the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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1 Kings 7:23
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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- InternationalContextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
he made: Exodus 30:18-21, Exodus 38:8
a molten sea: 2 Kings 25:13, 2 Chronicles 4:2, Jeremiah 52:17, Jeremiah 52:20
the one brim to the other: Heb. his brim to his brim
Reciprocal: 1 Kings 7:44 - one sea 2 Kings 16:17 - borders Revelation 4:6 - a sea
Cross-References
The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
The Lord then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
Then Yahweh said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this generation.
Then the LORD said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.
And the Lord said vnto Noah: come thou and al thy house into ye arke: for thee haue I seen ryghteous before me in this generation.
Then the Lord said to Noah, "I have seen that you are a good man, even among the evil people of this time. So gather your family, and all of you go into the boat.
Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.
Also the Lord seide to Noe, Entre thou and al thin hous in to the schip, for Y seiy thee iust bifore me in this generacioun.
And the LORD saide vnto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the Arke: for thee haue I seene righteous before me, in this generation.
And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And he made a molten sea,.... A large vessel made of molten brass, which, because of the great quantity of water it held, is called a sea; as it was usual with the Jews to call a large collection of waters a sea, as the sea of Tiberius and Galilee. This was made by the man of Tyre, as the pillars, by the order of Solomon, and answered to the brasen laver in the tabernacle, only larger than that; and was not only for the priests to wash their hands and feet in, but to dip upon occasion, and by the Jews p is expressly said to be a dipping place for the priests, see 2 Chronicles 4:6,
ten cubits from the one brim to the other: which was the diameter of it: it was round all about; spherical or circular; not as an hemisphere, as Josephus q, and Procopius Gazaeus, but rather cylindrical:
and his height was five cubits; from the bottom of it, not including the pedestal of oxen on which it stood:
and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about; this was the circumference of it; which answers to the diameter of ten cubits, or near it, a round number being given not strictly mathematical.
(Sceptics have ridiculed the Bible for saying that the mathematical constant π is 3 instead of the more precise 3.14159. (This number is an "irrational number" and needs an infinite number digits to specify it exactly.) Two explanations for the apparent lack of precision in the measurement are given.
1) The circumference given may be for the inside circumference and the diameter may be the diameter including the thickness of the rim. This would yield a very accurate mathematical result for the inside circumference of thirty cubits. The outside circumference would be about 31.4 cubits giving a rim thickness of four inches or an hand breadth agreeing with 1 Kings 7:26.
2) In 1 Kings 7:26 we read the vessel "was wrought like the brim of a cup." That is the brim on the top of the vessel was wider than the main part of the vessel. The diameter would be given for the brim. If the brim or lip extended about four inches past the main body of the vessel then the outside circumference of the main part of the vessel would be exactly thirty cubits.
In each case the mathematical ratio for circumference of the circle is
πd, where "d" is the diameter and π is the number 3.14159 ..... For a more complete discussion on this see the article by Russel Grigg. r. Editor.)
p T. Hieros, Yema, fol. 41. 1 q Antiqu. l. 8. c. 3. sect 5. r "Does the Bible say pi equals 3.0?", Russell Greg, page 24, "Ex Nihil", March-May Issue, Vol. 17. No. 2., Creation Science Foundation Ltd. Brisbane, Australia.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
The “molten sea “of Solomon, so called from its great size, took the place of the laver of the tabernacle Exodus 30:18-21, which was required for the ablutions of the priests. It was ten cubits, or fully fifteen feet, in diameter at top, and therefore forty-seven feet in circumference, with a depth of 5 cubits, or 7 12 feet. As a vessel of these dimensions, if hemispherical, would certainly not hold 2,000 1 Kings 7:26, much less 3,000 2 Chronicles 4:3 baths, the bath equaling 8 12 gallons, it is now generally supposed that the bowl bulged considerably below the brim, and further, that it had a “foot,” - or basin which received the water as it was drawn out by taps from the bowl. The “2,000 baths” may give the quantity of water ordinarily supplied to the “sea;” the “3,000 baths” the utmost that the laver could anyhow take. Bowls of a considerable size are represented in the Assyrian bas-reliefs; but none of such dimensions as Solomon’s. The largest mentioned by the Greeks held only 5,400 gallons, less than one-third of the contents of the “molten sea,” even according to the lowest estimate.
