1 Kings 7:24

And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 7:24. There were knops compassing it — Molten figures: for the word

פקעים, pekagnim, signifies pictures or figures of all sorts, as gourds, flowers, beasts, &c. — Ten in a cubit — So there were three hundred of these knops in all, the sea being thirty cubits round. The knops were cast in two rows when it was cast — They were not carved afterward, but cast at first when the sea was molten. And, there being two rows of them, Abarbinel thence concludes there were six hundred in all, one under another.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:13-47 The two brazen pillars in the porch of the temple, some think, were to teach those that came to worship, to depend upon God only, for strength and establishment in all their religious exercises. Jachin, God will fix this roving mind. It is good that the heart be established with grace. Boaz, In him is our strength, who works in us both to will and to do. Spiritual strength and stability are found at the door of God's temple, where we must wait for the gifts of grace, in use of the means of grace. Spiritual priests and spiritual sacrifices must be washed in the laver of Christ's blood, and of regeneration. We must wash often, for we daily contract pollution. There are full means provided for our cleansing; so that if we have our lot for ever among the unclean it will be our own fault. Let us bless God for the fountain opened by the sacrifice of Christ for sin and for uncleanness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Knops - literally, "gourds," - i. e. a boss or ball ornament encircled the rim of the bowl in two rows.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23-26. he made a molten sea—In the tabernacle was no such vessel; the laver served the double purpose of washing the hands and feet of the priests as well as the parts of the sacrifices. But in the temple there were separate vessels provided for these offices. (See on [297]2Ch 4:6). The molten sea was an immense semicircular vase, measuring seventeen and a half feet in diameter, and being eight and three-fourths feet in depth. This, at three and a half inches in thickness, could not weigh less than from twenty-five to thirty tons in one solid casting—and held from sixteen thousand to twenty thousand gallons of water. [See on [298]2Ch 4:3.] The brim was all carved with lily work or flowers; and oxen were carved or cut on the outside all round, to the number of three hundred; and it stood on a pedestal of twelve oxen. These oxen must have been of considerable size, like the Assyrian bulls, so that their corresponding legs would give thickness or strength to support so great a weight for, when the vessel was filled with water, the whole weight would be about one hundred tons [Napier]. (See on [299]2Ch 4:3).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Knops; or, carved or molten figures; for learned Hebricians note, that this word signifies the figures or pictures of all sorts, as flowers, beasts, &c. This general word is particularly explained of oxen, 2 Chronicles 4:3, unless there were so many figures, or sculptures of gourds, or other flowers; and in each of these a little ox’s head.

Ten in a cubit; so there were three hundred in all.

The knops were cast together with the sea, not carved.

In two rows: it seems doubtful whether the second row had ten in each cubit, and so there were three hundred more; or whether the ten were distributed into five in each row.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it,.... Of an oval form, and therefore the Targum calls them figures of eggs; in 2 Chronicles 4:3 they are said to have the similitude of oxen, being like the heads of oxen, and the other parts oval; or these were in the form of gourds, as sometimes the word is rendered, 2 Kings 4:39 which had on them the figures of the heads of oxen, and might serve as cocks to let out the water:

ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about it; and as the circumference was thirty cubits, there must be three hundred of these in the circuit:

the knops were cast in two rows when it was cast; for these were cast together with the sea, and being in two rows, there must be in all six hundred of them.

Geneva Study Bible

And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. knops] The word is that which occurs in 1 Kings 6:18, and the knops were probably of a gourd-shape. See note there. The description in 2 Chronicles (1 Kings 4:3) says that oxen and not knops were the ornaments.

ten in a cubit] This would make the number of knops to be 300. But the R.V. renders for ten cubits. And so the words are rendered in 1 Kings 6:26. But the A. V. must give the true sense. Otherwise why is it said that the sea was encompassed by these knops?

when it was cast] i.e. They were of the same piece with the whole rim, and not attached afterwards like some of the ornaments of the pillars.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - And under the brim of it round about [The edge of the laver was curved outwards (ver. 26)] there were knops [see note on 1 Kings 6:18. The text of 2 Chronicles 4:3, בקרים ("the similitude of oxen"), is obviously a clerical error for פקעים (Keil), but whether דמות is an interpolation may well be doubted. Keil thinks it was introduced to explain the mention of oxen] compassing [Heb. surrounding, some word] it, ten in a cubit [It does not follow from this that each gourd or knop was "a little over two inches in diameter " (Keil), for they may not have been in close contact, and, moreover the cubit was probably 18 inches], compassing the sea round about : the ]mops were cast in two rows, when it was cast. [Lit., two rows; the knops were cast in its casting. The "brass," of which the laver was composed, had been taken by David from the cities of Hadarezer (1 Chronicles 18:8; 1 Samuel 8:8, LXX.)] 1 Kings 7:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Any colocynths (gourds) ran round it under its brim, ten to the cubit, surrounding the sea in two rows; the colocynths "cast in its casting," i.e., cast at the same time as the vessel itself. Instead of פּקעים, gourds (see at 1 Kings 6:18), we find בּקרים דּמוּת, figures of oxen, in the corresponding text of the Chronicles, and in the last clause merely הבּקר, an evident error of the pen, בקרים being substituted by mistake for פקעים, and afterwards interpreted בקרים דמות. The assumption by which the early expositors removed the discrepancy, namely, that they were casts of bullocks' heads, is not to be thought of, for the simple reason that בקרים signifies oxen and not the heads of oxen. How far apart the two rows of gourd-like ornaments were, it is impossible to decide. Their size may be estimated, from the fact that there were ten within the space of a cubit, at a little over two inches in diameter.