2 Chronicles 4 · WEB

The Temple Furnishings

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He made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.

²Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, and it was round, five cubits in height; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.

³Under it was the likeness of oxen, which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

⁴It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hinder parts were inward.

⁵It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held three thousand baths.

⁶He also made ten basins, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them; such things as belonged to the burnt offering they washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

⁷He made the ten golden lampstands according to the ordinance concerning them; and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand and five on the left.

⁸He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. He made one hundred basins of gold.

⁹Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid its doors with bronze.

¹⁰He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south.

¹¹Huram-abi made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Huram-abi finished doing the work that he did for king Solomon in God's house:

¹²the two pillars, and the bowls, and the two capitals which were on the top of the pillars; and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars;

¹³and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars.

¹⁴He also made the bases, and the basins he made on the bases;

¹⁵the one sea, and the twelve oxen under it;

¹⁶the pots also, and the shovels, and the forks, and all the vessels of Huram-abi made for king Solomon for Yahweh's house, of burnished bronze.

¹⁷The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

¹⁸Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance; for the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

¹⁹Solomon made all the vessels that were in God's house: the golden altar also, and the tables with the show bread on them;

²⁰and the lampstands with their lamps, to burn according to the ordinance before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold;

²¹and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold, and that perfect gold;

²²and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the entry of the house, the inner doors of it for the most holy place, and the doors of the main hall of the temple, of gold.

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Summary

This chapter catalogs the magnificent bronze and gold furnishings Huram-abi crafted for the temple: a massive bronze altar (20 x 20 x 10 cubits), the huge "molten sea" (a 10-cubit diameter bronze basin holding 3,000 baths, resting on twelve bronze oxen), ten bronze basins for washing, ten golden lampstands, ten tables, and all the smaller gold vessels for priestly service. The scale of the bronze work was so massive it was cast in the Jordan River valley using clay molds. The weight of the bronze was literally incalculable.

Themes

Excellence in craftsmanship as an act of worship
The abundance of God's provision for his dwelling place
Ritual purity and access to God's presence

Key verses

2 Chr 4:18 — “Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance; for the weight of the bronze could not be determined.”
2 Chr 4:2,4 — “He made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim... It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward each direction.”

Context & background

The "molten sea" (v. 2-5) was a massive ceremonial basin — roughly 4.5 meters in diameter and 2.25 meters deep — used by the priests for ritual washing. The twelve oxen supporting it (three facing each direction of the compass) likely symbolized the twelve tribes of Israel supporting the worship of God. The Jordan Valley near Succoth and Zeredah (modern Jordan Valley, near the modern Jordan-Israel border region) provided ideal conditions — flat land and abundant clay — for casting enormous bronze objects. The ten basins were for washing the burnt offering pieces; only the priests washed in the great sea. The golden furnishings (lampstands, tables for showbread, incense altar) had direct parallels in the original tabernacle of Moses.

Cross-references

1 Kings 7:23-51 — More detailed parallel account of the temple furnishings
Exodus 30:17-21 — The bronze laver for priestly washing; the sea is its temple-scale equivalent
Hebrews 10:22 — "Having our hearts sprinkled clean... and having our bodies washed with pure water" — cleansing theme
Leviticus 1:1-9 — The burnt offering washing procedures that required these basins
Revelation 4:6 — "Before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal" — heavenly echo of the bronze sea

The Temple Furnishings

Summary

Themes

Key verses

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Cross-references

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