2 Chronicles 4

1 Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.
2 He also made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, entirely round and five cubits high; and a line of thirty cubits girded it round about.
3 And under it were figures of oxen, which did compass it round about, ten in each cubit, compassing the sea round about. Two orders of oxen were cast, when it was cast.
4 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north and three looking toward the west and three looking toward the Negev and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.
5 And the thickness of it was a handbreadth and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies, and it received and held three thousand baths.
6 He also made ten lavers and put five on the right hand and five on the left, to wash in them; they cleansed the work of the burnt offering in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.
7 And he made ten lampstands of gold according to their form, and set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left.
8 He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left. And he made one hundred basins of gold.
9 Furthermore, he made the court of the priests and the great court and doors for the court and overlaid the doors of them with brass.
10 And he set the sea on the right side towards the east, over against the Negev.
11 And Hiram made the pots and the shovels and the basins. And Hiram finished the work, that he had been making for King Solomon for the house of God,
12 Two pillars and the pommels and the chapiters, which were on the top of the two pillars, and the two networks to cover the two pommels of the chapiters which were on the top of the pillars;
13 four hundred pomegranates on the two networks; two orders of pomegranates on each network, to cover the two pommels of the chapiters which were upon the pillars.
14 He also made the bases upon which he placed the lavers;
15 one sea, and twelve oxen under it;
16 and the pots and the shovels and the fleshhooks and all their vessels, did Hiram, his father, make to King Solomon for the house of the LORD of the purest brass.
17 In the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in clay of the ground, between Succoth and Zeredathah.
18 Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance, for the weight of the brass could not be found out.
19 And Solomon made all the vessels that were for the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables upon which the showbread was set;
20 likewise, the lampstands with their lamps, that they should burn according to the ordinance before the oracle, of pure gold;
21 and the flowers and the lamps and the tongs, he made of gold, of perfect gold;
22 also the snuffers and the basins and the spoons and the censers, of pure gold. Regarding the entry of the house, its inner doors for the most holy place and the doors of the house of the temple, were 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.

2 Chronicles 4 Commentaries

The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010