1 Kings 7:36

36 Everything and every available surface was engraved with cherubim, lions, and palm trees, bordered by arabesques.

1 Kings 7:36 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 7:36

For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders
thereof
In this, and the preceding verse, a different word is used, translated "ledges", from that in ( 1 Kings 7:28 1 Kings 7:29 ) , the Targum renders it axle trees; as if the axle trees of the wheels, and the borders, circumferences, and rings of them, were meant, in which were the following engravings: it literally signifies hands or handles; and Procopius Gazaeus says, that the bases had, in the upper part of them, forms of hands holding a circle like a crown:

he graved cherubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion
of everyone;
these figures were made as large as the plates of the ledges, and the borders, would allow room for:

and the addition round about;
which were sloping shelves of brass around the base, ( 1 Kings 7:29 ) these were ornamented in like manner.

1 Kings 7:36 In-Context

34 There was a handle at the four corners of each washstand, the handles cast in one piece with the stand.

35 At the top of the washstand there was a ring about nine inches deep. The uprights and handles were cast with the stand.

36 Everything and every available surface was engraved with cherubim, lions, and palm trees, bordered by arabesques.

37 The washstands were identical, all cast in the same mold.

38 He also made ten bronze washbasins, each six feet in diameter with a capacity of 230 gallons, one basin for each of the ten washstands.