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2 Chronicles 4:5 Commentaries: It was a handbreadth thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom; it could hold 3,000 baths.
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<i>and</i> it received and held three thousand baths.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a href="/commentaries/edt/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Expositor's Dictionary">Exp Dct</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gaebelein/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Gaebelein's Annotated Bible">Gaebelein</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gsb/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Geneva Study Bible">GSB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gill/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Gill's Bible Exposition">Gill</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gray/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Gray's Concise">Gray</a> • <a href="/commentaries/guzik/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Guzik Bible Commentary">Guzik</a> • <a href="/commentaries/haydock/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary">Haydock</a> • <a href="/commentaries/hastings/1_chronicles/28-9.htm" title="Hastings Great Texts">Hastings</a> • <a href="/commentaries/homiletics/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Pulpit Homiletics">Homiletics</a> • <a href="/commentaries/jfb/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Jamieson-Fausset-Brown">JFB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/kad/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Keil and Delitzsch OT">KD</a> • <a href="/commentaries/kelly/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Kelly Commentary">Kelly</a> • <a href="/commentaries/king-en/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Kingcomments Bible Studies">King</a> • <a href="/commentaries/lange/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Lange Commentary">Lange</a> • <a href="/commentaries/maclaren/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="MacLaren Expositions">MacLaren</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhc/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Matthew Henry Concise">MHC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhcw/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Matthew Henry Full">MHCW</a> • <a href="/commentaries/parker/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="The People's Bible by Joseph Parker">Parker</a> • <a href="/commentaries/poole/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Matthew Poole">Poole</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pulpit/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Pulpit Commentary">Pulpit</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sermon/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/2_chronicles/4.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/2_chronicles/4.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(5) <span class= "bld">And the thickness</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span> <span class= "bld">a cup.</span>—Identical with <a href="/1_kings/7-26.htm" title="And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was worked like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.">1Kings 7:26</a>.<p><span class= "bld">With flowers of lilies.</span>—See margin. “Lily” here is <span class= "ital">shôshannāh;</span> in Kings, <span class= "ital">shôshān.</span> LXX., “graven with lily buds.” Syriac and Arabic, “and it was very beautiful.” Vulg., “like the lip of a cup, or of an open lily.”<p><span class= "bld">And it received and held three thousand baths.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">holding</span> (whole) <span class= "ital">baths: three thousand would it contain.</span> The bath was the largest of Hebrew liquid measures. Perhaps the true reading is, “holding three thousand baths,” the last verb being a gloss borrowed from Kings. So Vulg. Syriac and Arabic omit the clause. The LXX. had the present reading. <a href="/1_kings/7-26.htm" title="And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was worked like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.">1Kings 7:26</a> reads, <span class= "ital">two thousand baths would it contain.</span> Most critics assume this to be correct. Some scribe may have read ’<span class= "ital">alāphîm,</span> “thousands,” instead of <span class= "ital">‘alpayim, “</span>two thousand,” and then have added “three” (<span class= "ital">shĕlōsheth</span>) under the influence of the last verse. But it is more likely that the numeral “three” having been inadvertently omitted from the text of Kings, the indefinite word “thousands” was made definite by turning it into the dual “two thousand” Either mistake would be possible, because in the unpointed text <span class= "ital">‘alāphîm</span> and <span class= "ital">’alpayim</span> are written alike. The Syriac has the curious addition, “And he made ten poles, and put five on the right and five on the left, and bare with them the altar of burnt offerings.” Similarly the Arabic version.<p><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/2_chronicles/4.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>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.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/2_chronicles/4.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>Three thousand baths - See <a href="/1_kings/7-23.htm">1 Kings 7:23</a> note. It is quite possible that either here or in Kings the text may have been accidentally corrupted. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/2_chronicles/4.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>3. Two rows of oxen were cast, when it was cast—The meaning is, that the circular basin and the brazen oxen which supported it were all of one piece, being cast in one and the same mould. There is a difference in the accounts given of the capacity of this basin, for while in 1Ki 7:26 it is said that two thousand baths of water could be contained in it, in this passage no less than three thousand are stated. It has been suggested that there is here a statement not merely of the quantity of water which the basin held, but that also which was necessary to work it, to keep it flowing as a fountain; that which was required to fill both it and its accompaniments. In support of this view, it may be remarked that different words are employed: the one in 1Ki 7:26 rendered contained; the two here rendered, received and held. There was a difference between receiving and holding. When the basin played as a fountain, and all its parts were filled for that purpose, the latter, together with the sea itself, received three thousand baths; but the sea exclusively held only two thousand baths, when its contents were restricted to those of the circular basin. It received and held three thousand baths [Calmet, Fragments].<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/2_chronicles/4.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/2_chronicles/4.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>See Introduction to Chapter 4 <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/2_chronicles/4.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">And the thickness of it <i>was</i> an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; <i>and</i> it received and held <span class="cverse3">{d}</span> three thousand baths.</span><p>(d) In the first book of the kings, 1Ki 7:26, mention is only made of 2000, but the lesser number was taken there, and here according as the measures proved afterwards, is declared.</div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/2_chronicles/4.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">5</span>. <span class="ital">the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup,</span> with <span class="ital">flowers of lilies</span>] R.V. <span class="bld">the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily</span>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">three thousand baths</span>] In <a href="/1_kings/7-26.htm" title="And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was worked like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.">1 Kings 7:26</a>, <span class="ital">two thousand baths</span>. Whether the textual corruption is to be attributed to 1 Kin. or to Chron. cannot be determined. The bath was a measure for liquids equal to about 8¼ gallons.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/2_chronicles/4.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">An handbreadth</span>. Not <span class="hebrew">זֶרֶת</span>, "a span" (nevertheless tabled by Conder, 'Handbook to the Bible,' 2nd edit., p. 79, as a handbreadth, and put at eight digits, two palms, or 5.33 inches), but <span class="hebrew">טֶפַח</span>, "the palm of the open hand," the breadth of the four fingers, which Thenius puts at 3.1752 inches, but Conder's table at 2.66 inches. It received and held should be translated, <span class="accented">it was able</span> to <span class="accented">hold</span>. Three thousand baths. The parallel has two thousand baths, and this latter is the likelier reading. It is, however, conceivable that the statement of Kings may purport to give the quantity of water used, and that of Chronicles the quantity which the vessel at its fullest could accommodate. As to the real capacity of the bath, we are hopelessly at sea. Josephus's estimate of it is about eight gallons and a half, that of the rabbinists about four gallons and a half (see Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible,' 3:1742), and Conder, in the 'Handbook to the Bible,' p. 80, a fractional quantity above six gallons. The largest bowls on the Assyrian bas-reliefs, the silver bowl of Croesus, and the bronze bowl in Scythia (Herodotus, 1:51; 4:81), did not, under the lowest estimate of the bath, hold as much as one-half of the contents of this vast sea of brass of Solomon. The use of this vessel was, as we read in the next verse, for the priests to wash in, or, as some would read, to wash at (<a href="/exodus/30-18.htm">Exodus 30:18-20</a>). 2 Chronicles 4:5<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/2_chronicles/4.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>The brazen sea described as in <a href="http://biblehub.com/1_kings/7-23.htm">1 Kings 7:23-26</a>. 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, <a href="http://biblehub.com/2_chronicles/4-3.htm">2 Chronicles 4:3</a>, instead of פּקעים and הפּקים, and 3000 baths instead of 2000, are probably the result of orthographical errors in the Chronicle. יכיל in <a href="/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5</a> 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. <div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/2_chronicles/4-5.htm">2 Chronicles 4:5 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br /> <!-- /1078254/BH-728x90-ATF --> <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br /> <!-- /1078254/BH-300x250-ATF --> <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br /> <!-- /1078254/BH-728x90-BTF --> <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br /> <!-- /1078254/BH-300x250-BTF --> <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br /> <!-- /1078254/BH-728x90-BTF2 --> <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../2_chronicles/4-4.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="2 Chronicles 4:4"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="2 Chronicles 4:4" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../2_chronicles/4-6.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="2 Chronicles 4:6"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="2 Chronicles 4:6" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>