2 Chronicles 4 Bible Commentary

4:2 Also he made a molten ^a sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.

(a) A great vessel of brass, so called because of the great quantity of water which it contained, (1 Kings 7:24).

4:3 And under ^b it [was] the similitude of oxen, which did compass it round about: ^c ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about. Two rows of oxen [were] cast, when it was cast.

(b) Meaning, under the brim of the sea, (1 Kings 7:24).
(c) In the length of every cubit were ten heads or knops which in all are 300.

4:5 And the thickness of it [was] an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; [and] it received and held ^d three thousand baths.

(d) In the first book of the kings, (1 Kings 7:26), mention is only made of 2000, but the lesser number was taken there, and here according as the measures proved afterwards, is declared.

4:7 And he made ten candlesticks of gold according to ^e their form, and set [them] in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left.

(e) Even as they should be made.

4:9 Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great ^f court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors of them with brass.

(f) Called also the porch of Solomon, (Acts 3:11). It is also taken for the temple where Christ preached, (Matthew 21:23).

4:16 The pots also, and the shovels, and the fleshhooks, and all their instruments, did Huram ^g his father make to king Solomon for the house of the LORD of bright brass.

(g) Whom Solomon reverenced for the gifts that God had given him, as a father; he had the same name as Huram the king of Tyrus, his mother was a Jewess, and his father a Tyrian. Some read, for his father, the author of this work.

4:19 And Solomon made all the vessels that [were for] the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables whereon the ^h shewbread [was set];

(h) In Hebrew, the bread of the faces because they were set before the ark, where the Lord showed his presence.

4:22 And the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers, [of] pure gold: and the entry of the house, the inner doors thereof for the most holy [place], and the doors of the house of the temple, [were ⁱ of] gold.

(i) That is, covered with plates of gold.