1 Kings 7:22

And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:13-47 The two brazen pillars in the porch of the temple, some think, were to teach those that came to worship, to depend upon God only, for strength and establishment in all their religious exercises. Jachin, God will fix this roving mind. It is good that the heart be established with grace. Boaz, In him is our strength, who works in us both to will and to do. Spiritual strength and stability are found at the door of God's temple, where we must wait for the gifts of grace, in use of the means of grace. Spiritual priests and spiritual sacrifices must be washed in the laver of Christ's blood, and of regeneration. We must wash often, for we daily contract pollution. There are full means provided for our cleansing; so that if we have our lot for ever among the unclean it will be our own fault. Let us bless God for the fountain opened by the sacrifice of Christ for sin and for uncleanness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Septuagint in the parallel passage (margin reference), translate Jachin and Boaz by Κατόρθωσις Katorthōsis and Ἰσχύς Ischus - "Direction" and "Strength." The literal meaning of the names is given in the margin. The meaning was probably "God will establish in strength" (i. e. firmly) the temple and the religion connected with it.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. Jachin and … Boaz—These names were symbolical, and indicated the strength and stability—not so much of the material temple, for they were destroyed along with it (Jer 52:17), as of the spiritual kingdom of God, which was embodied in the temple.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And upon the top of the pillars was lily work,.... Which seems to be repeated from 1 Kings 7:19 and confirms that:

and so was the work of the pillars finished; in the manner described.

Geneva Study Bible

And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. upon the top of the pillars] The lily work is mentioned again because it was the topmost part of the ornament, and the pillars have been described from the bottom upwards. Hence it was fit to speak of it here, where it is said the work of the pillars was finished.

We have already seen that it is not probable that these pillars stood out in the open space of the court, but on either side within the porch which was before the holy place. Their dimensions give the impression that they were only for ornament, and did not bear up any part of the structure. The height of the porch is not mentioned in 1 Kings 6:3. Therefore we might presume that it was the height of the rest of the building of the holy place, viz. 30 cubits. Even for such a porch these pillars of 23 cubits could hardly have been intended as supports. But in 2 Chronicles (1 Kings 3:4) the porch is said to have been 120 cubits high, and so in Josephus (Ant. viii. 3, 2), for which height pillars like those here described are quite out of proportion. Moreover, none of Hiram’s work seems to have been intended for the temple-building, but only for its decoration and furniture. It seems best therefore to consider these pillars as significant ornaments of the Temple porch. See also on this matter the note on 1 Kings 6:3 above.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - And upon the top of the pillars was lily work [a repetition, in the Hebrew manner, of ver. 19. The "lily work," which probably involved two things,

(1) that the capital had a rude resemblance to a "full blown lily cup" (Bahr), and

(2) that representations of the leaf of the lily ere pourtrayed upon it (as in the cornice of Hersepolis, an illustration of which will be found Dict. Bib. 3. p. 1457), was a not unfitting finial to the column, as it formed a sort of crown or chaplet upon it. The two pillars would thus resemble two giant plants, the column answering to the stalk, the capital to the flower. The ideas of architecture, it is well known, have very frequently been derived from the vegetable kingdom. 1 Kings 7:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In 1 Kings 7:22 it is stated again that there was lily-work upon the head of the pillars, - a repetition which may be explained from the significance of this emblem of the capitals of the pillars; and then the words, "So was the work of the capitals finished," bring the account of this ornament of the temple to a close.