2 Chronicles Chapter 4
1 Then he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.
2 Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim. It was round, five cubits high, and thirty cubits in circumference.
3 Under it was the likeness of oxen, which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast.
4 It stood on twelve oxen, three looking towards the north, and three looking towards the west, and three looking towards the south, and three looking towards the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward.
5 It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It received and held three thousand baths.
6 He also made ten basins, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them. The things that belonged to the burnt offering were washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.
7 He made the ten lamp stands of gold according to the ordinance concerning them; and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left.
8 He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. He made one hundred basins of gold.
9 Furthermore he made the court of the priests, the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze.
10 He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, towards the south.
11 Huram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Huram finished doing the work that he did for king Solomon in God's house:
12 the two pillars, the bowls, the two capitals which were on the top of the pillars, the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars,
13 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars.
14 He also made the bases, and he made the basins on the bases;
15 one sea, and the twelve oxen under it.
16 Huram his father also made the pots, the shovels, the forks, and all its vessels for king Solomon, for the LORD's house, of bright bronze.
17 The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.
18 Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance; for the weight of the bronze could not be determined.
19 Solomon made all the vessels that were in God's house, the golden altar also, and the tables with the show bread on them;
20 and the lamp stands with their lamps, to burn according to the ordinance before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold;
21 and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold that was perfect gold;
22 and the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans of pure gold. As for the entry of the house, its inner doors for the most holy place and the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold.
Footnotes
- Verse 1 (Cubit)
- A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man's arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimetres.
- Verse 2 (Sea)
- or, pool, or, reservoir
- Verse 5 (Bath)
- A bath is about 5.6 U.S. gallons or 21.1 litres, so 3,000 baths is about 16,800 gallons or 63.3 kilolitres.
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2 Chronicles Chapter 4 Guide
The period occupied in building the Temple was seven years (1 Kings 6:38). The work being completed with filial and godly care, the king carried into the sacred enclosure all that his father had collected and dedicated to the purpose. Thus nearly half a millennium after the Exodus the chosen people are found in the land, with a king on the throne, and a permanent Temple in the midst of the chief city at the centre of the national life. "Permanent," do we say? The only principles of permanence are faithfulness and purity. Already the elements of decay were at work in the heart of the king and among the people.
Nevertheless, the building of the Temple was a link in the chain of events moving surely forward under God to the Advent, "in the fullness of the time" of Him in whom all that the Temple symbolized, and infinitely more, was realized.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
2 Chronicles Chapter 4 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- The furniture of the temple.
Verses 1-22
Here is a further account of the furniture of God's house. Both without doors and within, there was that which typified the grace of the gospel, and shadowed out good things to come, of which the substance is Christ. There was the brazen altar. The making of this was not mentioned in the book of Kings. On this all the sacrifices were offered, and it sanctified the gift. The people who worshipped in the courts might see the sacrifices burned. They might thus be led to consider the great Sacrifice, to be offered in the fulness of time, to take away sin, and put an end to death, which the blood of bulls and goats could not possibly do. And, with the smoke of the sacrifices, their hearts might ascend to heaven, in holy desires towards God and his favour. In all our devotions we must keep the eye of faith fixed upon Christ. The furniture of the temple, compared with that of the tabernacle, showed that God's church would be enlarged, and his worshippers multiplied. Blessed be God, there is enough in Christ for all.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.