Sacred service may be of two kinds: it may be feeble, slight, slovenly, wholly incomplete and unsatisfactory; or, on the other hand, it may be vigorous, effective, thorough, commanding the esteem of men and securing the commendation of Christ. The way in which Solomon's temple was built brings before us the more excellent order of service. It was characterized by—
I. SOLIDITY. The "two pillars" (2 Chronicles 4:12), and the character of the timber and of the gold, are suggestive of strength and solidity. Our work for Christ should have no slightness about it; it should be good, solid, durable; work that will resist the disintegrating forces about us; that may be "tried by fire" and still endure (see 1 Corinthians 3:12-15). For such a result we must not be content with stirring the emotions; we must convince the judgment, must produce conviction in the soul, must reach and win the whole spiritual nature.
II. BEAUTY. The strong pillars were ornamented with pommels, with wreaths, and pomegranates (2 Chronicles 4:12, 2 Chronicles 4:13). Beauty as well as strength was in the building of the temple, and should be in the sanctuary of God, in the service of Jesus Christ (Psalms 96:6). We should introduce into the work we do for our Master all the graces that we can bring—meekness of spirit, unselfishness of purpose, conciliatoriness of tone and temper, excellency of workmanship. On the top of the pillars should be pomegranates; covering and adorning our service should be sweetness and loveliness of manner and of spirit.
III. FITNESS. "In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them" (2 Chronicles 4:17). That was obviously a more fitting place for such an operation than the near neighbourhood of the site of the temple. Everything in its own time and place. That which is wholly unfitted for the sanctuary may be quite right and altogether suitable and desirable in the hall or in the home. The fitness or unfitness of the surroundings of a work may make all the difference between the excellent and the objectionable, between the useful and the harmful.
IV. ATTENTION TO THE MINUTE. "Hiram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins" (2 Chronicles 4:11). "And the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, made he of gold, and that perfect gold" (2 Chronicles 4:21). Nothing was too small or too trivial to be made by this skilled artificer, or to be made by him with the best material. There is nothing we can do in the service of our Lord that is not honourable and worthy of our manhood; nothing that we should not do to the full height of our ability.
V. ABUNDANCE. (2 Chronicles 4:18.) It is not right that we should do our work in Christ's vineyard in a spirit of perfunctoriness, as the workman who will do no more than is imperatively demanded of him. Ours is not a slavery; nor are we hirelings. We are the children of God; we are the friends of Jesus Christ; we are co-workers with him; his interests are ours also; we long intensely for the coming of his kingdom. We shall not do stintingly or grudgingly what we do for him. We shall not count the hours, or the days, or the weeks we spend in his service; we shall not measure the powers we employ for his glory. We shall gladly pour forth all our faculties, shall give in "great abundance" of our resources, that his Name may be extolled, and that he may be made "very high."
VI. PURITY. All these things were made "of pure gold" (2 Chronicles 4:20, 2 Chronicles 4:22); the flowers, etc; of gold, "and that perfect gold" (2 Chronicles 4:21). The purest gold that could be obtained was used. The thought, the feeling, the energy, that is most perfectly refined of all dross of earthliness and selfishness, should be brought to the service of the Divine Redeemer.
VII. CONTINUANCE. "Hiram finished the work that he was to make" (2 Chronicles 4:11). "The end crowns the work." Well is it for the Christian workman when, having endured all criticisms, having borne all rebuffs, having met and mastered all difficulties, having submitted to all disappointments, having cheerfully wrought all his labours and having struck his last stroke, he can say, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." For him is a generous commendation and a large reward (Matthew 25:23).—C.
2 Chronicles 4:11
The manufacture of the temple furniture.
I. THE CHERUBIM. (2 Chronicles 3:10-13.)
1. Their appearance. Colossal winged figures; but whether, like the cherubim of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:6) and of John (Revelation 4:7), possessed of four faces (of a man, of a lion, of an ox, of an eagle) and six wings, cannot be decided. Probably they had only one face, resembling that of a man. Unlike the cherubim in the tabernacle, which were "beaten out of one piece of gold" (Exodus 37:7), these were made of olive wood (1 Kings 6:23), presumably on account of its durability and firmness, qualities which induced the Greeks to select it as the best material out of which to construct idols (see Riehm, 'Handworterbuch,' art. "Oelbaum"). The woodwork was overlaid with gold.
2. Their dimensions. In height ten cubits (1 Kings 6:23); their wings were each five cubits long, or twenty cubits in all. They were thus twice as broad as high, and probably altogether double in size to those on the capporeth.
3. Their position. In the holy of holies, their feet upon the ground, their wings touching the walls on either side, and their faces directed towards the interior of the building, i.e. towards the holy place, whence only an intruder could enter the secret shrine. Underneath and between their outstretched wings, the ark, with the mercy-seat and the lesser cherubim, were subsequently placed (2 Chronicles 5:8).
4. Their meaning. That similar winged figures are met with in the mythologies and religions of Oriental peoples, in particular of the Egyptians and Assyrians, does not prove the cherubim of Jewish theology to have been derived from those. That in those the beast-figure prevails, while in these the human face predominates, marks an essential distinction between the two. Hence the notion that among the Hebrews the cherubim had no higher significance than such winged creatures had in Egypt, Assyria, or Babylon—were, in short, merely symbols of the underlying idea common to Oriental religions, that the life of nature is identical with the life of God (Bahr)—is to be rejected. So also is the opinion that they were purely mythical figures, like the Egyptian or Greek sphinxes (the former half-man and half-lion, the latter half-woman and half-lion), or like the colossal winged lions at the doors of Babylonian and Assyrian temples. That they represented real beings is now generally believed (Hofmann, Kurtz, Keil, Kliefoth, and others), and appears implied in the passage where they are first mentioned (Genesis 3:24). That they belonged to the same order of super-terrestrial existences as the angels and the seraphim of Scripture seems a necessary inference, from the fact that all three—angels (Psalms 68:17), seraphim (Isaiah 6:2), and cherubim (2 Samuel 22:11; Psalms 18:10)—are depicted as attending Jehovah in his theophanies, or manifestations of himself to men. That they were different from angels may be inferred from the fact that these are never exhibited as winged, and are usually represented as Jehovah's messengers (Psalms 104:4), which the cherubim never are. It is not so certain that they were different from the seraphim, or shining ones (Isaiah 6:2): who in appearance, situation, and function resembled them, having six wings, appearing always in the vicinity of the self-revealing Jehovah, and proclaiming aloud the presence of his glory. Yet from the fact that they are commonly exhibited as bearers or upholders of the Divine throne (Ezekiel 1:26), whereas the seraphim surround the throne (Isaiah 6:2), it may be concluded that the two, though belonging to the same order, were not the same species of being (cf. Delitzsch on Isaiah to Isaiah 6:2). At the same time, whilst holding the cherubim to have been images intended to represent real existences, it need not be assumed that the actual cherubim had really the four faces of a man, of a lion, of an ox, and of an eagle. These belong to the department of symbology, in which supersensuous ideas are set forth in sensuous images. Hence, inasmuch as the human face represents the notion of intelligence, the leonine that of strength, the bovine that of endurance, and the aquiline that of keenness of vision, combined perhaps with the idea of swiftness of motion, the ascription of these to the cherubim can only mean that these heavenly beings were possessed of all the elements of a perfect life, and, as the crown and summit of creation, stood nearest God.
5. Their function. Comparing the Scriptures in which they are alluded to, the following may be regarded as the complex function performed by the cherubim:
II. THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. (Verse 19.)
1. Its material. Like the other articles in the interior of the house, it was made of cedar wood and overlaid with gold (1 Kings 7:48). That in the tabernacle was formed of shittim wood overlaid with gold; was two cubits high, one long, and one broad; was furnished with a covering, and horns of the same wood overlaid with gold (Exodus 37:25).
2. Its position.
3. Its use. As in the tabernacle (Exodus 37:29), so in the temple, it was intended for the burning of fragrant incense before the holy of holies day and night, to symbolize the adoration of Jehovah's worshipping people.
III. THE CANDLESTICKS. (Verse 7.)
1. Their number. Ten. This was demanded by the larger dimensions of the temple in comparison with the tabernacle, which con-rained only one.
2. Their form. Each seven-branched, as in the tabernacle, i.e. consisting of a main stalk with three branches on either side, rising to the same height as that, each of the six branches and the middle stalk being crowned with a lamp (Exodus 25:31, etc.; Exodus 37:17, etc.).
3. Their ornaments. Bowls, knops, and flowers, as in the tabernacle candlestick, seeing that each in the temple was constructed "according to its form."
4. Their utensils. Snuffers and basins; the former to trim the wicks, the latter to receive what was removed by the process.
5. Their use. To keep a light continually burning in the holy place and before the holy of holies (Exodus 25:37; Exodus 27:20). Their material.
6. Of gold (verse 7), pure (verse 20), and perfect (verse 21). In this, again, they resembled the candlestick in the tabernacle (Exodus 25:31).
7. Their position. In the holy place, before the oracle, five on either side.
8. Their significance. To symbolize either
IV. THE TABLES OF SHEWBREAD. (Verses 8, 19.)
1. Their number. Ten; in the tabernacle, one.
2. Their position. Five on either side of the holy place. The one table in the tabernacle stood upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the veil (Exodus 40:22).
3. Their material. Of gold (1 Chronicles 28:16).
4. Their purpose. To receive and set forth the shewbread, or the loaves of unleavened bread, twelve on each table, which were commanded to be set before the face of Jehovah continually (Exodus 25:30).
5. Their significance. To symbolize religious truths which it concerned Israel to know. The "face loaves" were so called, not because with them or the eating of them the sight of God's face was associated, but because they stood continually in God's presence as emblematic
V. THE BRAZEN ALTAR. (Verse 1.)
1. Its position. In the interior of the fore court (1 Kings 8:22, 1 Kings 8:64).
2. Its dimensions. Twenty cubits long, twenty broad, and ten high.
3. Its material. Brass.
4. Its use. To offer thereupon the burnt offerings presented by the worshippers who came to the temple.
VI. THE MOLTEN SEA. (Verses 2-5.)
1. Its appearance. A huge metallic basin, sup- ported on the backs of twelve metallic oxen—"three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east," all having their hinder parts inward. The basin had the form of a cup, decorated on the brim with flowers of lilies, underneath the brim with two rows of "knops," ten in a cubit, therefore with three hundred in all, compassing the basin around (verse 4; cf. 1 Kings 7:28).
2. Its size. Ten cubits in diameter and thirty in circumference, five cubits high and a handbreadth in thickness, with a capacity of three thousand, or, according to a more accurate measurement (1 Kings 7:26), two thousand baths, i.e. upwards of twelve thousand gallons. With this may be compared the basin borne by twelve lions in the Alhambra at Granada, and the two giant sandstone vases which were found by Muller at Amathus in Cyprus, each of which was oval-shaped, thirty feet in circumference, had four handles, and rested on eight bulls, four in each half- round of the oval (see in Herzog and in Riehm, art. "Meer ehernes").
3. Its situation. Between the brazen altar and the porch, on the right side of the west end, over against the south of the court (verse 10).
4. Its use. For the priests to wash in when they came to engage in the sacrificial worship of the sanctuary (verse 6; cf. —Exodus 30:19-21).
5. Its significance.
6. Its history. In after years it was taken down from off the brazen oxen by Ahaz and set upon a pavement of stones (2 Kings 16:17); it was ultimately broken in pieces by the Chaldeans, and its brass conveyed to Babylon (2 Kings 25:13). The brazen oxen the Chaldean general transported as booty to the East (Jeremiah 52:20).
VII. THE LAVERS. (Verse 6.)
1. Their material. Brass.
2. Their number. Ten.
3. Their position. Five on the right and five on the left of the brazen altar.
4. Their appearance. Basins resting upon bases or pedestals with wheels (verse 14), of which a minute description is given in the First Book of Kings (John 7:27-37).
5. Their dimensions. Every laver or basin four cubits in diameter.
6. Their contents. Forty baths, or two hundred and forty gallons.
7. Their use. To wash the victims in when these were brought to the priests to be offered upon the altar.—W.
2 Chronicles 4:17
An ancient manufactory.
I. To WHOM IT BELONGED. To Solomon the king.
II. WHERE IT WAS SITUATED. In the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah, both of which were in the plain of Jordan.
III. BY WHOM IT WAS MANAGED. By Hiram the artist.
IV. THE FABRICS IT PRODUCED. The articles above described, all the vessels for the house of God.—W.
2 Chronicles
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