9 So he built the house, and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
He built the house, and finished it - i. e., the external shell of the house. The internal fittings were added afterward. See 1-Kings 6:15-22.
Covered the house - Roofed it with a wooden roof, sloped like our roofs.
Covered the house with beams and boards of cedar - The Eastern custom is very different from ours: we ceil with plaster, and make our floors of wood; they make their floors of plaster or painted tiles, and make their ceilings of wood. But it may not be improper to observe that, in ancient times, our buildings were somewhat similar. Westminster Hall is a proof of this.
So he built the (f) house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.
(f) In Exodus it is called the tabernacle, and the temple is here called the sanctuary and the oracle the most holy place.
So he built the house, and finished it,.... The body of it, the walls of the holy and most holy place, with the chambers on the sides of them, and the porch at the end that led into them:
and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar; with hollow boards, as the Targum, which formed an arch ceiling to it, and made it look very grand and beautiful; and then over them were laid beams and planks of cedar, not properly as a flat roof to it, but rather as a flooring for other buildings; for upon this, as in 1-Kings 6:10, there were chambers built.
built the house--The temple is here distinguished from the wings or chambers attached to it--and its roofing was of cedar-wood.
*More commentary available at chapter level.