7:19. And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars, were of lily work, in the porch of four cubits.
7:20. And again there were other chapiters on the top of the pillars above, according to the measure of the pillar over against the network: and of pomegranates there were two hundred, in rows round about the other chapiter.
7:21. And he set up the two pillars in the porch of the temple: and when he had set up the pillar on the right hand, he called the name thereof Jachin: in like manner he set up the second pillar, and called the name thereof Booz.
Jachin... That is, firmly established.-Ibid. Booz... That is, in its strength. By recording these names in holy writ, the spirit of G.o.d would have us understand the invincible firmness and strength of the pillars on which the true temple of G.o.d, which is the church, is established.
7:22. And upon the tops of the pillars he made lily work: so the work of the pillars was finished.
7:23. He made also a molten sea, of ten cubits, from brim to brim, round all about; the height of it was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits compa.s.sed it round about.
7:24. And a graven work, under the brim of it, compa.s.sed it for ten cubits going about the sea: there were two rows cast of chamfered sculptures.
7:25. And it stood upon twelve oxen, of which three looked towards the north, and three towards the west, and three towards the south, and three towards the east: and the sea was above upon them, and their hinder parts were all hid within.
7:26. And the laver was a hand breadth thick: and the brim thereof was like the brim of a cup, or the leaf of a crisped lily: it contained two thousand bates.
Two thousand bates... That is, about ten thousand gallons. This was the quant.i.ty of water which was usually put into it: but it was capable, if brimful, of holding three thousand. See 2 Par. 4.5.
7:27. And he made ten bases of bra.s.s, every base was four cubits in length, and four cubits in breadth, and three cubits high.
7:28. And the work itself of the bases, was intergraven: and there were gravings between the joinings.
7:29. And between the little crowns and the ledges, were lions, and oxen, and cherubims; and in the joinings likewise above: and under the lions and oxen, as it were bands of bra.s.s hanging down.
7:30. And every base had four wheels, and axletrees of bra.s.s: and at the four sides were undersetters, under the laver molten, looking one against another.
7:31. The mouth also of the laver within, was in the top of the chapiter: and that which appeared without, was of one cubit all round, and together it was one cubit and a half: and in the corners of the pillars were divers engravings: and the s.p.a.ces between the pillars were square, not round.
7:32. And the four wheels, which were at the four corners of the base, were joined one to another under the base: the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.
7:33. And they were such wheels as are used to be made in a chariot: and their axletrees, and spokes, and strakes, and naves, were all cast.
7:34. And the four undersetters, that were at every corner of each base, were of the base itself, cast and joined together.
7:35. And on the top of the base, there was a round compa.s.s of half a cubit, so wrought that the laver might be set thereon, having its gravings, and divers sculptures of itself.
7:36. He engraved also in those plates, which were of bra.s.s, and in the corners, cherubims, and lions, and palm trees, in likeness of a man standing, so that they seemed not to be engraven, but added round about.
7:37. After this manner, he made ten bases, of one casting and measure, and the like graving.
7:38. He made also ten lavers of bra.s.s: one laver contained four bates, and was of four cubits: and upon every base, in all ten, he put as many lavers.
7:39. And he set the ten bases, five on the right side of the temple, and five on the left: and the sea he put on the right side of the temple, over against the east southward.
7:40. And Hiram made cauldrons, and shovels, and basins, and finished all the work of king Solomon in the temple of the Lord.
7:41. The two pillars and the two cords of the chapiters, upon the chapiters of the pillars: and the two networks, to cover the two cords, that were upon the top of the pillars.
7:42. And four hundred pomegranates for the two networks: two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the cords of the chapiters, which were upon the tops of the pillars.
7:43. And the ten bases, and the ten lavers on the bases.
7:44. And one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea.
7:45. And the cauldrons, and the shovels, and the basins. All the vessels that Hiram made for king Solomon, for the house of the Lord, were of fine bra.s.s.
7:46. In the plains of the Jordan, did the king cast them in a clay ground, between Socoth and Sartham.
7:47. And Solomon placed all the vessels: but for its exceeding great mult.i.tude the bra.s.s could not be weighed.
7:48. And Solomon made all the vessels for the house of the Lord: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, upon which the loaves of proposition should be set:
7:49. And the golden candlesticks, five on the right hand, and five on the left, over against the oracle, of pure gold: and the flowers like lilies, and the lamps over them of gold: and golden snuffers,
7:50. And pots, and fleshhooks, and bowls, and mortars, and censers, of most pure gold: and the hinges for the doors of the inner house of the holy of holies, and for the doors of the house of the temple, were of gold.
7:51. And Solomon finished all the work that he made in the house of the Lord, and brought in the things that David, his father, had dedicated, the silver and the gold, and the vessels, and laid them up in the treasures of the house of the Lord.
3 Kings Chapter 8
The dedication of the temple: Solomon"s prayer and sacrifices.
8:1. Then all the ancients of Israel, with the princes of the tribes, and the heads of the families of the children of Israel, were a.s.sembled to king Solomon, in Jerusalem: that they might carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, out of the city of David, that is, out of Sion.
8:2. And all Israel a.s.sembled themselves to king Solomon, on the festival day, in the month of Ethanim, the same is the seventh month.
8:3. And all the ancients of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark,
8:4. And carried the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of the covenant, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, that were in the tabernacle: and the priests and the Levites carried them.
8:5. And king Solomon, and all the mult.i.tude of Israel, that were a.s.sembled unto him, went with him before the ark, and they sacrificed sheep and oxen, that could not be counted or numbered.
8:6. And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, into the oracle of the temple, into the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubims.
8:7. For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and covered the ark, and the staves thereof above.
8:8. And whereas the staves stood out, the ends of them were seen without, in the sanctuary before the oracle, but were not seen farther out, and there they have been unto this day.
8:9. Now in the ark there was nothing else but the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at h.o.r.eb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.
Nothing else, etc... There was nothing else but the tables of the law within the ark: but on the outside of the ark, or near the ark were also the rod of Aaron, and a golden urn with manna, Heb. 9.4.
8:10. And it came to pa.s.s, when the priests were come out of the sanctuary, that a cloud filled the house of the Lord,
8:11. And the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.
8:12. Then Solomon said: The Lord said that he would dwell in a cloud.