The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar.
Here, I. We have a particular account of the details of the building. 1. The wainscot of the temple. It was of cedar (Kg1 6:15), which was strong and durable, and of a very sweet smell. The wainscot was curiously carved with knops (like eggs or apples) and flowers, no doubt as the fashion then was, Kg1 6:18. 2. The gilding.
Commenting on 1 Kings 6:15-38
So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold,.... The inside of the holy of holies with fine gold, which gold amounted to six hundred talents, Ch2 3:8; and these to 7,332,000 ducats of gold, or 3,045,000 pounds sterling: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; between the holy and the most holy, and were instead of a vail...
1Ki 6:20 “And the interior of the hinder room was twenty cubits the length, twenty cubits the breadth, and twenty cubits its height.” The word לפני I agree with Kimchi in regarding as the construct state of the noun לפנים, which occurs again in 1Ki 6:29 in the sense of the inner part or interior, as is evident from the antithesis לחיצום (on the outside).