UNROLL
At dawn, the top of one great bronze pillar of the temple porch catches the first sun: a lily-shaped capital wrapped in bronze lattice and chains and ringed with pomegranates, with Jerusalem’s roofs in haze far below.

The Book of

1 Kings 7

Thirteen years on a palace. Then a widow’s son from Tyre pours bronze for the house of the LORD.

51 verses≈ 9 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–2Solomon's throneThe kingdom made secure
  2. 3–4WisdomA discerning heart
  3. 5–8The templeA house for the LORD's NameChapter 7
  4. 9–11Glory and fallSolomon's heart turns
  5. 12–16Two kingdomsThe kingdom torn
  6. 17–19ElijahThe LORD, He is God
  7. 20–22AhabNaboth and Micaiah

Solomon’s Palace Complex

Solomon, however, took thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace.

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All these buildings were constructed with costly stones, cut to size and trimmed with saws inside and out from the foundation to the eaves, and from the outside to the great courtyard. The foundations were laid with large, costly stones, some ten cubits long and some eight cubits long. Above these were costly stones, cut to size, and cedar beams.

The great courtyard was surrounded by three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams, as were the inner courtyard and portico of the house of the LORD.

Reflect

Seven years and thirteen

Solomon gave seven years to the LORD’s house and “thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace.” The text does not say whether that was wrong, and there may have been good reasons for it. But our calendars do show what we value. Look back over your last week: where did your time and strength go? Write down what it says, and one thing you would change.

The Pillars and Capitals

Now King Solomon sent to bring Huram from Tyre. He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a craftsman in bronze. Huram had great skill, understanding, and knowledge for every kind of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.

Seen from far across the temple court at dawn, the pale limestone house with its porch, and before the porch on either side the two great bronze pillars with lily capitals, glowing warm gold-brown.

He cast two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference. He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars, each capital five cubits high. For the capitals on top of the pillars he made a network of lattice, with wreaths of chainwork, seven for each capital.

Likewise, he made the pillars with two rows of pomegranates around each grating to cover each capital atop the pillars. And the capitals atop the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, four cubits high. On the capitals of both pillars, just above the rounded projection next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital.

0:43

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Thus he set up the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jachin, and the pillar to the north he named Boaz. And the tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work of the pillars was completed.

The pillar to the south he named Jachin, and the pillar to the north he named Boaz.

1 Kings 7:21

The Molten Sea

He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference. Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.

In the temple court in morning light, the Sea, a huge round bronze basin with a lily-blossom rim, full of still water, rests on twelve bronze oxen in four groups of three facing outward; a priest stands small beside it.

The Sea stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The Sea rested on them, with all their hindquarters toward the center. It was a handbreadth thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold two thousand baths.

The Ten Bronze Stands

One of the ten bronze stands in the temple court: a square wheeled bronze cart with panels cast with lions, oxen and winged cherubim, a wide basin of water on top, and four more stands in a row behind it.

How they were made

The ten stands

  1. Size

    Four by four by three cubits

    In addition, he made ten movable stands of bronze, each four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.

  2. The panels

    Panels with lions, oxen, cherubim

    This was the design of the stands: They had side panels attached to uprights, and on the panels between the uprights were lions, oxen, and cherubim.

  3. Wreaths below the lions and oxen

    On the uprights was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of beveled work.

  4. Wheels

    Four wheels; a basin on supports

    Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles and a basin resting on four supports, with wreaths at each side.

  5. The top

    A round opening a cubit deep

    The opening to each stand inside the crown at the top was one cubit deep, with a round opening like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half wide.

  6. Engraved; square side panels

    And around its opening were engravings, but the panels of the stands were square, not round.

  7. Wheels

    Wheels a cubit and a half across

    There were four wheels under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand; each wheel was a cubit and a half in diameter.

  8. Cast like chariot wheels

    The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.

  9. The frame

    A handle at each corner

    Each stand had four handles, one for each corner, projecting from the stand.

  10. A round band on top

    At the top of each stand was a circular band half a cubit high.

  11. Cast as one piece

    The supports and panels were cast as a unit with the top of the stand.

  12. Ornament

    All ten alike, engraved all over

    He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and panels, wherever each had space, with wreaths all around. In this way he made the ten stands, each with the same casting, dimensions, and shape.

The Ten Bronze Basins

He also made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin for each of the ten stands.

He set five stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north, and he put the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple.

Inner court · size not givenNEastThe houseBronze altarThe SeaStandsStandsThe house, enlarged · 60 × 20 cubitsBoazJachinArkCherubimLampstandsSide roomsMost Holy PlaceHoly PlacePortico

Plan to scale in cubits · north at the top

Where it stood

Bronze in the court

Jachin and Boaz stood at the porch, Jachin to the south and Boaz to the north. Five stands with their basins stood on the south side of the house and five on the north. The Sea stood at the southeast corner.

Question

Quick question

The Sea was a great basin of cast bronze in the temple court.

How many bronze oxen held up the Sea?

Completion of the Bronze Works

What Huram made

The bronze work

  1. Altar tools

    Pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls

    Additionally, Huram made the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls.

  2. The whole list

    All the work for the LORD’s house

    So Huram finished all the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon in the house of the LORD:

  3. The porch

    Two pillars, capitals and networks

    the two pillars;

    the two bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars;

    the two sets of network covering both bowls of the capitals atop the pillars;

  4. Four hundred pomegranates

    the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network covering both the bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars);

  5. The court

    Ten stands and ten basins

    the ten stands;

    the ten basins on the stands;

  6. The Sea on twelve oxen

    the Sea;

    the twelve oxen underneath the Sea;

  7. Altar tools

    Pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls

    and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls.

  8. The finish

    All of burnished bronze

    All the articles that Huram made for King Solomon in the house of the LORD were made of burnished bronze.

On the flat clay plain of the Jordan valley, workmen in leather aprons pour glowing bronze from clay crucibles into great clay molds set in pits, while a grizzled master bronzeworker directs.

The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan. Solomon left all these articles unweighed, because there were so many. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Completion of the Gold Furnishings

The temple’s main hall seen down its length: gold-covered walls carved with palms and flowers, five tall gold lampstands burning along each side, the small golden altar and a gold table before the closed gold doors.

What Solomon made

The gold furnishings

  1. Holy Place

    Golden altar; table for the bread

    Solomon also made all the furnishings for the house of the LORD:

    the golden altar;

    the golden table on which was placed the Bread of the Presence;

  2. Ten lampstands, five on each side

    the lampstands of pure gold in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right side and five on the left;

    the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs;

  3. Vessels and doors

    Basins, censers and gold hinges

    the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and censers;

    and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the Most Holy Place) as well as for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

So all the work that King Solomon had performed for the house of the LORD was completed.

1 Kings 7:51

Then Solomon brought in the items his father David had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.

Pray

Every kind of work

God gave Huram “great skill, understanding, and knowledge for every kind of bronze work,” and he used it for the house of the LORD until it was finished. Thank God for the gifts and skills He has given you. Lord, let me give You my best work, not my leftovers. Help me finish faithfully what You set before me, as “all the work that King Solomon had performed for the house of the LORD was completed.” Amen.

You’ve experienced

1 Kings 7

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A verse to carry with you

The pillar to the south he named Jachin, and the pillar to the north he named Boaz.

1 Kings 7:21

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