2 Chronicles 4:3

Furnishings of the Temple

1 Moreover he made ^aa bronze altar: twenty cubits was its length, twenty cubits its width, and ten cubits its height.

2 ^aThen he made the¹ Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.

3 ^aAnd under it was the likeness of oxen encircling it all around, ten to a cubit, all the way around the Sea. The oxen were cast in two rows, when it was cast.

4 It stood on twelve ^aoxen: three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; the Sea was set upon them, and all their back parts pointed inward.

5 It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was shaped like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It contained¹ three thousand baths.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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2 Chronicles 4:3

Under it was the similitude of oxen - In I Kings 7:24, instead of oxen, bekarim , we have knops, pekaim ; and this last is supposed by able critics to be the reading which ought to be received here. What we call knops may signify grapes, mushrooms, apples, or some such ornaments placed round about under the turned over lip or brim of this caldron. It is possible that bekarim , oxen, may be a corruption of pekaim , grapes, as the pe might be mistaken for a beth , to which in ancient MSS. it has often a great resemblance, the dot under the top being often faint and indistinct; and the ain , on the same account might be mistaken for a resh . Thus grapes might be turned into oxen. Houbigant contends that the words in both places are right; but that bakar does not signify ox here, but al large kind of grape, according to its meaning in Arabic: and thus both places will agree. But I do not find that bakar , or bakarat , has any such meaning in Arabic. He was probably misled by the following, in the Arabic Lexicon, Camus, inserted under bakara , both by Giggeius and Golius, aino albikri , ox-eye, which is interpreted Genus uvae nigrae ac praeprandis, incredibilis dulcedinis. In Palaestina autem pro prunis absolute usurpatur . "A species of black grape, very large, and of incredible sweetness. It is used in Palestine for prune or plum." What is called the Damascene plum is doubtless meant; but bekarim , in the text, can never have this meaning, unless indeed we found it associated with ayin , eye, and then eyney bekarim might, according to the Arabic, be translated plums, grapes, sloes, or such like, especially those of the largest kind, which in size resemble the eye of an ox. But the criticism of this great man is not solid. The likeliest method of reconciling the two places is supposing a change in the letters, as specified above. The reader will at once see that what are called the oxen, II Chronicles 4:3, said to be round about the brim, are widely different from those II Chronicles 4:4, by which this molten sea was supported.

Other Adam Clarke entries containing 2 Chronicles 4:3:

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Furnishings of the Temple

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