1 Kings 7:19

And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars [It is difficult to believe that these words, which are identical with those in 1 Kings 7:16 , 1 Kings 7:17 , 1 Kings 7:18 , can refer to a different—a second and superposed capital (Rawlinson), or to the entablature (Fergusson)] were of lily work [ i.e; bassirelievi in imitation of flowering lilies. Probably the bowl-shaped chapiter was treated as a fullblown lily, just as the capitals of Egyptian pillars took the form of the lotus. The molten sea was similarly treated ( 1 Kings 7:26 ). The lily ( שׁוּשַׁן ), from שׁוּשׁ ), to be white ) , was undoubtedly an emblem of purity. Bähr observes that it may justly be named "the flower of the promised land," and that as the lotus was the religious flower of the Indian and Egyptian religions, so was the lily of the Jewish] in the porch [These words, בָּאוּלָם , are very obscure. Keil understands" as in the hall" (cf. κατὰ τὸ αὐλὰμ , LXX .) But that idea would have been expressed by כָאוּלָם , and nothing is said elsewhere about any lily work in the porch (Bähr). Ewald, too, thinks the decoration of the porch is referred to, and holds that a description of this lily work must once have preceded this statement, though it is now wanting. Thenius, al . suppose them to refer to the position of the pillars within the porch, and the "four cubits" mentioned presently, they take to indicate the diameter of the capitals. Wordsworth would render "inside or toward the porch," and understands that the lily work was only on the inside of the pillars. It is, perhaps, impossible to arrive at any certain conclusion], four cubits . [This may either mean that of five cubits (which was the height of the entire capital), four, and these the upper four ( 1 Kings 7:22 ), were covered with lily work, while one cubit at the bottom of the capital was ornamented with chain-work or festeons—we can hardly believe that nets, chains, and lily work were all combined in the same space, or it may refer to the position of the pillars in the portico.]