SERIES L --- THE NATION DIVIDES --- LESSON 08

TEMPLE VESSELS

THE TEMPLE VESSELS

From 1 Kings 7:23-50; 2 Chronicles 4:1-22

Hiram, the skilled craftsman from Tyre, began the work of making vessels for the temple. After he skilfully cast the great bronze pillars, he made a large bronze basin, called a laver. It was fifteen feet across from one brim to the other and forty-five feet around the brim, which was seven and a half feet from the ground. On the lower part of the rim were two rows of rosebuds, cast as part of the total basin. The base on which this great laver sat was made of bronze and was cast as twelve large oxen, three facing each direction; north, east, south and west. The basin itself was four inches thick, shaped like a goblet or lily blossom. It held three thousand barrels of water, about twelve to eighteen thousand gallons. Hiram also made a great bronze altar. It was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide and fifteen feet high. Next, he made ten vats which held the water which the priests used to wash the offerings. Five of these vats were placed to the right of the great aver and five to the left. When the priests washed, they used these vats instead of the laver. The ten vats were placed on ten movable stands. Each stand had four wheels and was six feet wide, six feet long and four and a half feet high. The stands had frames with panels in them. The panels were decorated with carved lions, oxen and cherubim. The frames were decorated with rosettes or wreaths. Each stand had four bronze wheels which moved on bronze axles supported at each of the four corners by bronze posts decorated with rosettes or wreaths. The wheels were like chariot wheels, with axles, rims, spokes and hubs of cast bronze. The wheels were under the framework and the axles were part of the framework, each wheel was about twenty-seven inches high. The top of each stand was about a foot and a half high and two and a fourth feet deep, round with concave centre, with rosettes or wreaths decorating its sides. A round band circled the top, about nine inches deep and was cast as part of the frame. Around it was lions, palm trees and rosettes or wreaths. The ten bronze stands were all exactly alike, cast from the same mould. Ten bronze lavers or basins were cast and placed on the ten stands, each containing between two and four hundred gallons of water. Hiram also cast the pots, shovels and basins necessary for the temple work. He cast ten golden lamp stands and put five against each wall of the temple. Then he made ten tables and placed five against each wall. He also made one hundred solid gold bowls. He constructed a court for the priests and another court for the people. He covered the doors of these courts with bronze. The great laver was placed in the southeast corner of the outer area of the temple. Here is a list of the things which Hiram [also called Huram or Huramabi] made for King Solomon:

The two great bronze pillars,
The capitals for the pillars,
Latticework for the capitals,
Pomegranates for the capitals,
Ten stands and vats for washing,
The great layer and twelve bronze oxen for its base and
Pots, shovels, basins and flesh hooks.

The bronze castings were made in the clay ground of the plain of the Jordan River between Succoth and Zarthan. The total weight of the bronze castings was so great that nobody bothered to account for all of it. The vessels and furniture in the temple itself were all made of solid gold. These items included the altar, the table for the Bread of the Presence, ten lamp stands, flowers, lamps, tongs, cups, snuffers, basins, spoons, fire pans and sockets which served as hinges for the doors to the Holy of Holies and the entrance. All these things were made of solid gold.

COMMENTARY

SOLOMON’S COPPER INDUSTRY

The list of gold, silver, and bronze vessels for the temple is impressive. How was it possible? During the reign of Solomon, Israel was one of the wealthiest nations of the world. Where this wealth could be better lavished than on the temple of Adonai, Who was the source of all blessings. Where were the copper mines which provided Solomon with much of his legendary wealth? For hundreds of years that question has fascinated everyone who has read of Solomon’s copper industry. Biblical texts indicate that Solomon mined copper in the Arabah; the vast desert in southern Palestine. Ancient peoples knew of the rich mineral deposits in this area centuries before Solomon became king. In fact, Egyptian pharaohs of the fourteenth century B.C. began copper works in the Timnah Valley, their workmen included the expert Kenite smiths whose tradition of metal craftsmanship went back to prehistoric times. In copper-rich areas, lumps of the soft metal were buried just beneath the surface of the earth. In many places, lumps were visible in exposed cliff-faces or outcroppings of valley walls. Veins of the reddish-brown metal also ran deep into the earth, becoming less pure as they mixed with other materials. This copper was fairly easy to mine. Simple flint and stone hammers were capable of cracking the limestone rock embedding the metal nodules. Once the rock was loose, workmen had only to gather the lumps of raw copper ore. The task of melting ore into usable metal was not difficult either. Of all the ancient metals, copper was the easiest to work. Smiths heated the ore in charcoal burning furnaces shaped like beehives. These stone smelting furnaces focused heat around the clay crucibles holding the ore. Air holes in the bottom of the furnaces allowed smiths to pump a draft over the coals, keeping them red-hot. To make bronze, coppersmiths simply smelted copper and tin ores together. While still liquid, the molten metal could be cast into bars for shipping or laded directly into clay moulds. Clay from the Jordan Valley was of excellent quality for such moulds. Here the Phoenician craftsmen cast the bronze work for the temple. Some archaeologists believe that Solomon mined his copper near Ezion-geber and built special smelting furnaces there. Ruins of ancient furnaces, air flues and other remains exist, indicating that it was once a thriving metalworking centre. The harbour at Ezion-geber housed Solomon’s fleet of trading ships, which could have carried copper to foreign ports. Other archaeologists think these ruins are Egyptian; built and discarded long before Solomon’s time. They believe Solomon imported most of his copper from Syria. The question of Solomon’s copper industry still fascinates us today, even though we do not have all the answers!