2 Chronicles 4

1 He made a bronze altar 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 15 feet high.
2 Huram made a pool from cast metal. It was 15 feet in diameter. It was round, 7½ feet high, and had a circumference of 45 feet.
3 Under the rim were two rows of figurines shaped like bulls all around the 45-foot circumference of the pool. They were cast in metal when the pool was cast.
4 The pool was set on 12 metal bulls. Three bulls faced north, three faced west, three faced south, and three faced east. The pool was set on them, and their hindquarters were toward the center [of the pool].
5 The pool was three inches thick. Its rim was like the rim of a cup, shaped like a lily's bud. It held 18,000 gallons.
6 Huram also made ten basins for washing and put five on the south side and five on the north side. The priests rinsed the meat prepared for the burnt offerings in them. They used the pool to wash themselves.
7 Huram made ten gold lamp stands according to their specifications and put them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north side.
8 He made ten tables and put them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north side. And he made 100 gold bowls.
9 He also made the priests' courtyard and the large courtyard and its doors. He covered the doors with bronze.
10 He set the pool on the south side in the southeast [corner].
11 Huram also made the pots, shovels, and bowls. So Huram finished the work for King Solomon in God's temple:
12 2 pillars, bowl-shaped capitals on top of the 2 pillars, and 2 sets of filigree to cover the 2 bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars,
13 400 pomegranates for the 2 sets of filigree (2 rows of pomegranates for each filigree to cover the 2 bowl-shaped capitals on the pillars),
14 10 stands and 10 basins on the stands,
15 1 pool and the 12 bulls under it,
16 pots, shovels, and three-pronged forks. Huram made all of them out of polished bronze for the LORD's temple at King Solomon's request.
17 The king cast them in foundries in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zeredah.
18 Solomon made so many of these products that no one tried to determine how much the bronze weighed.
19 Solomon made all the furnishings for God's temple: the gold altar, the gold tables on which the bread of the presence was placed,
20 lamp stands and lamps of pure gold (to burn as directed in front of the inner room),
21 flowers, lamps, pure gold tongs,
22 snuffers, basins, dishes, incense burners of pure gold, the gold entrance to the temple, the gold doors of the inner [room] (the most holy place), and the gold doors of the temple.

2 Chronicles 4 Commentary

Chapter 4

The furniture of the temple.

- Here is a further account of the furniture of God's house. 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. There was the brazen altar. The making of this was not mentioned in the book of Kings. On this all the sacrifices were offered, and it sanctified the gift. The people who worshipped in the courts might see the sacrifices burned. They might thus be led to consider the great Sacrifice, to be offered in the fulness of time, to take away sin, and put an end to death, which the blood of bulls and goats could not possibly do. And, with the smoke of the sacrifices, their hearts might ascend to heaven, in holy desires towards God and his favour. In all our devotions we must keep the eye of faith fixed upon Christ. The furniture of the temple, compared with that of the tabernacle, showed that God's church would be enlarged, and his worshippers multiplied. Blessed be God, there is enough in Christ for all.

2 Chronicles 4 Commentaries

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