Bible Commentaries

2 Chronicles 4:1-10

Moreover he made an altar of brase

The furniture of the holy court

1. The altar of brass. Larger than that in tabernacle. When God enlarges our borders and business we should increase our gifts.

2. The sea of brass. God requires sanctity in all that approach Him (James 4:8).

3. The ten layers. Not only the priests, but the sacrifices, must be washed. We must purify our persons and performances. Iniquity cleaves to our holy things.

4. The ten golden candlesticks. One in tabernacle. Light increases.

5. The ten tables.

6. The golden altar. Christ makes atonement and intercedes for ever in virtue of that atonement. (J. Wolfendale.)

Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits.

The molten sea

I. Its use. Suggests purification for God’s service.

II. Its size. Suggests abundant provision for purification. A type of the “fountain opened.”

III. Its construction.

1. The material precious and durable.

2. The oxen, sacrifices of priests, emblems of strength and patience--looking all ways. The blessings procured by a holy priesthood would be universally diffused. (Homiletical Commentary.)

2 Chronicles 4:22

And the entry of the house.

The entry of the house

This, central, conspicuous, and attractive, suggesting--

I. Access to God in Christian worship.

II. Access to symbolic beauty in Christian worship.

1. Perfection of gold, or material prosperity given to God.

2. Palms--growth and fruitfulness in Christian life.

3. Flowers--beauty and fragrance in Christian character.

4. Cherubims--alacrity in God’s service. (J. Wolfendale.)

The worth of grandeur

A fine house cannot make a fine tenant; a first-class carriage cannot make a first-class traveller; a man might sit down on a monarch’s throne, and not be a sovereign; he might even look like a king, and be only a clown. Decoration is useless, if it does not express something beyond itself, something spiritual, ideal, transcendental. The picture is nothing if it does not in reality speak, not indeed to the ear of the body, but to the attention of the soul. It is an amusing irony to see some people clothed in purple and fine linen, because there is really no connection between them and their clothes; we expect them to speak musically, and lo! their tones fill our mouths as with gravel-stones. We expect a man to be at least as elegant as his clothes, and when he is not we do not blame the garments; it is more their misfortune than their fault that they should be where they are. So when we read the specification of temples and palaces we say, “What does it amount to? What is this grandeur worth in helping and blessing the world? What is civilisation to end in?” (J. Parker, D.D.)
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