He set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple. He set up the pillar on the south and called its name Jachin, and he set up the pillar on the north and called its name Boaz.
Two hollow brass columns stood at the front of Solomon's temple. Solomon gave each one a name. Why name a pillar at all, and what did those two names say to everyone who walked past?
The Names
Each name is a short sentence about God, not about Israel. Writers call them the right and left pillars; the verse names the same two by south and north.
Leslie M. GrantSolomon named the pillars Jachin (on the right of the entry) and Boaz (on the left). Jachin means "He shall establish." This is a promise that God will one day establish His house. He was not going to establish it then. Israel's unfaithfulness later cost them that house. But God's promise about the future still stands. Boaz means "in Him is strength." Israel's weakness led to ruin and failure. But the Lord Jesus is still the strong One, and He will do the will of God perfectly.
Where They Stood
Did the pillars stand in the porch or in front of it? One writer weighs the wording, and reads the metal too.
The TempleAbout the position of the pillars: the word that 1 Kings renders "in" means "by" — "He set up the pillars by the porch of the Temple." This matches 2 Chronicles 3:17, "He erected the pillars in front of the temple." The pillars were hollow, and the brass was four fingers thick. Brass is the emblem of strength. Hollow expresses emptiness. Those skilled in these questions say that the thickness and size given here secure the greatest strength with the smallest quantity of metal. That is just like God in His perfect wisdom.
A Promise, Not a Report
Jachin is future tense. That one detail changes what the pillar claims.
H. L. RossierSolomon's throne, his government, his people's relations with God, his worship — everything rested on what God had done. He had established Solomon's reign. All of it was a picture. But in Solomon's own day the pillar Jachin said, He shall establish — not, He has established. It spoke of an establishing still to come, and Solomon's reign was only its feeble picture. As for the pillar Boaz — In Him is strength — this is something past, present, future, and eternal. Strength is in Him. Solomon, like every godly king in Israel, had to know this. The moment the link with God was broken, neither the king nor the kingdom would have any strength.
Why Two
The number is not decoration. One writer ties the pair to the Bible's rule about witnesses.
William KellyAnd further, let us note that there were two pillars, the sign of divine stability. This kingdom, when it is in the hands of the Lord Jesus, will not be a mere picture but a reality. It will never dissolve through the weakness of man. It will not pass to anyone else. So, as the witness of it, there were two pillars — Jachin and Boaz. These show it as a figure, but only as a witness. "Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses."
Solomon's reign was only a picture. The real kingdom is still to come.
Broken, Not Disproved
The pillars did not last. Babylon's army broke them up. Yet their message survived the wreck.
H. L. RossierIn Solomon's case the brass pillars could not be kept. The king and those who followed him were unfaithful. The Chaldeans broke the pillars up. Solomon's kingdom could not be established, because he did not seek his strength in God. But even if the material pillars have disappeared, the moral pillars remain. Strength is in the Lord. A day is coming when He will show everyone that He has established in righteousness a kingdom that can never be moved.
What the Names Say to Believers Now
One writer finds both truths said about Christians in the New Testament.
The TempleThey are silent but eloquent witnesses to two great truths: God establishes, and strength is in Christ. The truths declared in this way are expressed by the Holy Spirit in 2 Corinthians 1:21 — "And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us."
Another writer hears these pillars behind Christ's promise to the believer who overcomes.
Walter Scott"The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God" (Revelation 3:12). Solomon set up two huge brass pillars in the porch of the temple, remarkable for strength and solidity. The names of these pillars were Jachin, establish, and Boaz, strength. The allusion in our text is to these pillars. The believer in Philadelphia is weak and tested. He may even be thrown out of the respected and popular church on earth. Yet he will be established and made strong in the eternal blessedness of Heaven.
Summary
- Establish — Jachin means "He will establish." The tense is future. Solomon's kingdom pictured something God had not yet done.
- Strength — Boaz means "in Him is strength." That one is timeless — past, present, future, and eternal.
- Witness — two pillars stood in front of the house, not inside it. Two, because a matter is confirmed by two witnesses.
- Broken — unfaithfulness cost Israel the pillars, and Babylon's army broke them up. The metal went; the message did not.
- Yours — God establishes believers in Christ now, and Christ promises the overcomer a pillar's place in the temple of His God.