2 Chronicles · chapter 4 of 36
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2 Chronicles 4 describes the furnishings of Solomon's temple: the bronze altar, the great cast sea resting on twelve oxen, ten basins for washing the sacrifices, ten golden lampstands, ten tables and the courts. Huram-abi carries out much of the bronze work, and the chapter ends with the pure gold utensils and the doors of the temple.
After describing the structure of the temple in chapter 3, the chronicler presents the objects used for worship. Every piece has a function: the altar for sacrifices, the basins and the sea for washing, the lampstands for light and the tables for the bread. For readers returning from exile, this list is a reminder that the worship of the Lord is ordered and carefully done.
Solomon makes a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty wide and ten high. He also makes the cast sea, a great round basin ten cubits from brim to brim, five high and thirty around, decorated with gourd-shaped figures, resting on twelve oxen facing the four directions. It holds three thousand baths of water.
He makes ten basins, five on each side, for washing what was offered as a burnt offering, while the sea was for the priests to wash in. He makes ten golden lampstands according to their design, ten tables and a hundred golden bowls. He builds the court of the priests and the great court, with doors overlaid with bronze, and sets the sea on the right side, toward the southeast.
Huram-abi also makes the pots, shovels and bowls, and finishes the work he had done for the king. The two pillars with their capitals and the hundred pomegranates are recalled. All the bronze is cast in the plain of the Jordan, between Succoth and Zeredah, and there is so much that its weight was not reckoned. Solomon also makes the gold objects: the golden altar, the tables for the bread of the Presence, the lampstands, the flowers, the tongs, the basins, the dishes and the firepans, and the golden doors of the house.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Solomon makes the bronze altar for sacrifices, a large and simple object at the center of worship. Without sacrifice there is no access to God, and the chronicler puts the altar before everything else.
The basins were for washing what was offered, and the sea was for the priests to wash in. Cleansing is part of worship: drawing near to God requires being purified.
Solomon makes ten golden lampstands according to the prescribed design and places them in the temple, five on each side. Constant light in God's house speaks of his presence, and the New Testament calls Jesus the light of the world.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Bronze, twenty cubits long, twenty wide and ten high. — 2 Chronicles 4:1
Answer: Twelve oxen, three facing each direction. — 2 Chronicles 4:3-4
Answer: For the priests to wash in. — 2 Chronicles 4:6
Answer: Ten, five on the right and five on the left. — 2 Chronicles 4:7
Answer: Huram-abi, who finished the work he did for King Solomon. — 2 Chronicles 4:11
Answer: In the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah. — 2 Chronicles 4:17
This chapter reads like a list, but it teaches that details matter in worship. Every object had a purpose: to sacrifice, to wash, to give light, to offer. In our churches and groups there are also quiet tasks, such as preparing the room, keeping it clean, caring for the sound or turning on the lights, that make it possible for others to worship.
It also reminds us that approaching God involves being cleansed. Christians trust that Christ cleansed us once for all, yet we still need to confess and begin again each day. In a small group we can talk about how we prepare our hearts before we gather to worship.
2 Chronicles 4 ends with the gold utensils and the doors of the house finished. The material work is complete, and in 2 Chronicles 5 the most important thing will be brought in: the ark of the covenant will enter the Most Holy Place and the glory of the Lord will fill the house.
It was an enormous bronze basin, about ten cubits from brim to brim, used by the priests to wash before serving. It rested on twelve bronze oxen. A symbolic reading sees in the twelve oxen a reminder of the twelve tribes, although the text does not say so.
In Moses' tabernacle there was one lampstand and one table for the bread. In Solomon's temple they were multiplied, perhaps because of the larger scale of the house. The text does not explain the reason. What stands out is that they were made according to the prescribed design and were of gold.
It was twelve loaves placed each week on the table of the sanctuary as an offering before the Lord. They were replaced every Sabbath, and the priests ate the old loaves. According to the law of Moses, they symbolized the fellowship of the twelve tribes with God.