2 Chronicles 4:20

Moreover the candlesticks with their lamps, that they should burn after the manner before the oracle, of pure gold;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) With (and) their lamps, that they should burn after the manner (according to the legal rule—2Chronicles 4:7). This is added by the chronicler, who omits “five on the right and five on the left” (Kings). The rest is as in Kings.

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 tables - A single table only is mentioned in 1 Kings 7:48; 2 Chronicles 29:18. It is supposed that Solomon made ten similar tables, any one of which might be used for the showbread; but that the bread was never placed on more than one table at a time.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. Huram made—(See on [417]1Ki 7:40).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

After the manner; according to the prescription of God to and by Moses.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

See Introduction to Chapter 4

Geneva Study Bible

Moreover the candlesticks with their lamps, that they should burn after the manner before the oracle, of pure gold;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

20. moreover the candlesticks] R.V. and the candlesticks. See 2 Chronicles 4:7, note.

after the manner] R.V. according to the ordinance.

the oracle] See note on 2 Chronicles 3:16.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 20. - Candlesticks... lamps, that they should burn after the manner before the oracle. Ten candlesticks, as we learn here and in ver. 7, supersede in Solomon's temple the one candlestick, with its central shaft lamp, and the three branch lamps on either side of Moses and the tabernacle (Exodus 25:31-37; Exodus 37:17-24; Leviticus 24:4; Josephus, 'Ant.,' 3:06. § 6, 7; Maimonides [1135-1205], "De temple, vasis sanctuarii," etc.). This single candlestick was restored in Zerubbabel's temple. The present ten candlesticks, or strictly candelabra, of Solomon are said at one time to have been placed in a row like a rail before the veil, and connected with a chain under which the high priest went on the Day of Atonement into the inner sanctuary. The removal of these candelabra is recorded Jeremiah 52:19. The expression, "after the manner," points to the various and somewhat minute regulation for the lighting, trimming, and keeping alight of the lamps, all or some, of the candelabra (Exodus 27:19-21; Leviticus 24:1-3). The use of the word for "lamp" (נֵר) in some passages (1 Samuel 3:3; 2 Samuel 21:17; Proverbs 13:9; Proverbs 20:27; Psalm 18:29)suggests not the part as used for the whole in speaking of the candelabrum, but more probably that the perpetual burning was not of all seven lamps, but of one, the central shaft. 2 Chronicles 4:20

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The golden furniture of the holy place and the gilded doors of the temple. This section is found also in 1 Kings 7:40-50. The enumeration of the things wrought in brass coincides to a word, with the exception of trifling linguistic differences and some defects in the text, with 1 Kings 7:40-47. In 2 Chronicles 4:12 והכּתרות הגּלּות is the true reading, and we should so read in 1 Kings 7:41 also, since the גּלּות, circumvolutions, are to be distinguished from the כּתרות, crowns; see on 2 Chronicles 3:16. In 2 Chronicles 4:14 the first עשׂה is a mistake for עשׂר, the second for עשׂרה, 1 Kings 7:43; for the verb עשׂה is not required nor expected, as the accusative depends upon לעשׂות, 2 Chronicles 4:11, while the number cannot be omitted, since it is always given with the other things. In 2 Chronicles 4:16 מזלנות is an orthographic error for מזרקות; cf. 2 Chronicles 4:11 and 1 Kings 7:44. ואת־כּל־כּליחם is surprising, for there is no meaning in speaking of the utensils of the utensils enumerated in 2 Chronicles 4:12-16. According to 1 Kings 7:45, we should read האלּה כּל־הכּלים את. As to אביו, see on 2 Chronicles 2:12. מרוּק נחשׁת is accusative of the material, of polished brass; and so also ממרט נח, 1 Kings 7:45, with a similar signification. In reference to the rest, see the commentary on 1 Kings 7:40.

2 Chronicles 4:19-21

In the enumeration of the golden furniture of the holy place, our text diverges somewhat more from 1 Kings 7:48-50. On the difference in respect to the tables of the shew-bread, see on 1 Kings 7:48. In 2 Chronicles 4:20 the number and position of the candlesticks in the holy place are not stated as they are in 1 Kings 7:49, both having been already given in 2 Chronicles 4:7. Instead of that, their use is emphasized: to light them, according to the right, before the most holy place (כּמּשׁפּט as in 2 Chronicles 4:7). As to the decorations and subordinate utensils of the candlesticks, see on 1 Kings 7:49. To זהב, 2 Chronicles 4:21 (accus. of the material), is added זהב מכלות הוּא, "that is perfect gold." מכלה, which occurs only here, is synonymous with מכלל, perfection. This addition seems superfluous, because before and afterwards it is remarked of these vessels that they were of precious gold (סגוּר זהב), and it is consequently omitted by the lxx, perhaps also because מכלות was not intelligible to them. The words, probably, are meant to indicate that even the decorations and the subordinate utensils of the candlesticks (lamps, snuffers, etc.) were of solid gold, and not merely gilded.