He made two capitals of molten bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. So he made the pillars; and there were two rows around on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars: and he did so for the other capital. The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits. There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital. He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz. On the top of the pillars was lily work: so the work of the pillars was finished. He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it. Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast. It stood on 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 on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward. It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths. He made the ten bases of bronze. The length of one base was four cubits, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height. The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges; and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. Every base had four bronze wheels, and axles of bronze; and the four feet of it had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each. Its mouth within the capital and above was a cubit. Its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were square, not round. The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all of cast metal. There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself. In the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were the same. On the plates of its supports, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around. He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form. He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained forty baths; and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin. He set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and toward the south. 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: the two pillars; the two bowls of the capitals that 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; 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;
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Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. For he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. It was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams, that were on the pillars, fifteen in a row. There were beams in three rows, and window was facing window in three ranks. All the doors and posts were made square with beams: and window was facing window in three ranks. He made the porch of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits; with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them. He made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. His house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the like work. He made also a house for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), like this porch. All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court. The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits. Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood. The great court around had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like the inner court of Yahweh’s house and the porch of the house. King Solomon sent and brought Hiram out of Tyre. He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in bronze. He came to king Solomon, and performed all his work. For he fashioned the two pillars of bronze, eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them. He made two capitals of molten bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. So he made the pillars; and there were two rows around on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars: and he did so for the other capital. The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits. There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital. He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz. On the top of the pillars was lily work: so the work of the pillars was finished. He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it. Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast. It stood on 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 on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward. It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths. He made the ten bases of bronze. The length of one base was four cubits, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height. The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges; and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. Every base had four bronze wheels, and axles of bronze; and the four feet of it had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each. Its mouth within the capital and above was a cubit. Its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were square, not round. The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all of cast metal. There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself. In the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were the same. On the plates of its supports, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around. He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form. He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained forty baths; and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin. He set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and toward the south. 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: the two pillars; the two bowls of the capitals that 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; 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; the ten bases; the ten basins on the bases; the one sea; the twelve oxen under the sea; the pots; the shovels; and the basins: even all these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon, in Yahweh’s house, were of burnished bronze. The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them. The weight of the bronze could not be determined. Solomon made all the vessels that were in Yahweh’s house: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold; and the lamp stands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold. Thus all the work that king Solomon did in Yahweh’s house was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of Yahweh’s house.
Parallel Translations
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He made two capitals of molten bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.
There were nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.
So he made the pillars; and there were two rows around on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars: and he did so for the other capital.
The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits.
There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital.
He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. He set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz.
On the top of the pillars was lily work: so the work of the pillars was finished.
He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.
Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast.
It stood on 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 on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward.
It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.
He made the ten bases of bronze. The length of one base was four cubits, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height.
The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges;
and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.
Every base had four bronze wheels, and axles of bronze; and the four feet of it had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each.
Its mouth within the capital and above was a cubit. Its mouth was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its mouth were engravings, and their panels were square, not round.
The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.
The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, and their rims, and their spokes, and their naves, were all of cast metal.
There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself.
In the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were the same.
On the plates of its supports, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around.
He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.
He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained forty baths; and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin.
He set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and toward the south.
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:
the two pillars; the two bowls of the capitals that 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;
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;
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And he made two chapiters 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:
And nets of checker 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.
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: and so did he for the other chapiter.
And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits.
And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter.
And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.
And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.
And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.
And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.
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, and all their hinder parts were inward.
And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.
And he made ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it.
And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges:
And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims: and upon the ledges there was a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work.
And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass: and the four corners thereof had undersetters: under the laver were undersetters molten, at the side of every addition.
And the mouth of it within the chapiter and above was a cubit: but the mouth thereof was round after the work of the base, a cubit and an half: and also upon the mouth of it were gravings with their borders, foursquare, not round.
And under the borders were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined to the base: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.
And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten.
And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base: and the undersetters were of the very base itself.
And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof were of the same.
For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion of every one, and additions round about.
After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one size.
Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.
And he put five bases on the right 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.
And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD:
The two pillars, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars; and the two networks, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars;
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;
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And he made two capitals of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.
He also made nets of checker-work, and wreaths of chain-work, for the capitals which were upon the top of the pillars: seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.
And he made the pillars; and there were two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the capitals that were upon the top of the pomegranates; and so did he for the other capital.
And the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily-work, four cubits.
And there were capitals above also upon the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network; and the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows round about upon each capital.
And he set up the pillars at the porch of the temple; and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.
And upon the top of the pillars was lily-work; so was the work of the pillars finished.
And he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and the height thereof was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.
And under the brim of it round about there were knops which did compass it, for ten cubits, compassing the sea round about; the knops were in two rows, cast when it was cast.
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 upon them above, and all their hinder parts were inward.
And it was a hand-breadth thick; and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held two thousand baths.
And he made the ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it.
And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders; and there were borders between the stays;
and on the borders that were between the stays were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and upon the stays it was in like manner above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.
And every base had four brazen wheels, and axles of brass; and the four feet thereof had undersetters; beneath the laver were the undersetters molten, with wreaths at the side of each.
And the mouth of it within the crown and above was a cubit high; and the mouth thereof was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also upon the mouth of it were gravings; and their borders were foursquare, not round.
And the four wheels were underneath the borders; and the axletrees of the wheels were in the base; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.
And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel; their axletrees, and their felloes, and their spokes, and their naves, were all molten.
And there were four undersetters at the four corners of each base; the undersetters thereof were of one piece with the base itself.
And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high; and on the top of the base the stays thereof and the borders thereof were of one piece therewith.
And on the plates of the stays thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubim, lions, and palm-trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about.
After this manner he made the ten bases; all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form.
And he made ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths; and every laver was four cubits; and upon every one of the ten bases one laver.
And he set the bases, five on the right 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, toward the south.
And Hiram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he wrought for king Solomon in the house of the LORD:
the two pillars, and the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars;
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 upon the top of the pillars;
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Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (116)
- Jeremiah 52:20 (vv23, 25, 27) They took the two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made for Yahweh’s…
- 2 Kings 25:13 (vv23, 27) The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of bronze that were in Yahweh’s house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in Yahweh’s house, and…
- 2 Chronicles 3:16 (v20) He made chains in the inner sanctuary, and put them on the tops of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates, and put them on the…
- 2 Chronicles 3:17 (v21) He set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand…
- 2 Chronicles 4:2 (v23) Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim. It was round, five cubits high, and thirty cubits in circumference.
Show all 98 cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 4:13 (v20) and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals…
- 2 Chronicles 4:14 (v27) He also made the bases, and he made the basins on the bases;
- 1 Kings 6:18 (vv19, 24, 26) There was cedar on the house within, carved with buds and open flowers. All was cedar. No stone was visible.
- Jeremiah 52:17 (vv23, 27) The Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in Yahweh’s house, and the bases and the bronze sea that were in Yahweh’s house in…
- 1 Kings 6:3 (v21) The porch in front of the temple of the house had a length of twenty cubits, which was along the width of the house. Ten cubits was its…
- 2 Chronicles 4:4-5 (v25) It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three…
- 2 Chronicles 4:5 (v26) 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…
- 1 Kings 7:20 (v42) There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in…
- 1 Kings 7:29 (v36) and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath…
- 2 Chronicles 4:3 (v24) 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.
- 2 Chronicles 4:11-16 (v40) 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: the two…
- Ezekiel 1:16 (v33) The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl. The four of them had one likeness. Their appearance and their work was as it…
- Ezekiel 1:18 (v33) As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and the four of them had their rims full of eyes all around.
- 2 Kings 25:17 (vv17, 18, 20) The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of bronze was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits, with…
- Exodus 28:14 (vv17–18) and two chains of pure gold; you shall make them like cords of braided work. You shall put the braided chains on the settings.
- Exodus 28:22 (vv17–18) You shall make on the breastplate chains like cords, of braided work of pure gold.
- Exodus 28:24-25 (vv17–18) You shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. The other two ends of the two braided chains…
- Exodus 38:8 (vv23, 38) He made the basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, out of the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered at the door of the Tent of…
- Exodus 39:15-18 (vv17–18) They made on the breastplate chains like cords, of braided work of pure gold. They made two settings of gold, and two gold rings, and put…
- 1 Kings 6:32 (vv26, 36) So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold.…
- 1 Kings 6:35 (vv26, 36) He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved work.
- 1 Kings 7:38 (vv26–27) He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained forty baths; and every basin was four cubits; and on every one of the ten bases one basin.
- Ezekiel 1:10 (vv25, 29) As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man. The four of them had the face of a lion on the right side. The four of them…
- Revelation 4:6-7 (vv25, 29) Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the middle of the throne, and around the throne were four…
- Genesis 3:24 (v29) So he drove out the man; and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the…
- Exodus 24:6 (v40) Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
- Exodus 25:18 (v29) You shall make two cherubim of hammered gold. You shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat.
- Exodus 25:31-36 (v24) “You shall make a lamp stand of pure gold. The lamp stand shall be made of hammered work. Its base, its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its…
- Exodus 30:17-21 (v38) Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “You shall also make a basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, in which to wash. You shall put it between…
- Exodus 30:18-21 (v23) “You shall also make a basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, in which to wash. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the…
- Exodus 30:28 (v38) the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base.
- Exodus 36:38 (v16) and the five pillars of it with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold, and their five sockets were of bronze.
- Exodus 37:7 (v29) He made two cherubim of gold. He made them of beaten work, at the two ends of the mercy seat:
- Exodus 37:17-22 (v24) He made the lamp stand of pure gold. He made the lamp stand of beaten work. Its base, its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its flowers were…
- Exodus 38:17 (v16) The sockets for the pillars were of bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. Their capitals were overlaid with…
- Exodus 38:19 (v16) Their pillars were four, and their sockets four, of bronze; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals, and their fillets,…
- Exodus 38:28 (v16) From the one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, overlaid their capitals, and made fillets for them.
- Exodus 39:32-43 (v40) Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting was finished. The children of Israel did according to all that Yahweh commanded…
- Exodus 40:11-12 (v38) You shall anoint the basin and its base, and sanctify it. “You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall…
- Ruth 4:21 (v21) and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed,
- 2 Samuel 7:12 (v21) When your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body,…
- 1 Kings 6:27 (v29) He set the cherubim within the inner house. The wings of the cherubim were stretched out, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall,…
- 1 Kings 6:29 (v36) He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside.
- 1 Kings 6:32-35 (v19) So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold.…
- 1 Kings 7:12 (v21) The great court around had three courses of cut stone, and a course of cedar beams; like the inner court of Yahweh’s house and the porch of…
- 1 Kings 7:15-22 (v41) For he fashioned the two pillars of bronze, eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them. He made two…
- 1 Kings 7:19 (v26) The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits.
- 1 Kings 7:22 (v19) On the top of the pillars was lily work: so the work of the pillars was finished.
- 1 Kings 7:25 (v29) It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three…
- 1 Kings 7:28 (v40) The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges;
- 1 Kings 7:42 (v20) the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that…
- 2 Kings 25:14-15 (v40) They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered. The captain of…
- 2 Kings 25:16 (v27) The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for Yahweh’s house, the bronze of all these vessels was not weighed.
- 1 Chronicles 18:8 (v23) From Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took very much bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze sea, the pillars, and the…
- 2 Chronicles 4:6 (v39) 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…
- 2 Chronicles 4:6-22 (v38) 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…
- 2 Chronicles 4:8 (v40) 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.
- 2 Chronicles 4:10 (v39) He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.
- 2 Chronicles 4:12 (v41) 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…
- 2 Chronicles 4:12-13 (v16) 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…
- Isaiah 9:7 (v21) Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold…
- Isaiah 45:24 (v21) They will say of me, ‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.’ ” Even to him will men come. All those who raged against him…
- Jeremiah 52:18-19 (v40) They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered.…
- Jeremiah 52:21 (v26) As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits encircled it; and its thickness was four…
- Jeremiah 52:22-23 (v20) A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital all around,…
- Ezekiel 1:15-21 (v30) Now as I saw the living creatures, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it.…
- Ezekiel 3:13 (v30) I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise…
- Ezekiel 10:10-13 (v30) As for their appearance, the four of them had one likeness, like a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went in their four…
- Ezekiel 10:14 (v29) Every one them had four faces. The first face was the face of the cherub. The second face was the face of a man. The third face was the…
- Ezekiel 40:31 (v36) Its arches were toward the outer court. Palm trees were on its posts. The ascent to it had eight steps.
- Ezekiel 40:37 (v36) Its posts were toward the outer court. Palm trees were on its posts on this side and on that side. The ascent to it had eight steps.
- Ezekiel 40:48-49 (v21) Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side.…
- Ezekiel 41:18-19 (v29) It was made with cherubim and palm trees. A palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces; so that there was the…
- Ezekiel 41:18-20 (v36) It was made with cherubim and palm trees. A palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces; so that there was the…
- Ezekiel 41:25-26 (v36) There were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees, like those made on the walls. There was a threshold of wood…
- Ezekiel 45:14 (v26) and the set portion of oil, of the bath of oil, one tenth of a bath out of the cor, which is ten baths, even a homer; (for ten baths are a…
- Hosea 5:14 (v29) For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry…
- Zechariah 13:1 (v38) “In that day there will be a spring opened to David’s house and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
- Matthew 16:18 (v21) I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
- Matthew 28:19 (v25) Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
- Mark 16:15-16 (v25) He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but…
- Luke 24:47 (v25) and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
- 1 Corinthians 9:9 (v25) For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it for the oxen that God cares,
- Galatians 2:9 (v21) and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, those who were reputed to be pillars, gave to Barnabas…
- Hebrews 9:5 (v29) and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, of which things we can’t speak now in detail.
- Hebrews 9:10 (v38) being only (with meats and drinks and various washings) fleshly ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.
- Hebrews 10:22 (v38) let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed…
- 1 Peter 2:5 (v29) You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God…
- 1 John 1:7 (v38) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses…
- Revelation 3:12 (v21) He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of…
- Revelation 5:5 (v29) One of the elders said to me, “Don’t weep. Behold, the Lion who is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome: he who opens the…
- Revelation 7:14 (v38) I told him, “My lord, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great suffering.They washed their robes, and made them…
- 2 Kings 16:17 (v23) King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were…
98 distinct cross-references across this passage (116 total citations).
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Explain this passage (18 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 26, 30, 31, 33, 35, 38, 39 Or, pommels.
Or, pommels.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv16–42 1Ki 7:16 And he made two chapiters [of] molten…
1Ki 7:16 And he made two chapiters [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:
Ver. 16. To set upon the tops of the pillars.] Hence they were called chapiters, or heads, coronamenta, epistylia; crowns they are called. {Jer 52:22}
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 Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39 The height of the one chapiter was five cubits.
The height of the one chapiter was five cubits.
Object. It is but three cubits in 2Ki 25:17.
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Answ. The word chapiter is taken diversely, as hundreds of other words are; either more largely for the whole, so it is five cubits; or more strictly, either for the pommels, as they are called, 2Ch 4:12, or for the cornice or crown; and so it was but three cubits, to which the pomegranates being added make it four cubits, as it is below, 1Ki 7:19; and the other work upon it took up one cubit more, which in all made five cubits.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv16–40 And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain…
And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars,.... These were the ornaments of the chapiters; the former being like thick branches of trees, with their boughs and leaves curiously wrought, as the word signifies, and the latter like fringes, such as the Jews wore at the skirt of their garments:
seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter; perhaps with four rows of checker work, and three of chain work.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36, 39 Five cubits - The word chapiter is taken either…
Five cubits - The word chapiter is taken either more largely for the whole, so it is five cubits; Or, more strictly, either for the pommels, as they are called, 2 Chron. iv, 12, or for the cornice or crown, and so it was but three cubits, to which the pomegranates being added make it four cubits, as it is below, ver. 19, and the other work upon it took up one cubit more, which in all made five cubits.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv21, 27, 38, 40 Verse 21. The right pillar - Jachin] is, He…
Verse 21. The right pillar - Jachin] is, He shall establish. The left pillar - Boaz, that is, in strength. These were no doubt emblematical; for notwithstanding their names, they seem to have supported no part of the building.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv17, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33, 38, 40 1Ki 7:17-19. Nets of checker-work, &c., for the chapiters…
1Ki 7:17-19. Nets of checker-work, &c., for the chapiters — Which chapiters those nets and wreaths encompassed, either covering, and, as it were, receiving and holding the pomegranates, or being mixed with them. And he made — Or, so he made, or framed, or perfected, the pillars, and two rows round about — Of pomegranates, or some other curious work, which took up one of the five cubits, whereof the chapiter consisted. And the chapiters, &c., were of lily-work — Were made in imitation of lilies. In the porch — Or, as in the porch; such work as there was in the porch of the temple, in which these pillars were set, (1Ki 7:21,) that so the work of the tops of these pillars might agree with that in the top of the porch.
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 On vv16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38, 40 The general character of the “chapiters” or capitals, their…
The general character of the “chapiters” or capitals, their great size in proportion to the shaft, which is as one to two, and their construction of two quite different members, remind us of the pillars used by the Persians in their palaces, which were certainly more like Jachin and Boaz than any pillars that have reached us from antiquity. The ornamentation, however, seems to have been far more elaborate than that of the Persian capitals.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 32, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41 Five. Comprising all the ornaments. The body was only…
Five. Comprising all the ornaments. The body was only three cubits, 4 Kings xxv. 17. If we include the circles, which joined it to the pillar, it would be four; ver. 19, and with the rose, and ornaments at the top, five cubits high. Atheneus distinguishes three parts in the Egyptian chapiters; (1) next to the pillar, was seen a circle or wreath of flowers; (2) the stalk, out of which proceeded (3) a rose beginning to open. (Calmet) --- In the passages, which seem to contradict this text, the omission of the cornice or architrave, may cause the difference. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv17, 19, 21, 23, 27, 40 nets of checker work--that is, branch-work, resembling the branches…
nets of checker work--that is, branch-work, resembling the branches of palm trees, and
wreaths of chain-work--that is, plaited in the form of a chain, composing a sort of crown or garland. Seven of these were wound in festoons on one capital, and over and underneath them were fringes, one hundred in a row. Two rows of pomegranates strung on chains (Ch2 3:16) ran round the capital (Kg1 7:42; compare Ch2 4:12-13; Jer 52:23), which, itself, was of a bowl-like or globular form (Kg1 7:41). These rows were designed to form a binding to the ornamental work--to keep it from falling asunder; and they were so placed as to be above the chain work, and below the place where the branch-work was.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41 16. Two chapiters — Or capitals.
16. Two chapiters — Or capitals.
Molten brass — Brass melted, so as to be cast into the forms desired. The brass, of which these pillars, the brazen sea, and other vessels were made, had been captured by David from the cities of Hadarezer. 1Ch_18:8.
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 On vv17–42 17. and nets of checker work] The two nouns…
17. and nets of checker work] The two nouns are from the same root, and indicate some kind of interlaced metalwork with which the bellying parts of the capitals were overlaid. This, with the chains next mentioned, and the two rows of pomegranates (1Ki_7:18) formed the ornamentation of the lower portion of the capitals for one cubit of their breadth.
As the conjunction ‘And’ has nothing to represent it in the Hebrew it is better to render, ‘There were nets &c.’ The LXX. in this verse begins ‘And he made two nets &c.… even a net for the one chapiter and a net for the other chapiter.’ Thus the ‘seven’ of the A.V. disappears and ‘net’ is substituted. There is a good deal of similarity between שׁבעה = seven, and שׂבכה= a net, so that there may have been a confusion, and certainly below in 1Ki_7:41 mention is made of two networks, not seven.
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 On vv17, 20, 23, 27, 31, 39, 40 (17) Seven for . . .—This is probably an…
(17) Seven for . . .—This is probably an erroneous reading. It should be “a net-work (or lattice-work) for the one chapiter, and a net-work for the other.”
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 On vv16–42 And he made two chapiters or capitals of molten…
And he made two chapiters or capitals of molten Heb. poured brass, to put upon the tops Heb. heads of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits In 2Ki_25:17 the height is given as three cubits; but this is obviously a clerical error. See 2Ch_3:15; Jer_52:22. A much more important question is whether the chapiter (trtKo) same word, akin to rtK crown of four cubits mentioned in ver. 19 is to be understood as a part of this chapiter, or something additional and superposed, the entablature, e.g. The former appears the more probable. See note on ver. 19. But it is not a fatal objection to the latter view that it would make the entire chapiter, or both members, nine cubits high; no less, that is, than one-half the length of the shaft. No doubt to modern ideas this appears wholly disproportionate; but a double chapiter, bearing the same proportion to the shaft, is found in some of the buildings of Persepolis (Fergusson,. Dict. Bib. 3. p. 1457). From the expression of vers. 41, 42, "the bowls of the chapiters" (cf. 2Ch_4:12, 2Ch_4:13; Jer_52:23) and the word "belly" (fB) in ver. 20, we gather that the chapiters were bowl shaped, or bellied out something like the so called "cushion capital" in Norman architecture.
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 On v22 Upon the top the pillars was lily-work.
1Ki_7:22
Upon the top the pillars was lily-work.
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Lily-work
1. Strength. These pillars were deemed of such importance as to deserve a name, a name for each. The one was called Jachin, which means He will establish; and the other was called Boaz, which means in strength. The two ideas are near akin, and together express stable strength. Why these names were given we are not told; whether to indicate the magnitude and fixedness of the pillars, or the stability of the religion which was to be represented in that temple, we cannot say. But we read--and probably in allusion to these pillars with their crowns of lily-work--strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. These pillars are symbolic, or may be considered as symbolic, of truth, not merely in the world of grace, but in the world of nature. The world in which we live may be justly regarded as a temple reared gradually and progressively through long ages under the ever-active hand of the Divine Architect. But look at the order. It did not begin with what we call beauty. No doubt every atom of it was beautiful to Him whose eye seeth all things, but relatively to us the beauty was not at the beginning. The strength and firmness came first. The world is established that it cannot be moved. The earth He hath established for ever. Here, indeed, you have the Jachin and Boaz of our text, the two kindred and complementary ideas of strength and stability. You have the firm, deep, compact rock, hidden for the most part beneath your feet, or piled in massive mountains. Then in due time come the living things, which could only live on firm foundations. Let the foundations be destroyed, and all the beauty will perish with them; as when an earthquake swallows in its devouring abyss gardens and orchards which were laden with the richest flowers and the sweetest perfumes. Now man is a temple, as the earth may be viewed as a temple. He is designed to be the temple of the Holy Ghost; and in this temple are meant to be strength and beauty, the pillars of Jachin and Boaz, and on their top lily-work. And the religion of Christ starts with the conceptions of strength and stability. Its very first notion and foundation-idea is that of a stone laid in Zion, a sure foundation-stone, a stone elect and precious. It is a rock on which God builds His Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Great pains are taken to set forth this as the first idea, on which all the others depend. The same idea in another form is found in the fact that the Gospel is called a kingdom and therefore a thing of power and strength. The Christian, therefore, is to be, and must be in proportion as he is a Christian, a man in whom strength and stability are to be found in conspicuous force and play. For he is in a world in which he cannot hold his ground without them. It is not an uncommon thing for men of the world to look on the Christian Church as if it were a refuge for the weaklings of the race. What is it that the Christian does which shows his weakness? He confesses his sins; but is that weakness or is it strength when a man is a sinner and brazens it out before the face of Almighty God? He asks for mercy; but is that weakness when to ask for mercy is to acknowledge the righteous claims of God? He seeks for Divine guidance; but is that a weakness in a world like this in which it is so easy to err and lose oneself, and in which it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps? And what are these robuster graces, these rocky principles of the Christian life? There must be truth, the lip that will not lie. There must be honour and justice, which will not swerve to the right hand or left from fear or for reward. These things there must be as the primary formation at the basis of a Christian life. The pillar of the Christian character must be upright whatever else it be, and sound in its structure from base to capital and from side to side. Jachin and Boaz were of this character.
2. Beauty. We have looked at the elements of strength, let us now glance at the elements of beauty as set forth in the lily-work which crowned and glorified the heads of the two columns. As we have seen, the world itself has grown up from strength to beauty. Hiram did not invent his decorations. They were furnished to his hand from another and more skilful hand. Behold the lilies of the field, how they grow, etc. He borrowed his art from nature, that is, from God, from whom, indeed, all the noblest and purest art has ever been borrowed, and must be to the end of time. The Greeks, pagan though they were, seem to have seized this secret with a firm hand, for their name for the world was Beauty. They saw beauty everywhere, and they saw it because it was there. They saw what God had seen before them, and had put there that it might be seen by them. Oh, what infinite beauty there must be in the Divine nature, seeing that all the beauty of the world comes from it as from a fountain, and still comes from year to year! And just as the world has grown from strength to beauty, and just as the pillars of Jachin and Boaz were not finished till their capitals bloomed, as it were, in lily-work, so must it be with a true human life and character. This is not completed without its capital, a capital which need not be of lily-work, but must be the reproduction of some Divine flower. It is a still more mournful imperfection and defect when men are dead to the sense of what is beautiful in the moral and religious life. And some are thus dead. They believe, and they do well to believe, in the sterner qualities of that life. They believe in the firm grit of character, granitic compactness and strength. They like the heroic nerve which never shakes, the eye which blenches at no danger, the tongue which can utter boldly unwelcome words to an age which needs them though it hates them, the valiant courage which dares not lie, but dares to die. These are the only forms of character for which they care. They have a touch about them of stern sublimity, like bold headlands that shatter the waves into spray, or mountains that challenge and defy the storms of heaven. Still it must be repeated that Christian character is very incomplete until it rises up to the efflorescence which crowns strength with beauty. It may be thought that the two are incompatible, that you may have your choice between men whose characteristics are those of strength or those of beauty, but you cannot have them both in one. But this is a mistake. We have them both in one, and in perfect union and harmony in Him who is the Son of man, and the type of that perfect humanity which by His redemptive work He came to create. The full, true man was Christ, and to become a perfect man in Christ is to become transformed into His image, and to re-embody in ourselves all the elements of His character. And what were these elements? Were they not strength and beauty? Now, the more tender, gracious, and softer aspects of the Christian life are to find their authority, inspiration, and nourishment in the example and work of our blessed Lord. And if you read the Epistles carefully, you will observe how deeply their writers had drunk into the spirit of their Lord. The strength is there, and also the beauty. We are not to lie, to defraud; we are to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul; we are to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ; we are to put on the whole armour of God, to watch, to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, These ideas form the pillar of the Christian life. But the lily-work is also set forth again and again. Be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, even as God in Christ hath forgiven you. Above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves, which is the bond of perfectness. Bear ye one anothers burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Be courteous. Use hospitality one towards another without grudging. It is not enough to speak the truth, we must speak it in love. It is not enough to be just, the justice must be tempered with compassion. (E. Mellor, D. D.)
Lily-work
In the porch of this building were two pillars, strength and beauty. Even they, besides their immediate purpose, would suggest meanings to the reverent observer. Solomon was not what we should call a utilitarian. The pillars could and Should be made beautiful as well as useful. People might say, Why this waste? But he did not think it waste at all, and he was right. God has given to some men special genius for things of beauty, men like Aholiab and Bezaleel and Hiram. And such genius can hardly be better employed than in making Gods house beautiful. But the temple was used by prophets and by apostles as a type of the great spiritual church. And do not these pillars, divinely designed, in the material temple, bring home to ministers and all church officers, the pillars of our churches, some qualities which they also should possess?
I. Essential qualities.
1. Strength. The pillars had to uphold, to give security to the building. They must be strong enough to sustain the weight which is to rest upon them. So pillars of the church should be strong men, with a faith in God which makes them upright, reliable characters. They should be men who do not need propping and persuading, but with an independent and tenacious strength.
2. Soundness. Some hidden flaw in a pillar might one day be the cause of disaster to the whole edifice. The discovery of a serious flaw in the moral character of a leading man in a church has sometimes wrought irremediable mischief.
3. Suitable and staunch material. Any substance will not do for a pillar. Wood will not. It is not stern enough, and it is liable to catch fire. But it would be madness to use unseasoned wood for such a purpose. So all members are not made for pillars. There needs endurance and firmness. A pillar must always be there--should uphold his church in good report and evil report, should be present whenever possible, night as well as morning, week-night as well as Sunday. This steadiness and fidelity is an invaluable quality in a pillar. Between the pillars Hiram made five mouldings in imitation of pomegranates. There should be a connection of mutual trust and reciprocal courtesies between the officers of a church. Now on the top of the pillars was lily-work.
II. Non-essential but very desirable qualities. The lily-work did not add to the strength of the pillar. There have been very useful pillars of the church who had little enough lily-work about them. But these men would have been still more useful if their characters had been winsome too. A church is not like a prison. It needs to attract men. For this it should be beautiful as well as strong. (David Brook, M. A.)
Strength and beauty
I. God finds room for strength and beauty. Is it not by these that God makes the world what it is to us? The rugged rock affords a home for the soft mosses and the plumes of ferns as if these things paid for board and lodging by their adorning. The trees with roots thrust deep into the earth, with thick black branches, stretching into heaven--how are they decked with the leaves, and how are they now gay with blossoms and now rich with fruit, Strength and beauty. Is it not the very picture and the very perfection of the home? Here comes the man stained and soiled by his days toil; and here is she who keeps home sweet and clean, and makes his heart bless her as he sets foot within the place. Strength and beauty--yet more complete if possible as the toiling father and the busy mother bend over the little one that looks and laughs its music at them. So God blesses the world with strength and beauty.
II. First strength, then beauty. The constant emblem of our religion is the rock. The house built upon the rock, against which the winds blow and rains beat, but the house abides, for that its foundation standeth sure. The Church of God is built upon the rock, the Rock of Ages, that abideth for ever. Religion is not a matter of sentiment, of feeling, of changeful emotion. It is rooted and grounded in the everlasting Word of the living God. What triumphant strength is begotten within the soul when it can cry, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. That first, always and everywhere--strength. Is there anything in the world more miserable than religion without any bones, a thing that you can squeeze into any shape you like?--religious sentiment that can talk piously and yet is not exact in its sayings and doings, that can be particular about its creed, and yet slipshod in business? There are some people who affect to despise beauty, and consider it a weakness. Give me a brass pillar, say they, solid and substantial. I dont want any nonsensical lily-work about the top of it. Now such people may do much harm in the world--more harm than good. Strength and beauty--how shall we combine the two? In one way, and in one way only. Love is both. He that loveth hath the secret. For is there any strength like love? Is there any endurance like loves? Is there any defiance like the defiance of love? Love is strength and love is beauty. And love is ours as nothing else could make it ours but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is love compelling love that sustains our strongest service and our tenderest thought. How graciously are these two combined in that word concerning Jesus Christ: As many as received Him to them gave He power to become the children of God. Authority and strength to become children, simple, trustful, loving, obedient. Strong that we may be made beautiful. Thus doth our God seek to make us pillars in His temple, strong with His strength, beautiful with the beauty of the Lord our God. (M. G. Pearse.)
Strength and beauty
I. The handiwork of God in the wide field of nature. The rocky steeps of the mountain are belted with pines; the rivers that fertilise the soft nourish the flowers which grow on their banks; the great wide sea is often surpassingly lovely on its surface, and there are beautiful-corals in its depths, brilliant shells on Its shores; on the broad, unmeasured plains and moors are the blue-bell and the purple heather. If this earth be a temple in which God manifests His presence, His wisdom, and His power, then are the mighty and massive objects upon it the pillars of that temple, and all exquisite and delicate things are the flowers His hand has fashioned upon them. We have it also in--
II. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel are many mighty and massive truths which may be said to be the very pillars of the sacred edifice: such as the leading truth that God Is a Spirit, etc.; but in close connection with these great and solid truths is that which is exquisite, delicate, beautiful. Such is the truth that the faintest whisper of prayer that comes from the lips of the little child may enter the ear and touch the hand of God, and bring down His benediction; or that the first sigh of the relenting human spirit is dearer to the Fathers heart than the finest anthems of the angels; or that the cherishing of a pure feeling of forgiveness or the doing one act of real peace-making brings us further into the likeness and childhood of God than would the accomplishment of the most brilliant intellectual achievement.
III. Christian character. We have in our churches strong men, helpful, influential, sustaining--men who are pillars. They may be strong in virtue of adventitious aids, or of natural endowments, or of acquired, powers, or of spiritual acquisition: and these pillars may be either as beams m a mine, rude, rough, unpolished; or they may be as the fluted columns of a cathedral, as these pillars of Solomons temple with lily-work on the top of them.
IV. Christian service. The worship of God, the service of Jesus Christ, is the power for good in human society; it upholds the goodness and the happiness of the world. Its strength and its beauty are determined partly by the stage to which we here come in our Christian course.
1. The strength of service in age is in submission, willingness to decline, to take the lower place, to be of diminishing account; and the beauty of submission is cheerfulness of spirit.
2. The strength of service in prime is in activity, in usefulness, in putting out our talents for the glory of Christ and the well-being of the world; and the beauty of activity is thoroughness, regularity, punctuality, heartiness, doing effectively and continuously what has been undertaken.
3. The strength of service in childhood and youth is obedience and self-denial; and the beauty of this is alacrity, promptness, rendering it not tardily and reluctantly, but readily and sweetly, with willing feet and cheerful voice. It is well to have strength and beauty in our Christian buildings; it is far better, in the estimate of Christ, to have these two harmoniously combined in the character we are forming and the life we are living. (W. Clarkson.)
Strength and beauty in character
In this divinely planned structure I know of nothing outside the Holy of Holies more impressive than the pillars built by Hiram. These were of the finest brass, of great height, splendid in symmetry and crowned with lilies. It is a law of art that the most perfect and enduring effects are produced by the combination of things unlike each other. A painter throws into his picture the darkest shadows that he may intensify his clearest lights. A sculptor carves for the top of his columns capitals of delicate design, An architect relieves the heavy masonry of his walls with items of exquisite device and forms of sculptured beauty. God Himself is our original teacher; for whilst He setteth fast the mountains, being girded with power, He hath woven around their summits tender vines and rooted in their crevices sweet scented flowers that warmly clasp and colour the cold grey cliffs. That widows son from Tyre was not a stranger to this alliance, and so wrought his pillars as to adorn the sanctuary of the Highest with both strength and beauty. Observe that the strength was first and the beauty of lilies afterward. We have here the uplifting of those two qualites which are worshipped by the soul of man the world over. Power and beauty alike win his homage, but not unfrequently he yields himself to that which is but the sham of strength, and renders service to that which has but the semblance of beauty; to power ungifted with love, and to beauty unadorned by holiness. It is the lie of the world, often uttered and often believed, that the righteous must needs be the weak and the pure the uncomely. God declares the right to be the only strong, and the good, the only beautiful. The power that enters human life to rule it within and without must be a power of conquest, having the inherent qualities of stability. Man is born in battle. His cradle is rocked by his own strugglings. His history is that of a shifting factor in a shifting world. He can neither command himself nor control his surroundings. Antagonisms swarm on his path. Struggling alone, he can have but one experience: the shame that comes of perpetual impotency and the confusion that arises from continued defeat. Sooner or later he learns this truth, that all power is of God, and that the strength that conquers for the spiritual--that takes hold of eternal things and abides, that elevates life into firmness of character and adorns it with real beauty, is possible only through the patient, helpful, regenerative ministry of Jesus Christ. (R. W. Davis.)
Strength and beauty
1. The Divinity of labour. Hiram, who wrought these pillars, was the son of a widow in Tyre. To him labour was a divinely ordered force, which a man took into his life and into his faculties, and which taught him that he was a workman, not simply for himself, or for some taskmaster, who was set over him to watch him; but that he was a workman for God, and that the fidelity of his toil must represent the purity of his worship. Whether he sculptured a column, carved lilies, drove a nail, or set the plough in the furrow, he believed he was doing a Divine thing. The curse of labour to-day is that men have lost God out of it. The highest conception of Christianity is the idea that Christianity can get itself down into the ordinary processes of life, can find a God there, and, grasping the details of things, can change them and beautify them as life goes on; that no matter what our work may be, it is worship, and if faithfully done, every day that comes and goes will leave behind it something in the reservoir of life, some deposit of character which, when all days are over, shall constitute our treasure laid up in heaven.
2. Beauty without strength. In our day there is a great desire for the lily work without the pillars, a vain longing for the graces of life and for the beauties of character without the supporting power of truth and duty. There are thousands of men who would like the virtues of the fathers, but who do not want the faith which made them virtuous. They would like to have reproduced in their life the qualities of soul which marked the early Christians, the Reformers, and the Puritans; but not their sturdy faith, nor their tenacity of conviction, not their majestic conscience or their tremendous hold on things unseen. They want the simplicity and affection of the Waldenses, but not their faith in God; the audacity and fearlessness of John Knox and Oliver Cromwell, without their vivid sense of the Divine Presence; the morality of John Robinson and Miles Standish, without their heroic creed; the integrity of Washington and Lincoln, without their trust in a sustaining and over-ruling God. Mothers are anxious that their daughters should shine in every social accomplishment; that their sons should be men of talent and of skill; that their homes should be beautiful with music and art and all kindly grace. But they are not so solicitous about the solid foundations of character. The spirit of the time is to dwell on the surface. To dig deep is to contradict the age. Glittering pinnacles on insecure foundations! Remember all skaters are not navigators. It is one thing to skim the surface of a pond, and quite another to sail upon the angry deep. The twittering sparrow has as many wings as the eagle, but he cannot dip them in the glory which burns just beneath the sun. A candle is not a comet. The keels of mighty ships are not built of mushrooms. Depth of character first, not ornament, is to be sought for. In house building digging must precede decoration. You do not begin with the painter and the gilder, but with the stone-layer. A pasteboard hut is not a castle, it will be borne away by the mocking winds. It is dangerous to reckon the virtues of a mans character by buttons on his coat, for some are all coat and no character. The looking-glass is the only book some people read. They are splendid advertisements for their tailor, but a sorry disgrace to their schoolmaster. Never mistake the mystery of an echo for the originality of a voice.
3. The foundation of faith. I tell you the quickest way to produce a sweet and beautiful life, either individual or national, is by placing underneath it a strong, unwavering faith. The Parthenon, which lifts toward the golden-tinted sky the whiteness of its untarnished front, must repose on the immovable Acropolis of truth and goodness. The modern professor of fine arts, who prefers form and finish to substance and thought, who, forgetting all that is greatest in architecture and sculpture, in painting and music and poetry, asserts that ethics and aesthetics have nothing in common, who prates about art for arts sake, who scorns the teaching of Schelling that the aesthetic lies in character, and of Dante that art is a descendant of God, is the apostle of the unwholesome, the tawdry, and the lustful, the art of literary fops and the disciples of what Carlyle called the gospel and the philosophy of dirt. But the highest art, which lifts us to the joy of elevated thoughts as in imagination we watch the hand that pencilled Madonna, or the greater--
Hand that rounded Peters dome,
And groined the aisles of Christian Rome,
is always found the friend and promoter of truth and goodness, of aspiration and of faith. The highest art, as Professor Blackie has said, is always the most religious. A scoffing Raphael or an irreverent Michael Angelo is not conceivable. We must have the strength first, and beauty afterward. It is disaster to reverse this order--to try to get beauty and then have strength. The magnificent Brooklyn Bridge, when viewed at a distance, is a beautiful poem. But the beauty is dependent on the strength of mighty abutments which reach down far below the river bed, and take hold of the foundations of the earth. In everything, both artistic and moral, strength is the stalk; beauty is the flower that blooms on it.
4. Divine deliberation. The Almighty shows great deliberation in all His works. Haste, a hurry, fussy activity is always an evidence of weakness. The six days of creation may have been six sunsets or six millenniums; but the days moved slowly and majestically forward toward man as a child of Gods infinite Spirit, and in that result the process finds its climax and its justification. If God pronounces each of these days of creation to be very good, it is because He beholds them in the unclouded light of that seventh glorious morning when He finds Himself not Creator merely, but, since He can commune with a spirit kindred to His own, finds Himself a Father of immortals. Study the bases of the mountains and the foundations of the everlasting hills. He who is girded with power has settled them in their sockets unchangingly. Then He gave the earth beauty, the forests and ferns, the waving grasses and the flowers. And the young woman who concentrates all her life on attitudes, effects, sensations, impressions, striving to get the ornamentation, oblivious to the sterling, splendid qualities that should be wrought into the womanly character--she asks only for lilies. But there are no lilies worth having that do not come out of columns. If you were to knock the pillars from under the globe, where would your flower-gardens be next morning? We have most excellent illustrations of strength and beauty in the study of two national characteristics--Hebraism and Hellenism. It is in the ultimate realisation of a union of the Hebraistic and Hellenistic elements that ultimate perfection is to be found; the son of Abraham is to join hands with the son of Hellas. The Hebrew furnished the indispensable basis of faith, of conduct, of self-control; the immovable foundation upon which alone the perfection aimed at by Greece was to come to bloom. The Hebrew Bible is not wanting in suggestions of the radiant beauty of Gods thoughts and works, but there the beauty is subordinate to morality, it is a blossom on the stalk of strength. As the indestructible azure in sea and sky, as the golden ghory of the sunshine, so this characteristic of beauty shines forth from strength all through the Bible, immortal in God.
5. Gods love of beauty. There are qualities aside from strength and truth and courage that every life ought to cultivate. We see that He who setteth fast the mountains also garnishes the heavens and the hills. Charles Kingsley used to say, Study matter as the countenance of God. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. And God wants beauty incorporated into religion. Strength and beauty have been divinely joined--what God hath joined together let no man put asunder.
6. The transforming power of beauty. Beauty dwells in and finds its basis in strength, as sunshine breaks into glory through the mist, as life beats and blushes in the flesh, as an impassioned thought breathes out of a thinkers face. There are numberless analogies in human life--if we could stop to consider them--of the way in in which one life can influence another by the impartation of strength or beauty. Here is a man who has been always stern, truthful, moral, cold--a human pillar. Some day he loves a noble woman, full of all womanly and lovely graces. That transforms and transfigures him. Under her influence his sternness flowers into grace. And Tennyson shows us how the ideal union will be that one where--
The man is more of woman, she of man;
He gain in sweetness and in moral height,
Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world;
Till at the last she set herself to man,
Like perfect music unto noble words.
With every man the real man is the woman he carries in his heart. He is her strength; she is his grace. He upholds; she adorns. The one is the complement of the other. History is full of the names of men who had strength; how few there are who had both strength and beauty. I shall never forget the lessons I learned at the tombs of two men born in almost the same year, men equally though differently famous--Napoleon Bonaparte and Walter Scott. Napoleon was born two years before Scott, in the same month and on the same day of the month, August 15. The years passed by. Both do their work and die. I have stood under the Column of Napoleon, built by himself from twelve hundred pieces of cannon taken from the Austrian and the Prussian, and crowned with a statue of the emperor in his imperial robes, and I could not help contrasting it with that noble monument in Edinburgh, not built by Scott to commemorate his own glory, but by the generosity and love of his fellow-countrymen to honour one they loved. And when I stood at the tomb of that great soldier, guarded by the stained flags of so many battlefields, arranged in his fated number of nine, I could but think how many burning cities had been laid waste, with suffering and starving populace, and all for one mans glory. How different from all this hollow mockery and fictitious grandeur is the hallowed peace of St. Marys ruined aisle in the Abbey of Dryburgh. In May 1871 the Column of Napoleon was hurled to the ground by his own infuriated countrymen, though since rebuilt. And in the same year Scotts magnificent monument at Edinburgh was wreathed with flowers. Napoleon had only strength, and lives mainly in the recollection of the ruin he wrought and his blasted ambitions. Scott had both strength and beauty. He did something good and lasting for mankind. His life was a real blessing to humanity. He never wrote an impure or hateful or revengeful word. Amid crushing financial disaster he kept his temper and his faith in God.
7. Goodness and grace. As all adornment of life finds its basis in truth, it is equally necessary that all truth should find expression in a noble life, that all the pillars should blossom at last in lily work. Nature is full of genuine reality as one true existence, yet manifested in the endless variety with which the earth teems. There is the solemn, stately mountain standing in its serene strength--but upon the mountain nature takes up endless incarnations of loveliness. The bird sings, the lily blossoms, the sunbeam dances, the brook flashes--and they are all one, while yet our eyes and ears and all our senses are tingling with the tidings of the difference which they always express. The mountain, the ocean, and the man--first strong each in its own way, and then each beautiful with the superadded things, great and gracious. That is what makes life so full of fascination to the man who has eyes--the eternal, undivided unity of strength, of permanence, of Divine stability, ever unfolding itself into one glory of the sun, and another glory of the stars, and all together fill the radiant sky. And when Paul comes to speak of the flowering of Christian character, he shows how healthy and rational he is when he says it is a change from glory to glory. (F. L. Goodspeed, A. B. , S. T. B.)
The lotus
The lily referred to as adorning the capitals of Solomons temple pillars was the lotus or water-lily. Graceful in form and delicately beautiful in colour, serenely floating on the surface of the rising Nile, the sacred Ganges, and inland lakes of the old world, apparently anchored to the soft yet rising and falling with the flood, and opening its peerlessly fair petals to the sun, the mystic ship-flower of the waters naturally found a place in the ornamental symbolism of every temple-building race. To the Egyptians it was a token of blessing because it appeared with the annual overflow of the Nile, a type of immortality, of the creation of the world, of the Deluge and the Ark, and other sacred mysteries. It adorned and finished the capitals of Jachin and Boaz in Jehovahs temple at Jerusalem. It was an emblem of purity. Over the gateway of the temple of Phocis was written, Let no one enter here whose hands are unclean. David says, I will wash my hands in innocency: so will I compass Thine altar, O Jehovah. Purity of heart and life was the lesson of the lily work over the pillars of God s house in Solomons day, as it is in ours. (W. Balgarnie.)
Simplicity in decoration
The character of sublimity is chaste and simple. In the arts dependent on design, if the artist aim at this character, he must disregard all trivial decorations, nor must the eye be distracted by a multiplicity of parts. In architecture there must be few divisions of the principal members of the building, and the parts must be large and of ample relief; there must be a modesty of decoration, contemning all minuteness of ornament, which distracts the eye that ought to be filled with the general mass and with the proportions of the greater parts to each other. In this respect the Doric is confessedly superior to all the other orders of architecture, as it unites strength and majesty with a becoming simplicity, and the utmost symmetry of proportions. (Tytlers History.)
Alliance of strength with beauty
Beauty is ever seen to best advantage in its natural alliance with strength. The lotus on the river, the dove in the cleft of the rock, the wife by her husbands side at church, the infant in the parents arms, the voices of young men and maidens . . . blended, in harmony in the praise of the sanctuary, the wrestling power and child-like pleading at the throne, the force and tenderness of the Gospel, are combinations in nature and grace that are doubtless intended to teach us how all forms of strength may become beautiful, and all that is beautiful may become strong. Is it not when our Lord is seen in the might of His Deity and the peerless beauty of His humanity that He becomes to us all our salvation and all our desire? God in Christ is Omnipotence become beautiful to us in its condescension and love; Christ in God is our security and strength. When at last the Bridegroom shall come to take his Bride to Himself, and the Church puts on her beautiful garments to receive Him, when they enter the Fathers house together, then strength and beauty in their completeness will be seen in the sanctuary. On the top of the pillars there will be lily work, and the work of the pillars will be finished. (W. Balgarnie.)
Sensitive to the beautiful
I am sorry for persons who always see the bad first, and the good last, or never. Whether it be in art, or whether it be the conduct of affairs, or whether it be in social life, one should know what is harmony and what is discord, what is straight and what is crooked, what is right and what is wrong. A man that is strongly sensitive to the beautiful, and true, and right, is in a healthy condition of mind--and health is the most beautiful thing in the world. In the plant, in its place; in the animal, in its place; in society, in its place; in all parts of the mental economy, a healthy, normal condition--that is the thing which is the most beautiful, and which ought to be the most attractive. (H. W. Beecher.)
Character attractive
Character is not determined by a single act, but by habitual conduct, says the Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D. It is a fabric made up of thousands of threads, and put together by uncounted stitches. Some characters are stoutly sewed, others are only basted. A Christian ought not only to have his spiritual garments well sewed, but kept clean--in fact, as a representative of Jesus Christ, he ought to present such an attractive apparel before the world that others should say to him: Where did you get this? I want one just like it.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v21 Jachin i.e. He shall establish.
Jachin i.e. He shall establish.
Boaz i.e. in it is strength.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv18, 20, 23, 25, 27, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42 Huram made
Huram made
Huram would have commanded his workers to do this work. AT: "Huram commanded his workers to make" (See: Metonymy)
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two rows of pomegranates
A pomegranate is a fruit with a hard, red rind and many juicy seeds inside. Huram did not use real pomegranates to decorate the pillars. He made them out of bronze.
The capitals ... were decorated with lilies, four cubits high
Lilies are plants whose flowers are wide at one end and very narrow at the other end. These words can be stated in active form. AT: "Huram decorated the capitals ... with bronze lilies, four cubits high" (See: Active or Passive and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the tops of the portico
Translate "portico" as in 1 Kings 7:6.
four cubits
A cubit is 46 centimeters. AT: "about 1.8 meters" (See: Biblical Distance)
translationWords
column
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 On vv23, 27, 40 7:23-26 The giant bronze basin called the Sea replaced…
7:23-26 The giant bronze basin called the Sea replaced the smaller bronze washbasin used in the Tabernacle service (see Exod 30:17-21). The Sea was cast as one solid piece, excluding the twelve bronze oxen on which it sat. The oxen were placed so that three faced each direction, perhaps to remind priests that they served God on behalf of all twelve tribes of Israel. Ahaz later replaced the oxen with a stone base (2 Kgs 16:17). The priests used the Sea, like the bronze washbasin before it, for ceremonial washing (2 Chr 4:6) as they prepared to minister before God (see Exod 30:17-21). The apparent discrepancy in the volume of water it could hold (see 2 Chr 4:5) is probably due to standards of measurement that varied according to place and time.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.