And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars,.... These were the ornaments of the chapiters; the former being like thick branches of trees, with their boughs and leaves curiously wrought, as the word signifies, and the latter like fringes, such as the Jews wore at the skirt of their...
And he made the pillars,.... Or adorned them in this manner: and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates; that is, there were two rows of figures like pomegranates upon the net or branch work that covered the chapiters that were on the top of the pillars; and Kimchi owns, that...
And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch,.... Or such as was in the porch of the temple; the work was like that wrought in the form of the flower of lilies open: four cubits; of the five cubits of which the chapiters consisted, four of them were of lily work, the two rows of pomegranates taking up the...
And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network,.... The supplement is needless, according to Dr. Lightfoot; the sense being only, that the chapiters were above the lily work, which wrought out as far as the belly of the chapiters, or the middle cubit of them, which the...
And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple,.... Not at the door or entrance into the temple, as Jarchi, but at the entrance into the porch: and he set up the right pillar; or the pillar on the right hand as you went in, which was on the north, the front being east: and called the name thereof Jachin; which signifies "he will establish",...
And upon the top of the pillars was lily work,.... Which seems to be repeated from 1 Kings 7:19 and confirms that: and so was the work of the pillars finished; in the manner described.
And he made a molten sea,.... A large vessel made of molten brass, which, because of the great quantity of water it held, is called a sea; as it was usual with the Jews to call a large collection of waters a sea, as the sea of Tiberius and Galilee. This was made by the man of Tyre, as the pillars, by the order of Solomon, and answered to the...
And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it,.... Of an oval form, and therefore the Targum calls them figures of eggs; in 2 Chronicles 4:3 they are said to have the similitude of oxen, being like the heads of oxen, and the other parts oval; or these were in the form of gourds, as sometimes the word is rendered, 2 Kings 4:39...
It stood upon twelve oxen,.... Figures of them in brass, of full proportion: three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and so turned to the four quarters of the world: and the sea was set above upon them; as it were on the backs of them, and their...
And it was an hand breadth thick,.... Or four fingers, as in Jeremiah 52:21 and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies, embroidered and engraven on it for ornament sake: it contained 2,000 baths; which is reckoned about five hundred barrels of water; it was filled by the Gibeonites; in 2 Chronicles 4:5, it is...
And he made ten bases of brass,.... Seats, stands, or settles for the ten lavers after mentioned: four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof; as broad as it was long, and so a square, that the laver might stand firm upon it: and three cubits the height of it; from the ground plates to the surface, that the priests...
And the work of the bases was on this manner,.... The following was the form in which they were made: they had borders; plates of brass all around them, which enclosed them: and the borders were between the ledges; which were short staves or bars of brass, that stood upright all around, like the staves of a cart on each side, or the rails of a...
And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims,.... The figures of them, for ornament sake; the cherubim, being distinguished from lions and oxen might be figures of men, or else of eagles, as Josephus (y), see Ezekiel 1:10 and upon the ledges there was a base above; a flat piece of brass laid upon the top of the...
And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass,.... Flat pieces or planks of brass, on which the wheels stood, and not on the bare floor; so that these wheels seem only to serve as supporters, not to carry the laver from place to place, as is usually said; for they were not like chariot wheels, on two sides of the carriage, but set one...
And the mouth of it within the chapiter, and above, was a cubit,.... On the lid of the base rose up a lesser base, called the chapiter, which was circular, like a coronet, as the word signifies, the inside of which was hollow, for the lower part of the layer to rest in; this ascended straight up half a cubit, and then widening, went up half a...
And under the borders were four wheels,.... Not under the borders last mentioned, but those in 1 Kings 7:29, and the axle trees of the wheels [were] joined to the base; to the four sides of it: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit; that is, from the plate of brass on which it stood, to the axis or semicircle of it; so that the...
And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel,.... In the same form and fashion as one of them; the Targum is, "like a chariot of glory;'' a splendid one, curiously wrought; unless reference is had in it to the chariot of Ezekiel's vision: their axle trees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten;...
And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base,.... Or pillars, as in 1 Kings 7:30 and the undersetters were of the base itself; they were cast together, and of the same piece of metal with it.
And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high,.... The same with the chapiter, 1 Kings 7:31 which rose up straight half a cubit, and widening upwards half a cubit more, here called the round compass of it: and on the top of the base, the ledges thereof and the borders thereof, were of the same; of the same piece of...
For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders thereof,.... In this, and the preceding verse, a different word is used, translated "ledges", from that in 1 Kings 7:28, the Targum renders it axle trees; as if the axle trees of the wheels, and the borders, circumferences, and rings of them, were meant, in which were the following...