GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 4:7-16a
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7 He made ten gold lampstands according to their specification, and set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left.
The lamps were the light source inside the Holy Place, which was no longer a tent and therefore the light was limited. Because of the increase of the chamber’s size, more light was needed, and so we have the unexpected increase from one candleabra to ten. But notice how carefully the author tells us (or reminds us) that this was all “according to their specification,” that is to say, according to God’s approval.
8 He also made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made a hundred gold basins.
These tables may have served more than one purpose, but the cutting and skinning of sacrifices was surely their primary use. In the Second Temple, the area of these tables, to the north (across from the Sea and the Altar) was called “the place of slaughtering”). The hundred gold basins (about ten per table) were for blood being carried to the altar, but some of them might also have been used for water being carried from the smaller bronze basins to the tables for rinsing and washing (Exodus 29:17; Leviticus 1:9,13). Perhaps the command to wash garments may have been carried out here as well– garments spattered with the holy blood of a sacrifice had to be washed “in a holy place” (Leviticus 6:27), although I think that this would more probably have been done at the large basin (the Sea), the one for the priests to wash (2 Chronicles 4:6).
9 He made the court of the priests and the great court along with doors for the court and overlaid their doors with bronze.
Here we have one of the few descriptions of Solomon’s temple that helps us to understand its overall appearance compared with the later Second Temple, about which we know a good deal more, thanks to written descriptions in many sources including the New Testament.
The temple had two courtyards: an inner court of the priests, and the outer “great court.” Like the Second Temple’s courtyards, these were probably only separated by a low wall, perhaps less than waist-high (this balustrade was about one cubit, or 18 inches high, in the Second Temple). Only Israelite worshipers bringing offerings could enter into the inner court, the court of the priests. The music of the Levites would have been played here and in the surrounding areas (1 Chronicles 25:6).
10 He set the sea in the right corner, at the southeast part of the house.
Earlier in this passage, the Hebrew only says “left” and “right.” Here we learn that “right” means south (although here southeast is used), which means that “left” and “right” up in verses 7-8 means right and left as one looks at the sunrise, that is, east. That way, to the right would be to the south.
In the tabernacle, this huge basin of water was simply between the altar and the curtain leading into the Holy Place. Here in the stone temple, it was moved off to one side, probably on account of its size, both for the view of the Holy Place and for more ease of movement from the courtyard to the Holy Place for the priests.
11 Huram also made the pots, shovels, and bowls. So Huram finished the work that he had undertaken for King Solomon on the house of God: 12 the two pillars, the two bowl-shaped capitals on the top of the pillars; and the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; 13 and the 400 pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars. 14 He also made the carts and the basins on the carts, 15 the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath it. 16 And he made the pots, the shovels, the forks, and all the equipment for these.
This reads very much like a checklist, to be certain that the craftsman made everything he had been commissioned to make.
In a sense, the building of this big temple was in itself a foreshadowing of the coming of Christ and the preaching of the gospel. For just as Moses’ original tabernacle was replaced by something else, something bigger, so also the Old Testament promises were replaced with the New Testament fulfillment. Here in stone and in gold were the washing, the forgiveness of sins, and the very words of God carried out in every detail. Then, when Christ came, the very words of God were carried out in every detail in surprising new ways. God himself became flesh, born of an ordinary Jewish girl. God himself spoke to his people and taught them for years, not merely for an afternoon as he had with Abraham (Genesis 18). The Son of God came and made his home with man for a while, fulfilling everything, standing in place of each one of us, and atoning for our sins with his own blood. What was depicted for them in stone is a matter of history for us in the body and blood of our Lord Jesus.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 4:7-16a The furnishings