1 Kings 7:24

24 Gourds [were] under its rim surrounding it all around; ten to the cubit, surrounding the sea all around with two rows of gourds, [which] were cast when he cast the metal.

1 Kings 7:24 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 7:24

And under the brim of it round about there were knops
compassing it
Of an oval form, and therefore the Targum calls them figures of eggs; in ( 2 Chronicles 4:3 ) they are said to have the similitude of oxen, being like the heads of oxen, and the other parts oval; or these were in the form of gourds, as sometimes the word is rendered, ( 2 Kings 4:39 ) which had on them the figures of the heads of oxen, and might serve as cocks to let out the water:

ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about it;
and as the circumference was thirty cubits, there must be three hundred of these in the circuit:

the knops were cast in two rows when it was cast;
for these were cast together with the sea, and being in two rows, there must be in all six hundred of them.

1 Kings 7:24 In-Context

22 On the top of the pillars [was] a work of lilies; and so the work of the pillars [was] finished.

23 He also made the molten sea, ten cubits {in diameter}, and five cubits [was] its height. A measuring line of thirty cubits would encircle it all around.

24 Gourds [were] under its rim surrounding it all around; ten to the cubit, surrounding the sea all around with two rows of gourds, [which] were cast when he cast the metal.

25 [The sea] was standing on twelve oxen, with three facing to the north, three facing to the west, three facing to the south, and three facing to the east. The sea [was] on top of them, with all of their hindquarters [turned] to the inside.

26 Its thickness [was] a handbreadth, but its rim [was] as the work on the brim of a cup, [like the] bud of a lily; it held two thousand baths.