Its thickness was a handbreadth, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. 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.
The two figures for its capacity
Kings gives two thousand baths; Chronicles gives three thousand. One reference work treats these as two measurements of the same basin:
Morrish Bible Dictionary1 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.
Why bronze
The metal matters. One writer links the basin to the bronze altar in the same court. Both show one truth applied to two problems:
C. H. MackintoshSolomon'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."
Water, not blood
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:
C. H. MackintoshBut 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.
The size of the supply
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:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe 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:
C. H. MackintoshDoes 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?
Lilies on the rim
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:
W. W. FeredayThe 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.
Who it was for
The basin served the priests. One writer applies that service to believers now, and separates what we are from how we live:
W. W. FeredayBoth 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.
Summary
- 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.