I Kings 7:40

Summary enumeration of the other vessels of the temple. - In Kg1 7:40 the brazen vessels of the court are given. In Kg1 7:41-47 the several portions of the brazen pillars, the stands and basins, the brazen sea and the smaller vessels of brass, are mentioned once more, together with notices of the nature, casting, and quantity of the metal used for making them. An din Kg1 7:48-50 we have the golden vessels of the Holy Place. This section agrees almost word for word with 2 Chron 4:11-5:1, where, moreover, not only is the arrangement observed in the previous description of the temple-building a different one, but the making of the brazen altar of burnt-offering, of the golden candlesticks, and of the table of shew-bread, and the arrangement of the great court (Ch2 4:7-9) are also described, to which there is no allusion whatever in the account before us; so that these notices in the Chronicles fill up an actual gap in the description of the building of the temple which is given here. Kg1 7:40 The smaller brazen vessels. - Hiram made the pots, shovels, and bowls. הכּיּרות is a slip of the pen for הסּירות, pots, as we may see by comparing it with Kg1 7:45 and the parallel passages Ch2 4:11 and Kg2 25:14. The pots were used for carrying away the ashes; היּעים, the shovels, for clearing the ashes from the altar; המּזרקות were the bowls used for catching the blood, when the sacrificial animals were slaughtered: compare Exo 27:3 and Num 4:14, where forks and fire-basins or coal-pans are also mentioned. Kg1 7:40 introduces the recapitulation of all the vessels made by Hiram. יהוה בּית, in the house of the Lord (cf. Ewald, 300, b.); in Ch2 4:11 more clearly, יי בּבית; we find it also in Kg1 7:45, for which we have in Ch2 4:16 יהוה לבית, for the house of Jehovah. The several object…

As, in the story of David, one chapter of wars and victories follows another, so, in the story of Solomon, one chapter concerning his buildings follows another. In this chapter we have, I. His fitting up several buildings for himself and his own use (Kg1 7:1-12). II. His furnishing the temple which he had built for God, 1. With two pillars (Kg1 7:13-22). 2. With a molten sea (Kg1 7:23-26). 3. With ten basins of brass (Kg1 7:27-37), and ten layers upon them (Kg1 7:38, Kg1 7:39). 4. With all the other utensils of the temple (Kg1 7:40-50). 5. With the things that his father had dedicated (Kg1 7:51). The particular description of these things was not needless when it was written, nor is it now useless.

7:40-45 Huram had great skill in casting items of varying size and complexity. He also made the bronze altar for the inner court that was used for burnt offerings (2 Chr 4:1).