1 Kings 7:13-47

Solomon Employs Hiram of Tyre

¹³ King Solomon sent to Tyre and asked Hiram (not the king; another Hiram) to come. ¹⁴ Hiram's mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali. His father was a Tyrian and a master worker in bronze. Hiram was a real artist - he could do anything with bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all the bronze work. ¹⁵ First he cast two pillars in bronze, each twenty-seven feet tall and eighteen feet in circumference. ¹⁶ He then cast two capitals in bronze to set on the pillars; each capital was seven and a half feet high ¹⁷ and flared at the top in the shape of a lily. Each capital was dressed with an elaborate filigree of seven braided chains and a double row of two hundred pomegranates, setting the pillars off magnificently. ^{18  19  20  21} He set the pillars up in the entrance porch to The Temple; the pillar to the south he named Security (Jachin) and the pillar to the north Stability (Boaz). ²² The capitals were in the shape of lilies.

The Furnishings for the Temple

²³ Hiram's next project was to make the Sea - an immense round basin of cast metal fifteen feet in diameter, seven and a half feet tall, and forty-five feet in circumference. ²⁴ Just under the rim there were two bands of decorative gourds, ten gourds to each foot and a half. The gourds were cast in one piece with the Sea. ²⁵ The Sea was set on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the bulls faced outward supporting the Sea on their hindquarters. ²⁶ The Sea was three inches thick and flared at the rim like a cup, or like a lily. It held about 11,500 gallons. ²⁷ Hiram also made ten washstands of bronze. Each was six feet square and four and a half feet tall. ²⁸ They were made like this: Panels were fastened to the uprights. ²⁹ Lions, bulls, and cherubim were represented on the panels and uprights. Beveled wreath-work bordered the lions and bulls above and below. ³⁰ Each stand was mounted on four bronze wheels with bronze axles. The uprights were cast with decorative relief work. ³¹ Each stand held a basin on a circular engraved support a foot and a half deep set on a pedestal two and a quarter feet square. The washstand itself was square. ³² The axles were attached under the stand and the wheels fixed to them. The wheels were twenty-seven inches in diameter; ³³ they were designed like chariot wheels. Everything - axles, rims, spokes, and hubs - was of cast metal. ³⁴ There was a handle at the four corners of each washstand, the handles cast in one piece with the stand. ³⁵ At the top of the washstand there was a ring about nine inches deep. The uprights and handles were cast with the stand. ³⁶ Everything and every available surface was engraved with cherubim, lions, and palm trees, bordered by arabesques. ³⁷ The washstands were identical, all cast in the same mold. ³⁸ He also made ten bronze washbasins, each six feet in diameter with a capacity of 230 gallons, one basin for each of the ten washstands. ³⁹ He arranged five stands on the south side of The Temple and five on the north. The Sea was placed at the southeast corner of The Temple. ⁴⁰ Hiram then fashioned the various utensils: buckets and shovels and bowls. Hiram completed all the work he set out to do for King Solomon on The Temple of God: ⁴¹ two pillars; two capitals on top of the pillars; two decorative filigrees for the capitals; ⁴² four hundred pomegranates for the two filigrees (a double row of pomegranates for each filigree); ⁴³ ten washstands each with its washbasin; one Sea; ⁴⁴ twelve bulls under the Sea; ⁴⁵ miscellaneous buckets, shovels, and bowls. ⁴⁶ He cast them in clay in a foundry on the Jordan plain between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ These artifacts were never weighed - there were far too many! Nobody has any idea how much bronze was used.