02.14. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen The Two Pillars: Jachin and Boaz The pillars of brass which stood by the porch of the Temple, one on either side, are mentioned in seven places in the Scriptures—1 Kings 7:13-22; 1 Kings 7:41-46; 2 Kings 25:16-17; 2 Chronicles 3:15-17; 2 Chronicles 4:12-13; Jeremiah 52:20-23; Ezekiel 40:49. On the surface these accounts appear to vary; it requires prayerful waiting upon God, and pondering His Holy Word, to harmonise the whole. It has been found with this as with other apparent discrepancies of Scripture, that they are, in fact, Divine perfections. and the seeming diversities tend to the elucidation of the truth.

“Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain;

God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain. “ The Height In two or three places the height is given as eighteen cubits apiece, the chapiter on the top of each pillar was five cubits, making the entire height twenty-three cuhits. In 2 Chronicles 3:15, we read;

“He made before the house two pillars of thirty and five cubits high. “In the margin you will find the Hebrew word rendered “high “should be “long “; the Hebrew word used for “pillar “signifies “round pillar “; the length of the round shaft was seventeen and a half cubits each pillar, the two together making thirty-five cubits long; if we add half a cubit for the pedestal we have eighteen as the height of each. With regard to the position of the pillars, the word which in 1 Kings is rendered “in “signifies “by “— “He set up the pillars by the porch of the Temple “; and this corresponds with 2 Chronicles 3:17, “He reared up the pillars before the Temple. They were cast “in the clay ground between Succoth; and Zarthan (1 Kings 7:46); they were hollow, and the thickness of the brass was four fingers” (Jeremiah 52:21). Brass is the emblem of strength; hallow expresses emptiness. Those skilled in these questions say that the proportions of thickness and sze here given are those whereby the greatest amount of strength is secured with the smallest quantity of metal. That is just like God in His perfect wisdom. The Chapiters, Or Crowns In 1 Kings 7:16, the chapiters—or crowns, as the Hebrew word Cotharoth signifies—are said to be five cubits high; in verse 19 the lily work is said to be four cubits; and in 2 Kings 25:17, “the height of the chapiter was three cubits. “The truth is, I apprehend, that each of these chapiters consisted of four parts—(l) a square ledge on the top, half a cubit thick, on which were the pomegranates; (2) a similar ledge at the bottom; (3) a bowl of pommel of one cubit deep (1 Kings 7:41); and (4) a belly of protuberance of three cubits (1 Kings 7:20); the two last together, covered with lily work, would make the four cubits, and two ledges would complete the height of five cubits. The chapiters also were covered with a network or chequer work, expressive of temperance and self-control (1 Kings 7:17-18). The Pomegranates The number is variously given; the pomegranates were in two rows, twelve in a row, twenty-four on the upper ledge of each pillar, and twenty-four on the lower ledge, fronting the four winds (Jeremiah 52:23)—that is, fronting the east, west, north, and south—forty-eight on each pillar, ninety-six together, one pomegranate at each corner of the ledges, making one hundred round about on each ledge, two hundred on each pillar. The number on the two pillars was four hundred. The pomegranates and lily work speak of the fruits and graces of the Spirit. The Chains The seven chains of wreathen work on each pillar tell of entire subjection, and that which it results in, fulness of honour. In the English translation there is a constant confusion between the network or chequer work and the chain work or wreaths—seven chains suspended on each pillar. The confusion is not in the Hebrew Scriptures, which are perfectly clear and distinct—but in the translation. It is only from the Hebrew originals it is possible to harmonise these various discrepancies.

Position and Names

Solomon “reared up the pillars before the Temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hind Jachin [‘He will establish’], and the name of that on the left Boaz [‘In Him is strength’] (2 Chronicles 3:17). They are silent but eloquent testimony-bearers of the great truths of establishment by God and strength in Christ. God truths thus declared are expressed by the Holy Ghost in 2 Corinthians 1:21— “Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. “

We learn from the sacred Scriptures that God foresaw that the creature could not stand in its own strength, could not sustain itself by its own strength, and for this He made provision from all eternity. As He foresaw, so it came to pass. Angels, and one evidently of the mightiest order, fell and kept not their first estate. Man, placed at the head of the lower creation, made in the image of God, tempted by Satan. likewise fell. Thus corruption and defilement entered the creation of God, through angels into its height, and through man into its depth. It is in this sense that, as we read in Job 15:15, “The heavens are not clean in His sight. “The same infinite wisdom which foresaw all this provided a remedy in the Son of God Incarnation, redemption, resurrection, the gift of the Holy Spirit received by Christ in ascension, and bestowed on men, are God’s means. This is a chain linking time with eternity and God with man. The first wondrous link we find in the incarnation, God manifest in flesh. On that emptied and dependent One the Holy Ghost rested, the Spirit of Jehovah was poured without measure. In Heaven there is a throne set, and One sitteth on the throne. Man lost Paradise by having a will of his own. In Gethsemane we see the surrender of he will of the Perfect Man, who said, “Not My will, Let Thine be done” (Matthew 26:36-44). So, as sin entered by man having a will of his own, God counteracted it by a perfect and surrendered will. “It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; through Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven” (Colossians 1:19-20). Thus a link has been formed, by the atoning work of Christ, between the reconciled creature and the Creator. He “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Php 2:9-11). Henceforth every ascription of honour and glory and power must be given to the Father through the Sun, in (Greek) His name must every knee bow. Since Jesus Christ has been constituted the Head of the creation of God, and is the firstborn from among the dead, the security of the universe is headed up in Christ, the second Man, the Lord from Heaven (see Ephesians 1:9-10). Here is at once the foundation Cornerstone and the Head-stone of universal security. It is laid deep, low in Bethlehem’s manger, deeper still at Calvary’s cross and Joseph’s new tomb. In the finished work of Christ is laid the deep foundation of the security of the creation of God; and in a risen and glorified Christ is seen the keystone of the arch—God the Father establishing in Christ the Son, and crowning the whole with the graces, gifts, and perfection of the Divine Eternal Spirit.

—Our Daily Homily