The Bronze Sea and the Vessels
23 He made the molten sea ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it. 24 Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast. 25 It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward. 26 It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths. 27 He made the ten bases of bronze. The length of one base was four cubits, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height. 28 The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges; 29 and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. 30 Every base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze; and its four feet had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each. 31 Its opening within the capital and above was a cubit. Its opening was round like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its opening were engravings, and their panels were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. 33 The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all of cast metal. 34 There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself. 35 In the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were the same. 36 On the plates of its supports and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around. 37 He made the ten bases in this way: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form. 38 He made ten basins of bronze. One basin contained forty baths. Every basin measured four cubits. One basin was on every one of the ten bases. 39 He set the bases, five on the right side of the house and five on the left side of the house. He set the sea on the right side of the house eastward and toward the south. 40 Hiram made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished doing all the work that he worked for King Solomon in Yahweh’s house: 41 the two pillars; the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; 42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; 43 the ten bases; the ten basins on the bases; 44 the one sea; the twelve oxen under the sea; 45 the pots; the shovels; and the basins. All of these vessels, which Hiram made for King Solomon for Yahweh’s house, were of burnished bronze. 46 The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them. The weight of the bronze could not be determined. 48 Solomon made all the vessels that were in Yahweh’s house: the golden altar and the table that the show bread was on, of gold; 49 and the lamp stands, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; 50 the cups, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold; and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, of the temple, of gold. 51 Thus all the work that King Solomon did in Yahweh’s house was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the vessels—and put them in the treasuries of Yahweh’s house.
A basin the size of a room on twelve oxen, ten wheeled stands, and so much bronze nobody weighed it — the machinery of washing, built at scale.
He made the molten sea ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape... It stood on twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three toward the west, and three toward the south, and three toward the east 1 Kings 7:23 1 Kings 7:25.
The great basin is fifteen feet across and holds thousands of gallons, resting on twelve bronze oxen facing outward in four groups of three. The tabernacle had a laver for the priests to wash at Exodus 30:18–21; this is that laver enlarged past all practical need, and the parallel record says plainly what it was for — the priests washed in it 2 Chronicles 4:6. The twelve oxen are as many as the tribes, facing the four directions, carrying the water of cleansing.
That is worth stating carefully, because the temple's furnishings are where allegory most easily runs loose. What the text says is that Israel's worship required continual washing, on a scale that had to be built for. Everything about the courtyard equipment — the altar, the sea, the ten basins — assumes that approaching God involves blood and water, repeatedly, for everyone.
He made the ten bases of bronze... Every base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze 1 Kings 7:27 1 Kings 7:30.
The ten wheeled stands are the passage's most curious objects: bronze carts, decorated with lions, oxen, cherubim and palm trees, each carrying a basin of forty baths, five on each side of the house 1 Kings 7:38–39. They are engineering — water brought to where the work is rather than carried by hand — and their decoration repeats the temple's garden and guardian figures, so that even the utility carts belong to the same visual world.
Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them. The weight of the bronze could not be determined.
The casting was done in clay ground in the Jordan valley 1 Kings 7:46, and the quantity defeated the accountants. Coming from a book that has just itemized the daily flour ration, that is a deliberate note: this is the one expense nobody totaled.
Thus all the work that King Solomon did in Yahweh’s house was finished. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the vessels—and put them in the treasuries of Yahweh’s house.
The last verse of the construction account belongs to David. The plunder he had set apart across a lifetime of wars 2 Samuel 8:11, gathered for a house he was told he could not build, is carried into the finished building by his son. A man denied his project spent thirty years supplying it, and the work he was refused is completed with his name on the treasury.
settled What this mark means