Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 7:22

These pillars speak to us of strength and beauty, and in thus speaking they significantly point to what may be considered as essential elements in the character of the, Christian man.

I. Strength. "Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary"—strength first, beauty afterwards; strength as the basis and support, and beauty as a graceful floral finish and decoration.

This is the Divine order in all things. Beauty comes, not first, but last. The flowers may perish while the foundations remain, but the foundations cannot perish and the flowers remain. Whatever a Christian be else, he must be strong. Stand he cannot unless there be in him the qualities symbolised in Jachin and Boaz—strength and stability.

II. Beauty. The world itself has grown from strength to beauty. Just as the pillars were not finished till their capitals bloomed, as it were, in "lily work," so must it be with a true human life and character. This is not completed without its capital, a capital which need not be of lily work, but must be the reproduction of some Divine flower. The fruits of the Spirit are the lily work by which, often more than by the sterner virtues of our religion, it is to be commended to the admiration and the faith of others. To despise these graces is to despise the Saviour in whom they were embodied.

E. Mellor, The Hem of Christ's Garment, and Other Sermons, p. 256.

References: 1 Kings 7:22.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 88. 1 Kings 7:50.—J. Reid Howatt, Churchette, p. 7. 1 Kings 8:18.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 566.