1 Kings 7:23

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹³Now King Solomon sent to bring Huram from Tyre. ¹⁴He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a craftsman in bronze. Huram had great skill, understanding, and knowledge for every kind of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work. ¹⁵He cast two pillars of bronze, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference. ¹⁶He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars, each capital five cubits high. ¹⁷For the capitals on top of the pillars he made a network of lattice, with wreaths of chainwork, seven for each capital. ¹⁸Likewise, he made the pillars with two rows of pomegranates around each grating to cover each capital atop the pillars. ¹⁹And the capitals atop the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, four cubits high. ²⁰On the capitals of both pillars, just above the rounded projection next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows encircling each capital. ²¹Thus he set up the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jachin, and the pillar to the north he named Boaz. ²²And the tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work of the pillars was completed.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

he made: Exodus 30:18-21, Exodus 38:8

a molten sea: 2 Kings 25:13, 2 Chronicles 4:2, Jeremiah 52:17, Jeremiah 52:20

the one brim to the other: Heb. his brim to his brim

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 7:44 - one sea 2 Kings 16:17 - borders Revelation 4:6 - a sea

Cross-References

Genesis 7:1
Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

Genesis 7:8
The clean and unclean animals, the birds, and everything that crawls along the ground

Genesis 7:9
came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two, male and female, as God had commanded him.

Genesis 7:10
And after seven days the floodwaters came upon the earth.

Genesis 7:14
they and every kind of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, bird, and winged creature.

Genesis 7:15
They came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two of every creature with the breath of life.

Genesis 7:17
For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth.

Genesis 7:18
So the waters continued to surge and rise greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.

Genesis 7:20
The waters rose and covered the mountaintops to a depth of fifteen cubits.

Genesis 7:21
And every creature that had moved upon the earth perished-birds, livestock, animals, every creature that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 brasen laver in the tabernacle, only larger than that; and was not only for the priests to wash their hands and feet in, but to dip upon occasion, and by the Jews p is expressly said to be a dipping place for the priests, see 2 Chronicles 4:6,

ten cubits from the one brim to the other: which was the diameter of it: it was round all about; spherical or circular; not as an hemisphere, as Josephus q, and Procopius Gazaeus, but rather cylindrical:

and his height was five cubits; from the bottom of it, not including the pedestal of oxen on which it stood:

and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about; this was the circumference of it; which answers to the diameter of ten cubits, or near it, a round number being given not strictly mathematical.

(Sceptics have ridiculed the Bible for saying that the mathematical constant π is 3 instead of the more precise 3.14159. (This number is an "irrational number" and needs an infinite number digits to specify it exactly.) Two explanations for the apparent lack of precision in the measurement are given.

1) The circumference given may be for the inside circumference and the diameter may be the diameter including the thickness of the rim. This would yield a very accurate mathematical result for the inside circumference of thirty cubits. The outside circumference would be about 31.4 cubits giving a rim thickness of four inches or an hand breadth agreeing with 1 Kings 7:26.

2) In 1 Kings 7:26 we read the vessel "was wrought like the brim of a cup." That is the brim on the top of the vessel was wider than the main part of the vessel. The diameter would be given for the brim. If the brim or lip extended about four inches past the main body of the vessel then the outside circumference of the main part of the vessel would be exactly thirty cubits.

In each case the mathematical ratio for circumference of the circle is

πd, where "d" is the diameter and π is the number 3.14159 ..... For a more complete discussion on this see the article by Russel Grigg. r. Editor.)

p T. Hieros, Yema, fol. 41. 1 q Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect 5. r "Does the Bible say pi equals 3.0?", Russell Greg, page 24, "Ex Nihil", March-May Issue, Vol. 17. No. 2., Creation Science Foundation Ltd. Brisbane, Australia.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The “molten sea “of Solomon, so called from its great size, took the place of the laver of the tabernacle Exodus 30:18-21, which was required for the ablutions of the priests. It was ten cubits, or fully fifteen feet, in diameter at top, and therefore forty-seven feet in circumference, with a depth of 5 cubits, or 7 12 feet. As a vessel of these dimensions, if hemispherical, would certainly not hold 2,000 1 Kings 7:26, much less 3,000 2 Chronicles 4:3 baths, the bath equaling 8 12 gallons, it is now generally supposed that the bowl bulged considerably below the brim, and further, that it had a “foot,” - or basin which received the water as it was drawn out by taps from the bowl. The “2,000 baths” may give the quantity of water ordinarily supplied to the “sea;” the “3,000 baths” the utmost that the laver could anyhow take. Bowls of a considerable size are represented in the Assyrian bas-reliefs; but none of such dimensions as Solomon’s. The largest mentioned by the Greeks held only 5,400 gallons, less than one-third of the contents of the “molten sea,” even according to the lowest estimate.