1 Kings 7:40

And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(40) The lavers.—These should be (as in 1Kings 7:45) “pots.” The verse describes the completion of Hiram’s work by the making of the smaller vessels.

It is curious that no mention is made of the construction of the brasen altar. It has been supposed by some that the old altar reared by David (2Samuel 24:25) was retained. But in 2Chronicles 4:1, and in Josephus’s account, it is expressly said that a brasen altar was made by Hiram, 30 feet square and 15 feet high. Probably, therefore, the absence of all mention of it here is simply an omission in the record.

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 7:40. Hiram made the lavers, &c. — These seem to have been the last things that he made. For he now finished all his work, most or all the particulars of which are recapitulated, with the addition of some others not mentioned before: shovels, for instance, wherewith they cleansed the altar from the ashes, and basins, wherein the priests received the blood of the sacrifices that were offered.

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

Lavers - Rather, according to the true reading, "pots." (Compare 1 Kings 7:45; 2 Chronicles 4:16.) The "pots" were the caldrons in which it was usual to boil the peace-offerings. See 1 Samuel 2:13-14,

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

40-45. And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basins—These verses contain a general enumeration of Hiram's works, as well as those already mentioned as other minor things. The Tyrian artists are frequently mentioned by ancient authors as skilful artificers in fashioning and embossing metal cups and bowls; and we need not wonder, therefore, to find them employed by Solomon in making the golden and brazen utensils for his temple and palaces.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basins,.... The lavers are not the ten before mentioned, of the make of which an account is before given; but these, according to Jarchi and Ben Gersom, are the same with the pots, 1 Kings 7:45 and so they are called in 2 Chronicles 4:11 the use of which, as they say, was to put the ashes of the altar into; as the "shovels", next mentioned, were a sort of besoms to sweep them off, and the "basins" were to receive the blood of the sacrifices, and sprinkle it; no mention is here made of the altar of brass he made, but is in 2 Chronicles 4:11, nor of the fleshhooks to take the flesh out of the pots, as in 2 Chronicles 4:16,

so Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made King Solomon for the house of the Lord; what he undertook, and was employed in, he finished, which were all works of brass; of which a recapitulation is made in the following verses to the end of the forty fifth, where they are said to be made of "bright brass", free of all dross and rust; "good", as the Targum, even the best brass they were made of; the brass David took from Hadarezer, 1 Chronicles 18:8 which Josephus (g) too much magnifies, when he says it was better than gold.

(g) Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

40–51. Summary of Hiram’s work. Completion of the Temple (2 Chronicles 4:11-22; 2 Chronicles 5:1)

40. And Hiram made the lavers] Many ancient authorities (see R.V. marg.) read pots instead of ‘lavers,’ and this is given in 2 Chronicles 4:11. The difference is so slight between כירות = lavers, and סירות = pots, that we need not be surprised at the variation in different mss.

that he made king Solomon] R.V. reads, with the same sense, ‘that he wrought for king Solomon.’ Perhaps it reads a little more easily. In some mss. and Versions the reading is ‘that king Solomon made,’ just as in 1 Kings 7:51 below, where the same phrase is used of the whole work.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 40. - And Hiram made the layers [So the Rec. Text. But perhaps we ought to read סִירות i.e., pots, here, as in ver. 45 and 2 Chronicles 4:11. This word is joined with shovels and basons, not only in these two passages, but also in Exodus 27:3, 2 Kings 25:14, Jeremiah 52:18; in other words, the appropriate term in this connexion would be "pots," while "layers," having been just mentioned in ver. 38, would involve an idle repetition. Altogether, therefore, there can be little doubt that we should here read הסירות for הכירות. It is apparently the reading of the Chald., LXX., and some MSS. These" pots "were used, not for carrying away the ashes (Keil), but, as the name implies (סִיר, effervescere), for boiling the flesh of the peace offering (1 Samuel 2:13, 14), and the shovels [these, again, as the name implies (יָע from יָעָה abstulit; see Gesen., Thesaurus, p. 607), were used for taking away the ashes from the altar (Exodus 27:3; Numbers 4:14), and the basons. [The sacrificial bowls for receiving the blood of the victims (Exodus 38:3; Numbers 4:14).] So Hiram made an end of doing all the work [the writer now recapitulates the work of Hiram. The repetition may be due to the fact that the history was compiled from various lists and documents] that he made king Solomon for [Heb. omits the prep.] the house of the Lord. 1 Kings 7:40

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Summary enumeration of the other vessels of the temple. - In 1 Kings 7:40 the brazen vessels of the court are given. In 1 Kings 7:41-47 the several portions of the brazen pillars, the stands and basins, the brazen sea and the smaller vessels of brass, are mentioned once more, together with notices of the nature, casting, and quantity of the metal used for making them. An din 1 Kings 7:48-50 we have the golden vessels of the Holy Place. This section agrees almost word for word with 2 Chronicles 4:11-5:1, where, moreover, not only is the arrangement observed in the previous description of the temple-building a different one, but the making of the brazen altar of burnt-offering, of the golden candlesticks, and of the table of shew-bread, and the arrangement of the great court (2 Chronicles 4:7-9) are also described, to which there is no allusion whatever in the account before us; so that these notices in the Chronicles fill up an actual gap in the description of the building of the temple which is given here.

1 Kings 7:40

The smaller brazen vessels. - Hiram made the pots, shovels, and bowls. הכּיּרות is a slip of the pen for הסּירות, pots, as we may see by comparing it with 1 Kings 7:45 and the parallel passages 2 Chronicles 4:11 and 2 Kings 25:14. The pots were used for carrying away the ashes; היּעים, the shovels, for clearing the ashes from the altar; המּזרקות were the bowls used for catching the blood, when the sacrificial animals were slaughtered: compare Exodus 27:3 and Numbers 4:14, where forks and fire-basins or coal-pans are also mentioned.

1 Kings 7:40 introduces the recapitulation of all the vessels made by Hiram. יהוה בּית, in the house of the Lord (cf. Ewald, 300, b.); in 2 Chronicles 4:11 more clearly, יי בּבית; we find it also in 1 Kings 7:45, for which we have in 2 Chronicles 4:16 יהוה לבית, for the house of Jehovah. The several objects enumerated in 1 Kings 7:41-45 are accusatives governed by לעשׂות.