2 Chronicles 4:2

Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Even if pôthôth be correct in Kings, the chronicler might have understood the word to mean openings, rather than hinges, and so have substituted the common word pethah, which has that sense. The resemblance of the one word to the other would be a further consideration in its favour, according to ancient notions of interpretation.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-22 The furniture of the temple. - Here is a further account of the furniture of God's house. Both without doors and within, there was that which typified the grace of the gospel, and shadowed out good things to come, of which the substance is Christ. There was the brazen altar. The making of this was not mentioned in the book of Kings. On this all the sacrifices were offered, and it sanctified the gift. The people who worshipped in the courts might see the sacrifices burned. They might thus be led to consider the great Sacrifice, to be offered in the fulness of time, to take away sin, and put an end to death, which the blood of bulls and goats could not possibly do. And, with the smoke of the sacrifices, their hearts might ascend to heaven, in holy desires towards God and his favour. In all our devotions we must keep the eye of faith fixed upon Christ. The furniture of the temple, compared with that of the tabernacle, showed that God's church would be enlarged, and his worshippers multiplied. Blessed be God, there is enough in Christ for all.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The supplementary character of Chronicles is here once more apparent. The author of Kings had omitted to record the dimensions of the brass altar. It stood in the great court 2 Chronicles 6:12-13.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 4:2-5. Molten Sea.

2. he made a molten sea—(See on [414]1Ki 7:23), as in that passage "knops" occur instead of "oxen." It is generally supposed that the rows of ornamental knops were in the form of ox heads.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

A molten sea: of this and 2 Chronicles 4:3-5, &c., See Poole "1 Kings 7:23", &c.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

See Introduction to Chapter 4

Geneva Study Bible

Also he made a molten {a} sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.

(a) A great vessel of brass, so called because of the great quantity of water which it contained, 1Ki 7:24.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2–5 (= 1 Kings 7:23-26). The Molten Sea

2. he made a molten sea] Render, he made the sea of molten metal. The “sea” or great laver was a well-known feature in temples, being a symbol of the purity needful for those who come into the divine presence. So in the heavenly temple before the throne there is a “sea” of glass (Revelation 4:6).

five cubits the height thereof] R.V. the height thereof was five cubits.

a line of thirty cubits did compass it] i.e. it was thirty cubits in circumference.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - A molten sea. The Hebrew of this verse and of 1 Kings 7:23 are facsimiles of one author, except that here קָו stands, where the parallel shows קוה, probably the fruit merely of some error in transcription. Verses like these point not to the derivation of Chronicles from Kings, but rather of both from some older common source. This sea of brass superseded the laver of the tabernacle (Exodus 30:18, 28; Exodus 31:9; Exodus 35:16; Exodus 39:39). It was called a sea on account of its size. We are told in 1 Chronicles 18:8 whence David had drawn the supplies of metal necessary for this work. The size of the diameter measured from upper rim to rim (ten cubits) harmonizes, of course, to all practical purposes, with that of the circumference (thirty cubits); it would assist questions connected with the contents of this large vessel, however, if we had been told whether the circumference were measured at the rim, or, as the form of language here used might slightly favour, round the girth. (For these questions, see ver. 5 below.) This sea for the washing of the priests significantly follows the altar. Beside the general suggestion of the need of purification or sanctification, it here reminds of the fact that the earthly priest and high priest must need the purification, which their great Antitype would not need. 2 Chronicles 4:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The brazen sea described as in 1 Kings 7:23-26. See the commentary on that passage, and the sketch in my Archaeol. i. plate iii. fig. 1. The differences in substance, such as the occurrence of בּקרים and הבּקר, 2 Chronicles 4:3, instead of פּקעים and הפּקים, and 3000 baths instead of 2000, are probably the result of orthographical errors in the Chronicle. יכיל in 2 Chronicles 4:5 appears superfluous after the preceding מחזיק, and Berth. considers it a gloss which has come from 1 Kings to our text by mistake. But the expression is only pleonastic: "receiving baths, 3000 it held;" and there is no sufficient reason to strike out the words.