2 Chronicles 4:7

SOLOMON'S CORRUPTED VERSION OF THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS

"And he made the candlesticks of gold according to the ordinance concerning them; and he set them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. And he made a hundred basins of gold. Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors of them with brass. And he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south. And Huram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins."

There was hardly anything that Solomon touched that he did not corrupt it in one way or another. The candlestick he perverted from the divine pattern of seven branches, and made it into ten. Instead of putting it on the south side of the holy place, he put five on one side, and five on the other. The table of the showbread was changed into ten tables with five on the north side and five on the south (2 Chronicles 4:19).

He made the candlesticks of gold according to the ordinance concerning them (2 Chronicles 4:7). This should not mislead us. God had indeed required the candlesticks to be of gold; and, in that alone did Solomon heed the divine ordinance. That this is true is proved by the fact that when the second temple was constructed, the golden candlestick was again conformed to the pattern in the tabernacle, as proved by the bas relief depicting it upon the Arch of Titus in Rome, where it is visible today.