1 Kings 7:13 Kommentar

As, in the story of David, one chapter of wars and victories follows another, so, in the story of Solomon, one chapter concerning his buildings follows another. In this chapter we have, I. His fitting up several buildings for himself and his own use (Kg1 7:1-12). II. His furnishing the temple which he had built for God, 1. With two pillars (Kg1 7:13-22). 2. With a molten sea (Kg1 7:23-26). 3. With ten basins of brass (Kg1 7:27-37), and ten layers upon them (Kg1 7:38, Kg1 7:39). 4. With all the other utensils of the temple (Kg1 7:40-50). 5. With the things that his father had dedicated (Kg1 7:51). The particular description of these things was not needless when it was written, nor is it now useless.

We have here an account of the brass-work about the temple. There was no iron about the temple, though we find David preparing for the temple iron for things of iron, Ch1 29:2. What those things were we are not told, but some of the things of brass are here described and the rest mentioned. I. The brasier whom Solomon employed to preside in this part of the work was Hiram, or Huram (Ch2 4:11), who was by his mother's side an Israelite, of the tribe of Naphtali, by his father's side a man of Tyre, Kg1 7:14. If he had the ingenuity of a Tyrian, and the affection of an Israelite to the house of God (the head of a Tyrian and the heart of an Israelite), it was happy that the blood of the two nations mixed in him, for thereby he was qualified for the work to which he was designed. As the tabernacle was built with the wealth of Egypt, so the temple with the wit of Tyre. God will serve himself by the common gifts of the children of men. II. The brass he made use of was the best he could get. All the brazen vessels were of bright brass (Kg1 7:45), good brass, so the Chaldee, that which was strongest and looked finest. God, who is the best, must be served and honoured with the best. III. The place where all the brazen vessels were cast was the plain of Jordan, because the ground there was stiff and clayey, fit to make moulds of for the casting of the brass (Kg1 7:46), and Solomon would not have this dirty smoky work done in or near Jerusalem. IV. The quantity was not accounted for. The vessels were unnumbered (so it may be read, Kg1 7:47, as well as unweighed), because they were exceedingly numerous, and it would have been an endless thing to keep the account of them; neither was the weight of the brass, when it was delivered to the workmen, searched or enquired into; so honest were the workmen, and such great plenty of brass they had, that there was no danger of wanting. We must ascribe it to Solomon's care that he provided so much, not to his carelessness that he kept no account of it. V. Some particulars of the brass-work are described. 1. Two brazen pillars, which were set up in the porch of the temple (Kg1 7:21), whether under the cover of the porch or in the open air is not certain; it was between the temple and the court of the priests. These pillars were neither to hang gates upon nor to rest any building upon, but purely for ornament and significancy. (1.) What an ornament they were we may gather from the account here given of the curious work that was about them, chequer-work, chain-work, net-work, lily-work, and pomegranates in rows, and all of bright brass, and framed no doubt according to the best rules of proportion, to please the eye. (2.) Their significancy is intimated in the names given them (Kg1 7:21): Jachin - he will establish; and Boaz - in him is strength. Some think they were intended for memorials of the pillar of cloud and fire which led Israel through the wilderness: I rather think them designed for memorandums to the priests and others that came to worship at God's door, [1.] To depend upon God only, and not upon any sufficiency of their own, for strength and establishment in all their religious exercises. When we come to wait upon God, and find our hearts wandering and unfixed, then by faith let us fetch in help from heaven: Jachin - God will fix this roving mind. It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace. We find ourselves weak and unable for holy duties, but this is our encouragement: Boaz - in him is our strength, who works in us both to will and to do. I will go in the strength of the Lord God. Spiritual strength and stability are to be had at the door of God's temple, where we must wait for the gifts of grace in the use of the means of grace. [2.] It was a memorandum to them of the strength and establishment of the temple of God among them. Let them keep close to God and duty, and they should never lose their dignities and privileges, but the grant should be confirmed and perpetuated to them. The gospel church is what God will establish, what he will strengthen, and what the gates of hell can never prevail against. But, with respect to this temple, when it was destroyed particular notice was taken of the destroying of these pillars (Kg2 25:13, Kg2 25:17), which had been the tokens of its establishment, and would have been so if they had not forsaken God. 2. A brazen sea, a very large vessel, above five yards in diameter, and which contained above 500 barrels of water for the priests' use, in washing themselves and the sacrifices, and keeping the courts of the temple clean, Kg1 7:23, etc. It stood raised upon the figures of twelve oxen in brass, so high that either they must have stairs to climb up to it or cocks at the bottom to draw water from it. The Gibeonites, or Nethinim, who were to draw water for the house of God, had the care of filling it. Some think Solomon made the images of oxen to support this great cistern in contempt of the golden calf which Israel had worshipped, that (as bishop Patrick expresses it) the people might see there was nothing worthy of adoration in those figures; they were fitter to make posts of than to make gods of. Yet this prevailed not to prevent Jerusalem's setting up the calves for deities. In the court of the tabernacle there was only a laver of brass provided to wash in, but in the court of the temple a sea of brass, intimating that by the gospel of Christ much fuller preparation is made for our cleansing than was by the law of Moses. That had a laver, this has a sea, a fountain opened, Zac 13:1. 3. Ten bases, or stands, or settles, of brass, on which were put ten lavers, to be filled with water for the service of the temple, because there would not be room at the molten sea for all that had occasion to wash there. The bases on which the lavers were fixed are very largely described here, Kg1 7:27, etc. They were curiously adorned and set upon wheels, that the lavers might be removed as there was occasion; but ordinarily they stood in two rows, five on one side of the court and five on the other, Kg1 7:39. Each laver contained forty baths, that is, about ten barrels, Kg1 7:38. Those must be very clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Spiritual priests and spiritual sacrifices must be washed in the laver of Christ's blood and of regeneration. We must wash often, for we daily contract pollution, must cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. Plentiful provision is made for our cleansing; so that if we have our lot for ever among the unclean it will be our own fault. 4. Besides these, there was a vast number of brass pots made to boil the flesh of the peace-offerings in, which the priests and offerers were to feast upon before the Lord (see Sa1 2:14); also shovels, wherewith they took out the ashes of the altar. Some think the word signifies flesh-hooks, with which they took meat out of the pot. The basins also were made of brass, to receive the blood of the sacrifices. These are put for all the utensils of the brazen altar, Exo 38:3. While they were about it they made abundance of them, that they might have a good stock by them when those that were first in use wore out and went to decay. Thus Solomon, having wherewithal to do so, provided for posterity.

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 7 This chapter gives an account of some buildings of Solomon for himself, Kg1 7:1; and of other things for the use of the temple; of two pillars of brass, Kg1 7:13; of the molten sea, Kg1 7:23; and of ten bases, and ten layers on them, Kg1 7:27; with other utensils and ornaments, Kg1 7:40.

He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali,.... In Ch2 2:14, his mother is said to be of the daughters of Dan, as she might be, and yet her son of the tribe of Naphtali; for either she was of the city of Dan, which is placed in the tribe of Naphtali (m), or her mother was of the tribe of Dan; and therefore she is said to be of the daughters of Dan, when her father was of the tribe of Naphtali, as it is expressed by the Targum on Ch2 2:14, and in which way most of the Jewish commentators reconcile this; or she was of Dan, and her husband of Naphtali besides, if there was any mistake, it must be ascribed, not to the sacred historians, but to the king of Tyre, whose words they are in the above place, and who might not be so well acquainted with the tribe this man and his parents were of: and his father was a man of Tyre; not a Tyrian by birth, but one who had dwelt there a while, and therefore so called, as Obededom, for a like reason, is called the Gittite: a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass; which might be true both of the father and of the son, and especially of the son, who had improved upon his father's knowledge and instructions; and who was skilful to work in other things besides brass, as gold, silver, iron, stone, timber, purple, blue and fine linen, crimson, and all sorts of engraving, and every device that could be put to him by the most ingenious workmen that either David or Solomon had, Ch2 2:14, but this is only mentioned, because it was in such work he was only employed by Solomon; and it seems, by the mode of expression, that, besides his natural genius, and his diligence and industry, he was filled with wisdom from God more immediately for this service, as Bezaleel and Aholiab were for the service of the tabernacle: and he came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work; in brass, as follows. (m) Vid. Adrichom. Theat. T. S. p. 105. Fuller's Pisgah-Sight, 107.

And this was done on account of the mystery. For the Tyrian craftsman whom Solomon employed to help in his work stands for the ministers of the word chosen from the Gentiles. The allusion to this man as a craftsman is a beautiful touch because he was the son of a widow of Israel, a person who is sometimes wont to be taken as prefiguring the church of the present day from whom her husband, namely, Christ, after having tasted death, rose and ascended into heaven, leaving her meanwhile to sojourn on the earth. However, there is no need to labor the explanation of how the sons of this widow are preachers since all the elect individually profess themselves children of the church. Also since in regard to these preachers of the New Testament a special promise is made in the words of the prophet: “Instead of your fathers, sons are born to you; you shall make them princes over all the earth.” Now Hiram did all Solomon’s work, that is to say, because the holy teachers, while they devote themselves faithfully to the ministry of the word, do indeed do the work of God, since by speaking outwardly they open the way of truth to those whom he himself has predestined to eternal life by enlightening them inwardly. “I,” he says, “planted, Apollo watered; but God gave the increase.” Moreover, he made the work of bronze because the energetic teacher seeks to entrust the word to those who … desire to receive it with reverence and keep it to the end, and who also by preaching to others do their utmost to spread more widely whatever right doctrine they have learned themselves; for it is common knowledge that bronze is a metal which is very durable and produces all kinds of sounds.

Solomon builds his own house, and completes it in thirteen years, Kg1 7:1. He builds another called the house of the forest of Lebanon; and a house for Pharaoh's daughter, Kg1 7:2-12. He brings Hiram, a coppersmith, out of Tyre, who makes much curious work for the temple, Kg1 7:13-20. He makes the two pillars Jachin and Boaz, Kg1 7:21, Kg1 7:22. The molten sea, and the twelve oxen that bare it, Kg1 7:23-26. And ten brazen bases, and the ten lavers with pots, shovels, and basons, all of which he cast in the plain of Jordan, vv. 27-46. The quantity of brass too great to be weighed; and the vessels of the temple were all of pure gold, Kg1 7:47-50. Solomon brings into the house the silver and gold which his father had dedicated, Kg1 7:51.

Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre - This was not the Tyrian king, mentioned before, but a very intelligent coppersmith, of Jewish extraction by his mother's side, who was probably married to a Tyrian. In Ch2 2:14, this woman is said to be of the daughters of Dan, but here of the tribe of Naphtali. The king of Tyre, who gives the account as we have it in Chronicles, might have made the mistake, and confounded the two tribes; or she might have been of Naphtali by her father, and of Dan by her mother, and so be indifferently called of the tribe of Naphtali or of the daughters of Dan. This appears to be the best solution of the difficulty. The versions and MSS. give no help here.

BUILDING OF SOLOMON'S HOUSE. (Kg1 7:1) Solomon was building his own house thirteen years--The time occupied in building his palace was nearly double that spent in the erection of the temple [Kg1 6:38], because neither had there been the same previous preparations for it, nor was there the same urgency as in providing a place of worship, on which the national well-being so much depended.

HIRAM'S WORKS. (1Ki. 7:13-51) Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre--The Tyrians and other inhabitants on the Phœnician coast were the most renowned artists and workers in metal in the ancient world.

The Metallic Vessels of the Temple (compare Ch2 2:13-14, and 3:15-5:1). - Kg1 7:13, Kg1 7:14. To make these vessels king Hiram had sent to Solomon, at his request (Ch2 2:6), a workman named Hiram of Tyre. Kg1 7:13 contains a supplementary remark, in which ויּשׁלח must be rendered in the pluperfect (compare the remarks on Gen 2:19). King Solomon had sent and fetched Hiram from Tyre. This artisan bore the same name as the king, חירם or חירום (Kg1 7:40), in Ch2 2:13 חוּרם (Huram), with the epithet אבי, i.e., my father, אב being a title of honour equivalent to master or counsellor, as in Gen 45:8. He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was צרי אישׁ, i.e., a Tyrian by birth. According to Ch2 2:13, his mother was "of the daughters of Dan," i.e., of the tribe of Dan. Both statements may easily be united thus: she was a Danite by birth, and married into the tribe of Naphtali. When her husband died, she was married again as the widow of a Naphtalite, and became the wife of a Tyrian, to whom she bore a son, Hiram. This explanation is also adopted by Bertheau (on the Chronicles); and the conjecture of Lundius, Thenius, and others, that the mother was an Israelitish widow of the city of Dan in the tribe of Naphtali, which was quite close to Tyre, is less in harmony with the expression "of the daughters of Dan." נחשׁה חרשׁ, "a brass-worker," refers to הוּא (he), i.e., Hiram, and not to his father (Thenius). The skill of Hiram is described in almost the same terms as that of Bezaleel in Exo 31:3., with this exception, that Bezaleel's skill is attributed to his being filled with the Spirit of God, i.e., is described rather as a supernatural gift, whereas in the case of Hiram the more indefinite expression, "he was filled with wisdom, etc.," is used, representing it rather as a natural endowment. In the account given here, Hiram is merely described as a worker in brass, because he is only mentioned at the commencement of the section which treats of the preparation of the brazen vessels of the temple. According to Ch2 2:14, he was able to work in gold, silver, brass, iron, stone, wood, purple, etc. There is nothing improbable in this extension of his skill to wood and to the art of weaving. Bezaleel also combined in himself all these talents. Of course Hiram was merely a foreman or leader of these different branches of art; and he certainly did not come alone, but brought several assistants with him, who carried out the different works under his superintendence. - The enumeration of them commences with the pillars of the temple-hall.