Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 7:26
And it [was] a handbreadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.
26. an handbreadth thick ] i.e. The metal of which it was made.
with flowers of lilies ] Rather (as R.V.) ‘like the flower of lily.’ This is to indicate that the brim bent outward and not that lily-flowers were all round it.
it contained two thousand baths ] In 2Ch 4:5 it is said ‘three thousand baths.’ Perhaps the smaller quantity was about what was usually kept in supply, the larger what it could contain if it were quite full.
The ‘bath’ was the largest Hebrew liquid measure, but it is not easy to discover what its size was. According to Josephus it held rather more than 8 gallons. Other data make it about half that size. A vessel that could contain 16,000 gallons must have been very enormous to be made in one casting. And the dimensions given, viz. a diameter of 10 cubits by a depth of 5 cubits if the cubit = 18 inches would not hold so much, unless the sides were bowed outward very considerably so as to make the diameter much greater in the inside than at the top. But the description of Josephus makes it to be hemispherical, so that the diameter would be largest at the top. A vessel of this shape however could not be made to rest on the backs of twelve oxen without a good deal of contrivance, while with a cylindrical vessel there is no difficulty. Now a cylinder of the dimensions given in 1Ki 7:23, taking the cubit = 18 inches, would contain nearly 8260 gallons. It seems therefore that the Hebrew ‘bath’ should be taken as a measure of rather more than 4 gallons. The figures which Josephus gives are so frequently exaggerated, very often doubled, that it need not trouble us if they appear so in this case. The difference between Chronicles and Kings above mentioned may be due to the misreading of a letter in the Hebrew form of notation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The palm or hand-breadth seems to have a little exceeded three inches.
With flowers of lilies – Rather, in the shape of a lily flower. The rim was slightly curved outward, like the rim of an ordinary drinking-cup, or the edge of a lily blossom. See 2Ch 4:5 margin.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Which amounts to five hundred barrels, each bath containing about eight gallons; the bath being a measure of the same bigness with an ephah, Eze 45:11.
Object. This sea is said to contain three thousand baths, 2Ch 4:5.
Answ. Either there were two sorts of baths, as of cubits, the one common, the other sacred, and the sacred held half as much more as the common; or rather, he here speaks of what it did actually and usually contain, to wit, two thousand baths, which was sufficient for use; and in 2Ch 4:5, he speaks of what it could contain if it were filled to the brim, as it is implied in the Hebrew words, which differ from these, and properly sound thus, strengthening itself, (to wit, to receive and hold as much as it could, or being filled to its utmost capacity,) it contained, or could contain, three thousand baths.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And it was an hand breadth thick,…. Or four fingers, as in
Jer 52:21
and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup,
with flowers of lilies, embroidered and engraven on it for ornament sake:
it contained 2,000 baths; which is reckoned about five hundred barrels of water; it was filled by the Gibeonites; in 2Ch 4:5, it is said to receive and hold 3,000 baths, which the Jewish writers s thus reconcile; they suppose here it means so many baths of liquid, as the Targum expresses, there of dry measure, which might be heaped up, and so contain more; but as this was a vessel for water, and this distinction seems to answer no purpose, it may be better to observe, that in common, for the use of the priests, whether for washing their hands and feet, or dipping their bodies, it had no more than 2,000 baths in it, but, if filled up to the brim, it would hold 3,000. How a vessel of such dimensions should hold so much is difficult to account for; the Rabbins say t, that in the two upper cubits of it it was circular, and in the three lower cubits square, by which they imagine it would hold more, and the position of it on the oxen seems to countenance this; but very probably it was wider, and bellied out in the lower part of it, and so more capacious; but of the contents of this, according to mathematical rules, see a treatise of Bishop Cumberland’s u. It is said w of a temple of Neptune’s, in the fore part of it were two signs of him, and another of Amphitrite, and that was a brasen sea. This brasen sea of Solomon was typical of Christ, the fountain opened to wash in for uncleanness, by all that are made priests unto God; and this being larger than the laver in the tabernacle, may denote the greater efficacy of Christ’s blood than in anything in the law of Moses to cleanse from sin; and the larger provision made for it, not only for Israel, but for all the people of God in the several nations of the world, in the four quarters of it; being published, and proclaimed, and directed to by the twelve apostles of Christ, and by all Gospel ministers since, signified by oxen for their laboriousness and strength. In the second temple there were no sea, nor bases, after mentioned, nor lavers, but one, which stood between the porch and the altar, which was for the priests to wash their hands and feet at x.
s Shilte Hagibborim, c. 27. fol. 23. 4. t T. Bab. Eruvin, fol. 14. 2. u Of Scripture Weights and Measures, c. 3. p. 93, &c. w Pausaniae Corinthiaca, sive, l. 2. p. 87. x Shilte Hagibborim, c. 27. fol. 24. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
26. Like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies Literally, its lip was as the work of the lip of a cup a flower of a lily. The brim curved outward, and was engraved with lily flowers.
Two thousand baths About seventeen thousand gallons. The reading three thousand, in 2Ch 4:5, is probably an error. By estimating the capacity of this sea from its dimensions, as given in 1Ki 7:23, it seems hardly possible that it could have held so much. But all calculations based on the dimensions given in 1Ki 7:23 must be uncertain because of our ignorance of the exact shape of the laver. Perhaps the two thousand baths may denote the capacity, not only of the laver or sea proper, but also of the basin beneath it, as seen in the cut. This sea held the water which the priests used for their ablutions. 2Ch 4:6.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 7:26 And it [was] an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.
Ver. 26. It contained two thousand baths. ] This it held ordinarily; but if filled up to the brim, it could hold three thousand baths. 2Ch 4:5 Out of this molten sea, or lake – as Junius rendereth it – the priests, by cocks or otherwise, drew water to wash themselves and other things with.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
two thousand. 2Ch 4:5 says three thousand. But 1Ki 7:26 speaks of what it did (usually) contain; while 2Ch 4:5 speaks of what it could ” receive and hold”. No bath in use is filled to its full capacity.
baths. See App-51.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
an hand breadth: Jer 52:21
with flowers: 1Ki 7:19, 1Ki 6:18, 1Ki 6:32, 1Ki 6:35
it contained: This immense laver, called a sea from it magnitude, held, at a moderate computation, 16,000 gallons. Besides this great brazen laver, there were in the temple ten lavers of brass of a less size, which moved on wheels, and were ornamented with the figures of various animals, having, probably, always some relation to the cherubim. These lavers were to hold water for the use of the priests in their sacred office, particularly to wash the victims that were to be offered as a burnt offering, as we learn from 2Ch 4:6, but the brazen sea was for the priests to wash in. The knops are supposed to have been in the form of an ox’s head – 2Ch 4:3, and some think the water flowed out at their mouths.
two thousand: 1Ki 7:38, 2Ch 4:5, Eze 45:14
Reciprocal: 2Ch 2:10 – baths of wine
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7:26 And it [was] an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand {p} baths.
(p) Bath and ephah seem to be one measure, Eze 45:11 a bath contains about 5 gallons.