Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 52:21 And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness th…
1 Kings 7:21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the…
2 Chronicles 3:15-17 Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high, and the chapiter that was on the top of each of them was five cubi…
1 Kings 7:41 The two pillars, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars; and the two networks, to cover the two bowls of…
2 Kings 25:16-17 The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
2 Chronicles 4:12-22 To wit, the two pillars, and the pommels, and the chapiters which were on the top of the two pillars, and the two wreaths to cover the two p…
Jeremiah 52:13 And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 7:13-47
We have here an account of the brass-work about the temple. There was no iron about the temple, though we find David preparing for the temple iron for things of iron, Ch1 29:2. What those things were we are not told, but some of the things of brass are here described and the rest mentioned.
I. The brasier whom Solomon employed to preside in this part of the work was Hiram, or Huram (Ch2 4:11), who was by his mother's side an Israelite, of the tribe of Naphtali, by his father's side a man of Tyre, Kg1 7:14. If he had the ingenuity of a Tyrian, and the affection of an Israelite to the house of God (the head of a Tyrian and the heart of an Israelite), it was happy that the blood of the two nati…
two pillars of brass of eighteen cubits high--They were made of the brass (bronze) which was taken from the king of Zobah (Ch1 18:8). In Ch2 3:15 they are said to have been thirty-five cubits high. There, however, their joint lengths are given; whereas here the length of the pillars is given separately. Each pillar was seventeen and a half cubits long, which is stated, in round numbers, as eighteen. Their dimensions in English measure are as follows: The pillars without the capitals measured thirty-two and a half feet long, and seven feet diameter; and if hollow, as WHISTON, in his translation of JOSEPHUS, thinks (Jer 52:21), the metal would be about three and a half inches thick; so that th…
He cast two pillars - eighteen cubits high - That is, about thirty feet in English measure.
A line of twelve cubits - In circumference. It would be difficult even now to procure a founder who could cast such massive pillars, whether solid or hollow.
John Gill on 1 Kings 7:15
For he cast two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece,.... In 2 Chronicles 3:15 they are said to be thirty five cubits high, which must be understood of the length or height of them both; and whereas that would allow but seventeen cubits and a half to a pillar, either the round number of eighteen is used, or half a cubit in each may be allowed, either for the base or pedestal into which they were put; or the chapiter at the top of them, into which they might go such a length, and so only what was seen is described:
and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about; that was the circumference of them, and therefore their diameter must be four cubits. Eupolemus, an Heathen…
The Church Fathers
Hence it is good that we are told that two bronze pillars of excellent and marvelous work were set up in this porch and that capitals worked to resemble lilies were placed on top of them. The pillars stood in front of the door of the temple because illustrious teachers, concerning whom the apostle says, "James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars," precede the coming of our Redeemer, to bear testimony to the coming of the one who said, "I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved." One of these [pillars] stood at the right of the door and the other at the left, because they foretold to the people of Israel, then fervent with divine faith and charity, the future incarnation of their Redeemer; and they proclaimed to the Gentiles, still as it were facing north, numb with the cold of unbelief, that this [door] was to be opened to make way for the entry of the Redeemer. That the capitals of the pillars were made by a workman to resemble lilies signifies that the entire import of the preaching [of James, Cephas and John] resounded with the clarity of everlasting happiness and promised that his glory would be seen by their hearers. He who existed as God before the ages became a human being at the end of the ages, so that like the flower of the lily he might have a golden color within and be white on the outside. For what is the significance of the glow of gold surrounded by whiteness except the brilliance of divinity in a human being? He first revealed this human being as brilliant because of his virtues, and after his death he clothed him in the snowy white splendor of incorruptibility.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Boaz — Alacrity. (1.) The husband of Ruth, a wealthy Bethlehemite. By the “levirate law” the duty devolved on him of marrying Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 4:1-13). He was a kinsman of Mahlon, her first husband.…
Jachin and Boaz — The names of two brazen columns set up in Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 7:15-22). Each was eighteen cubits high and twelve in circumference (Jer. 52:21, 23; 1 Kings 7:17-21). They had doubtless a…
Temple — First used of the tabernacle, which is called “the temple of the Lord” (1 Sam. 1:9). In the New Testament the word is used figuratively of Christ’s human body (John 2:19, 21). Believers are called…
Brass · .Altar, vessels, and other articles of the tabernacle and temple — .Altar, vessels, and other articles of the tabernacle and temple
Brass, Or Copper · Made into: Pillars — Made into: Pillars
Carving · Hiram — Hiram
Hiram · of the interior of the temple — of the interior of the temple
Master Workman · .Hiram — .Hiram
Mechanic · .Hiram — .Hiram
Molding · Of pillars — Of pillars
Pillar · Of — Of
Pillars · Made of: Brass — Made of: Brass
Temple, The First · The porch of: Pillars of, with their chapiters described
The brazen pillars of the porch (compare Ch2 3:15-17). - He formed the two brazen pillars, which were erected, according to Ch2 3:15, "before the (temple) house, i.e., in front of the hall of the temple. One was eighteen cubits high, and a thread of twelve cubits surrounded (spanned) the other pillar." The statement of the height of the one pillar and that of the circumference of the other is to be understood as an abbreviated expression, signifying that the height and thickness mentioned applied to the one as well as to the other, or that they were alike in height and circumference. According to the Chronicles, they were thirty-five cubits long; which many expositors understand as signifyin…
The two bronze pillars were probably free-standing since the narrator describes them here rather than in the earlier discussion of the Temple structure (6:3-6).
Rashi on 1 Kings 7:15
The two columns. Which he placed at the entrance hall,21He placed them at the entrance to the Temple’s hall. See v. 21 below. Yachin and Bo’az.
Eighteen amohs was the height, etc. And in Divrei Hayomim it states, “[their height was] thirty-five amohs.”22II Divrei Hayomim 3:15. Radak further explains that the 35 amohs that is stated in Divrei Hayomim refers to the length of the column as it lays on the ground; once it is erected it is called height. He cast both as one, and the one amoh which was missing,23Alternatively, each column was actually 17.5 amohs, and the 18 amohs stated here is an approximation.—Ralbag. Or, the additional amoh was a result of hammering the column. I say, that at t…
— The porch of: Pillars of, with their chapiters described
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
