1 Kings 7:25

25 It rested on twelve oxen, three looking north, three looking west, three looking south and three looking east, all with their hindquarters toward the center. The Sea was set on top of them.

1 Kings 7:25 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 7:25

It stood upon twelve oxen
Figures of them in brass, of full proportion:

three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and
three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east;
and so turned to the four quarters of the world:

and the sea was set above upon them;
as it were on the backs of them, and their mouths served as spouts or cocks, to let water out of it on all sides:

and all their hinder parts were inward;
that they might not be seen, and which met in a centre; they that were north came against those that were south, and they in the east met with those to the west. The brass of the sea, according to Jacob Leon ^F18, weighed 1,800 arobas, and, with twelve oxen under, 33,500; each aroba being twenty five pounds weight.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Relation of Memorable Things in the Temple, ch. 4. p. 21.

1 Kings 7:25 In-Context

23 He made the cast metal "Sea" circular, seventeen-and-a-half feet from rim to rim, eight-and-three quarter feet high and fifty-two-and-a-half feet in circumference.

24 Under its rim, three hundred gourds encircled it in two rows; they were cast when the Sea was cast.

25 It rested on twelve oxen, three looking north, three looking west, three looking south and three looking east, all with their hindquarters toward the center. The Sea was set on top of them.

26 It was a handbreadth thick, its rim was made like the rim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; and its capacity was 11,000 gallons.

27 He made ten bronze trolleys, each one seven feet long, seven feet wide, and five-and-a-quarter feet high.