Introduction
The previous chapter describes the temple as a building. In this chapter we hear about the bronze and golden objects of the temple, preceded by a description of the buildings of Solomon for himself.
1 - 12 The Buildings for Solomon Himself
1 Now Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. 2 He built the house of the forest of Lebanon; its length was 100 cubits and its width 50 cubits and its height 30 cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams on the pillars. 3 It was paneled with cedar above the side chambers which were on the 45 pillars, 15 in each row. 4 [There were artistic window] frames in three rows, and window was opposite window in three ranks. 5 All the doorways and doorposts [had] squared [artistic] frames, and window was opposite window in three ranks. 6 Then he made the hall of pillars; its length was 50 cubits and its width 30 cubits, and a porch [was] in front of them and pillars and a threshold in front of them. 7 He made the hall of the throne where he was to judge, the hall of judgment, and it was paneled with cedar from floor to floor. 8 His house where he was to live, the other court inward from the hall, was of the same workmanship. He also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Solomon had married. 9 All these were of costly stones, of stone cut according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside; even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court. 10 The foundation was of costly stones, [even] large stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits. 11 And above were costly stones, stone cut according to measure, and cedar. 12 So the great court all around [had] three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams even as the inner court of the house of the LORD, and the porch of the house.
We have a break in the description of the temple, because first the house of Solomon is described. This is because there is a close connection between the temple and the house of Solomon. Both houses speak of the church. The temple is the picture of the church as the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. God dwells in the church as His temple (1Cor 3:16; Eph 2:21-22). In the house of Solomon we see a picture of the church as the dwelling place of the Lord Jesus, which He calls “My church” (Mt 16:18). Solomon lives there with his family. The Lord Jesus is “Son over His house” (Heb 3:6), and as Son He is connected with sons. God said of Solomon that he would be a son to Him (2Sam 7:12-14; 1Chr 17:13). In the church the Lord Jesus lives as Son together with those whom He has made sons of God.
Solomon’s house was probably a palace complex with several independent, but complementary buildings. There are public rooms and there is a private room. The house consists of cedar pillars, making it look like a forest. There is a hall of pillars and a hall of the throne. The hall of pillars can be seen as a kind of waiting room where people can wait until they can get to the king. Solomon is sitting in the hall of the throne. More in the middle of the complex is his house. There is also a separate house for his Egyptian wife.
The Lord Jesus will reign over the kingdom of peace from His house. The church is involved in His government. The Lord Jesus reigns also now in His realm over those who acknowledge His authority. All of professing Christianity today is His realm, but He has a real relationship only with those who are connected with Him through faith as the Son. They are the house in the narrow sense in which He lives (verse 8), the dwelling behind the hall of the throne, the dwelling place of the royal family.
The materials with which the house is built (verses 9-12) are the materials with which the temple is built. It is from stones taken from the rock, as the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 16 (Mt 16:18). Every believer is a precious stone in the eyes of the Lord Jesus (1Pet 2:5), because for every stone of all stones of which the church is composed, He has given His life. The foundation of verse 10 does not apply to Him as the foundation, for He is the cornerstone. Here is spoken of several large stones. That points to the apostles as the fundament, the foundation (Eph 2:20).
13 - 22 The Two Pillars
13 Now King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. 14 He was a widow’s son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill for doing any work in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and performed all his work. 15 He fashioned the two pillars of bronze; eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of both. 16 He also made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was five cubits and the height of the other capital was five cubits. 17 [There were] nets of network and twisted threads of chainwork for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital and seven for the other capital. 18 So he made the pillars, and two rows around on the one network to cover the capitals which were on the top of the pomegranates; and so he did for the other capital. 19 The capitals which [were] on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily design, four cubits. 20 [There were] capitals on the two pillars, even above [and] close to the rounded projection which was beside the network; and the pomegranates [numbered] two hundred in rows around both capitals. 21 Thus he set up the pillars at the porch of the nave; and he set up the right pillar and named it Jachin, and he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz. 22 On the top of the pillars was lily design. So the work of the pillars was finished.
Here the description of the temple continues. Solomon called a foreigner, “Hiram from Tyre”, to help build the temple. Hiram comes from a mixed marriage. Foreigners from the Gentiles have a special understanding of what the church is, we see in the New Testament. They are introduced into the mysteries of God. Are we such foreigners who understand the things of the church? The majority of professing Christianity does not have this kind of understanding. What is known in general about a glorified Christ with Whom the church is made one?
Hiram has a special knowledge to work with bronze. Gold speaks of the glory of God. Bronze speaks of God’s glory in righteousness toward the sinner, not to judge him, but to save him and to have him in His presence. In 1 Chronicles 18 we read where the bronze comes from. It is material captured from the enemy (1Chr 18:8).
Hiram is the son of a relation forbidden by God. But God’s grace can use him. He is a man “filled with wisdom and understanding and skill for doing any work in bronze” (verse 14). Wisdom und understanding and skill or knowledge also occur in the New Testament, in letters about the church (Eph 1:8,17; Col 1:9). We need the spirit of wisdom, knowledge and understanding to get to know God’s thoughts about His church and to behave accordingly.
New in the temple compared to the tabernacle are the two pillars, each of eight meters high and a circumference of five and a half meters. With their capitals they are more than ten meters high. The pillars are separate from the temple. They are not used to support the temple. They stand before the temple, as a testimony of the security and power of God that will be revealed to the people for their benefit if they obey Him. When God sends His people into exile through the Babylonians because of their disobedience and this enemy robs the temple treasures, much attention is given to these two pillars (2Kgs 25:13,17; Jer 52:17,20-23).
The names show what they represent. “Jachin” means ’He will confirm’ and “Boaz” means ’in Him is strength’. Their position in front of the temple reminds all who wish to worship at or in the temple that they should rely solely on God for confirmation and strength in their worship and not on anything within themselves.
Believers who have a special place in the church are called pillars (Gal 2:9). It is possible for every believer to be a pillar, if the power that is in God is reflected in him (Rev 3:12a).
The lilies on top of the pillars are connected with pomegranates. Lilies represent the glory of the kingdom (Mt 6:28-29) and pomegranates are a symbol of fruit. The glory and the fruit of the kingdom are both thanks to Him of Whom the kingdom is, Who confirms and supports it.
23 - 26 The Casted Sea
23 Now he made the sea of cast [metal] ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference. 24 Under its brim gourds went around encircling it ten to a cubit, completely surrounding the sea; the gourds were in two rows, cast with the rest. 25 It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; and the sea [was set] on top of them, and all their rear parts [turned] inward. 26 It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, [as] a lily blossom; it could hold two thousand baths.
The cast bronze sea is for the priests to wash themselves in before they can serve. They have to do this every time they go to the altar or enter the holy place. The application for us is that going through the world makes us unclean and that cleansing is necessary. This cleansing is done by reading God’s Word which is compared with water (Jn 15:3a; Eph 5:26).
The sea stands on twelve oxen. Oxen are a picture of persevering service. The enduring service of the intercession of the Lord Jesus is the ground of our cleansing. When we are in heaven, the sea is “a sea of glass” (Rev 15:2). The water there is no longer liquid, because the water is no longer needed for cleansing.
27 - 37 The Bronze Stands
27 Then he made the ten stands of bronze; the length of each stand was four cubits and its width four cubits and its height three cubits. 28 This was the design of the stands: they had borders, even borders between the frames, 29 and on the borders which were between the frames [were] lions, oxen and cherubim; and on the frames there [was] a pedestal above, and beneath the lions and oxen [were] wreaths of hanging work. 30 Now each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and its four feet had supports; beneath the basin [were] cast supports with wreaths at each side. 31 Its opening inside the crown at the top [was] a cubit, and its opening [was] round like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its opening [there were] engravings, and their borders were square, not round. 32 The four wheels [were] underneath the borders, and the axles of the wheels [were] on the stand. And the height of a wheel [was] a cubit and a half. 33 The workmanship of the wheels [was] like the workmanship of a chariot wheel. Their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs [were] all cast. 34 Now [there were] four supports at the four corners of each stand; its supports [were] part of the stand itself. 35 On the top of the stand [there was] a circular form half a cubit high, and on the top of the stand its stays and its borders [were] part of it. 36 He engraved on the plates of its stays and on its borders, cherubim, lions and palm trees, according to the clear space on each, with wreaths [all] around. 37 He made the ten stands like this: all of them had one casting, one measure and one form.
To the sea ten stands are connected. The tabernacle had no stands. The number ten is striking. It is the number of responsibility. It is about whether we can go from the level of the tabernacle to the level of the temple.
There are also lions, oxen and cherubim connected to it. We see them back in or they remind us of Revelation 4, where there is talk of the four living creatures (Rev 4:6-7). The picture in Revelation may be derived from the description here. They are the symbols of God’s judgment. The cherub then has the shape of a human being and its wings we see in the eagle.
38 - 47 The Bronze Objects
38 He made ten basins of bronze, one basin held forty baths; each basin [was] four cubits, [and] on each of the ten stands [was] one basin. 39 Then he set the stands, five on the right side of the house and five on the left side of the house; and he set the sea [of cast metal] on the right side of the house eastward toward the south. 40 Now Hiram made the basins and the shovels and the bowls. So Hiram finished doing all the work which he performed for King Solomon [in] the house of the LORD: 41 the two pillars and the [two] bowls of the capitals which [were] on the top of the two pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals which [were] on the top of the pillars; 42 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals which [were] on the tops of the pillars; 43 and the ten stands with the ten basins on the stands; 44 and the one sea and the twelve oxen under the sea; 45 and the pails and the shovels and the bowls; even all these utensils which Hiram made for King Solomon [in] the house of the LORD [were] of polished bronze. 46 In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all the utensils [unweighed], because [they were] too many; the weight of the bronze could not be ascertained.
On the ten stands, ten basins are made. In it, the entrails and legs of the burnt offering are washed (Lev 1:9). The burnt offering speaks of the Lord Jesus in His complete and total surrender to God on the cross. The washing of the offering, in the spiritual sense of the word, is not done to cleanse the burnt offering, but to prove that the water remains clean after being washed, because the offering is perfectly clean. The basins and the shovels and the bowls, which are also made of bronze, are also mentioned. These are objects more closely related to the altar and the sacrifices (Exo 38:3).
From verse 40b on there is a repetition of everything Hiram has made. This is not a useless repetition, but a sign of the value these things have to God. They are all made of polished bronze. The best material is used. Hiram makes everything, but he has no other material to use than the material that Solomon has made available to him.
This material was shaped in the clay ground by Solomon in the plain of the Jordan. The Jordan is the river of death. All bronze objects for the temple, which in the spiritual application speaks of the righteousness of God, are made by what speaks of what the Lord Jesus did on the cross. On the cross He was “in clay ground”. Out of hard work, out of depths, the righteousness of God has come up and been brought to light.
48 - 50 The Objects of Gold
48 Solomon made all the furniture which [was in] the house of the LORD: the golden altar and the golden table on which [was] the bread of the Presence; 49 and the lampstands, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers and the lamps and the tongs, of gold; 50 and the cups and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons and the firepans, 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, [that is], of the nave, of gold.
The making of the objects of gold is attributed to Solomon personally. The altar, the table with the bread of the Presence and the ten lampstands come in the temple. Gold speaks of God’s glory. There is also talk of “the hinges … for the doors” that give access to the holy place and the most holy place. It is a brief description, because the main idea is government and not approaching to God. Yet it is mentioned here, because approaching to God belongs to it and it must be done in the awareness of God’s glory.
51 The Things Dedicated by David
51 Thus all the work that King Solomon performed [in] the house of the LORD was finished. And Solomon brought in the things dedicated by his father David, the silver and the gold and the utensils, [and] he put them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.
When the house is finished, Solomon brings all the objects into the temple. There are also “the things dedicated by his father David” that have not been used. These may be for future repairs, for example. David gathered together gold, silver, and brass in abundance for the building of the temple (1Chr 22:14,16; 29:2). He captured them from defeated enemies (2Sam 8:7,11-12). In addition, there are the things from his private property (1Chr 29:3-4) and the voluntary gifts of the rulers and other leaders (1Chr 29:6-9).
David is a picture of the Lord Jesus in His suffering. After all that has been used, there remains a fullness of glory. Everything that is in the temple is worked through Christ and His work on the cross. But there is even more glory connected with the work of Christ. That is all material for “the treasuries of the house of the LORD”.