1 Kings 7:39

39 He set five water carts on the right side of the temple and five on the left side.^[a] He put the reservoir near the right side of the temple toward the southeast.^[b]

1 Kings 7:39 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 7:39

And he put five bases on the right side of the house
On the south side, which is commonly understood; that is, of the courts of the priests, where they were placed for their use: and five on the left side of the house; on the north, as it must be, if the south is on the right; though as the entrance into the temple was at the east, when a man went in, the north must be on the right, and the south on the left; and this seems to be the position by what follows:

and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, over
against the south;
and therefore the right side must be the north, which is opposite to the south; the sea seems to have stood northeast, which was for the priests to wash in before they entered on divine service, (See Gill on Exodus 30:20) hence it became customary with the Heathens to wash before they performed any religious worship ^F5, particularly the hands and feet ^F6.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F5 Vid. Virgil. Bucolic. Eclog. 8. "affer aquam" Aeneid. 2. "attrectare nefas" Macrob. Saturnal. l. 3. c. l.
F6 Vid. Sperling de Bapt. Ethnic. p. 88, 89, 101.

1 Kings 7:39 In-Context

37 In this way he made the 10 water carts using the same casting, dimensions, and shape for all of them.

38 Then he made 10 bronze basins-each basin holding 220 gallons and each was six feet wide-one basin for each of the 10 water carts.

39 He set five water carts on the right side of the temple and five on the left side. He put the reservoir near the right side of the temple toward the southeast.

40 Then Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the sprinkling basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he was doing for King Solomon on the Lord's temple:

41 two pillars; bowls for the capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two gratings for covering both bowls of the capitals that were on top of the pillars;

Footnotes

• [a]. 2 Ch 4:6
• [b]. 1 Kg 7:23; 2 Ch 4:10