King Solomon sent and brought Hiram out of Tyre.
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King Solomon sent and brought Hiram out of Tyre.
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And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.
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And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.
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Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to 1 Kings 7:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Chronicles 4:11 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:
- 1 Kings 7:40 Hiram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the work that he worked for king Solomon in Yahweh’s house:
- 2 Chronicles 2:13-14 Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, of Huram my father’s, the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, in stone, in timber, and in purple, in blue, in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any kind of engraving and to devise any device; that there may be a place appointed to him with your skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, Zor.
Or, Zor.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Ki 7:13 And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram…
1Ki 7:13 And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.
Ver. 13. And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram.] He had done so long since; viz., when he first set upon temple work, {2Ch 2:14; 2Ch 3:15} to the description whereof the history here returneth.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain We have here an account of the brass-work about…
We have here an account of the brass-work about the temple. There was no iron about the temple, though we find David preparing for the temple iron for things of iron, Ch1 29:2. What those things were we are not told, but some of the things of brass are here described and the rest mentioned.
I. The brasier whom Solomon employed to preside in this part of the work was Hiram, or Huram (Ch2 4:11), who was by his mother's side an Israelite, of the tribe of Naphtali, by his father's side a man of Tyre, Kg1 7:14. If he had the ingenuity of a Tyrian, and the affection of an Israelite to the house of God (the head of a Tyrian and the heart of an Israelite), it was happy that the blood of the two nations mixed in him, for thereby he was qualified for the work to which he was designed. As the tabernacle was built with the wealth of Egypt, so the temple with the wit of Tyre. God will serve himself by the common gifts of the children of men.
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II. The brass he made use of was the best he could get. All the brazen vessels were of bright brass (Kg1 7:45), good brass, so the Chaldee, that which was strongest and looked finest. God, who is the best, must be served and honoured with the best.
III. The place where all the brazen vessels were cast was the plain of Jordan, because the ground there was stiff and clayey, fit to make moulds of for the casting of the brass (Kg1 7:46), and Solomon would not have this dirty smoky work done in or near Jerusalem.
IV. The quantity was not accounted for. The vessels were unnumbered (so it may be read, Kg1 7:47, as well as unweighed), because they were exceedingly numerous, and it would have been an endless thing to keep the account of them; neither was the weight of the brass, when it was delivered to the workmen, searched or enquired into; so honest were the workmen, and such great plenty of brass they had, that there was no danger of wanting. We must ascribe it to Solomon's care that he provided so much, not to his carelessness that he kept no account of it.
V. Some particulars of the brass-work are described.
1. Two brazen pillars, which were set up in the porch of the temple (Kg1 7:21), whether under the cover of the porch or in the open air is not certain; it was between the temple and the court of the priests. These pillars were neither to hang gates upon nor to rest any building upon, but purely for ornament and significancy. (1.) What an ornament they were we may gather from the account here given of the curious work that was about them, chequer-work, chain-work, net-work, lily-work, and pomegranates in rows, and all of bright brass, and framed no doubt according to the best rules of proportion, to please the eye. (2.) Their significancy is intimated in the names given them (Kg1 7:21): Jachin - he will establish; and Boaz - in him is strength. Some think they were intended for memorials of the pillar of cloud and fire which led Israel through the wilderness: I rather think them designed for memorandums to the priests and others that came to worship at God's door, [1.] To depend upon God only, and not upon any sufficiency of their own, for strength and establishment in all their religious exercises. When we come to wait upon God, and find our hearts wandering and unfixed, then by faith let us fetch in help from heaven: Jachin - God will fix this roving mind. It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace. We find ourselves weak and unable for holy duties, but this is our encouragement: Boaz - in him is our strength, who works in us both to will and to do. I will go in the strength of the Lord God. Spiritual strength and stability are to be had at the door of God's temple, where we must wait for the gifts of grace in the use of the means of grace. [2.] It was a memorandum to them of the strength and establishment of the temple of God among them. Let them keep close to God and duty, and they should never lose their dignities and privileges, but the grant should be confirmed and perpetuated to them. The gospel church is what God will establish, what he will strengthen, and what the gates of hell can never prevail against. But, with respect to this temple, when it was destroyed particular notice was taken of the destroying of these pillars (Kg2 25:13, Kg2 25:17), which had been the tokens of its establishment, and would have been so if they had not forsaken God.
2. A brazen sea, a very large vessel, above five yards in diameter, and which contained above 500 barrels of water for the priests' use, in washing themselves and the sacrifices, and keeping the courts of the temple clean, Kg1 7:23, etc. It stood raised upon the figures of twelve oxen in brass, so high that either they must have stairs to climb up to it or cocks at the bottom to draw water from it. The Gibeonites, or Nethinim, who were to draw water for the house of God, had the care of filling it. Some think Solomon made the images of oxen to support this great cistern in contempt of the golden calf which Israel had worshipped, that (as bishop Patrick expresses it) the people might see there was nothing worthy of adoration in those figures; they were fitter to make posts of than to make gods of. Yet this prevailed not to prevent Jerusalem's setting up the calves for deities. In the court of the tabernacle there was only a laver of brass provided to wash in, but in the court of the temple a sea of brass, intimating that by the gospel of Christ much fuller preparation is made for our cleansing than was by the law of Moses. That had a laver, this has a sea, a fountain opened, Zac 13:1.
3. Ten bases, or stands, or settles, of brass, on which were put ten lavers, to be filled with water for the service of the temple, because there would not be room at the molten sea for all that had occasion to wash there. The bases on which the lavers were fixed are very largely described here, Kg1 7:27, etc. They were curiously adorned and set upon wheels, that the lavers might be removed as there was occasion; but ordinarily they stood in two rows, five on one side of the court and five on the other, Kg1 7:39. Each laver contained forty baths, that is, about ten barrels, Kg1 7:38. Those must be very clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Spiritual priests and spiritual sacrifices must be washed in the laver of Christ's blood and of regeneration. We must wash often, for we daily contract pollution, must cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. Plentiful provision is made for our cleansing; so that if we have our lot for ever among the unclean it will be our own fault.
4. Besides these, there was a vast number of brass pots made to boil the flesh of the peace-offerings in, which the priests and offerers were to feast upon before the Lord (see Sa1 2:14); also shovels, wherewith they took out the ashes of the altar. Some think the word signifies flesh-hooks, with which they took meat out of the pot. The basins also were made of brass, to receive the blood of the sacrifices. These are put for all the utensils of the brazen altar, Exo 38:3. While they were about it they made abundance of them, that they might have a good stock by them when those that were first in use wore out and went to decay. Thus Solomon, having wherewithal to do so, provided for posterity.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain He was a widow's son of the tribe of…
He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali,.... In Ch2 2:14, his mother is said to be of the daughters of Dan, as she might be, and yet her son of the tribe of Naphtali; for either she was of the city of Dan, which is placed in the tribe of Naphtali (m), or her mother was of the tribe of Dan; and therefore she is said to be of the daughters of Dan, when her father was of the tribe of Naphtali, as it is expressed by the Targum on Ch2 2:14, and in which way most of the Jewish commentators reconcile this; or she was of Dan, and her husband of Naphtali besides, if there was any mistake, it must be ascribed, not to the sacred historians, but to the king of Tyre, whose words they are in the above place, and who might not be so well acquainted with the tribe this man and his parents were of:
and his father was a man of Tyre; not a Tyrian by birth, but one who had dwelt there a while, and therefore so called, as Obededom, for a like reason, is called the Gittite:
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a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass; which might be true both of the father and of the son, and especially of the son, who had improved upon his father's knowledge and instructions; and who was skilful to work in other things besides brass, as gold, silver, iron, stone, timber, purple, blue and fine linen, crimson, and all sorts of engraving, and every device that could be put to him by the most ingenious workmen that either David or Solomon had, Ch2 2:14, but this is only mentioned, because it was in such work he was only employed by Solomon; and it seems, by the mode of expression, that, besides his natural genius, and his diligence and industry, he was filled with wisdom from God more immediately for this service, as Bezaleel and Aholiab were for the service of the tabernacle:
and he came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work; in brass, as follows.
(m) Vid. Adrichom. Theat. T. S. p. 105. Fuller's Pisgah-Sight, 107.
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Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of…
Verse 13. Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.] This was not the Tyrian king, mentioned before, but a very intelligent coppersmith, of Jewish extraction by his mother's side, who was probably married to a Tyrian. In 2Ch 2:14, this woman is said to be of the daughters of Dan, but here of the tribe of Naphtali. The king of Tyre, who gives the account as we have it in Chronicles, might have made the mistake, and confounded the two tribes; or she might have been of Naphtali by her father, and of Dan by her mother, and so be indifferently called of the tribe of Naphtali or of the daughters of Dan. This appears to be the best solution of the difficulty. The versions and MSS. give no help here.
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Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Ki 7:13-14. Solomon sent and fetched Hiram — Though…
1Ki 7:13-14. Solomon sent and fetched Hiram — Though he was an Israelite by birth, yet he dwelt at Tyre; and, it is likely, had the privileges of that city, and so was one of King Hiram’s subjects. And therefore (2Ch 2:13) that king says he had sent him to Solomon, that is, had granted Solomon’s request, who had requested that this man might come and serve him. His father was a man of Tyre — Whom his mother, when a widow, had married. A worker in brass — And in gold, and stone, and purple, and blue, 2Ch 2:14. But his skill in brass is only mentioned here, because he speaks only of the brazen things which he made. And he was filled with wisdom, &c. — He had an excellent genius for and great skill in this work.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Hiram - A man who bore the same name…
Hiram - A man who bore the same name as the king of Tyre, a master workman, known as Hiram Ab, i. e. Master Hiram 2Ch 2:13; 2Ch 4:16.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain HIRAM'S WORKS. (1Ki. 7:13-51)
HIRAM'S WORKS. (1Ki. 7:13-51)
Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre--The Tyrians and other inhabitants on the Phœnician coast were the most renowned artists and workers in metal in the ancient world.
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Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain THE METAL WORK AND VESSELS OF THE TEMPLE, 1Ki_7:13-51.
THE METAL WORK AND VESSELS OF THE TEMPLE, 1Ki_7:13-51.
13. Hiram — Called also (1Ki_7:40, margin) Hiram and Huram. 2Ch_4:11. So his name was subjected to the same variations of orthography as that of the Tyrian king.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 13–22. Hiram a Tyrian worker in brass casts the…
13–22. Hiram a Tyrian worker in brass casts the pillars Jachin and Boaz (2Ch_2:4; 2Ch_3:15-17)
13. sent and fet] ‘Fet’ is the old English past tense of the verb ‘fetch,’ and occurs several times in the version of 1611 (e.g. Gen_18:7) but the more modern form has been introduced into our Bibles since 1750.
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Hiram out of Tyre] The name of this workman is spelt Huram in 2Ch_4:11. He was highly esteemed by the Tyrian king who in 2Ch_2:13 calls him ‘Huram my father,’ and in a later verse (2Ch_4:16) it is said ‘the vessels thereof did Huram his father make for king Solomon.’ So that he became as much treasured by the one king as by the other. For the expression cp. Gen_45:8 where Joseph speaks of himself as a father to Pharaoh.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (13) And king Solomon sent.—The record in the Chronicles…
(13) And king Solomon sent.—The record in the Chronicles (2Ch_2:7; 2Ch_2:13-14) gives what is evidently a more exact description of the facts here briefly alluded to. In Solomon’s first letter to King Hiram he asks for “a man cunning to work,” and with the answer the artificer Hiram is sent. His mixed parentage would enable him to enter into the spirit of the Israelite worship, and yet to bring to bear upon it the practical skill of the Tyrian artificer.
(13-50) The exceedingly graphic and elaborate description of the work of Hiram on the vessels and furniture of the Temple, and on the great pillars, bears on the very face of it the most evident marks of historical accuracy and of the use of contemporary documents, and it has, moreover, great antiquarian interest. Looked at in itself, it shows that the Temple (like many other buildings in the comparative infancy of architecture) depended for its effect, not so much on size or proportion, as on rich material, elaborate decoration, and costly furniture, on which all the resources both of treasure and art were lavished. But besides this, the sense of the especial sacredness attached to all the vessels of the Temple, which was hereafter to degenerate into a Pharisaic superstition (see Mat_23:16-18), suggested the most careful record of every detail, and reverently traced to “the Spirit of God” the gift of “wisdom of heart” “to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,” as in Bezaleel and Aholiab for the Tabernacle (Exo_35:31-32), so also in Hiram for the Temple. There is something especially remarkable in this broad comprehensiveness of conception which recognises the illuminating and inspiring power of the Spirit of God, not only in the moral and religious teaching of the prophet and the devotional utterances of the psalmist, but in the warlike enthusiasm of the Judge, the sagacity of the statesman, the imaginative skill of the artist, and the wisdom of the philosophic thinker. Nothing could more strikingly illustrate the Apostolic declaration: “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit” (1Co_12:4).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And king Solomon sent rather, had sent (2Ch_2:13) and…
And king Solomon sent rather, had sent (2Ch_2:13) and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. This is our historian"s brief version of the transaction which is recorded in 2Ch_2:7-14. He has not mentioned before (1Ki_5:6) Solomon"s request for a master builder. Hiram, like his namesake the king, is elsewhere (2Ch_2:18 2Ch_4:11, 2Ch_4:16) called Huram or Hirom (ver. 40). See note on 1Ki_5:1. In the first of these passages the king calls him "Huram my father" (see note there); in the last he is designated "Huram his father." The title "Ab (Gen_45:8; 2Ki_2:12 2Ki_5:13 2Ki_6:21; cf. 1Ki_8:9) shows the high esteem in which he was held. It can hardly be, as some have supposed, a proper name. It may signify "counsellor," or master, i.e., master builder. The Tyrians evidently regarded him with some pride.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.
1Ki_7:13-14
King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre.
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Hiram, the master builder
I. Hiram was a born master builder. The influence of heredity needs no more signal illustration. He combines his mothers heart and his fathers mind. Strange, that in a correspondence between Eastern kings of antiquity, with whom womans fame was of less than cypher value, Hirams mother should be mentioned at all; stranger still, that the premier place is given to her, implying that, while both parents were eminent, the mother was pre-eminent. Who was she? A woman of the daughters of Dan (2Ch_2:13-14). The Danites bore the brunt of all the Sidonian incursions, until, driven from hearth and home for refuge to the hills, privation and isolation but varied the form of the disasters that dogged them. Finally, submitting to capture or surrender, they were taken across the border into Tyre to suffer further ignominy amid alien surroundings. But never did the sons and daughters of Dan forget their tribal ancestry or affinities. Their traditions and Pride became a splendid inheritance, and their faith sustained them under the sharpest persecution. Even their oppressors grew to respect them, and permitted them to thrive in their midst. Hirams mother had the tribal grit, the unswerving courage of her people, so that when named at the Tyrian Court, it is as a woman of the daughters of Dan. And, in his letter to Solomon, Hiram the King lets drop this bit of feminine biography that is a tribute to her fine fidelity to conscience. Do not think that this passes in the record as of no account. You can prophesy with tolerable certainty as to Hirams future when you read his mothers story, and you can as surely anticipate as much for every child of promise whose mother is true to the form of faith that holds her to the people of God--call it what you will, whether Danism or Methodism. Keep your eyes open for these embryo workers, who are, like poets, born, not made. It is the self-constituted man we want. It is character, and not birth, that mainly tells. The river has its source in the mountain torrent, but the true test of its strength is in the assimilative power with which, while preserving its identity, it absorbs its tributaries. Therefore we judge Hiram as we would judge ourselves, at the bar of self-examination--and he emerges from the ordeal admirable.
II. Hiram the master builder had a mastermind.
1. He was a cunning man. When the Saxons said a man was cunnen they meant that he was knowing--that he had his wits about him. And they implied more. The root of the word obtained amongst the Latins also. It means a wedge, and we get its signification in the word cuneated, which precisely hits off the disposition of the man Hiram. He was a wedge-shaped man. Let opportunity give him but the smallest conceivable opening, and in he went, especially if the hammer of necessity but tapped home the wedge. Every Christian worker should be of wedge-shaped character.
2. Hiram, the cunning man, was endued with understanding. To have an understanding is to be able to get to the bottom of things; and to Re endued with understanding, as Hiram was, is to exercise this faculty from circumference to centre. It means that he had not only a mental bias, but also a mental equipment, thoroughly comprehensive.
III. Hiram of the master mind was also a master craftsman.
1. Hiram wrought in gold, to him the most precious of metals; of supreme quality, of standard value, capable of sovereign impress, non-rusting, non-corroding. Gold is the one mineral that does not depreciate; it is immutable amid all change of time and circumstance; it is gold--always gold. This he used for overlay work, for the decoration of the holy place, and for the consecrated vessels. We, too, work in gold when we work in Divine truth. We cannot alter the material, but do we make its presentation attractive or repellant? Is the image and superscription of the King upon it? When we use it in the holy place, does it shine as the wings of a seraph or an overlaid panel would when Hiram wrought? Are the vessels unto honour sanctified, and meet for the Masters use?
2. Hiram wrought also in silver--fair and chaste. Silver is subject to market fluctuation, but it is increased manifold in value when it receives a sovereign impression. It is the rich mans plenty, and the poor mans wealth. We, too, work in silver, when we serve in human sympathy, that is brightened by use, and that, when beautified with the Divine likeness, as the liquid drops of tears that you have shed, brings ten times double gain of happiness. And, when you work your silver into the Gospel trumpet, the world will hear sounds that for thrill and cadence will rival the music of a thousand harps.
3. Hiram wrought in brass. The word is used technically for a compound of metals, that should be rendered bronze. It is a fusion of copper--the only alloy with gold--and tin. And our thoughts, like the sea, must be wide and deep, generous and cleansing. Join prayer and thought, and you will get a spiritual amalgam of the utmost use in temple service.
4. Hiram wrought in iron, that is rough, resistant, obdurate; but in his hands it became ductile, and exceeding serviceable. When we forge these our wills, we, too, toil in iron. Proud, repellant, unlovely they are; yet, when, by the grace of God, they become wrought-work, they are marvels of resource, strength, control, support.
5. He worked upon stone, rugged and hard; but, by patient continuance in well-doing, he formed the useful block that helped to make the temple, and brought out upon it the artistic form and beauty of the sculptured decoration. This is just what we do.
6. Hiram wrought upon timber, that supported the roof, that panelled the holy place, that formed the tables for the shewbread, which was the symbol for the bread of life.
7. Hiram wrought upon textiles, and in their subdued colours he could see mysteries. Perhaps only mysteries; whereas, to you and me, the mysteries seem revealed. But, small blame to the worker Hiram. It was the purpose of his dispensation to make the marvel, and sustain it.
IV. Hiram had the master spirit. He came to Solomon a man skilful to grave every manner of graving, and to find out every manner of device. Nothing issues from his master mind that is not a sublimely pure conception; the Divine touch glorifies everything he fashions. That is true sacrifice; it is the master art, and you know it to be true, for it is your Masters art.
V. For such service as Hirams, what was the reward? No man labours as he did without recognition, for no man serves God for naught. The upraised temple; its outer ornamentation; its inner splendour; its acknowledgment of the people; the accepted sacrifice, and the consummate approval of the Divine presence--surely these tokens were enough? Shall we each be a master builder? Then let us remember that he who would seek to fulfil this high calling must have a master mind; that he who would have the master mind must have the Masters spirit; that he who would have the Masters spirit must be much in the presence of the Master. There, amid the silences, he will hear the Masters voice: there are the hidden victories that overcome the world. (J. R. Jackson.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain 1Ki_7:13-51; 1Ki_8:12-61
THE IDEAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TEMPLE
1Ki_7:13-51; 1Ki_8:12-61
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"The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth."
- Joh_4:21; Joh_4:23.
FIVE long chapters of the First Book of Kings are devoted to the description of Solomon's Temple, which occupies a still larger space in the Books of Chronicles. The Temple was regarded as the permanent form of the ancient Tabernacle, which is described with lengthy and minute detail in Exodus. It might seem, therefore, that there must be some clear explanation of the idea which this sacred building was intended to embody. Yet it is by no means easy to ascertain what this idea was, and those who have deeply studied the question have in age after age been led to widely different views.
1. Philo and Josephus, with certain variations of detail, regard it as a symbol of the universe-the world of idea and the world of sense. Thus the seven-branched candlestick represents the seven planets; the twelve cakes of shewbread are the twelve signs of the Zodiac; the court is the earth; the sanctuary the sea; and the oracle the heavens. The theory derives no importance from its authorship. Neither Philo nor Josephus, nor the Rabbis, nor the Fathers who adopted their views, have the least authority in such matters; and Philo, who led the way in mystical interpretation, abounds in fantasies which are ludicrously impossible, and are now universally rejected.
2. The Talmudists held that the Tabernacle was the exact copy of one in heaven, and that its services reflected those of the heavenly hierarchy. This view went into the extreme of literalism, as the other did into the extreme of spiritualization. It was based on the text, "Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount." {Exo_25:40; Exo_26:30 Act_7:44 Heb_8:5} The Book of Chronicles goes so far in this direction as to say that David received from Jehovah the exact pattern of the Temple down to its minutest details, together with the entire priestly and Levitic organization of its services.
"All this," says David to Solomon, "the Lord made me to understand in writing, by His hand upon me, even all the works in the pattern."
3. Christian writers have seen in the Temple an emblem of the visible, the invisible, and the triumphant Church. Such symbolic interpretation depends on the most arbitrary combinations, and does not rise higher than an exercise of fancy. It has not the smallest exegetic importance.
4. Luther thought that the Tabernacle and Temple were emblems of human nature:-the court, the sanctuary, and the oracle corresponding to the body, the soul, and the spirit. Later writers have pushed this opinion, already sufficiently baseless, into the absurdest detail.
5. The much simpler view of Maimonides who is followed by our learned Spencer, is that the Temple was simply the palace of Jehovah, with its vestibule, its audience hall, its Presence-chamber, its attendant courtiers, its throne, and its offerings of food and wine and sacrifice. The simplicity of this conception seems to be in accordance with what we know of ancient forms of worship, and it is certain that in many heathen temples the offerings of food and wine were supposed to be consumed by the god. The name "palace" is, however, only given to the Temple in one chapter; {1Ch_29:1; 1Ch_29:19} and the Hebrew, or rather the Persian, word so rendered (birah) may also be rendered "fortress."
6. In truth we cannot be sure that the idea of the Temple remained single and definite through so many ages. It was probably a composite and varying emblem, of which the original significance had become mingled with many later elements. It is, however, certain that many numbers and details were symbolical, and there was a deep insight and magnificent completeness in the manner in which certain truths were shadowed forth by its construction and its central service.
The book in which its symbolism is most thoroughly worked out is Bahrs Symbolik. He elaborates, in a simpler form, the opinion of Philo, that the Temple represented "the structure which God has erected, the house in which God lives." So far the fact cannot be disputed for, in Exo_29:45 we are told that the Tabernacle is called the "House of God" because "I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel, and will be their God." But Bahr takes a great leap when he proceeds to explain the house of God as "the creation of heaven and earth." If his views were true as a whole, it would indeed be strange that they are not indicated in a single passage either of the Old or New Testaments.
The Tabernacle was called "the Tabernacle of the Testimony" because its two tables of stone were a witness of the covenant between God and man. It was also called "the Tabernacle of Meeting," by which is not meant the place where Israel assembled, but the place where God met Moses and the children of Israel. "For there will I meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat," says Jehovah to Moses; {Exo_25:22} and "at the entrance of the tent of meeting I will meet with you to speak there unto thee, and there I will meet with the children of Israel." {Exo_29:42-43} Thus, in its broadest idea, the Temple brought before the soul of every thoughtful Israelite the three great beliefs,
(1) that God deigned to dwell in the midst of His people;
(2) that, in His infinite mercy and condescension, He admitted a reciprocity between Himself and His human children; and
(3) that the most absolute expression of His will was the moral law, Obedience to which was the condition of heavenly favor and earthly happiness.
"In the Porch," says Bishop Hall, "we may see the regenerate soul entering into the blessed society of the Church; in the Holy Place we may see a figure of the Communion of the true visible Church on earth; in the Holy of Holies the glories of Heaven opened to us by our true High Priest Christ Jesus, who entered once for all to make an Atonement betwixt God and man."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain 1Ki_7:13. Fetched Hiram out of Tyre—He seems to have…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
1Ki_7:13. Fetched Hiram out of Tyre—He seems to have been eminent among the artists in metals for which Tyre and Phœnicia were then renowned. This man (of like name with the king) is designated in 2Ch_2:13, by the title of honour אב—i.e., master, teacher, father (Keil). His genius was a natural gift of God (1Ki_7:14). Note the difference between this phrase concerning Hiram, “filled with wisdom.” &c., and the statement as to the supernatural endowments of Bezaleel (Exo_31:3), “filled with the Spirit of God, in wisdom,” &c.
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1Ki_7:15. Pillars of brass eighteen cubits high—These columns were 32½ feet long, without the capitals, and 7 feet in diameter; the metal was about 3½ inches thick (Jer_52:21), and the total weight of each pillar must have been about 18 tons. The capitals were over 8 feet high (1Ki_7:16), making a total height of 41 feet.
1Ki_7:21. Jachin and Boaz—יָכִ֔ין means established (2Ch_17:5); while בֹּעַז is a compound of עָז power, strength, and בוֹ in him—i.e., in God; ergo, strong in Him (Isa_45:24).
1Ki_7:23. Molten sea”—עָגל; colossal brazen basin 17½ feet in diameter, over 8 feet in depth, capable of holding nearly 20,000 gallons of water.
1Ki_7:25. Stood upon twelve oxen—of enormous size necessarily—similar to the Assyrian bulls; for the total combined weight of the vessel and water would be some 100 tons.
1Ki_7:40. Lavers, for carrying away water; shovels, for removing ashes; basins for receiving the blood of sacrifices.
1Ki_7:45. Bright brass—מְמֹרָטֹ, polished after the casting; brilliant, therefore.
1Ki_7:46. In the plain of Jordan … between Succoth and Zarthan—Here the soil is stated to be entirely marl. “Succoth,” close by the mouth of the Jabbok; “Zarthan” (or Zaretan), whose site is uncertain, except that it was proximate to the Jordan, was near by Succoth. The distance from Jerusalem was considerable; but all the noxious smoke and vapours of the foundry would thereby be avoided; although the clay and sand found there doubtless determined the choice of the spot.
1Ki_7:47. Solomon left all the vessels—The word unweighed is wisely inverted in the translation, for וַיַּנַּח means he let them be; the number was so great that their weight was not computed.
1Ki_7:48. And Solomon made, &c.—As Hiram was equally “skilful to work in gold” (2Ch_2:14), it is most probable that the king entrusted this work also to him.
1Ki_7:51. The things which David his father had dedicated—From 1Ch_22:14-16; 1Ch_29:2 sq., we find that David’s store of gold, silver, &c., was vast, including the valuable trophies of his victories (cf. 2Sa_8:7; 2Sa_8:11-12; 1Ch_18:7; 1Ch_18:10-11), and his own private treasures (1Ch_28:13-18). So abundant was the supply of precious metal that, although the quantity used for the temple was immense, there was a large store in reserve.—W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_7:13-51
RELIGION AND ART
Solomon determined to offer the best to God—the best in material, the best in form. He desired to have real works of art, and he so little despised art as the handmaid of religion, that he even sent for a heathen and foreign artist. In his wisdom, he regarded the command, “Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image,” not as the prohibition of every species of religious sculpture. As Hiram’s mother was an Israelite, we may well surmise that he was not unacquainted with the God whom his mother worshipped, and, therefore, would be better able than all other Tyrian artists to enter into the right spirit and meaning of the works which Solomon entrusted to him. The elaborate decoration of the Temple, and the exquisite finish of its furniture as detailed in these verses, suggest several reflections as to the relation of Religion and Art.
I. Art imbibes its best inspirations from religion. Hiram “was filled with wisdom and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass” (1Ki_7:14). The genius of art is a divine endowment. The skill of Hiram is referred to nearly in the same terms as that of Bezaleel (Exo_31:3); but in the case of the latter it was a supernatural inspiration for a special purpose, while in the case of Hiram it was a natural gift of God. Like all true genius, it possessed the soul of the artificer with an irrepressible passion for his particular work. He was filled with wisdom and ingenuity to work. It is a dangerous, and often fatal infatuation, when a man dreams he is a genius, and does nothing more but dream. The greatest genius is he who has the greatest capacity for hard work, and who finds his greatest pleasure in it. The artist is ever as enthusiast. When Macready acted Romeo for the first time—being then only sixteen years of age—his success was so great that a host of friends crowded round him at the close, and shook his hand with fervent congratulations. A lady asked him, “Well, sir, how do you feel now?” and he, with a boyish ingenuousness, answered—“I feel as if I should like to act it all over again!” How much more pure and lofty should be the enthusiasm of the Christian artist!
II. Art fulfils its loftiest mission when it is consecrated to religious uses. All this wealth of metal and of talent was employed in building and embellishing the Temple of Jehovah. It is a sad and pitiful sight to see the leaders of art and science lending their great powers in antagonism to religion. And yet it is reassuring to know that the greatest minds, and those who have had the greatest influence in moulding the best thoughts of the world, have ever been among the most devout. Copernicus, whose system of the universe overthrew the delusion of many thousand years, was no enemy of religion. His tomb bears the following characteristic inscription:—
“I crave not the grace which Paul received,
Nor the favours with which Thou didst indulge Peter;
That alone which Thou bestowedst upon the thief on the cross,
That alone do I entreat.”
Kepler, Newton, and many others who were giants in the realm of science, were humble and zealous Christians. Genius gains its most entrancing visions, glitters with its brightest radiance, wins its most resplendent victories, and scatters its choicest blessings, when it devotes its best powers to expound and adorn religion.
III. Religion combines what is beautiful in art with all that is vigorous and substantial in principle. The Temple was firmly founded, massive and durable in structure, graceful and brilliant in ornamentation. The great Creator has so exquisitely proportioned His external dwelling-place that there is everything about it to delight the eye and gratify and elevate the taste. He has stamped upon it all the glory of form, irradiated it with all the brilliance and softness of colour, and finely attuned it to all the rapture and harmony of sound. The masterpiece of the most gifted artist is but a dim, imperfect reflection of the native, peerless beauty of the universe. Jehovah is said to “clothe Himself with light as with a garment;” and what are all His created works but a garment, jewelled with stars, embroidered with constellations, and heavy with the riches of all worlds? The Being whose self-created Temple is so full of grandeur and beauty is worthy of the most gorgeous sanctuary that the hand of man can fashion. The ocean loses none of its power because it is silvered with fretted foam, or sparkling with the golden sheen of reflected sunbeams. The mountain is not less majestic because it is belted with the feathery-branched pines, garlanded with slender wild flowers, and clothed with a purple robe of blooming heather. Nor does the religious hero lose anything in strength and stature because he wears “the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”
IV. Art becomes dangerous and misleading when it usurps the place of religion. The principle laid down and developed by Neander is the true one—that the design of the Christian religion, which is to promote holiness of life, should be kept constantly in view; and whatever is beautiful in art should ever be subordinated to this design. “When the beautiful becomes, or tends to become, supreme in worship and in Christian art, then it becomes unlawful. Whenever this principle is infringed, an intense desire to reform is apt to develop itself into a reckless, iconoclastic spirit. The men who denuded and dismantled the churches in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries regarded ornaments as snares to the conscience, and as the foster-nurses of superstition. Religion admits of no rival: she must be supreme, and all the meretricious graces of art must be subservient to her sway, and minister to her high and beneficent purpose. Art is one of the noblest and best gifts which God has bestowed on man; therefore, above all, it should be applied to the glorification of God, and not merely to the sanctification and pleasure of the world. To scorn and reject art in the service of religion is to reject Him who has given it. The aesthetics of the Christian life must not be permitted to mar or displace its spiritual power.
LESSONS:—
1. The best talent should be employed for God.
2. A genuine Christian life is adorned with the beauty of many virtues.
3. Art without religion is idolatry and sin.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_7:22
LILY WORK
While, for convenience sake, this is called Solomon’s Temple, it is much more David’s; but in the highest sense it is God’s—God’s thought, which He put into the soul of David, and fed by His holy aspirations and musings. And about this divinely-suggested Temple, with all its several items of grandeur and device, there is nothing more distinctly characteristic than the idea which gleams forth from this description of the pillars built by Hiram—“Upon the top of the pillars was lily work;” an illustration, moreover, of that work, also David’s, into which he threw his thought, not only about the material Temple, but about all Divine realities—“Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.” The pillars, how massively grand, towering, and sublime, yet fretted over and crowned with gracefulness! Even “lily work” of choicest artifice.
I. As we look at these pillars, we cannot fail to remember that the man who built them threw his soul into them. And his soul was inspired to do the best his hands could. How immensely it would relieve the drudgery of manual occupation if our workers were to feel that their true work was an inspiration—that the thought of it, and the power to do it, were alike from God, and that they were doing it for God? Would not this make them, also, do their daily duty as indeed for God? In that Temple all was to be good and sound. Men felt it was all for God, and so they put their souls into it. The one thought seemed to be, How shall we most fitly express our sense of the Divine worth? And to an age largely impressed by material signs and symbols this was a testimony of some value. It was looked upon as a Divine gift to have a faculty for skilful workmanship. In these days it is to be feared that our loose thought about what constitutes the soul of religion has led to some disparagement of these so-called natural gifts. It needs to be told with much plainness to the so-called Christian people of this day, that they are not honouring God if, however dovout and prayerful, they neglect their proper every-day work. To serve God is not simply to be rapt by religious emotions. He who makes a boot, or drives a nail, or executes a design skilfully, may do it religiously. And we might say to the workers, It is to be feared that we of the pulpit sometimes needlessly disparage your toil, and make it harder than needs be, because we do not sufficiently allow that a true glory rests about all honest, well-wrought toil. The true sanctification of labour will never be attained until we allow that a good work may be as truly wrought by painstaking and skill in the commonest engagements. We must do our best, because we are doing it for our Lord. Christ takes note of all conscientious, painstaking endeavour, and whatever is well done, conscientiously done, is done for Him. Believing that in the simple work-a-day matters of conscientiousness and painstaking about our daily calling it is within our power to please or grieve Him, let us give Him our best.
II. Following closely upon this is a thought about the soundness and honesty of service in God’s Spiritual Temple. All work that is worth doing at all is worth doing well. If a man has to give, let him give cheerfully, for God loveth a cheerful giver. If he has to teach, let him give himself in the teaching; if he has to rule a household, let him do so with diligence. Let his service be not by constraint, but willingly. A cup of cold water is not unacceptable, but meat may sometimes be more serviceable, therefore more acceptable. A prayer for the troubled is good, but a suffering patience is better. This high, grand principle would effectually rectify at least some of the wrongness of the Christian church. Well doing is in doing one’s best. A really spiritual endeavour is an endeavour in which the spirit of a man shows itself, as in a good painting a man’s soul peers through the canvas. Whether, therefore, in one’s own soulculture, or in the culture of spiritual life in others, we should not present a maimed sacrifice, when we ought to and can offer an unblemished one. Let all our works be done in truth. Let them bear the inspection of the eye of Heaven. However laborious, let them be finished; if pillars, let the top be chased with “lily-work.”
III. But passing away from these general thoughts suggested by the scene of these varied works in the Temple, let us come to another. If upon the top of Hiram’s pillars was “lily-work,” so majesty, crowned with gracefulness, will be found in all the Divinest thoughts. Religion is one of these Divine thoughts. Revelation is to provoke religious life; and in religious life there is strength as well as beauty, beauty as well as strength. “Upon the top of its pillar is lily-work.” In “Theophilus Trinal” the words are applied to the frame of Nature, thus:—“How mighty and massive is Nature’s frame! Strong are the world’s pillars! Yet what profusion of things graceful, even sportively graceful, does the earth contain! Beautiful is the ‘lily-work.’ ” This great Temple—the world is like that old Temple—the wonder of Solomon’s heart and time. “Upon the top of the piliars is lily-work.” In all God’s works will be found a perfect harmoniousness; so there is as truly in the sphere of the spiritual within man the same blending of the strong with the beautiful. The massiveness of the religious principle which it takes time to establish and to build up is adorned with many a grace, and crowned with many a flower-picture.
IV. The pillars must be before the florid ornamentation. That which is essentially Divine must have elements of strength and stability. The force which is to control a man’s inner and outer being must—being a Divine force—be an overcoming one. There is muscle and sinew and bone in all healthily embodied life. It must be able to resist and assert itself. Moral cowardice, e.g., cannot co-exist with a healthy spiritual life; hence the repeated exhortations in Scripture to “be strong,” to “be very courageous.” The muscular school of Christianity, as it is called, has done some good if it has only helped to explode the notion that religion is an effeminate thing; but it has not always chosen the best modes of exemplifying its principles.
Strong are the pillars of God’s spiritual temple, deeply laid the foundations, in force of principle, in power of life. Pity the man who is wanting in these, whose religion is sentiment and nothing more. Presently some blast will tear up the roots of such a life, and lay the lifeless trunk bare to the scorn of all beholders. But beauty is also in God’s sanctuary, and “upon the top of the pillars was lily work”—one of its simplest illustrations. Nature in this respect furnishes us a series of types. Her vegetation which clothes those rugged peaks, climbing ever where it can to adorn and beautify, tells of some thought of God, to be applied to spiritual ideas. To the devout, all such contemplation of the works of God will result in an ever-deepening conviction that while God loves the strong, He also loves the graceful. Similarly, out of the settled, rock-like principles of religious faith spring many a beautiful plant of grace.
Attention to the minor moralities, the tender, graceful offices of Christian gentleness, is no unimportant phase of the sweetness of goodness. It is our joy when we can trace all things of worth to the Saviour; and, having taken the text from which to teach of the strength and beauty which God loves, we would turn with profound respect and gratitude to the Saviour of men as the source of all that is enduringly grand and vitally beautiful. Consider Christ—how settled and stable are the grand principles upon which His religion is founded! What strength you have in the elementary principles of the Christian religion! Yet what beauty! As in His life, so also in the life that is nurtured by faith in Him, you will find force and fragrance—whatever can give sustenance to the more heroic virtues; whatever can give nurture to the gentler graces. The pictures representing the Saviour mostly err in the direction of effeminacy. So also Renan’s word-picture of Him is an exaggeration in this direction. And we are all apt, knowing how much of sweetness was in his nature, to forget the ruggeder virtues which dwelt within His manly breast. But we have only to come to the cross to get these effeminate notions corrected. He could “even dare to die,”—of such stalwart sort was His inner soul, and yet even from that cross could turn a look of pitying love toward the weeping woman by it, and say to John, “Behold thy mother.”
And as in the human life and story of Christ, so also in the manifestations of Christ ever since; what brave endurance, what meek patience, have been seen! Strength, manly and courageous; beauty, touching, pathetic, graceful. Think of those pillars in Solomon’s Temple—beautiful in their grandeur: they represent a true religious life—massive, towering, sublime; yet crowned with the graceful, wrought upon the top in “lily work.” You are firm and true to principle: do not think you need be rude and ungainly. Let the “beauty of holiness” beam forth from you. Let not the sacredness of your life ever be forbidding—shine forth! Though possessed of the enduring vitalities of the hidden life, be also clothed in the comely garment of the Christian graces.
1stly. You, especially, who are seeking for something abiding—who yearn to be in your true place, a place not to be changed—you must overcome. “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God.” Have you overcome self-will, passion, worldly expediency? There is earnest work before you before this hope of heaven can be your enjoyment. In the strength of God and of his dear Son you will find the victory.
2ndly. You who love the beautiful—where are you looking for it? You find much baseness, lowness in yourself—in society. Look for it in Christ, and in that which springs from the acceptance of His service and yoke. “Come unto Me,” all ye sons and daughters of pleasure, wearied with much seeking and never finding. “Come unto Me,” all searchers after true consolation and joy: “I will give you rest.”—C. W. P.
THE SYMBOLIC TEACHING OF THE TEMPLE
WHEN the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews states that “the Law had a shadow of good things to come,” he does not undertake to show that the several institutions and ceremonies of that legal period have their exact counterparts, in every particular, in the institutions of Christian times. Shadows are very indefinite and insubstantial things, erratic and uncertain in their movements, so that it is only with great difficulty and much patient observation that we can succeed in defining the substance they so dimly forecast. The symbolic character of the Levitical ritual has been often exaggerated. Old Testament persons and places, sacred seasons and sacred things, down even to the very snuffers and tongs of the sanctuary, have been strained into meanings the most fantastic, and have afforded scope for the play of the most fanciful imagination. But while the typical and figurative teaching of the Bible is liable to be abused, it has ever been, and still is, a valuable and impressive medium of conveying the knowledge of the most important truths, especially if one of the fundamental rules of allegorical interpretation be observed—that which necessitates the rejection of everything inconsistent with the particular truth it is intended to unfold and illustrate. The Temple of Solomon, so far as it was a reproduction (on an enlarged scale) of the Tabernacle, was, like that more ancient structure, the pattern, example, and shadow of heavenly things. But Solomon introduced a number of additions to the ancient pattern shown to Moses in the Mount. The side-chambers, the colossal cherubim, the molten sea on twelve oxen in place of the more simple laver of the tabernacle court, the ten smaller lavers and their bases, the ten tables and the ten golden candlesticks—all seem to have been the product and expression of theocratic ideas that had been maturing in the Israelitish mind for more than four hundred years, though many of them were probably demanded by the more extensive and elaborate service of Solomon’s time. The symbolic meaning of various parts of the Temple are worthy of consideration.
I. The Temple, as the dwelling place of Jehovah, localised the manifestation of His presence and power. Though Solomon was well aware “the heaven and heaven of heavens” could not contain the God of Israel, yet he built the Temple with the declared purpose of providing a house for Jehovah to dwell in—a settled place for His abode (1Ki_8:3). He could, therefore, have entertained no such thought as that by dwelling in the Temple God ceased to be omnipresent; but the Temple was specifically the place where Jehovah recorded His name, and therefore the visible sign and pledge of His covenant with Israel. It was the abode of His holiness, the place where He was to be consulted and understood by His people—the place of vision and of glorious manifestation and blessing.
II. The Temple was symbolic of Heaven. While the Temple was specifically the dwelling place of Jehovah, it also typified heaven itself, which the Apostle designates “the true Tabernacle” (Heb_8:2; Heb_9:24). Accordingly, in Solomon’s prayer at the dedication we find a continued contrast between “this house,” or “this place,” and “heaven, Thy dwelling place,” or simply “heaven” (chap. 1Ki_8:30-49). And so the pious Israelite might ever see in the holy and beautiful house where Jehovah recorded His name a type and symbol of heaven itself. It was the Temple of His holiness (Psa_5:7; Psa_79:1; Psa_138:2).
III. The Temple indicated the close relationship existing between God and man. This divine human relationship was symbolised in the two main apartments of the Temple. Why, in the Temple as in the Tabernacle, have two holy rooms, rather than three or more? Why, except to express the twofold relation that essentially exists between the worshipper and God? The holy of holies, with its profound symbols of “Mercy covering wrath,” showed God’s relation to His people; how, and on what terms, the Almighty and Holy One would dwell with man. The holy place, where the consecrated priests ministered, with its incense, altar, and tables and candlesticks, expressed the relation of the true worshipper to God. The devout worshippers, who offer before God the incense of continual prayer, are at once the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And this is the one great truth embodied in the several symbols of the holy place. Thus, in the two main apartments, were exhibited “the two great branches into which the tree of Divine knowledge always of necessity runs—namely, the things to be believed concerning God, and the things to be done by His believing people.”
IV. The Temple symbolised the gradual revelation of the Divine Holiness. When we come to observe the details of the structure we notice, first of all, the graduated sanctity of the three holy places. First, the court, where nothing unclean might enter; then the holy place, where only the consecrated priests might go to perform holy services; and, beyond this, vailed in thick darkness, the holy of holies, where only the high priest entered (and he but once a year) on the great day of atonement. Here was symbolised, not only the absolute holiness of Him who “dwelt in the thick darkness,” but also the gradual and progressive revelations of His name and Nature, which have been made known to men. Whilst the Temple and the priesthood remained, the Holy Ghost signified that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest (Heb_9:8); but since Christ has rent the vail and entered heaven itself for us, we all may, with boldness and full assurance of faith, enter into the holiest, and have everlasting fellowship and communion with God (Heb_9:24; Heb_10:19-22).
V. The square form of all the apartments and courts of the Temple is not without significance. The oracle was a perfect square, the nave a double square, the porch half a square, &c. Nowhere do we find the form of the triangle, the pentagon, or the circle; but everything about the sanctuary seems, like the heavenly Jerusalem, to be quadrangular, as if to correspond with the four corners of heaven, the upper dwelling place of God (Jer_49:36; Mat_24:31).
VI. The Temple also had a symbolism of members. Especially noticeable is the predominance of the numbers ten and three. The length and breadth of all the apartments and the courts is a common multiple of ten—the number of the commandments written on the Tables of Testimony within the Ark. Ten is the number of the candlesticks and tables, the bases and the lavers; ten cubits was the height of the cherubim and the extent of their outstretched wings; ten cubits was the breadth of the molten sea. Then we note the three holy apartments, each with its type of expiation—the altar of burnt offerings, the altar of incense, and the mercy seat; the last within the most holy place, which bore the form of a perfect cube, the length and the breadth and the height of it being equal. Each apartment also had three principal kinds of articles of furniture. In the oracle were the cherubim, the ark, and the tables of the Law; in the nave were the candlesticks, the tables, and the altar of incense; and in the court were the brazen sea, the lavers, and the altar of burnt offerings. There were also the three stories of side-chambers. In this symbolism of numbers we may discern a mystic representation both of the variety and unity of all Divine revelation. “What happens thrice is the genuine once; what is divided into three is a true unity. The one dwelling, by its division into three parts, is designated as one complete whole; and the three kinds of articles of use which are in the three parts, or in one of them, again form a complete whole, and belong under it to the one or the other relation. While the number (ten) gives the impress of finishing and completing to multiplicity, the number (three) is the signature of perfect unity, and thus also of the Divine Being.”
VII. The decorations of the Temple symbolised the Divine source of all forms of life. The cherubim, lions, oxen, palms, flowers, and lily work were representative of all created life, and signified that, while Jehovah condescended to make the Temple His special dwelling place, His presence fills the universe with life. He upholds all things by the Word of His power. Angels and men, cattle and creeping things and fowl, and all inanimate creation, have their being from Him whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain. And thus was added to the various lessons of Jehovah’s absolute holiness and infinite perfections, which the Temple symbolised, this ornamental expression of His universal providence (see Bahr on “The Symbolism of the Mosaic Worship”: Whedon’s Comm., and Lange).
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki_7:1-51. In matter: all was here of the best. The wood was precious, sweet, lasting; the stones beautiful, costly, insensible of age; the gold pure and glittering. So are the graces of God’s children excellent in their nature, dear in their acceptation, eternal in their use: so are the ordinances of God in His church holy, comfortable, irrefragable: so is the perfection of His glorified saints incomparable, unconceivable. In situation: the outer parts were here more common; the inner more holy and peculiarly reserved. One court of the temple is open to the unclean, to the uncircumcised: within that another, open only to the Israelites, and, of them, to the clean: within that yet another, proper only to the priests and Levites, where was the brazen altar for sacrifice, and the brazen sea for washing. The eyes of the laity might follow their oblations in hither; their feet might not. Yet more, in the covered rooms of the Temple there is, whither the priests only may enter, not the Levites; there is, whither the high priest only may enter, not his brethren. It is thus in every renewed man, the individual temple of God: the outer parts are allowed common to God and the world; the inwardest and secretest, which is the heart, is reserved only for the God that made it. It is thus in the church visible: the false and foul-hearted hypocrite hath access to the holy ordinances of God, and treads in His courts: only the true Christian hath entire and private conversation with the Holy One of Israel, he only is admitted into the Holy of Holies, and enters within the glorious vail of heaven.—Bp. Hall.
1Ki_7:1-12. They who are great may appear so; it is as fit that a king should dwell in a palace, as a peasant in a cottage. They who are occupied in building should take care not to lose, in the stone and mortar, their solicitude to secure a better “house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
—The building of the house for the king followed immediately upon the building of the temple: they belong together. Altar and throne stand and fall together, even as we have the two commandments: Fear God: Honour the king (1Pe_2:17; Pro_24:2). In the kingdom where religion is cherished and highly honoured there royalty is most secure: a God-fearing people is the best, nay, the only support of the throne.—Lange.
1Ki_7:13. As the tabernacle was built with the wealth of Egypt, so the temple with the wit of Tyre: God will serve himself by the common gifts of men.
1Ki_7:13-14. A wise prince, in the furtherance of his enterprise, which aims at the honour of God and the good of the nation, looks around for the best instruments, and in order to obtain them seeks them wherever he can find them (Pro_26:10). He who has learned anything thoroughly, and brought it to perfection in its especial province, must be sought out and held in esteem, whatsoever be his position or country.
1Ki_7:15-22. The pillars of Hiram emblematic of the church of God.
1. As to its stability. The names given to the pillars are suggestive. Jachin: He will establish, referring to the fact that Jehovah’s dwelling place, hitherto movable and moving, was now firmly fixed in the midst of His people. Boaz: In him is strength, indicating the strength and power that would be put forth by God in the defence and establishment of His people. The church is stable—
1. Because it is founded in truth;
2. Built up in truth; and
3. Sustained and encompassed by the God of truth. II. As to its beauty. The pillars were surmounted with ornamental capitals, shaped like a full-blown lily-cup, with fine checkered network thrown over the whole, and delicate chain work hanging in festoons outside, and decorated with circling rows of pomegranate. The church is adorned—1, with the graces of the Holy Spirit; 2, with the beauty of holiness; 3, with the reflected glory of its risen and glorified head (2Co_3:18). III. As to its eventful history. These famous pillars were broken in pieces by the Babylonians when they destroyed Jerusalem (2Ki_25:13; Jer_52:17). But the material remained and retained its value. So the church has often been persecuted, pierced, and broken by the violence of its foes, and often brought disaster on itself by its unfaithfulness to God; but it has not been utterly destroyed. It retains its vigour, and is ever increasing in value and preciousness.
1Ki_7:18. The pomegranate was one of the commonest ornaments in Assyria. It was used on quivers, on spear-shafts and mace-heads, in patterns on doorways and pavements. It is doubtful whether a symbolical meaning attached to it, or whether it was merely selected as a beautiful natural form.—Rawlinson.
1Ki_7:22. The Hebrew named the lily simply “the white”; it is, therefore, a natural symbol of purity. The priests, as “the holy ones” (Exo_3:5), were dressed in white (Num_16:7); and the high priest, the holiest of the holy, wore on the great day of atonement white garments instead of his usual many coloured ones; and these white robes were called “holy garments (Lev_16:4; Lev_16:32). Inasmuch as holiness was the characteristic and fundamental idea of the Israelitish religion, “the white” (i.e., the lily) seems to have been their religious flower, as the lotus was the well-known sacred flower of the Indian and Egyptian religions. Besides this, the lily is nowhere more indigenous than in Palestine (Mat_6:28); and it may therefore be named the flower of the Promised Land, as the palm was its tree. If the capitals of the pillars were thus always and everywhere decorated with carvings of flowers, no more characteristic and suitable one could be chosen for the capitals before the holy temple than the lily.—Lange.
—“And upon the pillars was lily-work.” To show the beauty and sweetness of Christ and His people, those especially that are more eminent, the glory of the churches; such as were James, Cephas, and John, who “seemed to be pillars” (Gal_2:9).
1Ki_7:23. As a large laver for the priests to wash in (2Ch_4:6). The Hebrews used to call the gathering together of much water a sea. It signifieth both the exceeding filthiness of sin, requiring a sea for the cleansing of it, and the infinite virtue of Christ’s blood.—Trapp.
1Ki_7:37. “All of them had one casting.” To teach the uniformity about things of God. It is a sweet thing when with one mind and one mouth God is glorified as “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom_15:6), and men’s prayers come before Him “as the sound of many waters.”
1Ki_7:40-51. What signification have the holy vessels of the temple for the church of the Lord, which is the true temple of God?
1. The pillars, Jachin and Boaz, in the porch, are, as it were, the superscription over the temple, and declare its strong foundation and its permanence. The Lord declares both to His people church: upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it (Mat_16:18). Great, noble promise! II. The brazen sea and the vases in the porch are there, that the priests may purify themselves and the sacrifices which they bring there. The church of the Lord is that holy priesthood which offers spiritual sacrifices (1Pe_2:5). Those who wish to perform such service the prophet summons: Wash ye (Isa_1:16); and the apostle: I beseech you, &c. (Rom_12:1). III. The altar, the candlesticks, and the table stand in the building itself, which is a type of heaven, and show that for them who offer themselves pure and holy sacrifices, a divine light and life are prepared before the throne of God, and no other sacrifice is rendered except the incense of prayer, of praise, and worship of God (Psa_16:11; Rev_5:8-14).—Lange.
—If, from the walls, we look into the furniture: what is the altar, whereon our sacrifices of prayer and praises are offered to the Almighty, but a contrite heart? What is the golden candlestick, but the illumined understanding, wherein the light of the knowledge of God and His divine will shineth for ever? What the tables of shew-broad, but the sanctified memory, which keepeth the bread of life continually? Yea, if we shall presume so far as to enter into the very closest of God’s oracle, even there, O God! do we find our unworthy hearts so honoured by thee, that they are made thy very ark, wherein thy royal law and thy pot of thy heavenly manna are kept for ever; and from whose propitiatory, shaded with the wings of thy glorious angels, thou givest the gracious testimonials of thy good Spirit, witnessing with ours that we are the children of the living God.—Bp. Hall.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Metal Appointment Of The Temple
The Metal Appointment Of The Temple
v. 13. And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre, a namesake of the Phenician king.
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v. 14. He was a widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, by birth a member of the tribe of Dan, she had first married into the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a native of that city, a worker in brass, a very ancient craft; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and cunning to work all works in brass, in the various alloys of copper. And he, at the instigation of the Phenician king, came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work, all the metal work needed for the Temple.
v. 15. For he cast two pillars of brass, hollow tubes, of eighteen cubits high apiece, the shaft of the pillars being that high; and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about, that represented their circumference.
v. 16. And he made two chapiters, or capitals, of molten brass to set upon the tops of the pillars; the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits,
v. 17. and nets of checker-work, ornaments of woven work, and wreaths of chain-work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter and seven for the other chapiter, these ornaments having the form of chains or festoons at the base of the capital.
v. 18. And he made the pillars and two rows round about upon the one network to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates, the one row of molten pomegranates being above the network, the other below; and so he did for the other chapiter.
v. 19. And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, they had the form of a full-blown lily-cup, four cubits.
v. 20. And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against, just next to, the belly which was by the net-work, where the casting showed an arching or swelling, probably at the place where the calyx of the flower was to be indicated; and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter, set toward the four quarters of heaven.
v. 21. And he set up the pillars in the porch of the Temple, serving as a portal to the Sanctuary; and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin ("He has established"), to indicate that this was now the central Sanctuary of the Lord; and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz ("In it is strength"), to indicate that the might of Jehovah was now in this Temple.
v. 22. And upon the top of the pillars, which are characteristic of Phenician architecture, was lily work; so was the work of the pillars finished.
v. 23. And he made a molten sea, a large vessel for holding water, taking the place of a tank, ten cubits from the one brim to the other, that was the diameter, in the approximate number of cubits; it was round, circular, all about, and his height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about, the mathematical proportion being only roughly indicated.
v. 24. And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, small ornaments in the shape of flower-buds, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about; the knobs were cast in two rows when it was cast.
v. 25. It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east. And the sea was set above upon them, they themselves being set upon some sort of platform. and all their hinder parts were inward.
v. 26. And it was an hand breadth thick, that was the thickness of the casting, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies, like a full-blown lily; it contained two thousand baths (almost 9,500 gallons, according to lowest estimate).
v. 27. And he made ten bases of brass, to hold the basins with water for the washing of the sacrificial meat; four cubits was the length of one base and four cubits the breadth thereof and three cubits the height of it.
v. 28. And the work of the bases was on this manner, the workmanship connected with their being cast: they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges, panels enclosed by ornamental moldings;
v. 29. and on the borders that were between the ledges, on the walls or panels of the bases, were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and upon the ledges there was a base above, a sort of groove for the basin which was placed upon the base; and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work, figures in the form of suspended wreaths.
v. 30. And every base had four brazen wheels and plates of brass, axles of that material; and the four corners thereof had undersetters, literally, "shoulder-pieces," parts which projected over and covered the wheels; under the laver were under setters molten, at the side of every addition, literally, "each next to a wreath," one of those suspended beneath the panels.
v. 31. And the mouth of it within the chapiter and above was a cubit, this was the opening in the base, one cubic from the lower edge; but the mouth thereof was round after the work of the base, corresponding to the general appearance of the entire lavers, a cubit and an half, evidently in diameter; and also upon the mouth of it were gravings with their borders, foursquare, not round, that is, the spaces round about the opening at the top of the base, which served to hold the basin, were filled with small panels, like those on the sides of the bases.
v. 32. And under the borders, beneath the side-panels, were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined to the base, the wheels were held firmly on their axles by special contrivances; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit, this bringing the height of the base to about one and three-fourths cubit.
v. 33. And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot-wheel, possessing all the parts of an ordinary wheel; their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes were all molten.
v. 34. And there were four undersetters, those peculiar shoulder-pieces, to the four corners of one base; and the undersetters were of the very base itself, an integral part of the casting.
v. 35. And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high, for the base arose in a gentle rounding above its paneled portion; and on the top of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof were of the same, namely, as those of the foot.
v. 36. For on the plates of the ledges thereof and on the borders thereof he graved cherubim, lions, and palm-trees, according to the proportion of every one, the empty space at his disposal, and additions round about, work of wreaths.
v. 37. After this manner he made the ten bases; all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size. They were movable bases for the ten lavers, whose ledges acted as ribs, giving strength to the structure, while the panels between the ledges or moldings mere filled with decorative work.
v. 38. Then made he ten lavers of brass, used as containers of water for ceremonial washings; one laver contained forty baths, upward of two hundred gallons; and every laver was four cubits, either in diameter or in circumference; and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.
v. 39. And he put five bases on the right, or south, side of the house and five on the left side of the house; and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, over against the south. So the lavers were placed on either side of the Sanctuary, while the molten sea was situated southeast of the Sanctuary and southwest of the altar of burnt offering.
v. 40. And Hiram made the lavers and the shovels, for removing the ashes, and the basins, for catching the blood of the sacrificial animals. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made King Solomon for the house of the Lord:
v. 41. the two pillars, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars, the lily-shaped capitals; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars;
v. 42. and four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, even two rows of pomegranates for one network to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were upon the pillars, as described in vv. 15-22;
v. 43. and the ten bases and ten lavers on the bases;
v. 44. and one sea and twelve oxen under the sea;
v. 45. and the pots and the shovels and the basins; and all these vessels which Hiram made to King Solomon for the house of the Lord were of bright brass, polished after the casting, until it shone like gold.
v. 46. In the Plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground, in molds of potters’ earth, between Succoth and Zarthan, the foundry being on the west side of Jordan, where the soil is peculiarly adapted for that purpose.
v. 47. And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many, the quantity of brass being so very great, 1Ch 18:8; neither was the weight of the brass found out, nobody took the trouble to determine it.
v. 48. And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the Lord, those used in the Sanctuary: the altar of gold, that of incense, Exo 37:25, and the table of gold, whereupon the showbread was, Exo 25:30,
v. 49. and the candlesticks of pure gold, in place of the single one of the Tabernacle, five on the right side and five on the left, before the oracle, in the Holy Place, with the flowers and the lamps, on the candlesticks, and the tongs of gold, the snuffers,
v. 50. and the bowls, Exo 12:22, and the snuffers, the knives or shears for cleaning the wicks of the lamps, and the basins, and the spoons, vessels for incense, and the censers, Exo 25:38, of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the Temple.
v. 51. So was ended all the work that King Solomon made for the house of the Lord. And Solomon brought in the things which David, his father, had dedicated; even the silver and the gold and the vessels did he put among the treasures of the house of the Lord. David had taken large quantities of metal, brass, silver, and gold, from the nations which he had conquered. So great was the supply that it was not exhausted by the heavy demand made upon the stores at the building of the Temple and the making of the various appointments for the services. Willingness in sacrificing for the work of the Lord, also in building and equipping places of worship, is altogether pleasing to the Lord if it flows from a heart filled with true lore toward Him.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 brought him from Tyre
brought him from Tyre
Huram accepted Solomon's invitation to come to Jerusalem. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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the son of a widow ... his father was a man of Tyre
A widow is a woman whose husband has died, so we know that the father is dead. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Huram was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill
This can be stated in active form. The words "wisdom and understanding" mean basically the same thing and are used together for emphasis. Yahweh giving such things as wisdom is spoken of as if they were liquids that Yahweh had poured into a container, and Huram is spoken of as if he were that container. AT: "Yahweh had given Huram wisdom, understanding, and skill" (See: Active or Passive and Doublet and Metaphor)
translationWords
king
Tyre
tribe
Naphtali
bronze
wise
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 7:13-14 Huram: Like his father, he was a master…
7:13-14 Huram: Like his father, he was a master craftsman in bronze and other materials (2 Chr 2:12-14). His skillful metal work is detailed in the following verses (1 Kgs 7:15-50). • skillful and talented (literally filled with wisdom and understanding and knowledge): The Israelites placed great emphasis on practical skills and considered them a form of wisdom (Prov 22:29).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.