1 Kings 7:33

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…

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 7:27

he made ten bases of brass--These were trucks or four-wheeled carriages, for the support and conveyance of the lavers. The description of their structure shows that they were elegantly fitted up and skilfully adapted to their purpose. They stood, not on the axles, but on four rests attached to the axles, so that the figured sides were considerably raised above the wheels. They were all exactly alike in form and size. The lavers which were borne upon them were vessels capable each of holding three hundred gallons of water, upwards of a ton weight. The whole, when full of water, would be no less than two tons [NAPIER].

Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 7:27

He made ten bases - That is, pedestals, for the ten lavers to rest on.

John Gill on 1 Kings 7:33

And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel,.... In the same form and fashion as one of them; the Targum is, "like a chariot of glory;'' a splendid one, curiously wrought; unless reference is had in it to the chariot of Ezekiel's vision: their axle trees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, were all molten; cast together when the base was.

Keil & Delitzsch