How were the temple’s washing vessels used, and what other work was finished?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The ten lavers washed things offered for holocausts, while the sea served the priests’ washing. The account also records the altar, lights, tables, courts, Hiram’s brass work and Solomon’s gold vessels and doors, ending with completion of Solomon’s work in the Lord’s house.

Chapter breakdown

The heading lists the brass altar, sea on twelve oxen, candlesticks and other vessels and ornaments. It prints “ten loaves”; the Scripture below describes ten lavers.

Solomon made a brass altar 20 cubits long, 20 broad and ten high. He also made a round molten sea ten cubits from brim to brim, five high, with a line of 30 cubits around it. Under it were likenesses of oxen; outside engravings of ten cubits surrounded its belly as if in two rows. The sea stood on twelve cast oxen, three facing north, three west, three south and three east, with their hind parts inward under the sea. It was a handbreadth thick. Its brim resembled a cup’s brim or a crisped lily, and it held 3,000 measures.

He made ten lavers, five on the right and five on the left, for washing all the things to be offered for holocausts. The sea was for the priests to wash in. He made ten golden candlesticks according to the commanded form and placed five on each side in the temple. He likewise placed ten tables, five on the right and five on the left, and made 100 gold bowls. He made the priests’ court and a great hall, whose doors he covered with brass. He placed the sea on the right side, facing east toward the south.

Hiram made caldrons, fleshhooks and bowls and finished the king’s work in God’s house. The list names two pillars, pommels, chapiters and network covering the chapiters over the pommels. It includes 400 pomegranates and two wreaths of network, with two rows of pomegranates joined to each wreath to cover the pommels and pillar chapiters. He made bases and lavers set on them, one sea and twelve oxen beneath it, and the caldrons, fleshhooks and bowls. The source calls the maker “Hiram his father” and says he made all these vessels for Solomon in the Lord’s house of the finest brass; it does not explain that designation here.

The king cast them in clay ground in the country near the Jordan, between Sochot and Saredatha. The vessels were innumerable, so the weight of the brass was not known.

Solomon made all the vessels for God’s house: the golden altar and tables for the loaves of proposition; candlesticks of most pure gold with lamps to give light before the oracle according to the manner; and certain flowers, lamps and golden tongs, all of the finest gold. The perfume vessels, censers, bowls and mortars were of pure gold. He engraved the doors of the inner temple, the holy of holies; the outer temple doors were of gold. Thus all the work Solomon made in the Lord’s house was finished.

The story inside

The chapter describes the brass altar and the sea through their measures, shape, decoration and supporting oxen. It then distinguishes the uses of the lavers and sea and gives the numbers and positions of the candlesticks and tables, alongside bowls, court, hall and doors. Hiram’s finished work is listed with the pillar decorations and other vessels. Their casting location is named, and their great multitude explains why the brass weight was not known. The closing list records Solomon’s gold vessels, lights and doors before stating that his work in the Lord’s house was finished. No additional account of manufacturing risks, ritual timing or symbolic ranks of metals is needed to explain this sequence.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The washing vessels have different stated uses. Five lavers stand on each side to wash things offered for holocausts; the sea is for priests. The sea’s 3,000-measure capacity, handbreadth thickness, cup-or-lily brim and twelve oxen are all part of the physical description. The chapter gives no water-supply method or schedule for the washing.
2
Numbers and placement make the inventory concrete. Each group of three oxen faces one of the four named directions with hind parts inward. Ten candlesticks and ten tables are each divided five per side, while 100 gold bowls form another count. The 400 pomegranates belong to the two network wreaths, with two rows joined to each; keeping those counts distinct avoids flattening the decoration.
3
The record names both a casting place and a limit to its measurement. The king casts in clay ground near the Jordan between Sochot and Saredatha, but the innumerable vessels leave the brass weight unknown. The final list supplies gold objects and doors and states completion of Solomon’s work here, without supplying an industrial method or claiming that the entire oracle was gold.

Test your recall

Things are to be offered for holocausts → the ten lavers provide their washing; priests need to wash → the sea has that separate use. The sea stands on twelve oxen → three face each named direction while their hind parts remain inward. The vessels are innumerable → their brass weight is not known. The brass work and gold vessels and doors are recorded → the chapter closes with Solomon’s work in the Lord’s house finished.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 44616–44619
2 Paralipomenon Chapter 4 The altar of brass, the molten sea upon twelve oxen, the ten loaves, the candlesticks and other vessels and ornaments of the temple.
Lines 44621–44640
4:1. He made also an altar of brass twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits broad, and ten cubits high. 4:2. Also a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass: it was five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits compassed it round about. 4:3. And under it there was the likeness of oxen, and certain engravings on the outside of ten cubits compassed the belly of the sea, as it were with two rows. 4:4. And the oxen were cast: and the sea itself was set upon the twelve oxen, three of which looked toward the north, and other three toward the west: and other three toward the south, and the other three that remained toward the east, and the sea stood upon them: and the hinder parts of the oxen were inward under the sea. 4:5. Now the thickness of it was a handbreadth, and the brim of it was like the brim of a cup, or of a crisped lily: and it held three thousand measures.
Lines 44642–44657
4:6. He made also ten lavers: and he set five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them all such things as they were to offer for holocausts: but the sea was for the priests to wash in. 4:7. And he made ten golden candlesticks, according to the form which they were commanded to be made by: and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left. 4:8. Moreover also ten tables: and he set them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. Also a hundred bowls of gold. 4:9. He made also the court of the priests, and a great hall, and doors in the hall, which he covered with brass. 4:10. And he set the sea on the right side over against the east toward the south.
Lines 44659–44675
4:11. And Hiram made caldrons, and fleshhooks, and bowls: and finished all the king’s work in the house of God: 4:12. That is to say, the two pillars, and the pommels, and the chapiters, and the network, to cover the chapiters over the pommels. 4:13. And four hundred pomegranates, and two wreaths of network, so that two rows of pomegranates were joined to each wreath, to cover the pommels, and the chapiters of the pillars. 4:14. He made also bases, and lavers, which he set upon the bases: 4:15. One sea, and twelve oxen under the sea; 4:16. And the caldrons, and fleshhooks, and bowls. All the vessels did Hiram his father make for Solomon in the house of the Lord of the finest brass.
Lines 44677–44681
4:17. In the country near the Jordan did the king cast them, in a clay ground between Sochot and Saredatha. 4:18. And the multitude of vessels was innumerable, so that the weight of the brass was not known.
Lines 44683–44697
4:19. And Solomon made all the vessels for the house of God, and the golden altar, and the tables, upon which were the loaves of proposition, 4:20. The candlesticks also of most pure gold with their lamps to give light before the oracle, according to the manner. 4:21. And certain flowers, and lamps, and golden tongs: all were made of the finest gold. 4:22. The vessels also for the perfumes, and the censers, and the bowls, and the mortars, of pure gold. And he graved the doors of the inner temple, that is, for the holy of holies: and the doors of the temple without were of gold. And thus all the work was finished which Solomon made in the house of the Lord.