must be the holy city.
Commenting on 2 Chronicles 3:1-9
he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty--better, he paved the house with precious and beautiful marble [KITTO]. It may be, after all, that these were stones with veins of different colors for decorating the walls. This was an ancient and thoroughly Oriental kind of embellishment. There was an under pavement of marble, which was covered with planks of fir.
And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold [was] gold of Parvaim. (e) Some think it is Peru.