2 Chronicles 4:6-9
2Ch 4:6 The ten lavers which, according to 1Ki 7:38, stood upon ten brazen stands, i.e., chests provided with carriage wheels. These stands, the artistic work on which is circumstantially described in 1Ki 7:27-37, are omitted in the Chronicle, because they are merely subordinate parts of the lavers. The size or capacity of the lavers is not stated, only their position on both sides of the temple porch, and the purpose for which they were designed, “to wash therein, viz., the work of the burnt-offering (the flesh of the burnt-offering which was to be burnt upon the altar) they rinsed therein,” being mentioned. For details, see in 1Ki 7:38. and the figure in my Archaol. i. plate iii. fig. 4. Occasion is here taken to mention in a supplementary way the use of the brazen sea. 2Ch 4:7-8 The golden furniture of the holy place and the courts. These three verses are not found in the parallel narrative 1 Kings 7, where in 1Ki 7:39 the statement as to the position of the brazen sea (2Ch 4:10) follows immediately the statement of the position of the stands with the lavers. The candlesticks and the table of the shew-bread are indeed mentioned in the summary enumeration of the temple furniture, 1Ki 7:48 and 1Ki 7:49, as in the corresponding passage of the Chronicle (2Ch 4:19, 2Ch 4:20) they again occur; and in 1Ki 6:36 and 1Ki 7:12, in the description of the temple building, the inner court is spoken of, but the outer court is not expressly mentioned. No reason can be given for the omission of these verses in 1 Kings 7; but that they have been omitted or have dropped out, may be concluded from the fact that not only do the whole contents of our fourth chapter correspond to the section 1 Kings 7:23-50, but both passages are rounded off by the same concluding verse (2Ch 5:1 and 1Ki 7:51). 2Ch 4:7 He made ten golden candlesticks כּמשׁפּטם, according to their right, i.e., as they should be according to the prescript, or corresponding to the prescript as to the golden candlesticks in the Mosaic sanctuary (Exo 25:31.). משׁפּט is the law established by the Mosaic legislation. 2Ch 4:9-10 The two courts are not further described. For the court of the priests, see on 1Ki 6:36 and 1Ki 7:12. As to the great or outer court, the only remark made is that it had doors, and its doors, i.e., the folds or leaves of the doors, were overlaid with copper. In 2Ch 4:10 we have a supplementary statement as to the position of the brazen sea, which coincides with 1Ki 7:39; see on the passage. In 2Ch 4:11 the heavier brazen (copper) utensils, belonging to the altar of burnt-offering, are mentioned: סידות, pots for the removal of the ashes; יעים, shovels, to take the ashes out from the altar; and מזרקות, basins to catch and sprinkle the sacrificial blood. This half verse belongs to the preceding, notwithstanding that Huram is mentioned as the maker. This is clear beyond doubt, from the fact that the same utensils are again introduced in the summary catalogue which follows (2Ch 4:16).
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