1 Kings 7:25

25 and (it) stood upon twelve oxen; of which oxen three beheld to the north, and three to the west, and three to the south, and three to the east; and the sea was above upon those oxen, of which all the hinder things were hid within.

1 Kings 7:25 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 7:25

It stood upon twelve oxen
Figures of them in brass, of full proportion:

three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and
three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east;
and so turned to the four quarters of the world:

and the sea was set above upon them;
as it were on the backs of them, and their mouths served as spouts or cocks, to let water out of it on all sides:

and all their hinder parts were inward;
that they might not be seen, and which met in a centre; they that were north came against those that were south, and they in the east met with those to the west. The brass of the sea, according to Jacob Leon ^F18, weighed 1,800 arobas, and, with twelve oxen under, 33,500; each aroba being twenty five pounds weight.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Relation of Memorable Things in the Temple, ch. 4. p. 21.

1 Kings 7:25 In-Context

23 Also he made a molten sea, that is, a washing vessel for priests, round in compass, of ten cubits from brink to brink; the highness thereof was of five cubits; and a cord of thirty cubits went about it by compass. (And he cast the bronze Sea, that is, a washing vessel for the priests, and it was ten cubits across from brim to brim; its highness was five cubits; and it took a cord thirty cubits long to go all around it.)

24 And the engraving under the brink compassed it, and compassed the sea by ten cubits/and it came about the sea by ten cubits; twain orders of gravings containing some stories were molten (two rows of knops, or of gourds, were cast together, and joined with the Sea),

25 and (it) stood upon twelve oxen; of which oxen three beheld to the north, and three to the west, and three to the south, and three to the east; and the sea was above upon those oxen, of which all the hinder things were hid within.

26 And the thickness of the sea was of four fingers, or a palm, and the brink thereof was as the brink of a cup (and its brim was like the brim of a cup), and as the leaf of a lily crooked again; the sea contained two thousand baths, that is, three thousand metretes.

27 And he made ten brazen foundaments, each foundament of four cubits of length, and of four cubits of breadth, and of three cubits of highness.