1 Kings 7:40

40 Also Hiram made cauldrons, and pans, and wine vessels; and he made perfectly all the work of king Solomon in the temple of the Lord. (And Hiram made cauldrons, and pans, and basins; and so he finished all the work for King Solomon for the Temple of the Lord.)

1 Kings 7:40 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 7:40

And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basins,
&c.] The lavers are not the ten before mentioned, of the make of which an account is before given; but these, according to Jarchi and Ben Gersom, are the same with the pots, ( 1 Kings 7:45 ) and so they are called in ( 2 Chronicles 4:11 ) the use of which, as they say, was to put the ashes of the altar into; as the "shovels", next mentioned, were a sort of besoms to sweep them off, and the "basins" were to receive the blood of the sacrifices, and sprinkle it; no mention is here made of the altar of brass he made, but is in ( 2 Chronicles 4:11 ) , nor of the fleshhooks to take the flesh out of the pots, as in ( 2 Chronicles 4:16 ) ,

so Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made King Solomon
for the house of the Lord;
what he undertook, and was employed in, he finished, which were all works of brass; of which a recapitulation is made in the following verses to the end of the forty fifth, where they are said to be made of "bright brass", free of all dross and rust; "good", as the Targum, even the best brass they were made of; the brass David took from Hadarezer, ( 1 Chronicles 18:8 ) which Josephus F7 too much magnifies, when he says it was better than gold.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 3.

1 Kings 7:40 In-Context

38 Also he made ten washing vessels of brass; one washing vessel took, (or held,) forty baths, and it was of four cubits; and he put each washing vessel by itself by each foundament by itself, that is, ten (and he put one washing vessel by itself on one foundation by itself, that is, ten altogether).
39 And he made ten foundaments, five at the right half of the temple, and five at the left half; and he set the sea at the right half of the temple, against the east, at the south. (And he put ten foundations, five on the right side of the Temple, and five on the left side; and he put the Sea on the right side of the Temple, at the southeast corner.)
40 Also Hiram made cauldrons, and pans, and wine vessels; and he made perfectly all the work of king Solomon in the temple of the Lord. (And Hiram made cauldrons, and pans, and basins; and so he finished all the work for King Solomon for the Temple of the Lord.)
41 He made (the) two pillars, and (the) two cords of the pommels, that is, (the) circles compassing the pommels, at the manner of cords, upon the pommels of the pillars, and (the) two works like nets, that those should cover the two cords, that were upon the heads of the pillars. (He made the two pillars, and the two bowl-shaped capitals, that were on the tops of the pillars, and the two networks, to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals, that were on the tops of the pillars.)
42 And he made pomegranates four hundred in two works like nets; and two orders of pomegranates in each work like a net, to cover the cords of the pommels, that were on the heads of [the] pillars. (And he made four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; and there were two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the bowl-shaped capitals, that were on the tops of the pillars.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.