1 Kings 7:15

For he cast two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece,.... In 2 Chronicles 3:15 they are said to be thirty five cubits high, which must be understood of the length or height of them both; and

For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about. Two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high.

He cast two pillars of brass; of which see ,17 Jeremiah 52:21. Of eighteen cubits high apiece. Object. They are said to be thirty-five cubits high, . Answ. That place manifestly speaks of both the pillars; and this of each, or one pillar, as it is in the Hebrew. Object. But then it should have been thirty-six cubits. Answ. Either the odd half cubit is swallowed up either in the top of the chapiter, or in the bottom of the basis of each pillar; or it is neglected in the account, as commonly small measures or numbers are. Line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about; so the diameter was four cubits, which, considering the chapiter of five cubits added to the height of each pillar, , was not unproportionable to the height.

1 Kings 7:15 For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about.Ver. 15. Of eighteen cubits high apiece.] Thirty-five cubits high, saith another prophet, that is, saith Pellican, both of them together were thirty-five cubits high, and each one almost eighteen, for which it is said to be eighteen cubits; the Scripture useth not to express such broken measures.

(13-50) The exceedingly graphic and elaborate description of the work of Hiram on the vessels and furniture of the Temple, and on the great pillars, bears on the very face of it the most evident marks of historical accuracy and of the use of contemporary documents, and it has, moreover, great antiquarian interest. Looked at in itself, it shows that the Temple (like many other buildings in the comparative infancy of architecture) depended for its effect, not so much on size or proportion, as on rich material, elaborate decoration, and costly furniture, on which all the resources both of treasure and art were lavished. But besides this, the sense of the especial sacredness attached to all the vessels of the Temple, which was hereafter to degenerate into a Pharisaic superstition (see Matthew 23:16-18), suggested the most careful record of every detail, and reverently traced to “the Spirit of God” the gift of “wisdom of heart” “to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,” as in Bezaleel and Aholiab for the Tabernacle (Exodus 35:31-32), so also in Hiram for the Temple. There is something especially remarkable in this broad comprehensiveness of conception which recognises the illuminating and inspiring power of the Spirit of God, not only in the moral and religious teaching of the prophet and the devotional utterances of the psalmist, but in the warlike enthusiasm of the Judge, the sagacity of the statesman, the imaginative skill of the artist, and the wisdom of the philosophic thinker. Nothing could more strikingly illustrate the Apostolic declaration: “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:4).

Verse 15. He cast two pillars - eighteen cubits high] That is, about thirty feet in English measure. A line of twelve cubits] In circumference. It would be difficult even now to procure a founder who could cast such massive pillars, whether solid or hollow.

15. of eighteen cubits high apiece] The Hebrew says ‘eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar.’ There can be very little doubt that this should be followed by ‘and eighteen cubits was the height of the other pillar.’ But the similarity of the words has caused the scribe to overlook them. And there is a like defect in the other half of this verse. For instead of ‘did compass either of them about’ the original gives ‘did compass the second pillar.’ The whole of the latter passage was no doubt ‘a line of twelve cubits did compass about the one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits the second pillar.’ The A. V. gives the sense, and in a better fashion than by introducing italics to represent the missing words. The full form in similar phrases occurs immediately in 1 Kings 7:16-17, and then in 18 there is an omission of one-half the description, just as has happened here. The first portion of these pillars was 18 cubits = 27 feet high by 12 cubits = 18 feet in circumference. This of itself would make a pillar of disproportionate dimensions, but on the top there were placed chapiters (capitals) of 5 cubits = 7½ feet high. Thus the whole height would be 23 cubits or 34½ feet. It is said (2 Chronicles 3:15) that the pillars were 35 cubits high. In that case we should have to suppose them raised on bases of 12 cubits, which is out of all proportion. The metal work may have had some stone base to rest on, but that would never have been 18 feet high. It is more reasonable to suppose that the numbers, marked in Hebrew letters, have been misread by the Chronicler. See however the note on 1 Kings 6:3 above, with reference to these dimensions. These pillars were broken up and carried away along with other metal at the time of the Babylonian invasion, see 2 Kings 25:13; Jeremiah 52:17, in which latter passage the heights of the pillar and its capital are exactly as here, and in the former there is only a variation in the dimension of the capital, not of the pillar.

These famous pillars, which were broken in pieces by the Babylonians when they destroyed Jerusalem 2 Kings 25:13; Jeremiah 52:17, were probably for ornament, standing by themselves under or in front of the porch.

15. He cast — Hebrew, Formed or fashioned. Two pillars of brass — “There are no features connected with the temple of Solomon which have given rise to so much controversy, or been so difficult to