And he made ten bases of brass ,.... Seats, stands, or settles for the ten lavers after mentioned: four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof ; as broad as it was long, and so a square, that the laver might stand firm upon it: and three cubits the height of it ; from the ground plates to the surface, that the priests might be able to reach the layers, and wash their sacrifices. read more
And the work of the bases was on this manner ,.... The following was the form in which they were made: they had borders ; plates of brass all around them, which enclosed them: and the borders were between the ledges ; which were short staves or bars of brass, that stood upright all around, like the staves of a cart on each side, or the rails of a balcony, only in double rows; and between these were the borders or plates of brass. read more
And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims ,.... The figures of them, for ornament sake; the cherubim, being distinguished from lions and oxen might be figures of men, or else of eagles, as Josephus F25 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect. 5.) , see Ezekiel 1:10 . and upon the ledges there was a base above ; a flat piece of brass laid upon the top of the staves or bars: and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work... read more
And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass ,.... Flat pieces or planks of brass, on which the wheels stood, and not on the bare floor; so that these wheels seem only to serve as supporters, not to carry the laver from place to place, as is usually said; for they were not like chariot wheels, on two sides of the carriage, but set one at each square; and besides, when the lavers were placed upon them, they were fixed in a certain place, 1 Kings 7:39 . and the four corners... read more
And the mouth of it within the chapiter, and above, was a cubit ,.... On the lid of the base rose up a lesser base, called the chapiter, which was circular, like a coronet, as the word signifies, the inside of which was hollow, for the lower part of the layer to rest in; this ascended straight up half a cubit, and then widening, went up half a cubit more, and so in its whole height, as here a cubit; the circuit or circumference of which is called the mouth of the base, into which the feet of... read more
And under the borders were four wheels ,.... Not under the borders last mentioned, but those in 1 Kings 7:29 , and the axle trees of the wheels were joined to the base ; to the four sides of it: and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit ; that is, from the plate of brass on which it stood, to the axis or semicircle of it; so that the highest part of the ring being also a cubit and an half, reached to the top of the base, it being but three cubits high, 1 Kings 7:27 ... read more
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. read more
And there were four undersetters to the four corners of one base ,.... Or pillars, as in 1 Kings 7:30 . and the undersetters were of the base itself ; they were cast together, and of the same piece of metal with it. read more
And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high ,.... The same with the chapiter, 1 Kings 7:31 which rose up straight half a cubit, and widening upwards half a cubit more, here called the round compass of it: and on the top of the base, the ledges thereof and the borders thereof, were of the same ; of the same piece of brass with the base, all being cast together. read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 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, 1 Chron. 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 (2 Chron. 4:11), who was by his mother's side an Israelite, of the tribe of Naphtali, by his father's side a... read more