(b) HURAM'S WORKS IN BRASS (2Chronicles 4:11-18)

Comp. 1Kings 7:40-47.

Throughout this section the narrative almost textually coincides with the parallel account.

(11) And Huram made the pots.--1Kings 7:40 has "lavers" (pans). Our reading, "pots," appears correct, supported as it is by many MSS. and the LXX. and Vulg. of Kings. A single stroke makes the difference between the two words in Hebrew writing. These "pots" were scuttles for carrying away the ashes of the altar.

Basons.--"Bowls" (mizr?qoth). Probably the same as the mizr?qim of 2Chronicles 4:8. So kiyoroth (Kings) and kiyorim (Chron.).

Huram.--Hebrew text, Hiram, as in Kings. The LXX. renders: "And Hiram made the fleshhooks (????????) and the firepans (??????), and the hearth of the altar and all its vessels."

The work.--Kings, "all the work," and so some MSS., LXX., and Vulg. of Chron. The Syriac and Arabic omit 2Chronicles 4:11-17; 2Chronicles 4:19-22.

He was to make.--Rather, he made.

For the house.--In the house. Chronicles supplies the preposition in, which is not required according to ancient usage.

Verse 11. - The pots. As stated above, the Hebrew word is הַסִּירות. It occurs in the Old Testament twenty-seven times; it is translated in our Authorized Version "pans" once and "caldrons" four times. By a manifest copyist's error, the parallel (1 Kings 7:35) has כִירות, "layers," by the use of caph for samech. The use of the סִיר was to boil the peace offerings, though some say they were hods in which to carry away the ashes; and it certainly is remarkable that it is no one of the words employed in 1 Samuel 2:14. In addition to these twenty-seven times, it occurs also four times in Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Hosed, Nahum, with the meaning of "thorns," and once in Amos it is translated "fish-hooks." The passage in Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 7:6) is additionally remarkable, in the fact that the root occurs twice in the same sentence in its different significations, e.g. "the crackling of thorns under a pot." The shovels. The Hebrew word is הַיָעִים. This word occurs in the Old Testament nine times - in Exodus, Numbers, Kings, Chronicles, and Jeremiah. The use of the shovel was to remove the ashes. The basins should very probably read flesh-hooks.

4:1-22 The furniture of the temple. - Here is a further account of the furniture of God's house. Both without doors and within, there was that which typified the grace of the gospel, and shadowed out good things to come, of which the substance is Christ. There was the brazen altar. The making of this was not mentioned in the book of Kings. On this all the sacrifices were offered, and it sanctified the gift. The people who worshipped in the courts might see the sacrifices burned. They might thus be led to consider the great Sacrifice, to be offered in the fulness of time, to take away sin, and put an end to death, which the blood of bulls and goats could not possibly do. And, with the smoke of the sacrifices, their hearts might ascend to heaven, in holy desires towards God and his favour. In all our devotions we must keep the eye of faith fixed upon Christ. The furniture of the temple, compared with that of the tabernacle, showed that God's church would be enlarged, and his worshippers multiplied. Blessed be God, there is enough in Christ for all.See Introduction to Chapter 4