Hiram's Work

for the Temple.

there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, 'compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast. (25) It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and

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(20) Over against (or rather, close to) the belly which was by the network. The "belly" here (like the "bowls" or globes of the chapiters in verses 41, 42) seems to signify the rounded form of the capital, where it comes down to join the shaft. At this junction the bands of pomegranate ornament ran round the shaft. In this verse it is obvious that there is an omission in the text. It should be, were two hundred in rows round about the one chapiter, and two hundred in rows round about the other chapiter." Hence the "four hundred" of verse 42 and 2 Chron. iv. 13. (23-26) A molten sea-a gigantic laver for the ablution of the priests-corresponding to the laver of brass in the Tabernacle (Exod. xxx. 18-21, xxxviii. 8). It had a diameter of 15 feet, and a height of 7 feet; but as it held 2,000 baths, that is, 17,000 gallons (or, as in 2 Chron. iv. 3, 3,000 baths, that is, 25,500 gallons), it is clear that it could not have been a hemisphere, but must have bulged out in section. There must, however, have been first a bulging inwards, immediately under the rim: for the right translation of verse 26 declares that the rim was in "the form of a lily flower," that is, curving outwards. Under the rim ran a double row of "gourd ornaments," like those carved in the cedar-panelling of the Temple. The sea stood on twelve oxen, corresponding perhaps to the twelve tribes of Israel-the ox being possibly the same emblem which was used in the form of the cherubim-till it was taken down and placed on the pavement by Ahaz (2 Kings xvi. 17), and, like the great pillars, was broken up at last by the Chaldeans for the sake of the brass (2 Kings xxv. 13).

sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. (26) And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

(27) And he made ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it. (28) And the work of the bases was on this manner: they had borders, and the borders were between the ledges: (29) and on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims: and upon the ledges there was a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work. (30) And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass and the four corners thereof had undersetters: under the laver were undersetters molten, at the side of

(27-29) The smaller lavers of brass for washing the sacrifices, and the movable bases on which they rested, are described still more elaborately. Some of the details of the description are obscure, and it is clear that our translators were very much at fault about them. Generally, however, it appears that each base was a kind of hollow chest, 6 feet square on plan, and 4 feet high, having at the angles pilasters or fillets ("ledges in verse 28), with panels on each side ("borders" in verse 28), ornamented with "lions, oxen, and cherubims," below which hung festoons of thin metal-work-(" certain additions made of thin work," in verse 29). Each base was set on four brazen wheels with brazen axles ("plates" in verse 30) only 27 inches high, and with naves, felloes, and spokes, all cast in brass. On each base was a convex circular stand (verse 35), with a mouth," or circular opening (apparently the chapiter" of verse 31), upon which, or over which, the laver stood. This was nine inches high, ornamented with carvings of "cherubims, lions, and palm-trees." From the four corners of the upper surface of the base sprang "undersetters," apparently brackets helping to support the laver, which rested above the "mouth" of the convex stand, and to keep it fast in its place (verses 30, 34). The laver was 6 feet in diameter, and held 40 baths, or about 360 gallons. The whole stood high, no doubt to bring it nearly on a level with the brazen altar, which was 15 feet high. In form, perhaps, each laver was a smaller copy of the molten sea. Of the whole a conjectural description and sketch are given in the Dictionary of the Bible, art. LAVERS.

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Hiram's Work

for the Temple.

So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD: (1) the two pillars, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars; and the two networks, to cover

were all molten. (34) And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base: and the undersetters were of the

very base itself. (35) And in the top of

were upon the top of the pillars; (42) and four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, even two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were *upon the pillars; (43) and the ten bases, and ten lavers on the bases; (4) and one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea; (45) and the pots, and the shovels, and

rubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion of every one, and additions round about. (37) After this manner he made the ten bases: all of

Hiram made to king Solomon for the house of the LORD, were of bright brass. (46) In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between

and one size.

(31) And the mouth. This is most obscure, and in our version unintelligible. Keil renders it: "And the mouth of it (the laver) was within the chapiter, and in a cubit above it; and the mouth of it (the chapiter) was round, after the manner of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and upon the mouth was carved work, and the panels of it (the mouth) were square, not round." But the rendering of the word "mouth," now for the laver, now for the chapiter, is arbitrary, and the whole is still obscure. As the circular stand (or chapiter) was half a cubit deep, it looks as if the lower surface of the laver was a cubit above the "mouth." If the laver were emptied by cock near the bottom, this circular stand may have received the drippings. And as the top of this base would be square on plan, and the stand circular, there would be, of course, spaces left at each corner, which may possibly be the engraved " panels" referred to.

(39) The sea.-This was placed on the south-eastern side of the Temple, on one side of the great altar; the ten smaller lavers were ranged five on each side.

(40) The lavers.-These should be (as in verse 45) "pots." The verse describes the completion of Hiram's work by the making of the smaller vessels.

It is curious that no mention is made of the construction of the brasen altar. It has been supposed by some that the old altar reared by David (2 Sam.

left all the vessels unweighed, because they were exceeding many: neither was the weight of the brass found out.

(48) And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the

xxiv. 25) was retained. But in 2 Chron. iv. 1, and in Josephus's account, it is expressly said that a brasen altar was made by Hiram, 30 feet square and 15 feet high. Probably, therefore, the absence of all mention of it here is simply an omission in the record.

(46) In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them.-The casting was done in the Jordan valley. Succoth is on the east side of Jordan, in the territory of Gad (see Gen. xxxiii. 17; Josh. xiii. 27; Judges viii. 5)-the place of the halt of Jacob on his way from Padan-aram, and of the insult offered to Gideon and his revenge. Zarthan, or Zaretan (Josh. iii. 16), is on the western side, in the territory of Manasseh, not far from Bethshan, and nearly opposite Succoth.

(47) Solomon left all the vessels unweighed. -The brass for these vessels had (1 Chron. xviii. 8) been taken by David from Tibhath and Chun, cities of the territory of Zobah, and laid up with other stores for the purpose of the Temple. How these cities were so rich in brass we are not told; but there are very ancient copper-mines, once worked by the Egyptians, in the Sinaitic peninsula; and the allusions to mining of various kinds in Job xxviii. 1-11 (perhaps belonging to the time of Solomon) are very striking.

(48) The altar of gold.—The altar of gold (chap. vi. 20, 22) is the altar of incense. On it (see Exod. xxx. 1-10) incense was to be burnt morning and

LORD.

Assembly of the Elders.

a

of David.

evening. The horns of the altar were to be touched with the blood of the sin offering (Lev. iv. 7, 18) offered for the priests or the people; and it was to be solemnly purified by the blood of the sacrifice on the great Day of Atonement (Lev. xvi. 18, 19). The offering of incense, therefore, pre-supposed sacrifice already offered, and atonement made for sin. To the Israelites it clearly symbolised the offering of an acceptable wor ship by man, as restored to the love and communion of God. (See Ps. cxli. 2.) The priest, as a mediator between God and man, alone entered the Holy Place and offered the incense; the people "stood praying without " (Luke i. 10). To us it symbolises the intercession of the One Mediator, offered for us in the Most Holy Place of heaven, by whom alone our worship ascends to God. (See Heb. ix. 11, 12, 24, x. 19—22; Rev. viii. 3.)

For the table of shewbread, see Exod. xxv. 23-28, xxxvii. 10-15; for the shewbread itself, see Lev. xxiv. 5-9. The shewbread "-properly "bread of the face" (or presence) of God, translated in the LXX. Version as "bread of offering" or "of presentation "— was clearly of the nature of an Eucharistic offering to God of His own gift of bread-a kind of first-fruits, acknowledging that the whole sustenance of life comes from Him, and possibly also implying the truth more closely symbolised by the pot of manna, that "man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word proceeding out of the mouth of God."

(49) The candlesticks of pure gold.-Whether these ten candlesticks were to supersede the one sevenlighted candlestick made for the Tabernacle (Exod. xxv. 31-40, xxxvii. 17-26), or were to be used in addition to it, we are not told. The latter supposition is, however, far more probable, both because it seems most unlikely that the old sacred candlestick should have been disused, and because in the second Temple only the one seven-lighted candlestick was provided, and (as the sculpture on the Arch of Titus shows) was carried in the Roman triumph after the destruction of the city. (In 2 Chron. iv. 8, 19, there is a mention of ten tables for shewbread, similarly ranged on each side of the Holy Place, probably in the same way, additional to the one proper table.) Josephus, in his rhetorical exaggeration, declares that Solomon made ten thousand candlesticks and ten thousand tables; but he distinguishes the one proper candlestick and table from the rest. The candlestick is elaborately described in the history of the construction of the Tabernacle, as of great costliness of material and workmanship. Placed in the Holy Place, opposite to the table of shewbread, and fed carefully with the sacred oil, it appears to have

and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD.

CHAPTER VIII. (1) Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the

symbolised the gift of light to the world, as the shewbread the gift of life and sustenance, flowing from the presence of God.

The flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs are the parts of the candlestick (mentioned in Exod. xxv. 31, 37, 38); the "flowers" being the ornaments of the stem and branches, the "lamps" being the seven lights, and the "tongs" being used for trimming.

(50) The various articles here mentioned are also enumerated in the description of the furniture of the Tabernacle, Exod. xxv. 29-38.

The snuffers.-The word is derived from a root signifying "to prune," and is used for "pruning knives' in Isa. ii. 4 and Micah iv. 3. Some accordingly render it here by "knives," but the common rendering "snuffers" suits the derivation well enough.

The spoons.-The name signifies simply something hollow; and in Num. vii. 86 the spoons are said to have been "full of incense," and to have "weighed ten shekels apiece." The right meaning is probably "incense pans.'

The censers. This rendering is clearly erroneous. It should be "snuff-dishes," or "ash-pans," as in Exod. xxv. 38.

(51) The things which David his father had dedicated.-For the account of the dedication of various treasures, by David and by the princes of Israel, for the House of the Lord, see 1 Chron. xviii. 8, 10, 11, xxii. 3-5, 14-16, xxviii. 14-18, xxix. 2-5. The accumulation was enormous. It had evidently been the work of years to gather it out of the spoils of many victories, offered in that spirit of thankful devotion which is expressed in David's own words: "Both riches and honour come of thee . . . and of thine own have we given unto thee" (1 Chron. xxix. 12, 14). The words used in the text seem to indicate that besides the vessels of gold, silver, and brass, gold and silver, in money or in ingots, were brought into the sacred treasury.

VIII.

The exceedingly minute and graphic character of the narrative of the consecration of the Temple, the almost exact verbal coincidence with it of the account given in the Second Book of Chronicles, and the occurrence in verse 8 of the phrase, "There they are unto this day," which could not have belonged to the time of the composition of the book-all show that the compiler must have drawn from some contemporary record, probably some official document preserved in the Temple archives. The beauty and spiritual significance of this chapter-which from time immemorial has been made to yield teaching

and encouragement for the consecration of Christian churches-stand in remarkable contrast with the mere technical detail of the preceding; yet each, in its own way, bears equally strong marks of historical accuracy. Throughout the whole history, the sole majesty of the king is conspicuous. The priests perform only the ministerial functions of ritual and sacrifice. The prophetic order is absolutely unrepresented in the narrative. Solomon, and he alone, stands forth, both as the representative of the people before God in sacrifice and prayer, and as the representative of God in blessing and exhortation of the people. He is for the time king, priest, and prophet, in one-in this a type of the true Son of David," the true "Prince of Peace." It is not unlikely that from this unequalled concentration on his head of temporal and spiritual dignity came the temptation to self-idolatry, through which he fell; and that the comparative abeyance of the counterbalancing influences wielded by the prophet and (in less degree) by the priest gave occasion to the oppressive, though splendid, despotism under which Israel groaned in his later days.

(1) The elders.-If in this description-found also in 2 Chron. v. 2, and taken, no doubt, from the original document-"the elders of Israel," are to be distinguished from the "heads of the tribes," and not (as in the LXX.) identified with them, the former expression probably refers to the chiefs of official rank, such as the princes and the counsellors of the king, and the latter to the feudal chiefs of the great families of the various tribes. These alone were specially summoned; but as the Dedication festival (being deferred for nearly a year after the completion of the Temple) was blended with the Feast of Tabernacles," all the men of Israel" naturally "assembled at Jerusalem" without special

summons.

(2) The month Ethanim (called after the Captivity Tisri), corresponded with the end of September and beginning of October. The name is supposed (by Thenius) to be properly, as in the LXX., Athanim, and to signify the "month of gifts," so called as bringing with it the gathering in of the vintage, and of the last of the crops. According to the Chaldee Targum, it was in old times the beginning of the civil, as Abib of the ecclesiastical year. The feast in this month was the Feast of Tabernacles-of all feasts of the year the most joyful-marking the gathering in of all the fruits of the land, commemorating the dwelling in tabernacles in the wilderness, and thanking God for settlement and blessing in the land (Lev. xxiii. 33-44). It was, perhaps, the time when the Israelites could best be absent from their lands for a prolonged festival; but there was also a peculiar appropriateness in thus giving it a higher consecration, by celebrating on it the transference

of the Temple.

even those did the priests and the Levites bring up. (5) And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. (6) And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims.

of the ark from the movable tabernacle to a fixed and splendid habitation. In this instance the festival was doubled in duration, from seven to fourteen days. (See verse 65.)

(3) The priests took up the ark. To bear the ark on its journeys was properly the duty of the Levites of the family of Kohath (Num. iii. 31; iv. 5); but to bring it out of the Holy of Holies (or, as here, from whatever corresponded thereto in the tent erected for the ark on Mount Zion), and to replace it therein, was the work of the priests alone. Hence in this passage, with literal accuracy, it is said, first, that "the priests took up the ark;" then (verse 4) that the priests and Levites brought up the ark and the holy things; and, lastly (verse 6), that "the priests brought in the ark into the oracle." Josephus, indeed, declares that, as was natural on this occasion of special solemnity-just as at the passage of the Jordan, and the circuit round the walls of Jericho (Josh, iii, 6—17, vi. 6)—the priests themselves bore the ark, while the Levites bore only the vessels and furniture of the Tabernacle.

(4) The tabernacle of the congregation (see 1 Chron. xvi. 39, 40; 2 Chron. i. 3) was still at Gibeon; and the priests and Levites had hitherto been divided between it and the lesser tabernacle over the ark on Mount Zion. Probably each section of the priests and Levites now brought up in solemn procession the sacred things entrusted to them. According to the order of the Mosaic law (Num. iii. 25-37), the Kohathites had charge on the march of the ark and the vessels, the Gershonites of the Tabernacle and its hangings, and the Merarites of the boards and pillars of the Tabernacle and the outer court. This order, no doubt, was followed, as far as possible, on this its last journey. What became of the Tabernacle and its furniture (so far as this was disused), we are not told; but all was probably deposited, as a sacred relic of antiquity, somewhere in the precincts of the Temple. This seems to be implied in the famous Jewish tradition (see 2 Macc. ii. 4-6), that Jeremiah was enabled to hide by miracle" the Tabernacle and the ark and the altar of incense" on the destruction of the Temple.

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(5) Sacrificing. — This inaugural sacrifice corresponded on a grand scale to the ceremonial of the day, when David brought up the ark to Zion. When they that bare the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings," seven bullocks and seven rams" (2 Sam. vi. 13; 1 Chr. xv. 26). It was offered "before the ark," either as it left Mount Zion, or on arrival in the Temple, before it passed out of sight into the oracle.

(6-8) And the priests brought in the ark.It is clear from this description that the ark was placed lengthways between the cherubim, so that the staves by which it was borne, when drawn out (though

still partly attached to the ark) were seen-probably by projections visible through the veil-in the Holy Place; although, as the narrative remarks with characteristic minuteness of accuracy," not without" from the porch. The reason why this detail is dwelt upon is obvious. Up to this time it had been forbidden to withdraw the staves (Exod. xxv. 13-15), so that the ark might always be ready for transference; now the withdrawal marked the entrance on a new period, during which it was to rest unmoved.

There they are unto this day. This phrase -not unfrequently repeated in the narrative (see ix. 21, x. 12, xii. 19, &c.)—is an interesting indication of quotation from older documents; for at the time of the compilation of the book the Temple and all that it contained had been destroyed or removed. It is remarkable that in the record of the successive spoilings of the Temple by the Chaldæans (2 Kings xxiv. 13, xxv. 13-17), while the various vessels, the brazen pillars, and the sea are mentioned in detail, nothing is said of their carrying away the ark, which would have been the choicest, as most sacred, of all the spoils. (See Notes on these passages.)_About the Jewish tradition, referred to above (see Note on verse 4), setting aside the supposed miracle, there is no intrinsic improbability, considering the respect paid to Jeremiah by the Chaldæans. (See Jer. xxxix. 11—14.)

(9) There was nothing. The emphasis of this (repeated in 2 Chron. v. 10) is remarkable, and seems intended to make it clear that the various things laid up "before the testimony "-the pot of manna (Exod. xvi. 33, 34), the rod of Aaron (Num. xvii. 10), the copy of the Law (Deut. xxxi. 24-26)—were not in the ark, but (as in the last case is actually stated), at "the side of the ark." Unless any change afterwards took place—which is highly improbable-this clear statement must determine the interpretation of the well-known passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews (chap. ix. 4), in which no stress need be laid on the literal accuracy of the word "wherein; for its purpose is simply a general description of the Temple, its chief parts, and its most sacred furniture. The command to deposit the tables in the ark is recorded in Exod. xxv. 16, and the actual deposit of them there in Exod. xl. 20, immediately after the erection of the Tabernacle.

There is something singularly impressive in the especial hallowing of the granite tables of the Law of Righteousness, as the most sacred of all the revelations of the Nature of God; thus indissolubly binding together religion and morality, and showing that God is best known to man, not in His omnipotence, or even in His infinite wisdom, which man can only in slight degree imitate, but in His moral nature, as the very Truth and Righteousness, of which all that in man is called true and righteous is but the reflection. The

of the Ark.

the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

(10) And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud 'filled the house of the LORD, (11) so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud : for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.

(12) Then spake Solomon, The LORD

one main object of all prophetic teaching was to bring out the truth here implied, thus writing the law on the heart and on the mind (Jer. xxxi. 33), and rebuking moral evil at least as strongly as religious error and apostasy. The very name of the Messiah for whom they prepared is "Jehovah our righteousness" (Jer. xxiii. 6). (10) The cloud. The bright Shechinah of the Divine Presence, at once cloud and fire-which had been the sign of the presence of God on Sinai (Exod. xxiv. 15-18), and had hallowed the consecration of the Tabernacle (Exod. xl. 34, 35)—now similarly descended on the Temple, as a sign of its acceptance with God. In the visions of Ezekiel the same glory is seen, first filling the house of the Lord, and then departing from it, as polluted by manifold idolatry (Ezek. x. 4, 18). Its return to the restored Temple is solemnly promised by Haggai (chap. ii. 7, 9) in distinct reference to the coming of the Messiah; and it is declared that it shall be even greater than in the magnificence of Solomon's Temple. The symbol clearly implies a revelation of Divine glory, as it is seen, not in the unveiled brightness of heaven, but in the glorious cloud of mystery; through which it must always be seen on earth, and which, indeed, is all that the eye of man can bear to contemplate. Out of that glory comes the only revelation which can be distinct to man-the voice or the word of the Lord (Deut. iv. 12).

The record of the Chronicles (2 Chron. v. 11-13)— dwelling, as usual, on the musical and ritual service of the Levites-notes here that this descent of the glory of the Lord came, as it were, in answer to a solemn burst of worship from the Levites and the people, " praising the Lord, because He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever."

(11) The priests could not stand to minister. -So in Exod. xl. 35, "Moses was not able to enter into the Tabernacle; for the cloud rested thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.” They shrank from the glory of the Lord, whom none could see and live; just as Isaiah (vi. 5) felt " undone" when he beheld the glory of the Lord in the Temple; and as even the Apostles trembled, when they entered into the bright cloud which overshadowed them" on the Mount of Transfiguration, and "knew not what they said" (Luke ix. 33, 34). But it was not so much from terror of the Lord, who is " a consuming fire," as simply from awe and reverence of His unspeakable glory.

(12) The Lord said . . .-The words of Solomon, though-as is natural in a moment of mingled awe and thankfulness-somewhat broken and abrupt, are clear enough in their general meaning and connection. He refers to the frequent declarations made in old time that the cloud is the symbol of God's indwelling presence (such as Exod. xix. 9, and Lev. xvi. 2);