2 Chronicles 4

Furnishings of the Temple

1 Then ¹he made a bronze altar, twenty cubits in length and twenty cubits in width and ten cubits in height.

2 ²Also he made the cast metal sea, ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits and its circumference * * thirty cubits.

3 Now figures like oxen were under it and all around * it, ten cubits, entirely encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast in one piece.

4 It stood on twelve * oxen, three facing the north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east; and the sea was set on top of them and all their hindquarters turned inwards.

5 It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom; it ³could hold 3,000 * baths.

6 ⁴He also made ten basins in which to wash, and he set five on the right side and five on the left to rinse things for the burnt offering; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

7 Then ⁵he made the ten golden lampstands in the way prescribed for them and he set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left.

8 He also made ⁶ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made one hundred golden bowls.

9 Then he made ⁷the court * of the priests and ⁸the great court and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze.

10 ⁹He set the sea on the right side of the house toward the southeast.

11 ¹⁰Huram also made the pails, the shovels and the bowls. So Huram finished doing the work which he performed for King Solomon in the house of God:

12 the two pillars, the bowls and the two capitals on top of the pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on top of the pillars,

13 and ¹¹the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on the pillars.

14 ¹²He also made the stands and he made the basins on the stands,

15 and the one sea with the twelve * oxen under it.

16 The pails, the shovels, the forks and all its utensils, ¹³Huram-abi * made of polished bronze for King Solomon for the house of the LORD.

17 On the plain of the Jordan the king cast them in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

18 ¹⁴Thus Solomon made all these utensils in great quantities, for the weight of the bronze could not be found out.

19 Solomon also made all the things that were in the house of God: even the golden altar, ¹⁵the tables with the bread of the Presence on them,

20 the lampstands with their lamps of pure gold, ¹⁶to burn in front of the inner sanctuary in the way prescribed;

21 the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold, of purest gold;

22 and the snuffers, the bowls, the spoons and the firepans of pure gold; and the entrance of the house, its inner doors for the holy of holies and the doors of the house, that is, of the nave, of gold.

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.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 27:1, 2; 2 Kings 16:14
• 2. 1 Kings 7:23-26
• 3. 1 Kings 7:26
• 4. Exodus 30:17-21; 1 Kings 7:38, 40
• 5. Exodus 25:31-40; 1 Kings 7:49
• 6. 1 Kings 7:48
• 7. 1 Kings 6:36
• 8. 2 Kings 21:5
• 9. 1 Kings 7:39
• 10. 1 Kings 7:40-51
• 11. 1 Kings 7:20
• 12. 1 Kings 7:27-43
• 13. 1 Kings 7:14; 2 Chronicles 2:13
• 14. 1 Kings 7:47
• 15. 2 Chronicles 4:8
• 16. Exodus 25:31-37; 2 Chronicles 5:7

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "a line of 30 cubits encircling it round about"
• [b]. Lit "in its casting"
• [c]. Lit "in which to"
• [d]. Lit "shoulder"