2 Kings 16:17

Contextual Overview

¹⁷Then King Ahaz cut off the frames of the water carts and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took the basin from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pavement. ¹⁷ King Achaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone. ¹⁷ And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon the pavement of stones. ¹⁷ And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. ¹⁷ Then King Ahaz took off the side panels from the bases and removed the washing bowls from the top of the bases. He also took the large bowl, which was called the Sea, off the bronze bulls that held it up, and he put it on a stone base. ¹⁷ King Ahaz took off the frames of the movable stands, and removed the basins from them. He took "The Sea" down from the bronze bulls that supported it and put it on the pavement. ¹⁷Then King Ahaz cut away the frames of the basin stands [in the temple], and removed the basin from [each of] them; and he took down the [large] Sea from the bronze oxen which were under it, and put it on a plastered stone floor.¹⁷ Then King Ahaz cut off the borders of the stands, and removed the wash basin from them; he also took down the Sea from the bronze oxen which were under it and put it on a pavement of stone.¹⁷ King Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the basin from off them, and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stone. ¹⁷ And King Ahaz brake the borders of the bases, and tooke the caldrons from off them, and tooke downe the sea from the brasen oxen that were vnder it, and put it vpon a pauement of stones.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

am 3265, bc 739

cut off: 2 Chronicles 28:24, 2 Chronicles 29:19

borders: 1 Kings 7:23, 1 Kings 7:27-39, 2 Chronicles 4:14

sea: 2 Kings 25:13-16, 1 Kings 7:23-26, 2 Chronicles 4:15, Jeremiah 52:20

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 16:8 - the silver 2 Chronicles 29:7 - General

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And King Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them,.... In the temple there were ten lavers for the priests to wash in, which are here meant, the singular being put for the plural; and these had bases of brass, on which they were set; and about these bases were borders, which had on them figures of various creatures, lions, oxen, and cherubim; and these Ahaz cut off, either to deface them, in contempt of them, or to convert the brass to other uses, as he might also the bases themselves, since he removed the lavers from off of them, see 1 Kings 7:27

and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen [that were] under it; the molten sea Solomon made, which he set upon twelve oxen made of brass; this Ahaz took down from thence, either to abate its magnificence, and render it despicable, or for the sake of the brass, of which the oxen were made, see 1 Kings 7:23

and put it upon a pavement of stones; not upon the floor of the temple, for that was of wood, fir, or cedar, but on rows of stones, placed instead of bases for it to stand upon.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the marginal references. The acts recorded here, were probably not mere wanton acts of mutilation, but steps in the conversion of these sacred objects to other uses, as to the ornamentation of a palace or of an idol temple. The bases, the oxen, and the sea were not destroyed - they remained at Jerusalem until its final capture Jeremiah 52:17, Jeremiah 52:20. Probably they were restored to their original uses by Hezekiah 2 Chronicles 29:19.

A pavement of stones - Probably a pavement made expressly, for the stones of the court seem to have been covered with a planking of cedar 1Ki 6:36; 1 Kings 7:12.