UNROLL
First light in the temple court: new polished bronze pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls and meat forks set out in neat rows on the stone pavement beside the base of the great bronze altar, the long plain temple softly behind.

The Book of

2 Chronicles 4

An altar thirty feet square, a Sea on twelve oxen, ten lampstands, ten tables, and bronze too heavy to weigh.

22 verses≈ 4 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1SolomonWisdom asked at Gibeon
  2. 2–5The templeBuilt on Mount MoriahChapter 4
  3. 6–7DedicationIf My people humble themselves
  4. 8–9Solomon's gloryThe queen of Sheba
  5. 10–16DivisionRehoboam to Asa
  6. 17–20JehoshaphatThe battle is God's
  7. 21–24Dark yearsJehoram to Joash
  8. 25–28Proud kingsAmaziah to Ahaz
  9. 29–32HezekiahDoors opened, Passover kept
  10. 33–35Manasseh to JosiahMercy and the Book found
  11. 36Exile and returnMay he go up

The Bronze Altar and Molten Sea

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

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Soft morning light in the inner court: a huge round bronze basin with a flared lily-like rim and two rows of small cast oxen figures below the rim, full of still water, resting on twelve bronze oxen in four groups of three facing outward.

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, figures of oxen encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.

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 three thousand baths.

0:41

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

The Ten Basins, Lampstands, and Tables

Reflect

Washed and lit

The court had water for washing, and the hall had lamps that burned before God. No one came near Him unwashed, and no one served Him in the dark. Which do you need from Him today: to be made clean, or to have light for the next step? Write it down, and tell Him plainly.

The Courts

He made the courtyard of the priests and the large court with its doors, and he overlaid the doors with bronze.

He put the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner.

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

The court and its furnishings

The bronze altar, twenty cubits square, stood in the court before the house. The Sea stood at the southeast corner, five basins on stands on the south side of the house and five on the north. Inside, five gold lampstands stood on the south and five on the north, with ten tables (not drawn). The court’s size is not given: it is drawn just large enough to hold them.

Completion of the Bronze Works

Additionally, Huram made the pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls. So Huram finished the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon in the house of God:

Bronze works

What Huram made

  1. 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;

  2. Two rows each

    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);

  3. The court

    The stands and their basins

    the stands;

    the basins on the stands;

  4. The Sea on twelve oxen

    the Sea;

    the twelve oxen underneath the Sea;

  5. And all the articles

    Pots, shovels and meat forks

    and the pots, shovels, meat forks, and all the other articles.

Question

Quick question

Huram’s list names the Sea and the stands with their basins. There was water in two places in the court.

What did the priests use the Sea for?

All these objects that Huram-abi made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of polished bronze.

The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zeredah. Solomon made all these articles in such great abundance that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Solomon made all these articles in such great abundance that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

2 Chronicles 4:18

Completion of the Gold Furnishings

Warm lamplight on a white linen cloth over a cedar table: a small gold lamp burning, gold tongs, wick trimmers, a ladle, a sprinkling bowl and a censer with a thread of incense smoke, the corner of a small gold altar behind.

Gold furnishings

The gold furnishings

  1. Holy Place

    The golden altar and the tables

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

    the golden altar;

    the tables on which was placed the Bread of the Presence;

  2. Lampstands of pure gold

    the lampstands of pure gold and their lamps, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary as prescribed;

  3. Purest gold

    Flowers, lamps and tongs

    the flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold—of purest gold;

  4. Bowls, censers and the gold doors

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

    and the gold doors of the temple: the inner doors to the Most Holy Place as well as the doors of the main hall.

Pray

Every tool for His house

All this bronze and gold was made “for the house of the LORD,” down to the pots, shovels and wick trimmers. Offer God the ordinary tools of your own work today, whatever they are, and ask Him to make them serve His worship. Thank Him that nothing done for Him is too small to matter.

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2 Chronicles 4

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A verse to carry with you

Solomon made all these articles in such great abundance that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

2 Chronicles 4:18

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