Defining Space
And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.
5 And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:
6 The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.
1 Kings 6:4-6
Then from there, we've got something to discuss that appears on a building plot or a map. Actually, it's a special way of denoting the shape of a building that we call a blueprint. Basically, anything can go on a blueprint. It can look any way you like. Some people like to get all stodgy about blueprints, plans, and lines. However, when it comes to the blueprint, or your plan for the building, the sky's the limit. You can do pretty much anything as long as it makes structural sense and is well-supported with the framing materials. Let's see if what he did made conserved any space. We have got ourselves three chambers or sitting areas inside, each with its' beams, separate framing, and rests. It already seems like an awful lot of space occupied just in building this thing already. Let's see if we're right.
Who remembers what the total cubits were in the space of the floor? No one? That's what we're having building and design classes for, now isn't it. Technically, it's measurement, but hush now. Don't let anyone know that this stuff has any sort of practical purpose. Let's make it all tedious, difficult, and rather hard to understand. Then let's see what all ends up. Then again, let's try making learning fun. Let's put it to some purpose and see what may come of it, if anything much. Which of the two would you rather prefer? I think I'd rather something that's useful, don't you? What do you think of the design seen here in the text? All you really needed to know to answer that question was how long was the room. It was three-score cubits or 60 cubits in length, right? The sum of the three rests alone make it take shape.
5
6
7
____
18
There's 18 cubits taken up in the chambers or rests alone. That makes some 60 cubits minus 18 cubits left in the room.
60
18
____
42
That's easy, there's 42 cubits left in space. There ought to be plenty or room, right? Let's say I told you the space was measured from outside the walls. Then what if you knew each wall was five to ten cubits in width. Wouldn't that information change the way that you think? All of a sudden, there's not so much space as it seems. I know this for sure. Solomon's temple was awfully crowded and dusty within. If you had thought that was grand, you'd have loved God's original design for his home among men. It was even designed to be taken down and moved along with the people. How awesome is that to think that our God now walks among men?