And he made the sea, molten, ten cubits from brim to brim, round all about; and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encompassed it round about.
The temple courtyard held one huge basin of cast metal, called a "sea," deep enough to hold thousands of gallons. Why did priests who already served at an altar of blood need this much water, and what does the washing picture?
The measurements describe a standing pool, not a portable bowl.
The Sea was a large pool made of cast copper, ten cubits (15 feet) in diameter. It took the place of the basin in the tabernacle, Israel's earlier tent of worship (Ex. 30:17-21). It stood 5 cubits high, and it rested on 12 oxen, also of copper it seems, three facing each direction, with their backs turned inwards. So, if the oxen were 4 or 5 feet in height, the top of the sea would be 11 or 12 feet high. It stood outside the temple, between the large copper altar and the temple door. It held 3000 baths (about 8000 gallons) of water, and the priests washed in it (2 Chron. 4:5-6). There must have been steps up to the Sea, but Scripture says nothing about them.
The metal is not incidental. The same material used for the altar where sin was judged is used for the basin where dirt is removed.
Solomon's cast sea was brass. Brass is the fitting symbol of divine righteousness. That righteousness demands judgment on sin, as at the brass altar, or judgment on uncleanness, as at the brass sea. Revelation 1 describes the Lord Jesus: "His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace." That is how He walks among the lampstands. He cannot tolerate evil. He must judge it and trample it under His feet. This is why brass served for both the altar, where sin was atoned for, and the sea, where defilement was washed away.
The sea held water, not blood. That decides where a defiled priest went — and where a failing believer turns.
Under the law, a priest whose hands and feet had become defiled did not need to go back to the brass altar. He needed to go forward to the brass sea. He did not need the blood applied again to make him a priest. He needed only to wash with water, so that he could carry on his service. So now, if a believer fails, if he sins, if he picks up defilement, he does not need washing in the blood again as at the first. He needs the cleansing action of the Word, by which the Holy Spirit brings home to the soul the remembrance of what Christ has done. This removes the defilement, restores communion, and fits the spiritual priest again for his service. Did a sea holding 3000 baths of water make little of a priest's defilement? Did it not prove instead how much God made of it?
The metal itself had a history. It came from a different source than the metal of the earlier basin.
The basin in the tabernacle came from the women's mirrors (Ex. 38:8); the sea came from the spoils of David's conquests. The mirrors suggest that those who gave them gave something up; the spoils speak of victory, which fits the glories of the kingdom that Solomon's reign displays. Scripture does not give the size and capacity of that basin. For the sea it records these details.
Priests did not wash all over at this basin. They washed two things, and each stands for something.
The brass sea served for the daily cleansing of the priests. There they washed their hands and their feet. This made them fit to carry out their service and to live where the Lord lived. In the same way, the disciples could have no part with Christ in the Father's house unless He washed their feet (John 13:8). The Word of God does this washing, on the ground of Christ's intercession as our Advocate. Under the law this washing applied to hands and feet, that is to say, to works and walk. Under grace it applies only to the walk. We have been purified from dead works to serve the Living God, and that happened once for all.
The scale of the basin is itself a message, and its last appearance in Scripture shows what happens when cleansing is no longer needed.
The huge amount of water in the cast sea points to the unlimited provision grace has made. Revelation 4:6 says that "before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal." That sea of glass points back to the cast sea in Solomon's temple. But it is not a sea of water. It is glass like crystal, because the redeemed in glory no longer need cleansing. They have entered a perfect and settled state of holiness.
- Judged — brass stands for righteousness that condemns sin and defilement alike. One metal serves both altar and sea.
- Provided — the metal came from the spoils of David's victories, and spoils speak of a victory already won.
- Drawn — priests took water for hands and feet: works and walk, the daily need of those who serve.
- Applied — failure sends the believer forward to the water, not back to the blood. The Word cleanses.
- Finished — before the throne the sea is glass, not water. Nothing there needs washing again.
And under the brim of it round about there were colocynths, encompassing it, ten in a cubit enclosing the sea round about; two rows of colocynths, cast when it was cast.
A band of carved fruit ran under the lip of the great bronze basin in the temple court. The gourds were set in two rows, and they came out of the mould with the basin itself. So what did they picture, and why does Scripture tell us they were not added later?
The ornament described here finishes off the largest vessel in the temple court. One account of the temple sets the decorated edge alongside the basin's enormous capacity:
The Bronze Sea was for the use of the priests; they could not reach up to dip their hands into it. The brim was worked like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies, and knops or gourds in two rows, ten knops to a cubit. This Bronze Sea, with its vast collection of water, presents to us the idea of unlimited supply.
The older English word for these ornaments is "knops." A Bible dictionary traces the Hebrew word behind it:
peqaim, "wild cucumbers," egg-shaped. 1 Kings 6:18; 1 Kings 7:24. The definite form of these ornaments is not known, except as may be guessed from the relief carving on the Arch of Titus at Rome.
The same ornament was carved on the cedar walls inside the house, next to half-open flowers. One writer reads the two together:
The cedar walls do not carry the same decoration. They were decorated only with half-open flowers and gourds (or buds or knobs, which may be what the word means in verse 18). There you saw a picture of constant flowering, of a renewal full of freshness and beauty that matched the rest of God, of an endless season of joy. And all of it was covered and protected by divine glory, there in the temple of God, which for us is the Father's house!
Commentators differ on what the rows under the brim were. One reads them as small oxen, and finds meaning in how many and how small they are:
You may say: well, I mostly look to Him in great trials, to help me in great temptations; but what hinders my soul and troubles it most are the little worrying trials of life. "The little foxes that spoil the vines." Have you not noticed those little oxen too? Not only the great oxen, looking every way, but the patient, watchful care of our tender High Priest, in His preserving, restoring service, over all the little trials of our wilderness path — yes, even though they be ten in every cubit.
The gourds were not bolted on. They came out of the mould with the basin, in one piece. The same writer draws out what that pictures:
And they were cast when the molten sea was cast. It is the inseparable part of His blessed work, as He says so sweetly, "I am among you as the one who serves." But do not use this precious word as a cover for indifference about evil, as if He lovingly allowed the least evil or defilement. Nothing can be more false or dangerous. He does not allow it, but lovingly takes the towel and girds Himself to serve.
The basin itself held water for the priests, and that washing had a limited reach:
The bronze sea served for the daily purification of the priests. There they washed their hands and their feet. So they were fit to carry out their service and to dwell where the Lord dwelt. In the same way, the disciples could have no part with Christ in the Father's house unless He washed their feet. The Word of God does this washing, on the basis of Christ's intercession as Advocate. Under the law this washing applied to hands and feet, that is, to works and walk. Under grace it applies only to walk.
A basin of standing water belongs to a place where dirt is picked up. The last book of the Bible shows the same vessel changed:
"Before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal." This clearly points back to the molten sea in the earthly sanctuary. But it is not a sea of water, as there, but of glass — a silent yet eloquent witness to the fixed and unalterable purity of the eternal home of the glorified. On earth we often need the water of the Word, because of the defilements picked up along the way that come in between our souls and God. In the happy scene we are going to, defilement will never be possible.
- Fruit — the "gourds," or knops, were small round fruit shapes. The same carving ran along the cedar walls, picturing constant flowering and freshness.
- Fulness — they ringed a basin whose huge capacity speaks of supply without limit.
- Smallness — set ten to a cubit, they answer to the small, wearing troubles of daily life, not only the large ones. (Commentators differ, since some read these shapes as little oxen.)
- Oneness — cast in the same pour as the basin, the ornament could never come off. The washing cannot be separated from the One who serves.
- Finish — day by day the water washed hands and feet. In glory the sea becomes crystal, because nothing there will need cleansing.
It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; and the sea was above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And its thickness was a hand-breadth, and its brim was like the work of the brim of a cup, with lily-blossoms; it held two thousand baths.
This verse finishes the description of the great bronze basin at Solomon's temple. The priests washed at it, and commentators find meaning in every detail: the thickness, the rim, and the water it held.
Kings gives two thousand baths; Chronicles gives three thousand. One reference work treats these as two measurements of the same basin:
1 Kings 7:26 states that it "contained 2000 baths." This probably refers to the amount of water usually put into it. The reason is that 2 Chronicles 4:5 says "it received and held 3000 baths," which may mean its full capacity. The dimensions above do not seem to agree with this capacity. But the exact shape of the basin is not given; it may have bulged out a good deal in the middle.
Note: the ESV reads "It held two thousand baths" in 1 Kings 7:26; the wording quoted here is from an older translation.
The metal matters. One writer links the basin to the bronze altar in the same court. Both show one truth applied to two problems:
Solomon's molten sea was made of brass. Brass is the fitting symbol of divine righteousness demanding judgment upon sin (as in the brazen altar), or demanding judgment upon uncleanness (as in the brazen sea). Revelation 1 speaks of the Lord Jesus as having "His feet like fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace." That is how He is seen walking among the lampstands. He cannot tolerate evil, but must, in the exercise of judgment, trample it beneath His feet.
Note: the ESV reads "burnished bronze" in Revelation 1:15; older translations have "fine brass."
What the sea held matters as much as how much of it there was. The same writer notes that a defiled priest moved forward to the sea, not back to the altar:
But the brazen sea contained water, not blood. Those who came to it had already proved the power of the blood. They only needed the washing of water. … A priest under the law whose hands and feet had become defiled did not need to go back to the brazen altar. He needed to go forward to the brazen sea. … So now, if a believer fails, if he commits sin, if he contracts defilement, he does not need a second washing in the blood as at the first. He simply needs the cleansing action of the Word.
Two thousand baths is a huge amount of water for washing hands and feet. One writer takes the size itself as the message, and follows it into Revelation:
The immense quantity of water contained in the molten sea suggests the unlimited provision grace has made. In Revelation 4:6, we read that before the throne was a sea of glass like crystal. This sea of glass is an allusion to the molten sea in Solomon's temple. But it is not a sea of water, but of glass like crystal, because the redeemed in glory no longer need cleansing. They have entered upon a perfect and fixed state of holiness.
Mackintosh turns that volume around and asks what such a supply says about defilement itself:
Does this make little of defilement? The very opposite! Did the provision of a molten sea, with its 3000 baths of water, make little of priestly defilement? Did it not rather prove what a serious matter it was in the judgment of God, and how impossible it was to carry on with a single stain on the hands and feet?
The rim curved like the lip of a cup and carried lily blossoms — beauty on a working vessel. One writer follows that flower elsewhere in Scripture:
The rim of the molten sea had flowers of lilies worked into it. This carries our minds into the Song of Songs. … In that book the King again and again compares His people to lilies (Song 2:2-16 etc.). It is a beautiful picture, telling of purity and lowliness, two features always delightful to the eye of the Lord.
The basin served the priests. One writer applies that service to believers now, and separates what we are from how we live:
Both laver and molten sea were for the use of the priests. From these vessels they drew water to cleanse their hands and feet when serving in the sanctuary of God. … The New Birth has made us fit in nature for His presence. But the laver and the molten sea teach us that we must also be fit in practice if we would enjoy His presence. … Grace has made "a holy priesthood" of the whole household of faith, but holiness demands purity of thought and life in us all.
- Bronze — the metal speaks of God's righteousness judging uncleanness. The altar nearby spoke of judgment on sin.
- Water — the sea held water, not blood; a defiled priest went forward to wash, not back to the altar to start again.
- Two thousand baths — Kings may give the usual contents, Chronicles the full capacity. Either way the volume pictures grace's unlimited supply — and how seriously God treats one stain.
- Lilies — the rim's flowers picture purity and lowliness, the character the King delights in.
- Glass — in Revelation the sea before the throne is crystal, not water. Cleansing is over; holiness is fixed.