2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles 4
1Then he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high. 2Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim. It was round, five cubits high, and thirty cubits in circumference. 3Under 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. 4It 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. 5It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It received and held three thousand baths. 6He also made ten basins, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them. The things that belonged to the burnt offering were washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.
7He made the ten lamp stands of gold according to the ordinance concerning them; and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left. 8He 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. 9Furthermore he made the court of the priests, the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze. 10He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.
11Huram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins.
So Huram finished doing the work that he did for king Solomon in God’s house: 12the two pillars, the bowls, the two capitals which were on the top of the pillars, the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, 13and 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. 14He also made the bases, and he made the basins on the bases; 15one sea, and the twelve oxen under it. 16Huram his father also made the pots, the shovels, the forks, and all its vessels for king Solomon, for Yahweh’s house, of bright bronze. 17The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah. 18Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance; for the weight of the bronze could not be determined.
19Solomon made all the vessels that were in God’s house, the golden altar also, and the tables with the show bread on them; 20and the lamp stands with their lamps, to burn according to the ordinance before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; 21and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold that was perfect gold; 22and the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans of pure gold. As for the entry of the house, its inner doors for the most holy place and the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold.
Commentary
No commentary on this chapter yet.
What others are saying
5 commentators · 23 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry2
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
David often speaks with much affection both of the house of the Lord and of the courts of our God. Both without doors and within there was that which typified the grace of the gospel and shadowed out good things to come, of which the substance is Christ. I…
We have here such a summary both of the brass-work and the gold-work of the temple as we had before (Kg1 7:13, etc.), in which we have nothing more to observe than, 1. That Huram the workman was very punctual: He finished all that he was to make (Ch2 4:11)…
John Gill1
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
See Introduction to Chapter 4
Adam Clarke9
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
Under it was the similitude of oxen - In Kg1 7:24, instead of oxen, בקרים bekarim, we have knops, פקעים pekaim; and this last is supposed by able critics to be the reading which ought to be received here. What we call knops may signify grapes, mushrooms…
It - held three thousand baths - In Kg1 7:26, it is said to hold only two thousand baths. As this book was written after the Babylonish captivity, it is very possible that reference is here made to the Babylonish bath which might have been less than the…
He made also ten lavers - The lavers served to wash the different parts of the victims in; and the molten sea was for the use of the priests. In this they bathed, or drew water from it for their personal purification.
Keil & Delitzsch6
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
The brazen sea described as in Kg1 7:23-26. See the commentary on that passage, and the sketch in my Archaeol. i. plate iii. fig. 1. The differences in substance, such as the occurrence of בּקרים and הבּקר, Ch2 4:3, instead of פּקעים and הפּקים, and 3000…
The ten lavers which, according to Kg1 7:38, stood upon ten brazen stands, i.e., chests provided with carriage wheels. These stands, the artistic work on which is circumstantially described in Kg1 7:27-37, are omitted in the Chronicle, because they are merely…
The golden furniture of the holy place and the courts. These three verses are not found in the parallel narrative 1 Kings 7, where in Kg1 7:39 the statement as to the position of the brazen sea (Ch2 4:10) follows immediately the statement of the position of…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown5
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
MOLTEN SEA. (Ch2 4:2-5) he made a molten sea--(See on Kg1 7:23), as in that passage "knops" occur instead of "oxen." It is generally supposed that the rows of ornamental knops were in the form of ox heads.
Two rows of oxen were cast, when it was cast--The meaning is, that the circular basin and the brazen oxen which supported it were all of one piece, being cast in one and the same mould. There is a difference in the accounts given of the capacity of this…
THE TEN LAVERS, CANDLESTICKS, AND TABLES. (Ch2 4:6-18) ten lavers--(See on Kg1 7:27). The laver of the tabernacle had probably been destroyed. The ten new ones were placed between the porch and the altar, and while the molten sea was for the priests to…
World English Bible — Public domain