FIRM AND SECURE
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, yours is the name above every name. My heart’s desire, in everything I do, is to bring you glory.
Read 1 KINGS 7:13–51
The Temple’s Furnishings
13 King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram,[a] 14 whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was from Tyre and a skilled craftsman in bronze. Huram was filled with wisdom, with understanding and with knowledge to do all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him.
15 He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.[b] 16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits[c] high. 17 A network of interwoven chains adorned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. 18 He made pomegranates in two rows[d] encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars.[e] He did the same for each capital. 19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits[f] high. 20 On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. 21 He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin[g] and the one to the north Boaz.[h] 22 The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed.
23 He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits[i] to measure around it. 24 Below the rim, gourds encircled it—ten to a cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.
25 The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. 26 It was a handbreadth[j] in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.[k]
27 He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high.[l] 28 This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. 29 On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim—and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work. 30 Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. 31 On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit[m] deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half.[n] Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal.
34 Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. 35 At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit[o] deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand. 36 He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. 37 This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape.
38 He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths[p] and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. 39 He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple. 40 He also made the pots[q] and shovels and sprinkling bowls.
So Huram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of the Lord:
41 the two pillars;
the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars);
43 the ten stands with their ten basins;
44 the Sea and the twelve bulls under it;
45 the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls.
All these objects that Huram made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of burnished bronze. 46 The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all these things unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.
48 Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the Lord’s temple:
the golden altar;
the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence;
49 the lampstands of pure gold (five on the right and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary);
the gold floral work and lamps and tongs;
50 the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers;
and the gold sockets for the doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and also for the doors of the main hall of the temple.
51 When all the work King Solomon had done for the temple of the Lord was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 7:13 Hebrew Hiram, a variant of Huram; also in verses 40 and 45
- 1 Kings 7:15 That is, about 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference or about 8.1 meters high and 5.4 meters in circumference
- 1 Kings 7:16 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters; also in verse 23
- 1 Kings 7:18 Two Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts made the pillars, and there were two rows
- 1 Kings 7:18 Many Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts pomegranates
- 1 Kings 7:19 That is, about 6 feet or about 1.8 meters; also in verse 38
- 1 Kings 7:21 Jakin probably means he establishes.
- 1 Kings 7:21 Boaz probably means in him is strength.
- 1 Kings 7:23 That is, about 45 feet or about 14 meters
- 1 Kings 7:26 That is, about 3 inches or about 7.5 centimeters
- 1 Kings 7:26 That is, about 12,000 gallons or about 44,000 liters; the Septuagint does not have this sentence.
- 1 Kings 7:27 That is, about 6 feet long and wide and about 4 1/2 feet high or about 1.8 meters long and wide and 1.4 meters high
- 1 Kings 7:31 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
- 1 Kings 7:31 That is, about 2 1/4 feet or about 68 centimeters; also in verse 32
- 1 Kings 7:35 That is, about 9 inches or about 23 centimeters
- 1 Kings 7:38 That is, about 240 gallons or about 880 liters
- 1 Kings 7:40 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac and Vulgate (see also verse 45 and 2 Chron. 4:11); many other Hebrew manuscripts basins
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
‘The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.’1
Think Further
Adrian Plass once defined a ‘pillar of the church’ as ‘a big thick thing that obscures vision,’2 a quip that has always made me smile. Here, in the ongoing description of the temple, we are introduced to two large bronze pillars at its entrance, with the names Jakin and Boaz (v. 21). Jakin suggests firmness, and Boaz, strength, perhaps depicting the safety and stability of the kingdom and a prayer for the king. Another possibility is that these pillars convey the permanence and strength of Yahweh, the Ruler and King of all.
We then read of a ‘Sea of cast metal’ (v. 23). The sea may well have been used to store the copious amounts of water needed for cleansing rituals. Perhaps, though, the sea has a more figurative meaning. Within the ancient Near Eastern cultures, the sea was often something to be feared. It represented the wild, untamed forces of chaos. By depicting the sea within the temple, the craftspeople are illustrating that even the most powerful natural forces are subservient to the Lord’s rule. Even the sea is within his domain.
With the descriptions of fine vessels and pots made by Huram (v. 13; this seems to be a namesake of Hiram, the king we encountered in Chapter 5) and the golden objects, probably made by one of the Israelite craftsmen, we have an increasing sense of the finery and beauty of these objects as we get closer into the holiest places of the temple: a reminder again that these physical objects represent the preciousness and the majesty of God, keeping the people from getting too comfortable with the God of holiness and purity.
Apply
Think about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy,3 and consider how these qualities are perfected in God.
Closing prayer
Whatever you have for me to do today, Jesus, help me to do it joyfully and in ways that honor you.
1 Ps 93:1 2 Adrian Plass, Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation, Authentic Media, 2007 3 See Phil 4:8
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